Internal Power

General discussions on Wado Ryu karate and associated martial arts.
Gusei21
Posts: 403
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:43 am

Re: Internal Power

Post by Gusei21 »

I will bow out of this thread with a wrap up of IP in the context of Japanese martial arts history so you can see how this all fits in.

I hope my short blurbs helped some of you see the greater map.
Someone said I was out on the allwado forum teaching internal power.
No. I never did that. I just explained the map.
I never explained the drills I do or the training I engage in to actually get this stuff in my body.
I just gave you an overview of the landscape.
You can't learn IP from any of what I wrote unless you are truly gifted.
But I think you can at least better appreciate the treasures that are in Wado ryu.

Actually being able to do this stuff requires near fanatical obsession and dedication.
But first you need a strong kihon as a foundation.
Without good kihon none of this will work.
So I will instead go hang out in the kihon section of Wadopedia.
Kihon is where all the important stuff happens.
The better you get the more time you spend on kihon and the more fun it becomes. I know this is hard to believe but it is true.
Most of my discoveries are from doing kihon and listening to my Sensei.
Bob Nash
oneya
Posts: 857
Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2011 2:31 pm
Location: Mornington Victoria Australia

Re: Internal Power

Post by oneya »

Gusei21 wrote: Someone said I was out on the allwado forum teaching internal power.
I'm thinking the really strange part in this virtual reality is: people think they can actually practice inner power development by reading about it on this forum Bob.

oneya
Reg Kear.
Wado Kokusai San no Ya.

http://www.sannoya.com
Gusei21
Posts: 403
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:43 am

Re: Internal Power

Post by Gusei21 »

As I watch people training to get faster and more powerful I have been noticing that for the people that are getting it there is something really important must be stated.

I know I have preached the importance of correct kihon and here is one big reason why this is so important.

Take the second and third move of Chinto. If when you do the second block and if your arms are not perfectly horizontal - specifically that your palm on the exact same plane as your elbow - then move number three will be crap. Your left hand will swoop, dip, pick your word. Using internal power makes you fast. Really fast. So if your parts are not in the correct line then your technique will be all over the place. It's like putting a huge engine in a car with tires that are not designed to handle the load. In order for this to work your arm placement has to be exact at the end of move 2. Slight variance and the third technique will be a mess.

In other words you can't turbo charge your engine if your form is not close to perfect otherwise parts will go flying all over the place. One of the primary purpose of kihon is to teach correct structure, correct form. Many people just look at kihon as a warm up, as a necessary evil to get thru before the real fun starts. If you think like that then you will never be good.

Your kihon has to be perfect. You must strive for perfection in your form, in your structure. There is no point in being fast or more powerful if you can't output true power. Once you get the hang of this you will be doing everything with your body. You will never punch again with your arms. You will never kick again with your legs. You will never block with your arms. You will instead be utilizing an integrated body initiated from the tanden.

So correct kihon is a prerequisite before you start turbo charging your engine.
Bob Nash
oneya
Posts: 857
Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2011 2:31 pm
Location: Mornington Victoria Australia

Re: Internal Power

Post by oneya »

Hi Bob,

it's that language and translation thing all over again: Many people understand kihon waza to mean 'basic technique' rather than 'fundamental to technique' so it becomes general rather than specific and their house is built on sand rather than rock.

Ohtuka meijin is always quoted as saying: 'there is only practice' so our practice must be the foundation of that which is fundamental to correct technique.

oneya
Reg Kear.
Wado Kokusai San no Ya.

http://www.sannoya.com
Gusei21
Posts: 403
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:43 am

Re: Internal Power

Post by Gusei21 »

kihon waza means 'fundamental to technique'.

Nice one!

I think Gordon should add that to the banner next to the words All Wado Karate Forum. :)
Bob Nash
Gusei21
Posts: 403
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:43 am

Re: Internal Power

Post by Gusei21 »

Bob Nash
Gusei21
Posts: 403
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:43 am

Re: Internal Power

Post by Gusei21 »

I can't remember who wrote this so I unfortunately cannot give him credit. It's not me. But I think it is worth posting because a lot of what the IP based martial arts do is pretty much covered here in an easy to understand language. Tim Shaw made a comment regarding the use (over use?) of metaphors to teach this stuff - Heaven Earth Man, floating bridge of Heaven, etc. This author does not bother with metaphors. I'd love to meet him because if he can write like this then that means he should be able to do the stuff. If you want to play in the world of the Otsuka, Threadgill, Ueshiba, Takeda, Kuroda, Harden, Sigman, Akuzawa then you need to come to terms with this stuff.
Again, I apologize for not knowing who wrote it but I came across it on some forum so as far as I am concerned it is public domain. But it is also rare to come across someone who is willing to write this stuff down. But again at the end of the day even this author does not spell out the exercises you need to do in order to acquire these skills. I guess the exercises and drills are the key. You can read about it all you want but you still need to figure out how to condition your body so it can do this stuff. The martial arts that had this stuff had the conditioning exercises. The gentlemen I named above all have their own conditioning exercises that enabled them to get to where they are today. Some shared them and others don't. At one time these conditioning exercises were heavily guarded secrets. After all, why would I want my enemy to get access to this information?
-----------------------------

Everyone that does MAs seriously understands the need for a properly conditioned body. Without a properly conditioned body, techniques are garbage. Kicks are weak, submissions won't hold, throws don't work and punches fail to knockout.

In the quest for more power, there are many different schools of thought on what constitutes the best way to acquire a body that can deliver martial power.
The quickest and easiest are the ones that involve weight training, bench pressing, squats, and the like.
Still others are of the school of thought that body weight is the best way to train. Others may emphasize weapons work.
Many will agree that the body needs to be trained as a "unit." But I think that few people stop to consider what this exactly entails.

This article is about what exactly supports the human body as it relates to martial movement, how to strengthen it, and entertains the notion that perhaps what we've all held to be efficient movement isn't so efficient after all.


///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Making fun of TMAs (Traditional Martial Arts)
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I know how everyone from the TMAs like to talk about the importance of "center" and "tanden/dantien." Most of them will tell you that if you want any kind of deep penetrating power, that the seat of that power is the hara/dantien/tanden whatever. However, for any TMAers reading this, forget it. Take that thought and toss it in the garbage can for now.

Even the average boxer with a decent cross would tell you there's more to generating power than just that.

In reality, the middle is important for generating efficient movement.
However, other key parts of the body need to be
controlled/strengthened/stabilized before you can even utilize movement from that part of the body efficiently.
The middle is only one part of the whole.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"Efficient movement vs power"
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Efficient movement and structure are the backbone of power.

Not muscle. You can flame me for this later.

Power should simply be a result of the correct structural parts aligned, then "maintained" during a particular movement.

*There is more to the power chain, such as compression and expansion of the spinal area, but for now let's stick to the
definition outlined above.

To make one thing clear, while I say "muscle" is not the backbone of power, I do not mean muscle is not important. Far from it.
But before you being to develop your muscles, you can need to first
understand how the human skeleton is designed, what constitutes an efficient structure, and which muscles are used to help support this structure.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Structure
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The human skeletal structure is a wonderfully designed machine frame.
But like any other structure, it is subject to the laws of physics.
This means that unless key parts of this structure are strengthened/balanced, and stress is properly distributed, it can never realize its whole potential.

First let's cut the human body in three general parts.

Upper: Head to upper chest
Middle: Upper Chest to Navel/midsection
Lower: Everything below the midsection

******************************************************************************
Here's a craptastic illustration for those of you without an imagination:
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...agrams-UML.gif
******************************************************************************

Traditionally, some have been told that if you "move" from the middle area (specifically tanden) that everything else will follow, and move in accord.

But what if the rest of these individual general areas are disconnected within themselves?
Moving from the "middle" wouldn't mean anything if your lower and upper parts were disconnected within themselves.


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Upper
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The upper area is perhaps the most ignored, but may also be the
most important area to stabilize before connecting the rest of the body.


First let's examine the upper area in more detail:
The upper area more specifically contains the head, neck, arms, upper chest area etc.

**********
Head
**********
The head is probably the "heaviest" part of the human body. Not in terms of weight/mass, but the effect that it has on the rest of the body as a counter-weight. If support of the head isn't properly realized, the rest of the body goes out of whack, as I'm sure many MAists are readily aware.
(Control the head, and its pretty amusing to see what you can do with a partner).

Because support/control of the head is so important, many MAs will use the analogy of "lifting" the head etc. The effect of this is inducing a little bit of supporting tension in the base of the neck. So if silken threads pulled by fat golden buddhas sitting in heaven don't float your boat, putting a little tension in the base of the neck will do the same thing for now.

***********
Arms
***********
The arms are extensions of the body. And since limbs are long, they can exert a large amount of imbalance on the body if they aren't properly controlled/stabilized.

First, it should be realized is that the arms are not separate units. They are connected through the back, and they need to be physically felt as one unit.
This is not intended to be a metaphysical concept. Rather, certain physical exercises need to be performed to increase/solidify the sensation of the arms acting as one cohesive unit.
More specifically, action at the end of one arm should travel through the back and affect the end of the other arm.



***************************
Chest/Shoulder blades
***************************

The chest and shoulder blade area (which correspond to the chest area in the back) serve to hold the arms, head and the rest of the upper body together.



******************************************************************************
Illustration of shoulderblade
http://education.yahoo.com/reference.../figure?id=204
******************************************************************************


Stabilization of the chest area is extremely important. Wrestlers appear to recognize this and use destabilization of this area to great effect when doing certain takedowns. Same thing occurs when an Ikkyo or Nikyo etc is applied.
This means if you don't understand how to strengthen/stabilize these areas, your "root"(read: how stable you feel to your opponent) will always be weaker than it could be.

Breaking this down even further, stabilization of this area means that you should be able to use the lower extremities of the body without affecting your upper structure.

***Three Axes***


Stabilization of the chest area is directly related to recognizing and
stabilizing three axes.

First, let's define what the three axes are.

The left and right axes are two imaginary lines running from the left shoulder to the left hip joint and knee, and the right shoulder to the right hip joint and knee.
The center axis, as one might imagine, runs from the crown of your head down between your legs. Or to get graphic, imagine your wang drilling the ground (females, imagine your imaginary wang drilling into the ground).

******************************************************************************
Yet another Craptastic Illustration:
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...grams-Axis.gif
******************************************************************************


The leg raising exercises found in many CMA are *supposed* to strengthen and balance these three axes, but often people focus on how high they can kick...(I'm ub3r cuz I can touch my foot to my nose), but enough TMA bashing.

Try this experiment.
Stand with feet together, arms at the sides.
Knees straight.
Spread your arms outwards.
Push the palms outward, fingers pointing up.
Draw the shoulder blades in, drop the shoulders down.
Elbows should be straight and turned down.
There should be tension running from fingertip to fingertip now.
This should also induce the feeling of a "cross" of tension within the
chest.

This tension should be felt right smack in the middle of the sternum bone.
Or close abouts.
******************************************************************************
Illustration of sternum bone in the chest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gray116.png
******************************************************************************

You should look like a cross.
The induced tension should feel very uncomfortable. Don't worry, it's normal.

Now, with feet together raise your leg without disturbing the structure in the upper area.
When I say "without disturbing" I mean that there should be virtually no movement of the upper part of the body.
If your hands move from side to side or up/down, or your head bobs, etc., it means that your upper structure is on the whole, unbalanced, weak, uncoordinated or some combination of those.

Many people will bob/waver from side to side, which means that their left and right axis aren't developed. Without mastery of this left and right axis, you can't even begin to stabilize the much vaunted centerline, much less the "one point."

Back to the exercise:

If you can do this without moving the upper structure, awesome.
Now try it moving. Try stepping and raising the leg without disturbing this upper structure at all. This will almost certainly cause the body to fall apart even more. Once you can do this exercise without affecting the upper area at all, you can start to focus on integrating the other parts of the body.


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Spine part I
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Before we move onto the next segment, I wanted to first cover the spine, since it tends to be overlooked, and a certain concept regarding the spine first needs to be understood before moving on to the next segment.

Taking a closer look, we see the spine connects the head all the way down to the pelvic region, joining upper, lower and middle parts together.

The two most important parts of the spine to "realize" are the base of the neck (close to where the spine starts, and is probably the seventh verteabra down, but I'm no doctor) and the sacral area. (which actually is close to parallel with the over-hyped dantien point)

******************************************************************************
The spine in its natural state:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:G...ral_column.png
*******************************************************************************

Normally the spine forms a slight "S" shape.
Now what comes next is going to sound a little weird.
Imagine the spine like a "bowstring". That is, you can induce an opposing tension along the spine, running up and down, by pulling it slightly taut like a bowstring.(This doesn't mean you hold the spine curved like a bow though!)

This up/down contradictory tension might not make sense at first to some, but it's essential if you want to transfer power "cleanly" from the spine.


Boxers will tell you to tuck your chin in, and while they probably didn't have this in mind at first, it has the effect of pulling the base of the neck up slightly, pulling the spinal cord slightly up.

This is part of the "upwards" tension.

Tai chi peeps [practitioners maybe?] do the same by touching the roof of the mouth with their tongue.
This also induces a slight tension in the base of the neck which "pulls" the spine up.
Interestingly enough this tongue touching granola stuff has been used in recent mouthguards like "Shockdoctor" to improve performance in athletes
(MORA is the current buzzward for this configuration.)

******************************************************************************Fo r those that are bored, here's an informal look at what doctors "think" is going on.
http://www.myoresearch.com/cms/index.php?mora
My own opinion is that the increase in strength is mainly due to the
increase in support from the actual skeletal structure, which MORA induces.
******************************************************************************

Strengthening this up/down tension serves to give a proverbial kick in the ass to the spine and make it support the body at a ramped up efficiency. (Or provide a more stable base, for you BJJers out there). Strengthening the opposing up/down tension along the spine has the effect of stabilizing your kicks/strikes while making them more solid and penetrating, since the body has a cleaner/more stable base with which to transfer power.



More on how to induce and increase the opposing "down" tension later.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Lower Part
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
But what about the middle? the ub3r DanT1en?!

Forget the middle and the dantien. It's not that important. Besides it's in the garbage can right??
I'm kidding.
The middle receives so much attention anyway, I think we should focus on the lower part next. We'll come back to the middle in a bit.
Actually compared to the upper, I feel the lower part of the body deserves the next most attention compared to the middle, especially when first developing your body.

Without a strong, stable base, a structure made out of the most durable materials will collapse. Any structure will collapse pretty easily if the stress isn't properly distributed. The same goes for a human body.

So how does one "properly distribute?"
Well, let's take a look at the way the lower body is arranged.

The first portion consists of the legs, or more specifically, the feet, ankles, knees, and hips/pelvic region.

******************************************************************************
For your viewing pleasure
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Legs.jpg
******************************************************************************


In order to provide proper support to the base spinal area, the legs along with the surrounding muscular skeletal region must first be properly trained.

***Arch****
In order to provide extra support to the base spinal area we work on
creating an "arch" of tension running along the inside of the legs.

******************************************************************************
http://www.anatomyatlases.org/atlaso...es/plate15.jpg
******************************************************************************

Like a bridge, the "keystone" (in this case the sacrum of the spine) serves to hold everything together and prop up the spinal cord. The power generated by this arch travels up the spine, and can then be utilized by other extremities of the body as support and balance. (This means extra penetrating power for you strikers out there.)

******************************************************************************
Just a pic of a bridge:
http://www.sddot.com/pe/bridge/Image...ewyebridge.gif
******************************************************************************

While the arch is prominently induced in the exercises to be shown later, it needs to be present in a "normal" posture as well, where the "arch" is otherwise not visible, such as when you're standing normally.

***Pelvic Crease***

Once the base of the spine is having force properly propagated to it, we can look at the pelvic crease, here on after referred to as the p.c.

The crease referred to is the "space" between the illium and Leg, but NOT the joint.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gray343.png

The p.c. adds yet another factor to supporting the rest of the
structure and delivering force along the skeletal structure.

Opening the p.c. (by pushing the knees out) causes a further "upwards" force to be sent to the base of the spine, while at the same time pulling "inwards" to the pelvic joint(see illustration) causes the base of the spine (sacrum area) to be pulled downward, flattening the small of the back.

This has the effect of pulling the spine taut, like a bow, inducing the
"downwards" force of the "up/down" contradictory force generated along the spine which was mentioned earlier.



/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Middle
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Now we get to that holiest of holy places in TMAs...

the MIDDLE

For now let's just arbitrarily define the middle portion as the sternum down to the tanden, dant1eN, that spot about 2 inches below your navel, or in simple terms, your center of gravity.

The dantien/tanden is a subject covered by many TMAs, mostly in regards to breathing and the seat of power etc., etc.
And because of that, we won't cover it here. Because it is mostly a lot of BS, or the effects aren't really worth it.

I'm kidding. I think.

What is important is that the holy place two inches below the navel is not only the center of gravity in most people, but it also corresponds to the sacrum area of the spine, which also makes up the small of the back.
Being able to "connect" the point in the sternum discussed earlier, to the tanden point serves to bring the Upper and Lower parts together, and unify them on the front side. (The spine unifies the upper and lower parts together from the back). Being able to physically use these two parts together in a unified manner allows the skeletal structure to propagate force in the human body in the most efficient way possible.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Spine part II and Six Directional Contradictory Tension
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

We covered inducing an up/down opposing tension.

Now we start to get really weird.

The up/down tension induced in the spine is only the beginning in creating a skeletal structure that has superior balance.

Next a forwards backwards tension is induced by a "push/pull" line of tension between two sets of points.

The first is a push pull of tension maintained between the "cross" in the chest and the base of the neck.

The second is a push pull of tension between the sacrum and the tanden point.

Finally, an opposing left/right tension needs to be
induced and held first [do you need this "first"?] between the shoulder blades, which connects both arms
as one unit.

If the body is trained in a manner to strengthen these connective six directional opposing tensions, you train a body that naturally desires to stay in balance, even as you punch/strike/kick/grapple/pound or however you wish to unleash unholy damage on your opponent.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
So how is this at all beneficial????
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I might catch a lot of flak for what I'm about to write, so don't take this as a rule that applies to everyone. This is only from what I've experienced so far.

Taking the typical punch as an example. In this case, I'm talking more of a cross than a jab.
Your average to above average striker uses a mechanism, (in this case punching) that's succinctly described by Koto-ryu. That is (and I'm being very general here) it's more or less generated by dropping your mass, twisting the waist, "whirling" the shoulders, turning the feet, and by getting your "all" behind the punch. F=MA right?

But what if "M" isn't 100%? (Even though you think it is)

The power being generated by this mechanism tends to be one that's generated by individual muscles being first "loaded" then "unloaded" in a segmented fashion towards the target. The result of this is that while you *think*, and may even feel as if you're putting your entire body behind the punch, you aren't.

Punching in this manner generally means that you're activating only the muscles on the side needed for the punch, and committing all power towards the target, while leaving the other side, particularly the leg connected to the ground not contributing to the punch at all.

In other words, the drop mentioned in Kotoryu's article (refer to http://www.bullshido.net/modules.php...article&id=127) contributes 100%
body mass behind the punch initially, but on contact the force isn't
efficiently transferred and ends up dispersing. The load/unload mechanism of the muscles mentioned earlier contributes to a more segmented fashion of the body being aligned, and the punch is maybe 60% of what you could deliver dispersed over a wide area.

This goes for generally any martially based movement whether it be punching, kicking, grappling, take downs, throws etc, even though they may think they're paying attention to alignment and proper body mechanics etc.

The following is a quote from Dan Harden, MMA'er who uses Japanese Koryu Weaponary to condition his body for Vale Tudo.

While this was originally written for an Aikido forum, he describes very succinctly the body mechanics elaborated above.

About the cross or the back chest area:

Imagine shoving a drive shaft or any pole into a hole in the floor then slide a peg through it horizontally. Next grab the peg as it sticks out left to right with both your hands.
Now imagine the hole you stuck the pole into is attached to an engine with 1000 ft. lb. of torque and I turn it on.

When you get out of hospital with your broken arms healed you can understand how powerful it can be if:

1. the pole is your spine

2. the peg is tension held across the back and chest

3. and the engine is the ground through your legs through your hips that turn the spine or pole at the waist.

Everything attached to it is launched without you dedicating much to the effort in a forward direction. It makes for powerful kicks, punches, throws, and shoves without you giving much to lose or have someone take your balance.
You are wholely dedicated without being dedicated.
The frame is strengthened through connections throughout the body which can be strengthened further still through breathing and pressures there. You are using the ground for power. Of course, it is the way you are connected that allows this power move through the whole body from foot to hand.

The above example can be quite effective in ground grappling for reversals when you are on your back with someone on you giving you weight. You hold tension in the cross and turn using the ground from your feet through the hips, turning the spine like a drive shaft .....which......... turns the peg (your scapula area). What is attached to the peg? Your shoulders and arms.
I have seen guys lifted off the floor and thrown. The key is to not try to throw them but to maintain connection and just turn into yourself.
Breathing and certain other things add to this.
******************************************************************************

*Addendum*
For any structural engineers/physicists that want to tear apart the above statement with force diagrams, "using the ground for power", refers to a metaphor of what the practitioner feels. You are NOT absorbing chi from the ground.
The above refers to the optimal skeletal alignment to the ground and utilizing that when striking/throwing/grappling. Ultimately the resulting equalized tension has been described as "feeling the ground in your hands" etc. It is simply the result of having stress properly propagated throughout the skeletal structure.

A body properly conditioned to be connected through specific training exercises, such as those described in the next segment allows the body to naturally utilize all of the joints, keep them aligned, and use the body as a single unit keeping those muscles which need to be tensed tense at just the right amount, while the other muscles relaxed at just the right amount. This allows the body to remain in balance no matter what the opponent is doing (pushing, pulling, tugging, having a double leg being done to you) but also means that the whole body can be placed behind the mechanics of a strike, lock, takedown, or whatever movement you're trying to execute at the same time. In fact this kind of movement isn't only efficient for fighting, it's also more efficient for daily movement as well, but has to be "retrained" and hardwired into the body.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Ah huh... so how do I train this??
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

:)
Bob Nash
Gusei21
Posts: 403
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:43 am

Re: Internal Power

Post by Gusei21 »

I got a note from Mike Spain who tracked down the second part of this article I had posted.
Turns out the author is Robert John who lives in Japan and trains under Minoru Akuzawa.
For those who don't know Akuzawa here is a link from the aikijournal.
http://www.aikidojournal.com/article?articleID=699

You can also go directly to his organization's website http://www.aunkai.net/eng/index.html
or you can also find youtube stuff on him.

I have a few friends who train with Akuzawa. It is a bit different from what I am doing in Wado in terms of internal power but there is a lot that overlaps. At the end of the day all this stuff can be placed in any martial art. It is just expressed differently. Wrestling, MMA, sword, jujitsu, track and field, swimming, Wado.
All you are doing is taking your engine and converting it into a more powerful machine - and all this stuff originates in China with its roots in India like most everything else in this world.

Anyway, here is part two of Robert John's posting.

--------------------------------------------
Onto the exercises then:
*These are only two of the exercises I train with over here in Tokyo. There's a variety of others, but they all adhere to the core principals. Besides which describing all of them would be a pain. If you're curious about the other exercises, come to Tokyo and drop me a line

Leg Raises

*This exercise was already covered earlier in the article, but done
up against a wall. Doing it against the wall is actually harder. However it has to be able to be performed without a wall, still adhering to the same requirements while in motion(taking steps) if you want to realize any real benefits from this training.

Points

Keep some tension in the neck
(Touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth, while gently closing your teeth. This should also serve to lift the head up, and keep the tension in the neck present to support the spine.)

Put some tension in the back, and straighten the spine.
Imagine there is a wall behind you and you're trying to touch the small of your back to the wall.

## Upper Body "Cross" Tension Requirements##
******************************************************************************
Extend the hands outwards on either side. When doing this draw the shoulder blades together while simultaneously dropping the shoulders. This should cause tension to drop from the shoulders, flow to the elbows and out to the fingertips. The elbows and fingertips should feel sore if this tension is held.
Elbows should be STRAIGHT.

If you fulfill the physical requirements listed above, you should feel a "cross" of tension in the middle of your sternum/chest area
******************************************************************************
Continuously have a feeling of pushing out the hands, while simultaneously drawing the shoulder blades together and dropping the shoulders. (This is the contradictory part of the exercise)

When raising the legs do not KICK! This is extremely important.
Although the movement ends up looking somewhat "like" a stretch kick if done correctly, the intent is different.
Do NOT kick..
need I say it again?
Do NOT kick.
Simply raise the leg.

Try and raise the leg from the (Pelvic crease) area.

When performing this exercise, raise the leg in such a way that the upper body and the "cross" in the sternum are not affected.
This means that the hands should not waver, move up/down side/side. Keep the upper body motionless.

Take a step as you raise the leg and proceed forward.

Repeat this exercise until your elbows, shoulders go numb and the fingers tingle execessively.

Once you become accustomed to this movement, try the same exercises with a six-foot staff running across your back.
The staff will serve to provide feedback to your body, and help you feel any imbalance occuring in your upperbody.
(translation, it'll tell you whether you're wavering all over the place)

******************************************************************************
Basic Benefits from this Exercise
******************************************************************************

Helps to connect the arms as one unit. If you can understand and use this feeling, it can help to eliminate telegraphing in punches, throws or the gr@pple(yes, including all the "kyos"). Don't ask me to describe it in mail. It has to be shown.

Develops the upper center or the "cross", which serves to stabilize the body.

Develops and strengthens the bodies ability to move the lower body without affecting the upper body. Easily seen benefits include throws that're harder to detect/non telgraphic.

Increases/strengthens balance and bodies ability to "move" from the spine. This results in kicks that're better balanced, and much more solid than an onlooker might percieve.

****************************************************************************
Spinal Alignment Exercise

There are three transition states when doing this exercise.
The entire exercise should be done smoothly without stopping at a
very slow tempo. You should sweat like a pig after about 3 minutes of doing this exercise correctly. If you aren't, either you aren't human and don't have sweat glands, or you're doing it WRONG.


Overall Points

When doing this exercise be sure to keep the tension constant!
Keep the tension flowing from your feet to your fingertips.
Keep the spine straight, and STAND from the SPINE.



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Bottom Posture
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
You may want to first grasp the requirements for this posture by doing it against the wall.

Remember to keep some tension in the neck at all times, and place the tongue at the roof of the mouth while keeping the mouth gently shut to induce a "suspended" feeling from the spine.

Place both heels against, or an inch from the wall, about shoulder width apart, toes pointing forward.

Touch the small of the back to the wall.

Now, extend the arms out.
Elbows straight.
Hands in fists. Put some power into your fists.
Elbows over Knees. This is extremely important. Elbows over KNEES.

Drop the shoulders, but at the same time do NOT let the small of your back unstick from the wall.

Now, slowly lower your spine straight down, still pressing the small of the back to the wall.
It should feel like someone's pulling you forward, but at the same time you're pulling yourself back. This is the forward/backward contradictory force part of the exercise

As you lower yourself, make sure you push your knees out!
This creates the "arch" along the inside of the legs mentioned earlier which helps to support the spine.

As long as you do this, and you keep a "suspended" feeling, most of the support is being done by your spine, and you won't have to worry about the knees. (I know I know, knees shouldn't go over the toes, but that's only if you're allocating your weight to the knees. The trick is to support yourself from the spine)

Lower yourself until your heels want to pop up, then stop.
Drop the shoulders forward and down even more if possible, while pulling your body back to the wall, this should increase pressure in both your body and fists.

As you sink your body from the spine,your body should fold like an
accordion. The pelvic crease area should naturally close when you do this, however keep the feeling of keeping it open as you do this.

Try to pass the tension in the legs up the back, past the shoulders,
and to the very end of your hands.

If you don't have tension, chances are high you're not connected!!

The tension is maintained by relaxing the correct places (namely the pelvic crease area and dropping the shoulders), while keeping tension in others (the spinal area needs to have tension). Determining which places you need to tense and
relax is part of the self-discovery process.

The tension is NOT induced through clenching the muscles.


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Transition and Supporting the Sky posture. - Named because it looks like you're supporting the sky. Expletive deleted
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
From the previously described posture, open the hands so that the fingers are pointing straight up, palms facing forward.

Now fold the elbows, elbows and bring the hands together in
front of the chest, as if praying. Keep the elbows dropped when you do this, and keep as much tension flowing to the fingertips as you can during the movement. Elbows should still be over the knees.


From the "prayer" position, move only the arms, without raising the body, straight up and above your head, so that both hands
are "wedging" the sky. Extend the arms straighter and straighter, and bring them behind your head so that they touch the wall.
This should bring extreme tension to the base of the neck.

Now PULL your body up along the wall by pulling from the arms.
In particular, focus on the the base of the neck and how it
pulls the spine and the rest of the body along with it.

Do NOT push the ground with the legs or feet.

*You will have loads of tension in the quads, and the feet. But the idea is to pull your body up using the spine. As opposed to activating the leg muscles further and pushing the body away from the ground.

Pull your body up along the wall until the knees straighten out; continue to maintain the tension to the finger tips, keep the arms behind the head, stay against the wall, and "wedge" the sky.

Once you are fully standing, keep the tension in the fingertips and spread the hands apart, and push the palms and arms up skyward as if you were pressing up against the sky with your palms. Continue to keep the small of the back stuck to the wall.

At the same time, lower the body, and pull the sacrum/base of the spine downwards, while maintaing the "arch" in the legs mentioned earlier with knees pushed out.




////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Transition back to Bottom Posture
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
From the Sky posture, rotate the palms 90 degrees inward so that your fingers point behind you, and still keeping
tension in the finger tips, bring the arms slowly down so that the elbows are inline with the knees. Bring the palms straight in front of you until they're about chest height.

Feel familiar? You should be back to the "Bottom Posture". Now rinse repeat and do 5 more reps over the course of 15 minutes.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
What the fuck does this weird exercise do??
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
It both teaches and strengthens the body to derive support from
the spine, while also letting it understand what it means to move within the range of an efficient biomechanical structure.

If you want to derive the maximum benefit from this exercise, it has to be done everyday without fail, and the "requirements", such as the arch in the legs, cross in the chest, and tension in the aforementioned spinal points need to be realized [emphasized?] in everyday posture.

This exercise affects all parts of the game, and will increase performance in throws/strikes/takedowns etc.

Working out in this manner allows you to immediately recognize what constitutes a sound biomechanical base and when it is disrupted.
A simple example of an application would be avoiding an arm bar on the ground. You'll know immediately when that arm bar is coming, simply because your body will feel "unbalanced" because the "physical properties" you're trying to keep together in your body are coming undone. Countering the arm bar then becomes
a simple affair of "readjusting" your body so that your body is once again adhereing to those properties.
The tension maintained in the exercises helps to teach the body how to connect the various points/properties together and make the adjustments to get them back second nature.

Learning techniques becomes faster since all sound techniques also adhere to the biomechanical principals taught in these exercises. This applies to all techniques be it kicks, punches, throws or anything else.

Since this exercise is probably difficult to understand and perform properly without a visual aid, I've included a link here for people to check out. Keep in mind that this example is being done without a wall.



http://www.badongo.com/vid/159261

*Addendum*
The parts where the hands are being held in a circular posture, or being twisted are training other components, and can be ignored for now. I won't bother to explain them since they're a bit beyond the scope of this article. However, they still are physical properties that relate back to the key points mentioned earlier. No ch1 was harmed, harnessed or otherwise used in the making of this video.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Closing
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
There are other exercises, but I've provided two examples for
people to experiment with and see if they derive a benefit.

In case it is not apparent in the description, these are physical exercises designed to strengthen and connect the body's core, developing proper, efficient biomechanical motion and not some quasi mystical chi crap.
Not that anyone would make a crack about that in the first place.

The provided exercises are only the beginning stage. There are more indepth and advanced exercises that bring other deeper parts of the body into play.

I would like to emphasize that while the exercises are
done seperately, both of them (and other exercises as well) feed off of each other. Certain things are stressed and easier to feel in one exercise, and the benefits gained from it can then be put back into the other exercise and vice versa.

And if you claim this is too easy for you, then either you're full of crap, doing it wrong, or you're a monster in which case I want to roll with you :)
Bob Nash
laurie
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2011 5:01 am
Location: Canberra, Australia

Re: Internal Power

Post by laurie »

Hi Bob,
The links to the videos are obsolete - you can find them (and more) here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Upyu
The specific exercises mentioned in the posts are these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBV1nfpt ... detailpage and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syoKdy6z ... detailpage

There are a number of links to some good discussions on internal power that I have collected over the past months (I can post these if anyone's keen, but they're mostly from aikiweb, e-budo, budoseek etc so they are not too hard to find on your own). There seems to be a core of people on those forums that know what they are talking about with regard to internal power, although there can be some serious differences of opinion from time to time between the main contributors. Mike Sigman is one of the main posters in the internal power forums and he's posted some extensive videos on youtube discussing some of his work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKgfvsu0XT0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FanJUCaUOO4

For the record I haven't spent any serious time on any of this material. It's fascinating reading about it, but the little time I have given myself to practise outside of class is probably better spent practising what I've been taught inside class rather than making a hash of youtube material - perhaps those that are further along the road than I might be able to make better use of this material though, so I thought I might as well post the links anyway.

Laurie
Laurie B.
Canberra, Australia
wadoka
Site Admin
Posts: 696
Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2011 10:38 am
Location: Bournemouth, Dorset, UK.
Contact:

Re: Internal Power

Post by wadoka »

Bob

4 minutes in, anything with the stance and spirals that is of interest?

Locked