Waist/Hip Strength

[MaartenSFS]

I believe that training Yaokuajin (Waist/Hip Strength) is one of the essential parts of most styles of CMA, with obvious benefits in almost every aspect of fighting. This requires hard work, but most forego this in favour of esoteric exercises. There are high-level exercises that one can do that may seem esoteric but are really just the culmination of years of sweat, where on the outside it appears as if not much is going on. Trying to start with this high-level training is a fools errand and I have yet to see any real results achieved in this way. Many masters teach these things for various reasons. Assuming that the reasons aren't nefarious, one problem is that they never bothered to analyse how they themselves acquired their skills in the first place. Students keep coming back to these masters because they are skilled, with the hopes that it will rub off on them, but whether intentionally or not that will never happen because they just aren't putting in the required work. Of course the students can be to blame for this as well. End of rant.

[Bao]

Gua is not exactly the same as hip though I agree that the gua is an important aspect. But I disagree that it’s high level. Rather basic actually, should always be a part of jibengong, foundations practice.

[origami_itto]

I can't speak for all of the arts, but the way I understand taijiquan if you're not using your kua you're destroying your knee. Should be addressed as fundamental.

[Bao]

I can't speak for all of the arts, but the way I understand taijiquan if you're not using your kua you're destroying your knee. Should be addressed as fundamental.

Agreed, especially for low form and stance practice the gua work is essential. Still, using the gua for form, stance and drills practice is different from using this area for power generation. A different type of activity and a different type of awareness is necessary. IME.

[robert]

I believe that training Yaokuajin (Waist/Hip Strength) is one of the essential parts of most styles of CMA, with obvious benefits in almost every aspect of fighting.

For the arts I've been exposed to - taiji/xingyi/bagua, I'd say that yao/kua/dang development is fundamental. And if you're talking about movement the muscles associated with dantian are the yao/kua/dang.

[MaartenSFS]

The high-level exercises that I was referring to are high-level versions of the basic Jibengong training. And yes, I was talking about 整劲, or Full-body Power generation.

[wayne hansen]

I have mentioned the waist/hip thing here before
Most can't even differentiate them
Waist belongs to the hands
Hips to the legs
The hips carry
The waist delivers
The hips follow the square
The waist follows the circle
Use the waist
Protect the hips
Be like the javelin thrower not the discuss

[marvin8]

I believe that training Yaokuajin (Waist/Hip Strength) is one of the essential parts of most styles of CMA, with obvious benefits in almost every aspect of fighting. This requires hard work, but most forego this in favour of esoteric exercises. There are high-level exercises that one can do that may seem esoteric but are really just the culmination of years of sweat, where on the outside it appears as if not much is going on. Trying to start with this high-level training is a fools errand and I have yet to see any real results achieved in this way. Many masters teach these things for various reasons. Assuming that the reasons aren't nefarious, one problem is that they never bothered to analyse how they themselves acquired their skills in the first place. Students keep coming back to these masters because they are skilled, with the hopes that it will rub off on them, but whether intentionally or not that will never happen because they just aren't putting in the required work. Of course the students can be to blame for this as well. End of rant.

Rather than describing waist (yao) and hip (kua) strength exercises in terms of "high-level, esoteric and masters," it is more useful to discuss their biomechanics, anatomy and physics.

I have mentioned the waist/hip thing here before
Most can't even differentiate them
Waist belongs to the hands
Hips to the legs
The hips carry
The waist delivers
The hips follow the square
The waist follows the circle
Use the waist
Protect the hips
Be like the javelin thrower not the discuss

Research shows the "javelin thrower" generates the most "Full-body Power" by using the kinetic chain, which is used in CMAs, MMA, boxing, football, baseball, tennis, etc.

Kua (includes inguinal crease or ball-and-socket joint, etc.) and waist exercises should include mobility and strength exercises.

An article on a few of many ways to exercise the hip and waist — "WANT A MORE POWERFUL PUNCH? IT’S IN THE HIPS!," https://boxnburnacademy.com/want-a-more ... -the-hips/:

You do not need to be a boxing expert to know that engaging the hips is as basic to boxing as jumping is to basketball. The hips are integral to throwing a powerful, yet efficient, punch. They are the engines that power the body and make hitting a target with a balled up fist possible.
Mechanically speaking, the hips generate the force that activates the core (abdominals, lumbar muscles and spine); the core then transfers this energy to the shoulders. The symptom of all those actions combined is a fist flying with absolute control towards the intended target.

More Powerful Punch
With this in mind, it becomes abundantly clear that improving punching power starts by addressing hip muscle strength and joint mobility.

HIP STRENGTH
Building strength in the hips starts with the glutes (Gluteus Maximus, Gluteus Medius, and Gluteus Minimus), quadriceps (Vastus lateralis, Vastus medialis, and rectus femoris) and hip flexors (Iliopsoas and Sartorius).

With the advent of the Internet, a quick online search can result in dozens of exercises that target the hip region; however, not all of the exercises focus primarily on the hip region while also engaging the entire body in a closed kinetic chain movement.

Why focus on closed chain movement training?
Boxing is a full body sport and any type of physical training would need to emulate that level of full body engagement to address deficiencies across the kinetic chain (i.e. weakness, stiffness, etc.).

Closed Chain Strength Exercises:

BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUAT
Primary focus: Glutes, Quadriceps, Hip Flexors
Secondary focus: Core, full body balance training

COSSACK SQUAT
Primary focus: Glutes, Quadriceps, Hip flexors
Secondary focus: hip mobility and hamstrings flexibility

Those two exercises, when combined and performed on a consistent basis, generate the biggest bang for the buck with respect to punching power and hip health.

Start by performing those two exercises with ONLY your own body weight and build slowly by adding external weight for added resistance.
Weekly Target: 5 sets x 5 reps x 3 days/week

Tempo:

1-second concentric reps
4-second eccentric reps

HIP JOINT MOBILITY
While muscle strength around the hip area creates the force that results in a punch, it is hip joint mobility, or the ability to move the hips in isolation, that creates the muscle activation and the upward ripple effect the results in core, shoulder, and arm engagement.

As a starting point, open the hips by getting comfortable sitting in a squat position, with good form, for 5 to 7 minutes.

Good form includes:

a) aligning the toes and knees to point in the same direction,
b) flat back—eliminating roundness in the spine.

For many people, getting into a seated squat position alone may be difficult. In the early stages you may feel like you might fall backwards. This is perfectly normal. Use a prop like a chair or a post to hold on to while getting into this position. Over time, remove the props and maintain your own balance.
Daily Target: 5 sets x 1 minute (30 second break between sets)

There is nothing particularly “sexy” about this type of down-tempo movement training for the hips. In fact I challenge you to bore your social media followers to death by posting this type of movement training on the various social media outlets. But this isn’t about sexy. It is about increasing punching power and investing in the general health of your hips.

This form of strength and mobility training will sustain—and improve—your current range of motion as you progress through age. Don’t look like an old man/woman at age 50. Invest in your hips!

[everything]

Research shows the "javelin thrower" generates the most "Full-body Power" by using the kinetic chain, which is used in CMAs, MMA, boxing, football, baseball, tennis, etc.

whoa any way to know how that can really be known? it certainly seems reasonable vs. those other sports (not throwing anything nearly as long and heavy - not sure how heavy the javelin is).

I have a tiny metatarsal injury. even that little weak point messes up my entire "full body power" "kinetic chain" very noticeably.

[windwalker]

@marvin8,

You mentioned kinetic chains.
In my work and those I work with we talked about Force coupling. It seems to be a little different then kinetic chains, or is it just different verbiage?

"A force-couple relationship is the act of muscles or muscle groups moving together, in a synergistic manner, to produce movement around a joint."

https://youtu.be/mm9_WrrGCEc

[marvin8]

Research shows the "javelin thrower" generates the most "Full-body Power" by using the kinetic chain, which is used in CMAs, MMA, boxing, football, baseball, tennis, etc.

whoa any way to know how that can really be known? it certainly seems reasonable vs. those other sports (not throwing anything nearly as long and heavy - not sure how heavy the javelin is).

I have a tiny metatarsal injury. even that little weak point messes up my entire "full body power" "kinetic chain" very noticeably.

Let me reword as you may have misunderstood me. The kinetic chain has been proven to generate the most "Full-body Power" in the javelin throw, sports and combats sports.

This is known by recorded measurements of power, speed, distance, etc. and research studies.

Excerpt from "A New Paradigm in Biomechanics: Fascia, Rotation, and Waves," https://www.just-fly-sports.com/biomech ... ion-waves/:

Neuro-fascial System

The role of fascia in movement has always been a highly debated and somewhat mysterious topic. Highly elastic in nature, and heavily integrated into the neural network of movement, the neuro-fascial system helps explain the importance of a proximal to distal activation sequence.

As our connecting piece of anatomy to the ground, our feet play a massive role in the facilitation of tension through the neuro-fascial system. Our feet have an astonishing number of afferent neural connections that reflexively communicate tension up these neuro-fascial pathways. How our foot strikes the ground therefore plays an important role in where the tension goes.

Rotational Dynamics in Arthro- and Osteo-kinematics

At the level of the joint there is no such thing as linear movement. There are muscles that pull on tendons that pull bones in arcs and circles. By understanding this, we can see linear motion as a finely choreographed sequence of arcs and rotation, that when pieced together create a straight line.

When looking at movements pieced together in this way, we can see the importance of rotation in the creation and transfer of energy in movement. An important concept from Adarian Barr’s work is the role of end range of rotational motion in timing and energy transfer.

As an example of this concept, look at how energy gets transferred through the kinetic chain in a baseball or javelin throw: Energy of internal rotation of the right side of the pelvis gets stopped and absorbed by the stiffness of the left hip (think about a bicyclist crashing into a curb and flying over the handle bars to help visualize this example). The linear and angular momentum of the body causes this energy to get transferred up the spine, where end range of thoracic extension and rotation acts as another “curb” that transfers energy to the scapula.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEFfsg8MYbY
Jan Zelezny is the epitome of these motions in action

The end range of scapular retraction and posterior tilt acts as another “curb” that forces gleno-humeral external rotation. When the shoulder hits its end range of external rotation, it acts as a “curb” for the transfer of energy into elbow extension, whose end range acts as a “curb” for gleno-humeral internal rotation and forearm pronation.

There are three key takeaways from this example.

First, as noted above, is that individually these motions all occur in arcs and rotations, but synergistically pull the baseball or javelin in a perfectly straight line.

Second, is that at these “curbs,” the mass of each lever gets progressively smaller, so the conservation of angular momentum plays a massive role in accelerating limbs to high speeds.

The third is that the end ranges of these joints act as a built in “timer” for movement. If you have adequate mobility, and the ability to stay relaxed, each joint will perform its actions when the force gets there.

Timing, Waves, and Elastic Energy

Muscles, tendons, and fascia are all intrinsically elastic. The stretching and contracting of these elastic tissues can be looked at as waves of tension. Remember back in physics class, how all waves followed a sine function when analyzed on a graph? The same concept can apply to stretching and contracting muscles/tendons/fascia.

Building on this concept, when two waves “collide” they can either be constructive or destructive. That is, they can either add together, or cancel each other out.

Whether they add together or cancel out is a function of timing.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcPdMwHjGxJ/?utm_source=ig_embed

[windwalker]

"I have a tiny metatarsal injury. even that little weak point messes up my entire "full body power" "kinetic chain" very noticeably."

When we talk about full body power we're not talking about full body Force at one point. It's more of an alignment that allows the transference of energy as in a wave.

In some taiji styles they talk about 4oz. and level of contact. In some aspects it's very counterintuitive as there's no direct feedback from the energy being transferred. It's a little different in that one is a conductor of energy not the medium used to transfer it with.

[marvin8]

@marvin8,

You mentioned kinetic chains.
In my work and those I work with we talked about Force coupling. It seems to be a little different then kinetic chains, or is it just different verbiage?

"A force-couple relationship is the act of muscles or muscle groups moving together, in a synergistic manner, to produce movement around a joint."

https://youtu.be/mm9_WrrGCEc

I am just summarizing the studies, videos, etc. Force coupling (agonist-antagonist muscles) may be a part of the kinetic chain (e.g., elastic force?, etc.). But, I'm not sure without more research.

This study explains the stages of the kinetic chain regarding the straight punch:

Excerpts from "Kinematic and kinetic analysis of throwing a straight punch: the role of trunk
rotation in delivering a powerful straight punch," https://efsupit.ro/images/stories/30dec ... %20287.pdf:

The result showed straight punches had 3 stages, i.e., (1) starting position, (2) lead toe off, and (3) lead toe in. The results suggested that the final stage, lead toe in, was the most important in delivering powerful straight punches, and boxers used trunk rotation to transform vertical ground reaction force to horizontal punch force....



At this stage, boxers used the lead leg as a pivot point and executed straight punches such that only lead leg supported the body weight and the rear leg bore no GRF. At this stage, GRF of the rear leg decreased, while GRF of the lead leg increased, which was exactly opposite from the starting position or the first stage. From Figure 1d, the directions of GRF of the lead leg and punch force were not in the same direction. As a result, the participants utilized the lead leg as a break to stabilize their movement.... As seen in Figure 2, the kinetic chain of straight punches occurred after 70% of total punching time meaning that the whole kinetic chain was created and ended at this final stage....

Trunk Rotation in Straight Punches





Figure 1 shows phases of straight punches and GRFs for both legs.

Trunk rotation played significant role in transferring kinetic chain from the lower extremity to the upper extremity. Our results showed that the trunk was relatively unmoved at the beginning of punching as shown in Figure 2. The movement of trunk started approximately after 70% of total punching time (the right panel of Figure 2). The angular velocity tended to increase after this point. The participants, then, sped up trunk rotation after 80% of total punching time until impact.

The trunk rotation played crucial role in LTI or the final stage of punching. At LTI, the displacement angle of trunk rotation was greatest (at 80% of punching time). Angular velocity of trunk rotation increased as GRF of the lead leg increased while GRF of the rear leg decreased. The lead leg acted as a pivot point, while the rear leg pushed the trunk and the whole body of boxers forward to create punching momentum and, thus, punch force. Therefore, trunk rotation mechanically transferred vertical ground reaction forces to horizontal punching force. The peak angular velocity of trunk rotation was achieved at impact....



The final stage, which was lead toe in, was crucial in delivering powerful force.

Now with the clips and study, would you agree that, with the straight punch, "punch and foot land at the same time" generates less power than "foot first and then punch after that (properly sequenced kinetic chain punch)?" If not, what part of the clips or study do you disagree with?

[windwalker]

Cool,

You mentioned wave power, one of the main focal points my work. Force coupling works well with the theory and application, in helping to understand and examine it.

The kinetic chain seemed a little bit different.

Thanks for the info and your perspectives very interesting reading happy holidays

[MaartenSFS]

I use my hips and waist equally, depending on the movement, but it is very, very different from boxing. I would describe it as an added layer. The hips are more obvious than the waist, which is why the latter is often neglected. Pole-shaking with a long, heavy pole would be an example of the type of exercises II'm talking about, but they are many and varied.