Peter Ralston -- Cheng Hsin in fighting

[Ian]

"Why does it matter"

Nyah : P

I'm just arguing. Wot?! I'll decompress at you!!1

Gonna come at you like a Swiss ball.

[Kaitain]

I know you were just arguing - "cantankerous Ian" should be your name I'll piercing palm your decompression swiss ball fu.

[Walter Joyce]

All this energy wasted. You can lead a horse to water is what comes to mind.

Gee, look at the synonym listed for compression:

1com·press Listen to the pronunciation of 1compress
Pronunciation:
\kəm-ˈpres\
Function:
verb
Etymology:
Middle English, from Late Latin compressare to press hard, frequentative of Latin comprimere to compress, from com- + premere to press — more at press
Date:
14th century

transitive verb 1 : to press or squeeze together 2 : to reduce in size, quantity, or volume as if by squeezing <compress a computer file> intransitive verb : to undergo compression
synonyms see contract

Opening and closing the joints at will is a central component of internal training, including the ability to open and close the spine, and it is something that most good internal fighters can do while fighting as a subconscious movement as a result of that training.

If you want to make a rationalist argument, the least you could do is make sure your argument is actually based in reason.

Oh, gee, that's right, you were just yanking our chain, right?

[Ian]

Walter

Quit waving your dictionary in my face. Your logic makes me feel like a dick!

[Walter Joyce]

Walter

Quit waving your dictionary in my face. Your logic makes me feel like a dick!

Trust your feelings, young Jedi....

[JAB]

Ian
Do some research before opening your mouth bro. Energy is stored in fascia, not the muscles.
Thanks
Jake

[Ian]

No bro, energy is stored in adenosine triphosphate. That's how I punch - I store ATP in my fist and release it all over my opponent in a magnificent endergonic ejaculation.

[dragontigerpalm]

"Opening and closing the joints at will is a central component of internal training, including the ability to open and close the spine, and it is something that most good internal fighters can do while fighting as a subconscious movement as a result of that training."
Walter,
I'm not sure that I understand the opening and closing of the spine. Do you mean opening and closing around the spine as an axis or like a vertical and front to back waving movement?

[Dillon]

In my understanding (from reading his books, email correspondence, and videos, not hands-on training) the compression Peter is talking about is really just a matter of alignment. A super simple example: if you place your elbow on a table so that your fist points up (that is, your fist sits on top of the bones of your forearm, with the striking surface of your knuckles pointing upward) it's possible, easy even, to line up the bones of the hand so that pressure on the striking muscles is directed though the forearm into the table without any muscular contraction in the forearm at all. You can have a stable striking surface without even actively closing your hand, as long as the fingers fall out of the way. Ideally, as much of the body as possible would be aligned along those lines (again, this is a rediculously simple example, so the overall mechanics may be much more complicated) so that there's an effortless transfer of force from the ground to the point of contact. It'd be almost like making your hands into walls; anything that contacted them would be "running into the ground" so to speak.

[I am...]

I would encourage those of you that are quick to box in the specifics of the "only" ways of generating energy, to explore further and do less talking, unless you want to go back on your word years down the line when you find other methods of using the body. For one, the body, under compression, if relaxed (non-compartmentalized) can act and react faster if trained correctly.

Combat involves more than just you, and as mentioned before, the opponent can provide compression if you can allow your body to act as the spring. Systema as I have been exposed to it actually seems to touch a lot on exactly the stuff that Ian was arguing against, which surprises me a bit.

From what I know of movement, Ralston has the goods and his principals are sound, although like all methods, his is not the only effective one by any means. I have respect for the guy.

[Chanchu]

http://www.answers.com/topic/tendon?cat=health

Perhaps a better way to put it would be "retract" " In 'tiger shape' you use the deep upper thoracic muscles to retract and rotate the scapula before you release the fast twitch mucles and use tendon force transfer to transmit the ballistic energy through the upper extremities to the tips of the fingers."

Same thing would hold true in TCC I would think.... just my idea...Maybe some of the MD's or physio folks on board could explain it better and/or correct.

Basic Functions

1. Tendons carry tensile forces from muscle to bone
2. They carry *compressive forces* when wrapped around bone like a pulley

FUNCTION OF TENDON Note that the function of tendon is not simply to link muscle to bone. Since tendon is compliant, when a joint is moved some of the length change takes place in the tendon as well as the muscle. This has the effect of broadening the L/T curve, making muscle more effective over a greater range of lengths

http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:a1 ... cd=6&gl=us
http://www.engin.umich.edu/class/bme456 ... ligten.htm

[Walter Joyce]

Walter,
I'm not sure that I understand the opening and closing of the spine. Do you mean opening and closing around the spine as an axis or like a vertical and front to back waving movement?

Like a vertical spinal wave, by opening and closing I mean creating more space between the vertebrae and closing, reducing that space between the vertebrae.

[Walter Joyce]

I would encourage those of you that are quick to box in the specifics of the "only" ways of generating energy, to explore further and do less talking, unless you want to go back on your word years down the line when you find other methods of using the body. For one, the body, under compression, if relaxed (non-compartmentalized) can act and react faster if trained correctly.

Great post.

[somatai]

opening and closing the spine is having controll over extension and flexion in a very detailed manner

[dragontigerpalm]

Walter,
I'm not sure that I understand the opening and closing of the spine. Do you mean opening and closing around the spine as an axis or like a vertical and front to back waving movement?

Like a vertical spinal wave, by opening and closing I mean creating more space between the vertebrae and closing, reducing that space between the vertebrae.

Thanks.