The Martial Body

[KEND]

An Essay on External and Internal Martial Arts, Part 4: The Martial Body
This essay complements previous essays: Part 1; External and Internal Martial Arts. Part 2; IMA The training. Part 3: Chigong.
General
Over the years I studied with more than a dozen instructors, for periods ranging from eight years to a few months. The methods here are those I learnt from my principal instructors: Alan Lee [Shaolin], Henry Leung [Buddha Hand Wing Chun] and Kenny Gong [ Hsing Yi]. In each case I was taught ‘old style’. This means that at a certain level you were given something to work on and you would have to figure it out on your own. When you felt you understood it and could derive other methods or techniques from it you would return explain your findings and questions on details would be answered. This was frustrating at the beginning but later, when I was teaching, it made sense. You are developing students who are think for themselves, not automatons.
Martial Body
The development of a ‘martial’ body is an intrinsic part of martial training. It goes beyond developing an athletic body and more resembles the specialized training of a gymnast or a ballet dancer.
Starting with the ‘external’ arts, basic body conditioning includes weight training, aerobics, running, stance training, these being few of the methods used to ensure the body is capable of sustained physical effort. In addition, there are more specialized techniques which come under the heading of ‘discipline techniques’. I studied some of these under the tuition of Alan Lee at the Kung Fu Wu Su Association in New York, including Iron Body [desensitizing and strengthening the fascia, muscle control], Nail Bed [ breath and muscle control], Iron Bridge [body as one piece], Hand conditioning using a variety of striking surfaces and specific medicines [Dit da Jiao]. I specialized in breaking techniques [cinder slabs, bricks etc]. Many of these are now classified as ‘hard qigong’ but had their genesis in the martial arts. For those who are interested and wish to see a demonstration check out the KFWS Temple in New York.
My next experience of this was with Henry Leung, whose system included strengthening bones [ medicine with snake venom], more hand strengthening with the accent on finger strikes.
Finally, the Internal Arts. Here I will be discussing the ‘Dragon Body’. I learnt this within a Hsing Yi system but it seems there is considerable Bagua influence in its practice. Before starting this the basics; alignments, a one piece body and stability developed through extensive stance work, should be in place. The objective is to create a body which is flexible and ‘dragon’ or ‘snake’ like. To do this we work on two specific concepts. Firstly working from the outside create independent, controllable layers of Fascia and Muscle. Secondly we divide the body vertically into three zones; Ribs, Waist and Hips, each of which can be independently moved controlled. In this essay I will only deal with latter, starting with the ribs. It is necessary to loosen the thoracic hinges at the sternum and spine to ensure free movement of the ribs. To do this we separate into left and right ribs, moving each independently and in unison. In three dimensions there are fourteen different directions, there are two modes, linear and circular giving a total of 3 x 14 x 2=84 separate movements. In addition, there are exercises to control the internal and external intercostal muscles. Thus if a bridge is established the incoming force vector can be neutralized by ‘hanging a circle on it’ or shifting your centerline using the ribs alone. The waist is somewhat limited having only two modes of movement, clockwise and counterclockwise in the horizontal plane. The hips, using a combination of muscles controlling hip joints and diaphragm can produce external movements similar to that of the ribs. As will be discussed in a future article, in a fighting mode the opponent will feel as if a full body power is behind every counter or block.

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In this essay I will only deal with latter, starting with the ribs. It is necessary to loosen the thoracic hinges at the sternum and spine to ensure free movement of the ribs. To do this we separate into left and right ribs, moving each independently and in unison. In three dimensions there are fourteen different directions, there are two modes, linear and circular giving a total of 3 x 14 x 2=84 separate movements. In addition, there are exercises to control the internal and external intercostal muscles. Thus if a bridge is established the incoming force vector can be neutralized by ‘hanging a circle on it’ or shifting your centerline using the ribs alone. The waist is somewhat limited having only two modes of movement, clockwise and counterclockwise in the horizontal plane. The hips, using a combination of muscles controlling hip joints and diaphragm can produce external movements similar to that of the ribs. As will be discussed in a future article, in a fighting mode the opponent will feel as if a full body power is behind every counter or block.

Interesting read, how did you arrive at the ribs having 14 different directions in 3-dimension. When you talk about shifting the centerline using ribs alone do you mean moving the ribs from the shoulders-nest area (which is around the anatomical area of the body known as the coracoid process) so it's obviously translating around the sternum; and I'd imagien you would have to keep the neck, head still while doing this?
Can't imagine 84 movements can you elaborate, if possible, more about how you can get this number of movements just the ribs?