Understanding Your Body's Potential

So you are out and about, doing what you like to do in your free time, and you see two men who are seconds away from the slug fest of the century. One of these men looks like he could bench press a VW Beetle and the other man looks as if he would float away if the wind were to blow hard enough.

Judging from the looks of the two individuals, it seems that the altercation is going to be extremely one sided and the poor little guy is going to be smashed, right? Well, I will be the first to tell you that looks can be highly deceiving.

In self defense, and in everyday life, learning how to properly use our body can be a very important tool for success. Honestly, and speaking from experience, you don’t always have to be the biggest and strongest person in the fight to come out successful.

Sure, it helps if you can lift small vehicles with ease, but real strength goes far beyond muscular contractions. Learning and utilizing proper body mechanics can give you a completely new type of strength that you never knew you had.

When I talk about body mechanics, I’m talking about understanding why the body moves the way it does, what to do to help it move better, and understanding how to use your full body to accomplish a given task. Think of it this way, if I were to push a very heavy dresser across a room, would I want to limit all of the pushing to just my arms? Or would it be better to use my entire body?

The same concept applies to self defense. If you have to punch someone, it is better to use your entire body rather than just your arms. Same goes for kicks, elbows, and all other strikes.

For better body mechanics in self defense, there are many aspects to consider, but the most important are distortions, chain of movement, and rooting.

Understanding distortions helps you know how to move to keep from being hit, and helps you understand how your body will move when struck. If you’ve ever watched a UFC, boxing, or a kickboxing fight you have probably seen very good examples of how to move to keep from being hit. You have also probably seen what happens when you don’t. Examples of good movement include bobbing, weaving, ducking and slipping.

If you are in a fight, there is little to no chance that you will be not hit at least once; no matter how much you work on movement. Since this is a reality in self defense, it is important to know how your body will react to being hit and it’s equally important to learn how to use that reaction to put you in a better position overall.

Understanding, and properly utilizing, the chain of movement as it pertains to self defense is incredibly important. And doing so correctly can help you utilize so much more power than without. When you are defending yourself, you probably wouldn’t want to throw your kicks with just legs, your punches with just arms.

The chain of movement always starts from the ground. When throwing a punch, you will want to start generating power from your feet using the ground to push off. Driving with the calf, then the knee, the quad, driving the hips, engaging the core, driving with the shoulders, using the biceps and the triceps, driving with the elbow, engaging the forearm, using the wrist, the force travels all the way through the fist.

Therefore, instead of just using the total weight you are able to bench press, you use force generated from the ground and hit with every ounce of weight, strength and power your body can muster.

And because force comes from the ground, rooting is incredibly important. When you’re working on rooting better, think about sinking your weight. This helps to gain stability, foundation, and power. When you are properly rooted you have a great base that will help you in everything you try to do. If you are poorly rooted or not rooted at all, it will be easy for you to be toppled and ultimately taken over.

Bruce Lee was well known for being able to hit and kick very hard. There are a few videos on the internet where he displayed his skill with the one inch and four inch punch. With only one inch of space and at roughly 150 pounds, Bruce could knock someone clear across a room.

Although he was extremely strong to begin with, Bruce was a master of his own body and its mechanics. He knew how to generate power using more than just his muscles.

If you learn how to properly use your body and its mechanics, you have a much better chance of winning a fight, no matter how much you can lift.

#bodymechanics #chainofmovement #rooting #force #BruceLee