tensile strength etc.
Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:36 pmWas doing my usual "application" (kicking a ball) and trying to add "springiness". I've been working leg mobility and some power via kettlebell swings. I noticed the standard MA stuff:
- springing into the movement helps.
- it uses the stretch reflex of the plant foot and the stretch reflex from pulling the striking foot back and from the core rotation
- you really do "store" power then "release" the striking limb like the bow/arrow analogy more so than "moving" it forward. the backswing is more important than the forward move.
- most of it is "external" movement being correct, but some power comes from stuff like tensile strength. I had some soreness in my Achilles tendon so started reading a lot, working leg mobility, then seeing if I could improve tensile strength (from the tendons) by doing "eccentric" (negative) contraction portion of calf raises with a load. That will supposedly take quite a long period of adaptation since training tendons takes a long ass time compared to training muscles. I think this will put more springiness in my plant foot (albeit relatively very minor in the technique). it may be harder to do that with my other tendons (could help quite a lot more) depending on my exercises.
side note / the "kicker" no pun intended: to digress on labels, to me the above is not "internal" ( the way Sun described internal) but it's good. so I started messing around with cloud hands and the energy as part of the arm portion. this does feel like yi leads qi and qi leads li. but that can put my yi too much in my arms. if I put the yi in my legs, it's as if the energy "enhances" and "smooths" and makes the whole thing more effortless than getting all those mechanics just right (the mechanics are by far the most important thing, though). the movement feels easier. my mindset feels more "zen" to do it as well. more "not doing". this part is actually way easier and faster to access (kind of instant) than, say, improving my tensile strength. that's going to take a lot longer. well but i worked on the qi stuff way more in life than the tendon stuff, so who knows. it's all the IMA stuff.
- springing into the movement helps.
- it uses the stretch reflex of the plant foot and the stretch reflex from pulling the striking foot back and from the core rotation
- you really do "store" power then "release" the striking limb like the bow/arrow analogy more so than "moving" it forward. the backswing is more important than the forward move.
- most of it is "external" movement being correct, but some power comes from stuff like tensile strength. I had some soreness in my Achilles tendon so started reading a lot, working leg mobility, then seeing if I could improve tensile strength (from the tendons) by doing "eccentric" (negative) contraction portion of calf raises with a load. That will supposedly take quite a long period of adaptation since training tendons takes a long ass time compared to training muscles. I think this will put more springiness in my plant foot (albeit relatively very minor in the technique). it may be harder to do that with my other tendons (could help quite a lot more) depending on my exercises.
side note / the "kicker" no pun intended: to digress on labels, to me the above is not "internal" ( the way Sun described internal) but it's good. so I started messing around with cloud hands and the energy as part of the arm portion. this does feel like yi leads qi and qi leads li. but that can put my yi too much in my arms. if I put the yi in my legs, it's as if the energy "enhances" and "smooths" and makes the whole thing more effortless than getting all those mechanics just right (the mechanics are by far the most important thing, though). the movement feels easier. my mindset feels more "zen" to do it as well. more "not doing". this part is actually way easier and faster to access (kind of instant) than, say, improving my tensile strength. that's going to take a lot longer. well but i worked on the qi stuff way more in life than the tendon stuff, so who knows. it's all the IMA stuff.