Thoughts on Martial Arts

[cathyr19355]

It seems to me that different martial arts have different ideas about what are useful shapes of support and movement, depending upon the range of techniques involved.

The traditional "punching arts" (karate, boxing, tae kwon do, wing chun kung fu, for example) are mostly linear. The object is to move forward or sideways [EDIT: or away at a 45-degree angle] as quickly as possible in a straight line, or to punch as quickly and powerfully as possible.

The throwing arts (aikido, for example) emphasize circular movements, possibly because they are fluid and work well to direct force to an object so that it will gather momentum.

The Brazilian jiu-jitsu that is part of Mixed Martial Arts, however, is big on triangles. Why? Because they are interested in helping the practitioner maintain a stable position...often on top of an opponent doing his/her best to roll or throw them off. A triangular "base" combines the best of stability with the ability to move quickly in a direction that best enables you to turn the tables on your opponent.

Comments

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

Old style judo includes punches and kicks. Often, different schools in the same art will emphasize different things, especially at lower levels. You're right, though, that the hard schools tend to emphasize the linear and the soft schools the circular.

Okinawan Kempo (not kenpo :-) is a balanced art, and includes both hard and soft techniques. One result is that the hard techniques can be circular. My instructor likes hook punches and hook kicks, for example. He studied under Bill Wallace, and Wallace likes to throw both linear and circular kicks from the same starting load.

Joint locks and pins sometimes have a circular avoidance - such as a pivot away - with a linear application of the lock. For example, the traditional way to deal with a shove is to spin away, grab the arm and continue the circle down onto the ground to apply the pin. If you really want to mess your attacker up, though, as soon as you have the grab, pull the arm to you and drop your weight straight down. There will still be some movement forward, due to the attacker's momentum, but it's more diagonal than circular. You basically fall on the person's elbow, with it turned up to maximize damage. (As is often the case, this would be a lot easier to show than to describe.)

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there's plenty of straight punches and kicks in judo, just as there are in MMA, and there's some circular techniques in the kick-and-punch schools (e.g., there's a circular stepping motion in wing chun). I was referring to central motifs that are repeated over and over and become a hallmark of a particular style.

[mneme]

Certainly true -- though the commonality in underlying physics lend a certain grounding back to a common reality. The preferred techniques will influence which shapes and which movements are favored, but speed and straight movements are still favored in most attacks; redirection and circular movements favored for deflections (though not all defenses).

In fencing (which I can speak about with a lot more confidence than I can unarmed martial arts), differences between schools/techniques come from a bunch of different things. The most marked differences, naturally, come from using different weapons (and when using simulated weapons, different rules in how they work). For weapons, well, this makes sense; rules that slip far enough from how the weapon works stop being a martial art and start being a combative sport, whereas with different weapons, very different techniques apply depending on what actually works with the weapon -- you can parry with the edge of European steel without damaging it, so parrying with the same strength you use to cut is used there; 18th C smallswords are small and light enough (while still strong enough to be deadly weapons) to execute an effective parry-riposte, so parries are used in 18th C technique whereas in earlier technique they were disdained in favor of counter-attacks and displacements, etc.

How much, then, does the real effecitveness of different styles of unarmed techniques come down to the fact that people's bodies are different, and different techniques are better for different people?

(edited to add):

Regarding shapes -- the type of Spanish Circle rapier fencing I fenced against and watched other people study (while I was studying Italian rapier from the same master) uses a circle as a conceptual framework -- but linear movement along it and linear parries which typically hit two points on the edge of the conceptual circle. As such, the circle is an incredibly important shape to the style, but much more as a conceptual framework than anything else.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

Certainly true -- though the commonality in underlying physics lend a certain grounding back to a common reality. The preferred techniques will influence which shapes and which movements are favored, but speed and straight movements are still favored in most attacks; redirection and circular movements favored for deflections (though not all defenses).

That's true--but some arts emphasize attacks more than others. Aikido, for example, is very fond of techniques that combine attack and defense.

How much, then, does the real effectiveness of different styles of unarmed techniques come down to the fact that people's bodies are different, and different techniques are better for different people?

That's absolutely true, and different instructors deal with this reality better than others. For every technique in a particular style that a particular student can't perform, there will be a substitute that has a similar effect but works better for the particular student.

Our MMA instructors are very aware of this, because all of MMA is performed at least at dancing range (and a lot of techniques involve being pressed against your partner), but they vary in how well they communicate alternatives.

And you are certainly right that sword techniques can be intensely circular. esrblog and I study a form of historical fencing (supposedly 15th c. Italian). The shield motion techniques we are taught are all circular, and sword recovery moves are also. This is based upon body physics, again; the circular recoveries are to redirect the remaining force of a blow to spare the wrist, and the circular shield blocks give greater power with less use of muscle.