For defensive techniques we need to be strong enough to withstand or redirect any attack. Offensive techniques need to be strong enough to break, damage, control or subdue any part of the opponent. Our stances need to be strong enough keep us standing, stances also help us use and execute the other techniques.
We train for years with the goal to make our body strong, and for it to be strong enough to overcome any force it needs be solid like a rock… right?
Wrong!
Lets look at one stance as an example 'Sanchin Dachi'.
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| Chojun Miyagi testing a student's Sanchin Dachi... or maybe starting a conga line... either one is good. |
You're at training, standing in Sanchin Dachi and Sensei is testing everyone's stances (we've all been there).
As you stand there, you hear Sensei getting closer you tense every muscle as hard as you can, in effect trying to be like a rock - making the muscles as hard as diamonds. The hope being that when Sensei pushes you; you are the complete embodiment of the concept of the 'immovable object'!
What ends up happening is Sensei pushes you from behind and in spite of how tight your muscles are, you feel your toes digging into the floor but it's not enough, you fall forward.
The conclusion you come to is that you didn't do it strong enough, your stance must need more work, you need to make your legs and core stronger....
But is that what went wrong?
For many people (especially in the early years of training) this might be true, you might need to work on leg and core strength, but it's not always what went wrong.
Some Budoka have perfectly adequate strength, but it's something else that they doing that fails to provide the stability.
The mistake is in trying to be completely solid. Being totally solid and rigid means there's no give.
A diamond is crazy solid and rigid, it has no give. So what happens when enough force is applied?
That poor diamond :(
The same is what happened to your Sanchin Dachi when Sensei pushed you, everything is crazy rigid and strong until a certain point as there's no give. Your whole body is already so tense that the only place that tried to absorb the energy was in your toes, just your toes, when you have your whole body to use you try to absorb all the force right at the end in the very tips of your feet.
The trick is to make your muscles tight and strong but pliable, so that you're able to distribute the force all over, so the bigger muscles can help absorb the energy too.
The easiest way to test this is to stand on a Bus or Train without holding onto anything, you will soon be able to tell that being completely rigid doesn't really help you stay stable. It's more about being mostly tense but still pliable, strong but with a little bit of movement.
I like to think of it being less like rock and more like the rubber they make car tyres with... or hockey pucks ;)
That rubber is quite stiff but absorbs impacts really well.
This doesn't just apply to Sanchin Dachi or even stances. This attitude can be applied to all techniques.
When thinking about the use of muscles and strength, always remember the concept of Elasticity over Rigidity.
Being completely solid will, at best fail as a technique, and at worst lead to your serious injury.
Be more like a hockey puck and less like a diamond.
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