The arms not moving, they are moved.

His arm is only moving as much as it needs to. Most of the punch is driven almost purely by his body movement. By anywhere but the arm joint.

Rick my karate teacher used to say this, and he still often says this to me. And for a long time it drove me nuts. Not because he was correcting me, but because I didn’t understand exactly what it meant. I knew it meant not literally moving the arm separated, but had a hard time understanding HOW to not move the arm separately.

Thing is, I was always over thinking it. I used to wonder ‘How exactly do I move my arm with other mechanics? It’s not like I wasn’t trying?”

I wasn’t wrong to think this, how to do something is just as important as why. I knew why the arm was supposed to move as little as possible, a limb expressing itself seperately is weak and flimsy, but with the whole body it’s stable and powerful.

But once you understand concepts like the six harmonies in Kung-fu or what my MMA called would call ‘marriage of the limbs and head’ or just ‘marriage’ finding how how to move the arms without moving them is easy. Once you understand limbs move together from the ground up, you simply put your arm in whatever position you want it to be to grapple or strike, and then simply create the motion from anywhere but your arm. Now are some places better than others? Sure. But move the arm where it needs to go, and let the body take care of the rest.

It’s not hard.

Yet I understand now why this is so foundational to what Rick teaches.

Because today I taught a lesson, the student hurt himself missing a punch because he punched only with his arm and hip. I did some drill for his expression and retraction in striking to come from his feet and knees. Not only was his power better, but he was less likely to hurt himself when throwing the strikes, more in balance, and far more powerful with far less effort.

It’s almost the perfect recipe for form. Good form for striking is for the movement to primarily be generated from anywhere but the limb moving.

The grappling application is even more simple. IN striking the arm needs to atlest move into position, it still has to expand and unfold outward, with the rest of the motion from the body.


But in grappling, just put your limbs where they need to be, and do the rest with your body. If your grip separates it’s line from the rest of your body, you’re probably moving the arm separate from the rest of the body.

Connection between body and arm breaking is what makes or breaks a good whizzer.