Tendon Strength”, Fascia, the Sinew Channels - BisioT

[Bob]

Very good resource and free LOL:

https://www.internalartsinternational.c ... ts-part-1/

“Tendon Strength”, Fascia, the Sinew Channels & Internal Martial Arts – Part 1
POSTED ON JUNE 22, 2018

The connection between traditional Chinese ideas about the Sinew channels and tendon strength and power, and recent discoveries about fascia and its relation to health and fitness are fascinating. This series of four articles explores some of these connections.

Tendon Strength
The internal martial arts are traditionally said to employ “tendon strength” rather than muscular strength. The Chinese word Jin 筋, refers to not just tendons, but sinews – tendon, muscle, ligaments, fibers or fibrous tissue.

筋 Jin is composed of:

竹 (Zhu) “bamboo” or “joint”
月 (related to 肉 Rou) “flesh”
力 (Lì) “strength”
One of the things traditional martial artists are referring to when they talk about “Tendon Strength” is the recruitment of long chains of muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints to generate whole body power. This can manifest as a resistance force or the emission of force over a short distance. Rather than relying on segmented movements that increase momentum to generate power, internal styles try to initiate force from the whole body moving as a unit. Therefore, rather than strengthening individual muscles, training focuses on “whole-body”, “unified” power, in which the body moves as a single unit, gathering and releasing power simultaneously. This is done by increasing the strength and connectivity of the Jin, the sinews. When the sinews are correctly trained the result is an elastic, power dynamic.

Sinew Channels and the Jing Luo

In Chinese Medicine, the Sinew Channels or Muscle-Tendon Channels (Jin Jing 筋經) are broad longitudinal bands of muscles, tendons and ligaments, and connective tissue that wrap or “knot” at the big joints of the body (hip, knee, ankle, shoulder, elbow and wrist, occiput and face). The joints divide the limbs into sections, like the nodes in bamboo. Other words commonly used to describe the action of the Sinew Channels at the joints are “inserting”, “binding” and “fruiting.” . . .

[everything]

One thing I've noticed from another area (soccer/football) is that if you want power into a kick, the main trick is a little "hop" you take off the supporting leg.

So you take a little hop so that your supporting leg rebounds off the ground and puts that force through the kicking leg into the ball. It's not really anything to do with the "muscle" of the kicking leg. It's obviously the connection point, but the "effortless power" is from that hop off the support leg. If you try to "muscle" it, shit never works.

I don't know how this example supports this "tendon strength" idea exactly, but I think that it does.