In the martial arts, I don't care if it is tae kwon do, fut ga, Shotokei, or whatever, there are three key ingredients. These three essentials are what makes an art an art, and they are why people become obsessed with the arts. Oddly, one of the ingredients is virtually unknown.
One of the ingredients is the pursuit of strength. Muscle mags are filled with strength advertisements, and everybody obsesses on strength. Oddly, strength is the least important of the three essential techniques of the martial arts.
Another ingredient is technique, and this is the most important of the three essentials. Technique is measured by how little effort you need to make a move work. If you need a lot of strength, then your technique is not very good.
The second most important essential to good martial arts, and the one most people are missing, deals with speed. Interestingly, at least in the beginning, speed is absolutely vital to make a technique work. Yet strength is what everybody obsesses about.
Yes, people try to get faster, but it is an individual effort, and usually put aside when they chase strength. People believe that having more strength is going to make them faster martial artists, you see. Well, it will, but there are flexibility problems with the concept, and the speed gained is not always enough.
Speed must be developed in a fashion which tailors it to the technique. As knowledge of technique rises, so should the escalation of speed. In my over 40 years of martial arts I have found only one technique which develops speed in the proper manner.
The Speed Drill is nothing more than a simple slap and grab motion, and yet it is so much more. It makes all techniques as easy as slapping a slow buzzing fly. And every technique can be altered to take advantage of the slap and grab Speed Drill.
So practice the strength of Uechi, and build the technique of Aikido. Work the sticky hands of Wing Chun and focus your concentration into the great nothingness through Tai Chi Chuan. But if you want sheer, raw, powerful speed...you need to practice The Speed Drill. - 30300
One of the ingredients is the pursuit of strength. Muscle mags are filled with strength advertisements, and everybody obsesses on strength. Oddly, strength is the least important of the three essential techniques of the martial arts.
Another ingredient is technique, and this is the most important of the three essentials. Technique is measured by how little effort you need to make a move work. If you need a lot of strength, then your technique is not very good.
The second most important essential to good martial arts, and the one most people are missing, deals with speed. Interestingly, at least in the beginning, speed is absolutely vital to make a technique work. Yet strength is what everybody obsesses about.
Yes, people try to get faster, but it is an individual effort, and usually put aside when they chase strength. People believe that having more strength is going to make them faster martial artists, you see. Well, it will, but there are flexibility problems with the concept, and the speed gained is not always enough.
Speed must be developed in a fashion which tailors it to the technique. As knowledge of technique rises, so should the escalation of speed. In my over 40 years of martial arts I have found only one technique which develops speed in the proper manner.
The Speed Drill is nothing more than a simple slap and grab motion, and yet it is so much more. It makes all techniques as easy as slapping a slow buzzing fly. And every technique can be altered to take advantage of the slap and grab Speed Drill.
So practice the strength of Uechi, and build the technique of Aikido. Work the sticky hands of Wing Chun and focus your concentration into the great nothingness through Tai Chi Chuan. But if you want sheer, raw, powerful speed...you need to practice The Speed Drill. - 30300
About the Author:
Al Case has learned martial arts for 4O+ years. A writer for the magazines, he is the originator of Matrixing Technology and Neutronics. You can learn more about The Speed Drill here, or you can head on over to the main site and pick up his free ebook on Matrixing.
