Before and after I got my black belt. Before and after I took up training in kickboxing, BJJ and MMA wrestling, people always said my movement was slow and awkward, but somehow I landed well and I defended well.
But I was never described as explosive. Weird timing, good fundamentals once they understood what I was doing, but never seen as a fast guy.
In fact one reason I got good at breaking distance, and focussed on it with my teachers was a combination of chance(My taiji teacher was really good at exploding from long distances back in his kumite days, and Rick Wilson was good at reading an opponent and being hard to read) and the fact it was a focus of mine, because I never had the explosiveness to do it myself. So my teachers taught me how to on my request, and my own research.
Now this post has alot to do with the concept of ‘peng’ from tai chi, but in our school we interpret it as natural elasticity of the body.
We have always studied this concept for years, and I applied it mostly when somenoe pressed against me or my fist, but in my movement only sporadically.
Fast-forward to a month ago, and my Taiji and Karate teacher explored the concept more, and freely applied. They realized and how the body behaves like springs at different joints. Like springs, the body can be compressed and released to explode, it can be stretched which causes an elastic pull back, moved to the side to spring back into position, or torqued.
More importantly, they discovered when one type of compression or stretched happened one place, the ‘opposite’ would happen in another.
How this manifested in me is that it meant I could explode in any direction, because there was a form of natural, effortless force going in all places.
I do not manifest it like the other guys who train with Rick, but I explored the concept in my own way, but on a principle level it was the same.
I knew it improved my movement, but I didn’t think anything else about it.
However, the last two times I did strike with students, they commented that ‘I’m explosive for a fat man my size, and move well’
I asked them what they meant about that, and they pointed out when sparring with me, I would twich and suddenly explode, forward, back, to the side, shift stance explosively. I was catching them off gaurd, and they did not know what direction I would move at.
Now the only difference in my movement is changes in how to release the foot, and using elasticity to direction change.
That got me thinking, just how do people define athleticism?
They define it by direction change.
I am not a professional football or rugby player, and I sure as hell don’t have the footwork of willy pep.
In fact for years people said I was awkward, and assumed I was never athletic. Which I am not.
But no one had told me they could teach me to be athletic, never. That I could learn to do direction change without doing some physical exercise or plyometrics, and even those that said I could learn mobility exercises and plyometrics said there were limits.
And yes, there will always be limits.
But taiji and karate teacher didn’t set out and say “We will cheat athleticism” but instead said “We will find ways to move, effortless ways”
In fact, they went out of their way to make sure we did not exert effort. The effect of athleticism was there, but if actual muscles and explosive effort was used, they would make you do it all over again, until you did it. It’s almost a cliché among our training group, but they say, “Don’t do it. Allow it to happen. Chase how to do it, not the effect” which is something I still struggle with.
However, the result is, especially with their recent discoveries is to fine a spring, and when springs are released, they explode.
Athleticism is exploding, in multiple directions. By finding different ways the springs of the body moves, there are different directions.
It allowed me to create the illusion of being ‘light’ on my feet, when in reality I’m rooted and heavy, but as I root into the ground, a spring is pressed or stretched.
I’ve been told from the beginning I’m evasive, but now apparently I’m fast now with it.
Thing is though, this isn’t limited to sparring.
This guy isn’t even doing it properly like the football players, but in multiple opponents or if someone is aggressively coming toward you, instead of doing a first strike, you can juke or change direction. Either they arn’t aggressive and just stand there bewildered, or like in the clip above the guy attacking over extends, and now you know you’re in a fight, but your opponent is out of position. I stole the concept by Steve Morris, who due to his cranky personality, tends to have clip after clip after clip demonstrating a concept as he rants. Videos of people being aggressive, and someone Jukes and walks away, or the attacker tries to chase them and gets out of position, where they get clobbered.
Now imagine if the guy above was actually athletic, or learned to explode with the springs of the body, he would look better but probably explode better. The fact even doing it unskilled gave the result above in the GIF file shows how good a tactic it is.
While the concept of Juking in an assault or multiple opponents’ scenario is something I first saw from Steve Morris, Rick Wilson introduced the concept of moving through empty space and understanding it. If you learn to utilize the natural springs in the body and you’re aware of space, you can move through a crowd well trying to get at you by juking, and you would use different springs compressing or stretching to shift direction.
I don’t have a clip of it, but at WISE WARRIOR GYM I did some classes on multiple opponent training where people wander in a crowd trying to touch or grab a hold of you. I looked for the space, and I compressed my legs, then exploded into space.
The comments I got was that I performed the drill well.
Knowing where to recognize space, and being sensitive to it, combined with body mechanics and springs, one can cheat athleticism.
Or one can learn how to use football and Rugby in self-defence.
What's the deal with Adeel? 