Power Generation Article

[Rick Wilson]

Power Generation Article

I have posted this article on my web site and it “may” be part of the next Uechi-Ryu On-line Journal. Co-credit is given to Rick Bottomley:

http://www.wilsonkarate.com/power_generation.html

Comments are welcome.

(There is a print format feature at the bottom of the article.)


Warning it is a LONG article.

[Rick Wilson]

It has pictures too.

[Stryke]

Enjoyed both articles Rick

But this is incredibly well done and usefull , have been using it and referring to it a lot .

thanks Rick`s !!!!

[Guest]

Thats quite a piece of work Rick. Enjoyed the physics approach too, hah hah... nothing like a little math in the morning to start your day out right, hah.

[gmattson]

Well written and easily understood.

[Guest]

Rick, what do you think the inhibiting factor is for wrists and ankles? When I hit the heavy bag, if I hit really.. really hard, my wrist will fold, thus "dampening" my power transfer. Half of it might make it into the target, but the other half leaks out my wrist and ends up as "free electrons" (keeping in tune with the physics approach)... Of course, I do knucle pushups to build my wrists, but I also find that I have to wrap my hands really well to get the best transfer into the bag. That means that i'm having to rely on an artificial device to enhand my performance. Is there a point where the weak link actually shows itself?

Also, when doing a front or side kick, my ankle will tweak and it's the same effect.. especially the side kick if my impact is father away from my heal then I wanted it to me.

Seems to me you can have all the power you want, but are not just limited by friction and gravity, but there are also physical limitations as well.

Tony
p.s. One time there was this karate lady who checked my Sanchin. She didn't care for me much so she gave me an extra special treatment, the best shot she had, right in my solar plexus. Needless to say, she had no penetration and her power (what little there actually was) just kind of scattered along the surface of my skin (though some of it may have been absorbed by the fat in my "cheeseburger belly"). Her response was "good", but I took that as meaning "I almost hurt my hand trying to make a fool of you" because normally comments aren't make during a Sanchin check, espeically not in front of a test board.

[gmattson]

I've found that my wrists became very strong just by doing sanchin kata. One of the "checks" in sanchin is making sure the tendons in the wrist are flexed and hand/fingers strongly flexed like knives. Maintain this "flex" during kata, without having the rest of your upper body being rigid. (Hard to explain which is why so many students end up looking like robots when they practice their kata)

[Guest]

George, no doubt... Sanchin has made my body strong too, but nonetheless, wrists and ankles are a weak link and should be accounted for when studying power generation. Whatever formula we come up with to theorize power transfer, must be divided by some factor that represents those joints. I'm not putting down Rick's work, it's a fine piece of work, but the inhibiting factors of power generation are often overlooked.

[JimHawkins]

When I hit the heavy bag, if I hit really.. really hard, my wrist will fold, thus "dampening" my power transfer.

The horizontal fist is not structurally sound, it requires the wrist to float.. If you're willing to step outside the box I would suggest trying the WCK vertical punch..

This fist locks the wrist up and aligns the fist with the elbow and forearm, like turning the forearm into an arrow which the body then 'shoots' or fires like a bow shooting the arrow, you release all the energy from your body into that arrow. There are a few variations but this thread shows the basics...

http://forums.uechi-ryu.com/viewtopic.php?p=113827

Try it on the bag at full power once you get comfortable and squeeze the fist on contact. Ensure that the elbow stays behind the fist for power alignment, bring the elbow into the center...etc.

Note that using this vertical punch allows the elbow to be used to jam/stuff/block/off balance their attack since it is pointed down, this can be most useful…

Also try firing it from the center, down the center....

[Guest]

I'll try that Jim... but what about hooks?

[JimHawkins]

I'll try that Jim... but what about hooks?

The hook can be done with either a vertical or horizontal fist. And actually you can still use the horizontal position in a hook while locking the wrist in the manner explained above.

In fact it is the same position turned sideways.

You can try it now if you:

Place your punch out there like I did in the pic. The elbow bent and with the vertical fist locked up. Now without changing anything except your elbow simply let the elbow rotate out and up 90 degrees until your forearm is parallel with the ground.. Note that by using the same basic shape all you need to do is change the direction the elbow points in order to do:

1. A straight punch (elbow points down)
2. A shovel hook (elbow out 20-45 degrees)
3. A standard hook (elbow out 90 degrees)

You can also do

4. A whipping punch

A straight vertical punch that adds body or hip rotation as the fist is fired straight out, the result is a
fist that starts straight but then curves as body torque is added - lots of power there.

5. A splitting punch

Fist like an upper cut, elbow in but it thrusts out as it rises just a little to go under a chin or through a sternum. The elbow is very strong here and is used to jam and split their attack.

-------------------

Remember the locking of the wrist can be used even if the fist is horizontal; But note the alignment change. The real change as we move the locked fist from horizontal to vertical should be the placement of the elbow and where the contact area (bottom of fist) is. The best alignment of the first is with the elbow, keeping the two forearm bones straight like RR tracks.

The key is to try it and see how it feels to you.. If you feel like you can transfer more power, with good body connection, well then it's working for you.

Oh yeah and when you fire those straights try turning off your bicep and letting the ligaments in the arm stop your punch instead of the bicep. Work close range power with this but also work it with rotational or linier body explosion!

[Guest]

I'll work on some of this for sure Jim, but speaking of elbows... that is another weak link, especially when your distance is off. If the elbow isn't in a "sweet spot", your power will leak out the crook of it and once again, dampen your power. Of course, to much of a straight elbow... well, we all know what that can do. I hurt mine for 6 months after doing a Kakuken strike in Sanseirui incorrectly. So if you are not at the correct distance from your target, you cannot make a complete transfer. There is that "red zone" that only you can establish.. .you know what i'm saying?

[Van Canna]

Tony,

If you want very strong wrists, invest in a couple of chishi. Nothing like them to develop strong wrists.

The chishi are concrete weights that are excellent tools for developing wrist and arm strength while also developing the deltoids, trapezoids and latissimus dorsi. Translated roughly power stone, the chi shi have long been a staple device in hojo undo training on Okinawa.

Bob Bethoney sensei has got quite the set in his dojo, and his wrists are like steel joints.


~~

[Guest]

Those look easy to make. What is the usual weight of those?

I used to mess around with a 5lb weight on a rope which I would wind up and down on a stick. Not sure what that was called but I'll bet that will beef up your wrists also.

[JimHawkins]

The idea in using the locked wrist position is to create a naturally strong wrist position. When using a position that floats the wrist muscle tension is needed from the forearm to stabilize the wrist. This wastes energy in an attempt to compensate for a weak wrist position which at best is unnecessary and robs your power and creates dead energy.

If the elbow isn't in a "sweet spot", your power will leak out the crook of it and once again, dampen your power.

Different elbow positions *are* different strikes. As I mentioned the key differences in all of these strikes or punches is the location of the elbow. The elbow and the striking weapons fills space through all phases of execution, the idea is to fill the space the opponent needs with your attack. As in billiards one may remove the opponent’s ball while sinking one of his own.

One way of looking at this is that the opponent's position, use of structure, lines of attack, etc., will dictate where your elbow and forearm needs to be. We train in part to place the elbow in a location where it will occupy the space where the opponent's attack is coming or likely to come. So the elbow fills that space and as a result of where the elbow is a natural alignment can be found between elbow and hand, connect those points and you have a natural fill, that morphs into a punch or strike.

This is another part of 'fitting in' the opponent's position, location of weapons, his action or inaction dictates the weapon of choice for that nanosecond.

Of course, to much of a straight elbow... well, we all know what that can do.

This is another key difference is how WCK is taught vs. most Karate.

It is not a straight elbow that is the problem here, straight is exactly what you want when firing a thrusting type strike, be it curved or straight. The problem is when hyper-extension occurs which means that the elbow has traveled past the straight point and injured the joint.

The simple reason this occurs is that folks are not trained to fire the strike and then turn OFF the muscles in the upper arm. The idea is to turn the forearm and fist into a ballistic missile that gets a full energy transfer from the body and arm muscles; Once that transfer is complete the muscles that did the work should be off and all inhibitory muscles should never have been on in the first place, such as the bicep. Over using the muscles and leaving them on for too long will only make your power stick to you, discussed in Rick's excellent article. This leaving the muscles on for too long can also cause the elbow joint to hyper-extend and will make you use more energy that is needed and during times when it cannot be transferred to the opponent, this is wasted energy.