Topic: Tension or relaxation for speed of movement?

[AndyDavis]

I am really enjoying reading Moving Zen and particularly enjoyed the analogy of flowing movement becoming stone at the moment of impact. In order to improve 'stepping speed' is it best to aim for tension or relaxed fluidity?
I have been trying to improve the speed forward stepping punches but don't know if trying to tense myself up like a spring before the technique is making the movement 'clunky'. Is the key to speed tension or relaxation or a combination of the two? 

[Lloydie]

Hi Andy,

It is a matter of relaxing some muscles whilst allowing others to generate power.  The antagonistic muscles need to relax and the protagonistic muscles contract to generate the punch.  However, as important as this is correct body alignment and rotation of the hips.  This brings into play the bigger muscles of the body, and generates more power than could be achieved by the arms alone.  Tension should come at the very end of the technique. 

That's my understanding, although I'm not by any means expert on this.

Lloydie

[brywithay]

Hello Andy - It's definitely relaxation, since you have no hope of moving efficiently if you are tensed up .  Doing a lot of "on the spot " Oi-zuki is good exercise for this - which involves standing from shizentai - feet shoulder width apart in Choku zuki. 
From there step forward - slide DON'T STAMP into Zenkutsu Dachi- toes first, aiming to keep the back driving legs' heel firmly on the floor at the point of kime which drives your hip forward on the hikite side.
Come back up with the front leg making sure your bum is tucked in and not sticking out when you come back up - do 5 on 1 x side and repeat on the other and try some Oi-zukis'  up and down to see if you feel a difference.  Remember with Choku zuki - the reaction hand coming back is meant to be faster than the punching hand (hikite) - shoulders always relaxed. You should have hours of happy fun ;-D

[JimmyTheHoover]

Hi Andy,

I addition to the previous remarks regarding power generation and the effect of fast moving biody mass on impact power, I'd like to contribut to the speed of movement aspects by suggesting that it's vitally  important to try to acheiv a smooth  transition following on from the driving force of the rear leg and hips with a feeling of "pulling" your body weght forward using the front leg as the weight comes off the back leg.

[AndyDavis]

Many thanks to everyone for the guidance. I will certainly try to put your suggestions into practice. For me one of the hardest elements of karate is relaxing into movements as the harder I try to gain speed and power the more I seem to tense up, thus defeating the majority of the object and causing muscles that shold be 'in neutral' to work against the movement that i'm after. Hopefully it will come with practise. Thanks again for the advice.

[JimmyTheHoover]

Many thanks to everyone for the guidance. I will certainly try to put your suggestions into practice. For me one of the hardest elements of karate is relaxing into movements as the harder I try to gain speed and power the more I seem to tense up, thus defeating the majority of the object and causing muscles that shold be 'in neutral' to work against the movement that i'm after. Hopefully it will come with practise. Thanks again for the advice.

Hi Andy - glad to try to help 

If it's any consolation you're not alone - it's a constant struggle to not tense up when under pressure - I often hear the shouts of " relax" "breath" "too tense" aimed at my partners (Ahem  ) 

Let us know how you get on.

[Lloydie]

check this analysis (of a boxing punch) out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKRdUoyUEp4

Lloydie

[siwan]

shane s got that whole programme on video. some interesting stuff on it

[JimmyTheHoover]

shane s got that whole programme on video. some interesting stuff on it

Sorry Siw - but I thought that the whole program was utter cr@p 

[siwan]

why? I though the technology they used to measure the impact of strikes was good

[siwan]

i know it s not a reliable way to generally compare strikes from  martial arts,and i took it with a pinch of salt.  But hey, I still enjoyed bits of it.Mind you, i like neighbours.

[JimmyTheHoover]

why? I though the technology they used to measure the impact of strikes was good

It wasn't the "technology" bits I objected to - although they really should have credited "Kiss of The Dragon"  -  but the really haphazard and unscientific way (IMO) that they pretended to compare the various techniques across the different martial arts - lots of apples with oranges (again  IMO) for example most martial arts have "similar" punches and kicks available to them - albeit perhaps delivered differently so I felt that to be truly "scientific" they should have compared similar punches across differnet arts etc.

.....oh and it just lost any credibility when the "Karate Twat"  - insisted in performing every technique with his top off - although I guess that may have been a plus point for you Siw   

I did really enjoy the conditioning/breaking guys though - 

.....and there's nothing wrong with Neighbours - I just couldn't eat a whole one - unless it was Kylie or Danni