2015/09/17: The Fundamental Motions (Or...some of them)

So in my attempt to abstract Martial Arts (lol, math joke), I discovered that there were some motions that I could apply to almost any technique to improve it. Though I still have a long ways to go at this, I can now analyze a move, identify the key parts and how it works physically, and then learn it super quickly. Usually, a lot of those key parts involves these motions, and I will share a few of them with you now. [Standing motions there are a lot on the ground]

1. THE FALLING STEP (As described by Jack Dempsey)

I see this taught from weight evenly distributed on both heels, but Dempsey wanted nearly all of your weight to be on the forward foot. What you are doing is placing your center of gravity almost entirely over your lead foot, so that lifting your lead foot (with no weight shift beforehand) will inevitably result in you falling, resulting in a really awkward forward lurch, only to have the foot you lifted catch yourself. This move does not telegraph (because gravity is constant) and you can generate explosive amounts of force. Then you pull your back foot up.

I use this move for nearly every strike/kick that I do, particularly if I want downward momentum. And I especially do this for a lot of takedowns (that require only downward momentum). In Judo, I primarily use it to generate momentum to twist someone sideways.

2. THE FULL BODY TWIST (Shoulder whirl, Spin the wheel/Draw the bow, etc)

A lot of people in the martial arts talk about how all of the power comes from the hips. Well I'm here to rain on your parade and say that it doesn't. Don't get me wrong, your hips do swing when you do the full body twist, but because people emphasize the hip swing, they often do it too much, and they spin too much, sending all of their energy off to the side as opposed to directly into your opponent.

Imagine your entire being focused at one point two inches below your navel. Then, spin that point. You could add in some hand motions, blah blah blah, but that is the essence of it. Jack Dempsey just says to very violently hurl your shoulders. It gets the same thing done. Though Dempsey's has a bit of a whipping motion to it.

3. WEIGHT SHIFT

A lot of people are surprisingly bad at this. Done explosively, this can generate a lot of power. Here's all you have to do. Put your weight on one leg. Make sure that you put so much weight on it that, without any shifting, you can lift your other leg. Then shift your weight to your other leg and do the same thing. Wow.

4. THE "BOUNCE"

This one is kind of hard. You rely on the elastic properties of your fasciae to accomplish this; by suddenly dropping all of your weight down, your fasciae stores energy, and, combined with the ground pushing you back and your muscles activating, you get a LOT of energy. This CANNOT be done slow.

5. WAVE MOTIONS

This...is really hard to describe, but basically whatever motion you get, you let it travel through your body and have it exit in some other way. This is great for shedding impacts, or for using some strong part of your body to do an action for a weak part.

Then you can combine these and you get all sorts of neat things like corkscrewing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MixZSs9FnhA

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