Training For Loose Energy In Your Strikes.

[ST1Doppelganger]

I figured it would be fun to discuss the concept of loose energy in our techniques.

Loose meaning a strike with a whip like type ging or snappy ging.

Do you feel that a loose strike is more powerful then a stiff strike?

Do you feel that weight training hinders
building this energy?

How do you train this concept?

Do you train this concept often?

 

[K-man]

I would assume you mean the concept of 'heavy hands'. If so, yes. It is a big part of Okinawan Goju and Systema strikes. It is also one of the basic concepts in Aikido.

As to how it is trained. For me, I train it in different ways. I practise keeping my body tension free when walking and in the gym when running on the trampette. From a training perspective I teach it by getting students to imagine they are skimming a stone across water. That action starts with the hips, transmits to the shoulders and accelerates the arm. Tension only occurs at the moment of impact.

In Goju we reinforce the training by relaxing in kata after every technique, not that that would be noticeable if you weren't looking for it. In Systema there are various exercises that look pretty stupid to an outsider that work on keeping the body relaxed at all times.

As to power. Sure, I reckon it probably adds at least 50% more power to the strike.
:asian:

 

[Buka]

I think a loose strike and a stiff strike both have great benefits. I think it depends on the situation. If he's coming in straight and quick and opens his hips and chest at the right distance to your position - I like a stiff strike. For him, it's akin to running into stair railing.

I don't think weight training hinders it. I think any martial artist that trains with weights should have his art(s) in mind with every single set he does, and especially choosing which program/exercises/weight he chooses.

I train it by concentrating everything coming from my hara, in waves, and further emulating the theory of water in all it's various forms.

How often....usually every time I gi up, even if it's only for a short time. But it would depend on which of the zillion things I'm working on to get better.( and that may be a conservative estimate)

You know what? I'm going to go some right G.D. now. Thanx, bro!

 

[mook jong man]

I figured it would be fun to discuss the concept of loose energy in our techniques.

Loose meaning a strike with a whip like type ging or snappy ging.

Do you feel that a loose strike is more powerful then a stiff strike?

Do you feel that weight training hinders
building this energy?

How do you train this concept?

Do you train this concept often?

A relaxed strike is not only more powerful , it also has a penetrative quality that a strike executed under tension cannot match.
It would probably take a page of text to explain why this is.

In regards to weight training , from a Wing Chun perspective , the old masters will say not to do it , that it will ruin your chi sau and thus your Wing Chun.

To a very large extent they are perfectly correct , it does have an adverse effect on speed ,relaxation , and sensitivity.
As a young guy that started Wing Chun whilst also heavily into weight training , I gave the weight training away when I saw the effect it was having.

But now quite a few years later I believe you can still do weight training with Wing Chun , on the proviso that after many years of Wing Chun training you have the body awareness to know what a " relaxed state" actually feels like.
In the early years you are convinced that you are relaxed , but in reality you are not , you just don't have the self awareness to realise that you are carrying tension in your shoulders or your pectorals, biceps etc.

But with experience comes the ability to reproduce the state of relaxation cultivated by the Sil Lum Tao form , you just have to to be able to switch the muscles off and relax.
Learn to separate the two activities , weight training requires tension in the muscle in order to lift the weight , Wing Chun requires the utmost relaxation and the tension free rotation of the joints.

 

[K-man]

But now quite a few years later I believe you can still do weight training with Wing Chun , on the proviso that after many years of Wing Chun training you have the body awareness to know what a " relaxed state" actually feels like.
In the early years you are convinced that you are relaxed , but in reality you are not , you just don't have the self awareness to realise that you are carrying tension in your shoulders or your pectorals, biceps etc.

But with experience comes the ability to reproduce the state of relaxation cultivated by the Sil Lum Tao form , you just have to to be able to switch the muscles off and relax.
Learn to separate the two activities , weight training requires tension in the muscle in order to lift the weight , Wing Chun requires the utmost relaxation and the tension free rotation of the joints.

Aikido is exactly what you have described. Many aikido schools fail, in my mind, because they have tension in their arms all the time. Systema is very similar, and of course I teach the same principle in karate when we practise sticky hands.
:asian:

 

[Xue Sheng]

Interesting topic, but I am not on a pc, I am on a tablet and typing is not fun. If this is still a topic next week I will respond in more detail if needed.

Relaxed strikes are more powerful if done correctly and that starts at the root.

How do i train it, i relax and hit stuff

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

Well it seems like all of us agree that loose striking ging is an important concept to incorporate in to our training.

I know it took me at least three years of CLF before I started to scratch the surface of the concept and I want to say the CLF weapon sets are what helped develop it since a weapon is essentially an extension of your hand/arm.

Ive been on a loose ging kick recently and pretty much been making it my main focus in the arts i study since it gives me my little kid high fix.

P.S. The little kid high I refer to is the expression that little kids give when you show them something new. This is pretty much why I've studied martial arts since 1998.

 

[Buka]

P.S. The little kid high I refer to is the expression that little kids give when you show them something new. This is pretty much why I've studied martial arts since 1998.

May you never lose this, my brother. I still get it and still love it, but it's usually watching somebody else get something new, different, or...when they finally "get" something they've been working for a long time.

 

[ST1Doppelganger]

May you never lose this, my brother. I still get it and still love it, but it's usually watching somebody else get something new, different, or...when they finally "get" something they've been working for a long time.

Yep I traded my bad addictions for this addiction. I think I'll never loose it because martial arts gives you something to always work on. I know what you mean by seeing it when others finally get it because I use to teach and id see it in the children thru seniors when they finally would understand a technique and the body mechanics would just click.