The MartialBody Blog

Articles on the MartialBody Method, Martial Arts & body method development.

September 2018

27Sep

Removing, Building & Moving

Student Questions Answered.In this short article I will explain the rationale for the design of the MartialBody system and how each of the Bodies link to each other progressively producing the ‘Martial Body’.The system is designed to resolve or address 3 key areas that martial artists will need to focus on to produce the body capable of expressing the 6 attributes. These are: Removing Errors Building MovingThese 3 aspects of training represent the process that most of us must underta...

August 2018

06Aug

Of Mind & Movement

In this article we will look at the mind as it relates to the acquisition of new skills and movements. Movement, after all, is handled by the brain and nervous system, which in turn is the residence of the complex phenomenon we call the ‘mind’.It is our brains and nervous systems that give rise to our ability to move in complex ways and also our brains that allow us to retain good movement habits once they are learned. Further, it is our minds that harbour the awareness, consciousnes...

July 2018

04Jul

Going Light – Understanding the ElasticBody

It is common in some Martial Arts for practitioners to be focussed on their ability to ‘Root’ and maintain a constant sinking quality. We see this tactic in myriad videos of TaiJi practitioners performing fixed step push hands for instance, where the slightest step is seen as a failure or defeat, or in the tests of a martial artists structure, where people push against them, the person not moving and inch as a result. This is a skill that can be extremely useful in arts where grappli...

May 2018

29May

Strength Training & MartialBody

Strength Training & MartialBodyThis short article is motivated by a discussion with a student who was asking how and where more conventional Strength and Conditioning training fits into attribute focused training methodology. It would be easy to think, looking at the MartialBody Attribute list that it doesn’t, however this is not the case. In this post I will outline where I think Conditioning and Strength Training fits in, and how it is not the only consideration when specifically loo...

15May

The Weight Responsibility

In some Chinese Martial Arts there is a concept known as ‘double weighting’. Some people use this term to describe the distribution of weight in the legs and how to efficiently control the position of our mass. However, there is another very interesting definition, it describes the situation where you make the opponent responsible for a proportion of your weight in addition to their own, often causing a bias of distribution and ‘doubling weighting’ them. I must caveat that I use this definit...

April 2018

25Apr

Living with those Niggling Injuries

In this article I would like to discuss one of the primary ways in which MartialBody training can be used by the combat sports Athlete or anyone who undertakes heavy daily training regimes, rehabilitation, and recovery.I have been a martial artist for most of my life, competing at a very young age in Judo & Karate Tournaments and in my 30’s competing around the UK and Europe in Brazillian JiuJitsu & Grappling. In this time, I have trained with, met, and competed against many combat...

05Apr

How to use MartialBody Training

As with any training method, sometimes if it can be hard to understand how certain movements or skills apply to your individual situation, particularly how their fit into the system you train. This can become a very real problem if you are an athlete preparing for competition or are looking to achieve a specific goal within a set timeframe. The reality is that we have limited time to train so understanding why we are training what we train is very important.In some Martial Arts, trust for progre...

March 2018

22Mar

Keeping the centre point

In this article we will explore an aspect of structure and rotation that I call 'Keeping the centre point'. This is an important concept that is required if we are to avoid opposing force directly, and as in the recent article on pairing (found here) it is also required for effective ‘rotation’. Here we will be exploring the importance of the centre point and how maintaining that point is vital when looking at directions and rotation.I call this idea ‘keeping the centre...

February 2018

17Feb

Brute Strength

“Brute Strength”In the continuing series of articles on force and how we deal with it, this article will be looking at an important if ‘shunned’ aspect, dealing with ‘Brute Strength’.There are several Martial Arts that claim to have the ability to overcome superior strength and size with technical skill and unique body mechanics. These arts are often renowned for these claims, either by those who have felt the skillset of a real expert or by those who have tes...

January 2018

19Jan

Changing the effect of a force

Continuing the articles on handling forces in the martial arts, in this article I will talk about a method of changing forces that are applied to you. Specifically, a method of altering the effect that force can have on a structure. Here I will outline the first and most basic concept associated with the method I call ‘Pairing’.Pairing is the utilization of a series of opposite actions simultaneously to create complex movement and is one of the founding concepts in the SpiralBody seg...

Empty
Click + to add content