The comment came up that people who study martial arts today are better than those that studied in times past because today a lot of martial artists are weightlifters and, according to pictures he’s seen, the old masters were frail old men.
Most people use muscle strength as their sole source of power until they get near attaining their black belt.
Once someone gains the technical ability to allow their power to come from technique they are able to really appreciate the martial arts and see how well thought out they are.
I’ve seen people that are 7th or 8th degree black belts and they’re still relying on their technique for all their power.
Getting power and leverage from rotating your body has been a well-kept secret in the martial arts and it was revealed as the secret of the Gojo-Ryu Karate system practiced by the Miyagi family in “The Karate Kid: Part II”. Most people I know didn’t catch that in the movie but that is what they were getting at with that toy drum.
If you’re going to throw a traditional reverse punch you’re going to need a bit of room, but what happens if your back is against a wall and your aggressor is standing a foot in front of you? You don’t have the room to do a traditional punch, but you can chamber your right hand as best you can, rotate your body to the left as hard as you can, and allow your torso to “Throw” the punch at the target.
If you turn your hips all the way to the left and then turn your torso all the way to the left as well, it will be like a compressed spring, full of energy that can be released when you rotate back the other way.
When you rotate your body back all the way to the right you can easily throw a right knife-hand strike, left punch, and either a left roundhouse kick or front kick.
Most people hold their arms up like a boxer so their aggressor can see their hands in full view, but when you rely on rotation your entire body is moving all at once and it is hard to see an individual strike in time to block or evade it.
Another nice thing is that each strike will hide the one behind it.
In the example I gave above the rotation will partially hide the knife-hand strike, the knife-hand strike will nearly entirely hide the left punch, and the left punch will nearly entirely hide the left roundhouse kick.
The faster you can move your fist the more force you can deliver in your punch.
Almost all grabs and holds can be escaped from by simply rotating your body one way or the other.
The Upper-Black Belt and/or Master: Very few people today really learn about rotation and even fewer learn about one of the most closely guarded secrets in the martial arts.
Did you ever see an old skinny Chinese master give a martial arts demonstration where he seemingly just touches his partner and they lift up in the air or are thrown across the room? The way they do that is not by using the mystical “Chi” or anything like that, but by using… their bodyweight! Transferring your bodyweight into someone is one of the most closely guarded secrets because it is the most powerful.
The secret is not really using your bodyweight as much as how to transfer that body weight into your target.
Transferring your bodyweight is so powerful because it is deceptive and hard to see; everyone is watching for the arm to swing in a big motion so they know the punch is coming at them, but if you rely on bodyweight as your source of power your arms actually make a very small move by comparison and that movement is usually seen but its usually not considered an aggressive movement so the person stands there and watches themselves get hit.
Even if you’re sick and feeling weak and frail and you can’t deliver a decent punch you still weigh the same.
Even if your arms are full of groceries you can still use your bodyweight to strike with, and in fact the added weight of the groceries will increase your weight allowing you to strike harder.
Your bodyweight is the ultimate source of power and once mastered you can easily end an altercation in one blow.
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