Generating Maximum Power

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Generating Maximum Power

I remember for much of my youth my martial arts training revolved around speed. I was always trying to punch and kick faster. Often you were judged on how many strikes you could deliver in a given amount of time.

We’ve previously already discussed the importance of striking a specific target on the other guy’s body, so lets talk about speed. Where does it factor in when you fight?

First a little physics is in order — Force x Velocity = Power.

Most instructors in the combat sport and martial arts world focus on just one aspect of the equation… Speed. (Speed is how fast an object moves, velocity is how fast an object moves from point a to b.)

Why?

Because most of those disciplines are taught in what Target-Focus(TM) Training terms the Effect-State(tm). The Effect-State revolves around you reacting to an event that already has occurred. In fact, it can be argued that most of society operates in this defensive state of mind. That subject would require a separate post altogether.

In a fight it is natural that if you operate in a Effect-State you will try to compensate for your waiting to see what the other guy is doing — with speed.

Problem is… speed without force is only a portion of the equation, and even if your targeting is accurate, you strike with static force. In fighting, a static-force strike would be a punch using only your arm speed to strike rather than putting your entire bodyweight behind the punch.

Essentially, in the context of fighting, a speed-only response equals FEAR. I’m not saying it can’t be effective sometimes, just that you are counting on ALWAYS being able to be faster than the other guy.

I don’t like those odds.

Target-Focus(TM) Training was developed with the idea that you may not be faster or stronger than the other guys but you compensate for those realities by operating in the Cause-State(tm), striking with dynamic rather than static force.

I’ve touched on operating in the Cause-State in earlier newsletters so lets explore using dynamic force.

Dynamic force allows you to strike with the full power equation, putting your bodyweight behind each strike to maximize damage and minimize the length of the conflict.

The key to generating dynamic force is understanding how to properly lock your body and transfer your body weight into each strike. This can be accomplished quickly with some basic exercises and on-the-mat training at a Target-Focus(TM) Training seminar.

Although it is beyond the scope of this newsletter to try to instruct this method, I will say that one way to start the process is to SLOW DOWN your free-fight sessions, hit your targets, and leave your body weapon on the target until your opponent MOVES AWAY from your body weapon.

Most people strike and quickly take their body weapon off the target. This does not allow for the force of the blow to penetrate the other guy’s body. It is the other guy that should move from the force if you want to generate maximum power. This also gives you feedback as to whether you are in balance when you strike.

You may do this at slow speeds and get the feedback without injuring your training partner. Quickly, you and your training partner can increase your speed AND deliver maximum power.

So let Hollywood entertain you with SPEED but make sure you TRAIN for POWER.

Until next time,

Tim Larkin
Creator of Target-Focus(TM) Training

PS. If you’re planning to attend a live training session, don’t put off your registration. Classes are limited. You can register today at:Live Target-Focused Training

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Shredding Heads – Not Paper

The Shredder™. A Close Quarter Conceptual Tool

Before dismissing the Shredder based on the graphic logo and ‘colorful’ name, read on and learn a little more about it. It will do nothing but enhance your training regardless of what system or style you train in.

The Shredder has become one of the most controversial innovations in modern self-defense and martial arts training. Shredder seminars are in constant demand and the concept has been incorporated by hundreds of martial artists and law enforcement personnel world wide.

The Shredder is a scientifically supported, physiologically based and behaviorally driven concept. Those who disagree with the Shredder concept are disagreeing with the physiological rules that govern the human body, genetic wiring and behavioral and psychological functions.

“The Shredder, when deployed as designed, immediately creates the “defensive reflexive response” in one’s opponent. He has no choice but to defend and become the prey! The body becomes a slave to it’s own reactions… it avoids punishment, it reacts to physical, psychological and visual stimulus. The Shredder attacks all of the body’s systemic weaknesses all at once. Devastating and overwhelming the body and mind’s capacity to the advantage of the one skilled in deploying it.”
- Aaron Sawabi

Unique to Senshido, the Shredder was discovered through comparison between real fights and how they were executed, through scenario replications with no consent performed in real time/real speed and the examination of performance in these situations by trained martial artists and untrained people as well. Another factor of its development were the instant reactions the Shredder had on those it was used on, even at its development stage. The reaction was always the same, instant panic with the inherent attempts at defensive disengagement. Something occurred on a psychological level, it wasn’t just the reception of pain but a complete predator to prey shift.

Senshido’s physical retaliation principles dictated its path. We have 5 principles of physical retaliation, they are (in no particular order)

1. Economy of motion
2. Non telegraphic movement
3. Opportunity Striking
4. Tactile sensitivity
5. Primary target acquisition.

These principles dictated that when striking, it was logical to make sure that the time frame between strikes was as short as possible in order to offer your opponent less of a chance to reflexively & defensively react to the attack. Because the startle to flinch response is a reliable physiological process that acts as an effective protective mechanism (we, Senshido, utilize it in terms of a launching pad off an ambush or surprise attack), I deemed it necessary to come up with a retaliatory concept that bypassed this phenomenon.

As I analyzed this process and realized its validity as a defense mechanism which is not only quicker and much more reliable than any memorized technique but also non perishable and impossible to bypass when it overrides cognitive processing, I began to design a concept of attack that bypassed this ‘involuntary’ triggered response.

Real violence will more often than not begin with an attack on the mind which triggers an emotional response. Our survival mechanism is connected to what is called the autonomic nervous system; this system controls all voluntary and involuntary functions. It is also divided into 2 systems, one being the parasympathetic nervous system and the other being the sympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system is the one that controls our actions and thoughts in non stressful environments. It controls fine motor skills, cognitive processing and a host of other functions related; however when threat is perceived, the sympathetic nervous system takes over which triggers the survival mechanisms or ‘fight or flight’ response. The release of adrenaline by the sympathetic nervous system increases blood flow and arterial pressure causing a large amount of blood to be pumped into the larger muscles resulting in gross motor functions and applications.

The sympathetic nervous system hinders the functional use of cognitive processing, visual performance and fine motor skills. Modern scientific research and studies have shown us that under the influence of the sympathetic nervous system, only gross motor skills are performed optimally. Consequently, the ambush or immediate threat introduced quickly and with minimal or no prior warning will trigger the sympathetic nervous system. Understanding that these physiological rules preside during high stress situations, these scientific facts became the corner stone for the concept of the Shredder.

For starters, each tool used had to be based on gross motor applications due to the very fact that the cognitive brain’s overriding by the mid brain restricted access to finer motor skills found in most martial arts. Therefore the tools had to be instinctual and primal in nature but simply fine tuned in a way that allowed its delivery to be more acute then if one were to ‘just go berserk’. The ‘beat’ in between the delivery of each strike had to be shortened from the traditional ‘half beat’ to a quarter beat, meaning, the time frame in between each tool finding its intended target was much shorter and therefore quicker then, for example, the usual jab/cross combo in boxing.

Although a real fight is arrhythmic in nature, it still functions in ‘beats’, a frame of time between blows/strikes. The very nature of the retraction of a tool (fist/foot/knee/elbow etc.) creates a beat as the time frame between each strike triggers the ‘victim’s’ amygdala (a small almond shaped portion of the brain which triggers the protective/defensive flinch) to kick into action creating a defensive reflexive response. You see it in murder victims, defensive wounds in the hands and arms. The reason being is there was a time frame there regardless of the speed of the attack which permitted the victim’s arms to reflexively come up and instinctively protect the vitals (eyes, throat, facial area, head etc.)

This ‘primal regression’ to gross motor skills we speak of and a lack of cognitive processing is a choice-less choice. We cannot cognitively process this response and choose to adopt it. Much like when driving a car, if a child or a dog all of a sudden jumped 5 to 10 feet in front of your moving vehicle, you do not have time to process this information. Your brain and body takes care of that for you, the stimulus is introduced to quickly and the startle to flinch response kicks in causing you to swerve out of the way while hitting the brakes as hard as you can hopefully missing the child and not killing them. Only once the situation is over do we regain access to cognitive thought process and realize what just happened and we feel the sudden blood rushing into our feet, the heart palpitations and the realization that we almost killed someone. We cannot choose to regress to that state; it is an automatic hard wired process.

It has been our experience that an untrained individual will pick up on the Shredder concept and tool much quicker and with greater ease than a trained fighter. The reason being is that the majority of martial art systems and styles are based on muscle memory and technical skills that are primarily launched by the frontal lobe of the brain which is the cognitive control center if you will.

As previously stated, we are already hard wired to survive and martial arts in general work against this natural physiological and biological process. A gap is created between what our bodies instinctively want to do and the new information that was introduced to it through our martial training. So an untrained individual adapts to the Shredder concept much quicker than a trained person would because there is no prior interference. A martial artist will try and use a fine motor skill delivery system for a gross motor tool; modern research shows that it simply cannot be done until the brain no longer perceives threat or imminent danger and adopts a predatory mind set.

What makes this approach so different to conventional striking or ‘dirty tactics’ such as the eye gouge or the throat strike etc. is that striking requires three integral elements to make it functional:

1. Distance
2. Grounding
3. Torque.

These three elements requires proper positioning, strength & athleticism to a certain degree, as well as clarity in the moment; a luxury, as stated above, we do not possess when facing threat and danger. The Shredder requires neither of these elements. It can be applied in any close quarter position, whether lying down, while falling (being taken down), at extreme close range etc. It’s comprised of tools that create maximum damage with minimal effort. Its uniqueness is to be found in its delivery and the science that backs its success.

Conventional methods of attack are all so common that through the media, the martial arts, being exposed to real fights, entertainment etc. that we have come to accept and expect a certain ‘way’ of fighting. We are to a certain extent, desensitized and so our minds are somewhat ‘prepared’ for a certain assault, a certain beat in rhythm, etc. Conventional methods are designed for distance tactics (kicks, punches, elbows, knees, head butts etc.); or grappling tactics (clinch, takedowns, submissions etc.) What makes a grappler so devastating is the fact that a striker no longer has the range, torque or grounding to make his strikes effective enough to intercept or hurt the grappler. Therefore everyone figured, correctly might I add, that they needed to learn to grapple as well. The Shredder however works best in extreme close quarter situations, especially the dreaded clinch. The closer to the opponent you are the better. The Shredder is the equalizer, or as it has been referred to by most of those who have been exposed to it including other self defense experts such as Sammy Franco of Contemporary Founding Arts, “The Missing Link in Martial Arts/Self Defense Training”.

The advantage of the Shredder is that it is a concept and tool that can be used by one and all regardless of age, gender, size or athletic ability. Although this comes across as a ‘marketing ploy’, I assure you, it isn’t. The very nature of the Shredder’s foundation is physiological, psychological and behavioral. It is ‘user friendly’ and requires no memorization of techniques, no necessity of repetitive training, no need for high levels of athleticism and is in accordance with the mind and bodies physiological rules. This offers enormous value and is a tremendous asset to any teaching and training curriculum as it can only pragmatically enhance a person’s survival skills. Hundreds of people world wide have successfully used the Shredder to survive violent confrontations and martial artists world wide have adopted this concept into their training curriculum.

Richard Dimitri / Senshido Inc. © 2004

References:

- Ray Shelton, PhD, EMT, Emergency Stress Management

- Richard H. Cox Sport Psychology Concepts and Applications Third Edition

- The Athletes Guide to Sports Psychology: Mental Skills for Physical People D.V. Harris Human Kinetics

- Ed Lovette, Dave Spaulding: Defensive Living 2000

- A.T. Wellford “Stress and Performance” Ergonomics 1973 Taylor & Francis LTD.

The Shredder is Senshido’s primary offensive arsenal and has been used successfully every single time both in real life altercations and scenario replications.

For descriptive details and instruction on the Shredder, please refer to the Deluxe Shredder Package at Dimitri’s site   http://www.senshido.com

Malcolm Keith
UltimatePressurePoints
PeterboroughMartialArts
YoshikiGoshinJutsu