Everybody confuses this concept of power with strength, or big muscles, or other things. But power has nothing to do with muscles or strength. The truth of the matter is that Power has to do with stabilizing your body as a motor.
A motor is two poles between which there is tension. Whether it is a pull or a push, the tension between two terminals creates a motor. Push on another body and you have a motor, love somebody and you have a motor, play a game with somebody and you have a motor, and so on from the smallest to the largest objects in this universe.
In the world of physics as we know it on this planet, a motor, unless held in place, will move as result of the forces it is creating and using. A car motor has motor mounts, brackets, which hold the machine in place, lest it flip over and fall on the ground. A helicopter has a tail rotor to hold it in place and stop it from spinning around.
In the martial arts one must hold oneself in place to weather an attack, or to launch an attack. That is the purposes of stances, incidentally, not to make strong legs, but to hold the body in place, or to launch it. Once one learns how to use stances in this manner one is able to use energy much more efficiently.
Now boxing, or the mixed martial arts type of fisticuffs, does not use stances, and they waste energy, and do not build it. Thus, they must rely on the strength of individual motors such as biceps and triceps, and so on, which provide tension across the bones and enable them to move. At this point, unless there is an accident of collision, the only power provided is the weight of the arm, but when you hold the whole body in place you use the weight of the whole body, and this is efficiency.
The point here is that you must use a stance if you wish to enable the body to create true power, and this means you must sink your weight with the execution of technique. Whether you punch, or block, or do any basic motion, you must learn how to sink the weight when doing so. This will lock the motor of the body down, and actually cause the energy generator of the body to function far more efficiently, and to create usable energy in vast amounts.
I know everybody wants to hit people and win trophies, but MMA fighting doesn't create energy, it only causes the destruction of bodies. Thus, a practice of Karate, or Shaolin, or especially the wudan arts, results in massive power, and with enhancement to the body, and not damage. No offense to the big muscle fellows out there, but we are talking about true power here, the kind of power that lasts all day long, and does lead the student of traditional arts, such as karate or shaolin or wudan, to higher levels. - 31491
About the Author:
Al Case has studied martial arts for over more than 40 years. A writer for the magazines, with his own column in Inside Karate, he is the originator of Matrixing Technology. He is has written a book on developing the Most Powerful Punchin the world. You can find it, and a free ebook about Matrixing, at Monster Martial Arts.
