Crazy Monkey Defense Official Blog

Movement Artistry

At the end of my article ‘A Punch Is Not Just A Punch, A Kick Is Not Just A Kick!’ I briefly discussed some of the things I have learnt from an embodied perspective of training martial arts. This is also something I am deeply passionate about and forms a central role in the Crazy Monkey Defense Program.

I thought in this article it would be fun to expand upon those few concepts listed in the article above, but this time to look at it more from a perspective of improving actual boxing skill.

Everyone regardless of level in modern martial arts would like to throw a better jab, cross or hook. Many people spend an inordinate amount of time trying to perfect those techniques, often with little or no real success. When success happens, it tends to be sporadic at best.

One of my trainers in training Marc commented recently while I was sparring him, “I just don’t understand how you deliver power with your punches, no matter where you throw them from, they always have that pop”.

My answer, “it is all about Somatic Martial Arts in action!”

What Is Somatic Martial Arts®™ (SMA)
SMA is a program I developed as plug-in course for the CMD Program.

The word ‘somatic’ comes from the ancient Greek somat (body).

Broadly somatics, especially when it is brought together with psychology can be seen as a field of study that bridges the Mind-Body dichotomy. When we approach training from a somatic perspective, what we are focusing on is the body and the mind as a whole, while having a mindful awareness of the complex reciprocal relationship within the body and the mind itself.

Most people approach their martial art training and attempts to enhance technique from a purely cognitive based stand point. The body is seen as merely a machine and rationality is the ultimate answer to improving game (Even though ironically most of our decisions are emotionally driven, not rational).

Somatics however focuses on the interrelationship of mind and body – not as independent systems – but rather as one and the same. Mind therefore extends all the way to the tips of the fingers and toes.

As a Registered Somatic Movement Educator (www.ismeta.org), I cannot overemphasize  the importance of a somatic approach to enhancing martial movement, as well as it’s use in improving technique performance. Furthermore somatics offers a holistic approach to martial expression. It would not be incorrect to say that somatic martial arts offers an embodied philosophy to fully integrate mind, body and spirit.

Some SMA Movement Principles
Below are some of my secrets:)

I have to keep it brief for the sake of this article, but many of my Trainers have attended my Somatic Martial Art seminar where I cover these and many other concepts, with accompanying drills. We have a ton of fun in these seminars and there is always plenty of ‘Aha’ moments.

All Movement Is Connected: Ask most people what makes the jab work from a movement perspective and either they have a hard time explaining why or if they do they will say something like, “put your shoulder behind it”.

You can often see their lack of understanding of their movement in their technique when sitting on the sidelines. look carefully and you will see so many people just punching with their arm. Now unless you are a 400-pound Samoan, punching with your arm will do little in the way of generating real power.

If you want to understand movement efficiency and connectivity – which ultimately will lead to a powerful punch – you need to first identify the punches movement origin.

Any guesses?

The floor. Yes the floor!

All boxing punches start from the ground, then move up to the punch itself. The quality and feel of your feet on the floor is the first chain in movement efficiency, leading to connecting the entire movement cycle to the jab for example and ultimately power.

Lets look at the jab.

The jab does not happen in movement isolation. Several movement components need to come together in order to make the jab work. The floor is where it starts, then there is a transference of weight from the rear ankle to the front. Then the movement moves up the leg, into the hip, through the back, past the scapula, into the front of the shoulder and finally into the arm itself.

If you look at the jab from this perspective, the arm is actually the least important part in the chain of events leading up to the jab. If you can synchronize all those movement points or ‘phrases’ from the floor, to the ankle etc, in perfect sequence, one after the other, you will not only enhance the movement efficiency and fluidity of your jab, but the power as well. In fact you will quickly hit three times harder than you ever have.

How do you train this?

Do some isolation punches, like the jab, on it’s own. You can do it in the air or on a bag. Try and see if you can figure out the movement sequence as it starts from the floor and finally moves up and through the punch. Try and see if you can hit every point in that sequence as you throw the next and the next punch. Keep doing it over and over, hitting all the movement points in sequence and before you know it your punch will be more fluid and you will be hitting much harder.

Breath Enlivens Movement: Here is a quick experiment. Get a buddy to hold up some focus mitts. Now throw jabs and crosses as fast and as hard as you can, but hold your breath while doing it (Do it for 10 seconds). Now do the same thing and breath in when you are punching. Finally do the same thing but give a strong FULL exhale every time you jab and cross.

Which one was better?

My bet is if you tried the first two, you would feel that you lost all your power and speed. In the first example where you held your breath, the power and speed would drop quickly after the 5 second mark. On the second example you would feel that breathing in when punching, almost made you feel like you were pulling your punches, instead of pushing them forward. Almost like pulling the string back on a bow, but not releasing the arrow.

On the third version of a full exhale when jabbing and crossing you would have felt that your punches were far more powerful.

Simply breath enlivens movement.

Knowing then when and where to breath will make a huge difference in the efficiency of your martial movement. Bottom line how and when you breath can either improve your technique or tear it down.

Active Groundedness: Another way at looking at being actively grounded is balance. I don’t mean balance as in standing still, but rather balance in movement. Actually balance is one of the 4-main drivers of an effective stand-up game and something that we actively coach in the CMD Program.

You ground your technique by having an active relationship with connecting with the ground beneath your feet as you move.

One of the best ways to find out if you are in ‘balance’ is simply to close your eyes. Throw some punches while moving around with your eyes open, then do the same with your eyes closed. You will notice that when your eyes are closed and you move and punch, you will be more aware of your balance in movement. This awareness is different than when your eyes are open, you feel this awareness rather than seeing it.

Within that lies the secret, to be actively grounded in movement, you have to allow your body to ‘feel’ when it is in and out of balance. This is something you cannot ‘think’ your way into.

That’s why hooking together connected movement, breath and actively grounding yourself with balance while moving, begins to give you a clearer picture of what it would ‘feel’ like to move with artistry.

If you want to you can do all of this with your eyes closed, out of shadow boxing.

The Intention Behind Movement: This begins as more of a mental and emotional component, which then directly leads to how movement is expressed. Intention is therefore driven from the context within which the movement is executed. Further intention organizes the neuromuscular system for action. For example many guys use anger and aggression to drive their movement, especially in sparring.

All emotional expressions have their advantages and disadvantages. Overall movement that is generated by non-attachment to any particular emotion tends to fair a lot better under stress than those attached to specific emotional state.

Anger for instance is often useful in short bursts, but does not have staying power. Try to stay angry while punching as hard as you can for 60 seconds or more and you will burn yourself out completely. How many times have you seen someone get really angry in a sparring match, charge out and for a brief moment they get the better of their opponent. The opponent however is able to ride the storm, and then turns the table on the aggressor.

Why?

Because anger as mentioned earlier is a short burst emotion. If the aggressor was able to Finnish the fight there an there, it would have been worthwhile, but if not, it is going to be a very long day indeed.

Calmness and centered states behind intentional movement on the other hand have longevity. They are fuel for those times where one is required to perform for an extended period of time. What you want is to work your sparring and the subsequent movement arising from your body from a detached, but focused state. Just because you are not attaching to an emotion, does not mean you cannot be completely focused in the moment of movement.

Complexity In Movement: Movement is complex. It is made even more complex when dealing with an opponent. When your mind is thinking about so many things, plus having to deal with the emotions that are creeping up and your body is trying to break through all this interference to make the right moves- well lets just say no wonder your body ends up doing the opposite of what you wanted it to do at times.

Dealing with this complexity can seem overwhelming at first.

The key to success is to have a handful of performance cues, that activate a workable bridge  between mind, emotion and body. These cues are what you say to yourself over and over in sparring, nothing else. They keep you task focused and help keep your mind be present, stopping it from wondering off. Everyone is likely to develop different performance cues that work for them, but here are mine:

• Breath (A focus on the exhale)
• Defense first (Then hit. Safety first. Safety first does not mean passivity, it just means being smart).
• Move (A tank can have all the latest weapons on board, but a tank regardless of how technological advanced it is, is still a sitting duck without wheels).
• Stay here ( A call to remain centered and task focused).

It seems to simple, but by having performance cues and keeping them running through you head, while someone is trying to punch your head off, keeps you in the present, it keeps you focusing on the stuff that does really matter.
As your mind can only entertain one thought at a time, why not keep it focused on stuff that really matters and most importantly the stuff you can control. I cannot control what your opponent may do next, but you can control your reaction to it. You can buy into what he is doing or forcing you to do, or keep focused on what keeps your game at it’s best. Mental game is never an accident, it is always on purpose.

How does this affect your movement?

Simply how you feel is often how you are thinking. If my mind is occupied with what really matters and counts in my game, then it tells me my body is where it should be.

Rodney King

Registered Somatic Movement Educator

This content is published under the Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported license.