|
|
|
|
Hip mechanics during a punch
Paraphrasing the words of the old song Dry Bones, “Your foot bone’s connected to your shin bone, your shin bone’s connected to your thigh bone, your thigh bone’s connected to your hip bone.” Bingo! So, to add hip power to a punch, you start with a stable stance, and your hips at a backward angle. Then you push off the ground with your foot (some styles call this pulsing). The pulse travels up your leg, and into your hip, twisting your hip forward, and with it your shoulder and your arm. The pulse is made more powerful by straightening your knee, turning your back heel outwards, and lifting it from the floor (a motion called plantarflexion). The combined effect adds your body weight (mass) to a punch. The more mass you add, the more force you can deliver to the punch. Furthermore, when you push, the strength of your muscles can amplify your apparent mass. Just as your legs are capable of pushing away a person much heavier than you, they are also capable of delivering more force than just your own body-weight. That's why it's so important to practice your zenkutsu dachi drills: because it develops the all-important thigh and calf muscles. The formula for force is mass times acceleration, or weight times speed increase to put it another way. By turning your hip, you primarily add mass, with a small amount of speed. However, both sides of the equation have equal importance, so it makes sense to consider how to add acceleration rather than concentrating exclusively on the mass. Furthermore, assuming perfect technique, you can do nothing to increase your mass except develop you muscles or eat more. Increasing your speed can be achieved by the simple process of relaxing before you strike. An average starter martial artist can punch 3-4 times per second. With training, that can be improved to 5-7 times per second. That means a potential improvement of 100 percent or more, and that in turn means doubling the force of a punch, so don’t neglect speed… |
