Different hammers for different jobs

In the second link on the hammer  look at the section on the physics of hammering and take note of the scientific explanation of why the hammer is capable of producing such great force over a very short working distance on impact. Within the same article, note why different hammers are used for performing different types of work. Once you understand their design and the physics of why hammers and other types of tool are able to produce the forces they do (particularly against hard objects) you can then try to apply those same physical principles to your punches when hitting an opponent to the body or head.

I sometimes use an analogy of the claw hammer to create an image of ripping or tearing through the target with your fists. This way of striking can be a useful tool in a fight, because you spend very little time on the target. And I’ve found in a streetfight that it’s particularly useful because it saves your hands whilst allowing you to deliver a damaging shot. Because the movement is cyclonic, the fist quickly returns to be able to go again, and even if you miss the specific target, you’re going to catch something in the path of the clawing action. This also ‘clears’ for you, getting his arms out the way for another shot. So imagine using the other end of the hammer when punching and you’ll get the idea.

Another type of hammer that caught my interest in the past was the nail gun (spring-loaded type) . Because I am interested in short range power, I was naturally interested in the principle of rapidly and repeatedly loading and unloading a spring so as to generate a force in a fraction of a second and of a magnitude sufficient to launch and fully embed a nail in a piece of wood. It also struck me that the principle of the loading and unloading of a spring wasn’t that dissimilar to what I knew about plyometrics at the time

And so, with the view of being able to generate a force of high magnitude within a very short space and split second of time (and, like a nail gun, with no obvious development), I set about applying certain principles I was aware of through my research into plyometrics and isometrics.

In particular I drew on my understanding from plyometrics of how to preset the reactive sensitivity of the muscle spindle so that even the slightest stretch or no stretch at all would elicit a myotatic reflex response. Through my work with isometrics I also knew how to train the CNS to become more effective at recruiting high threshold motor units(fast and super fast) by increasing neural efficiency and drive, as well as training the CNS to overcome the inhibitory effect of the Golgi tendon reflex. After a few years of practicing with these objectives in mind, I was eventually able to fire off damaging shots from very short ranges with the slightest of eccentric loading, or from a totally static position.

There is a sea creature, the mantis shrimp, that uses a spring load principle not that dissimilar to the chambered-type punch of karate. The shrimp can produce hammer-like blows capable of velocities similar to low calibre bullet

Tempting as it might be for the karate aficionado to get excited right about now, what you have to remember is that the mantis shrimp uses this weapon, along with very nimble footwork, against prey that is no real threat, or against other mantis shrimps that are armed in the same way. In other words, cocking your fist in a karate-like manner, though it works well when the guy you’re fighting has a limited game or when you’re fighting a stylistically similar type, is pretty limited when the guy you’re fighting knows your game, has a completely dissimilar style and (of course) knows how to fight.

In more recent years, the dead blow hammer effect has aroused my curiosity, particularly with regards to how one might go about increasing the mechanics of impact to the target by transferring more kinetic energy to the target whilst at the same time reducing the energy lost in the rebound or recoil effect following the initial impact. What I’m interested in here applies to working within a reduced space and time against a more resilient target (say, bone). The dead blow hammer gives us a clue about how to produce an accelerated follow-through so that the target fractures or the blow in some other way permanently distorts the body’s internal structures, because you don’t give it the time to absorb the impact .

In the Seventies, Eighties and early Nineties, I used to rapidly and repeatedly shake iron rings on my forearms using my entire body from the feet to the hands in both vertical and horizontal planes. I also used bars with very light weights that made a noise when I shook the bar exactly like this at 2mins 40secs, and I used light dumbbells in a similar way through various planes of movement. I not only did this so as to produce an explosive delivery of my limb or fist to the target by way of rapid eccentric/concentric loading and firing, but also to gain a sense of the explosive follow-through that was needed to immediately follow the initial impact.

With the rings, for example, I discovered ways of generating the types of forces that would cause the rings to continue to accelerate forward after what would have been the initial contact point. The sound made by the rings against each other as they accelerated forward on my forearm was an indicator of the intensity and duration of the force I was transferring to my hands, and subsequently to the target. And I could adjust my body mechanics accordingly until I got it right. It was then just a simple case of taking the mechanics of moving the rings and transferring them to my hands or wrists for an actual strike.

In principle this method is not unlike the free-flowing lead shot that is used within a dead blow hammer so as to increase the transfer of kinetic energy to the target. Indeed, it was by training in this way that I was able to break a fair number of people’s arms with my strikes. I didn’t intentionally break their arms; the break was just the consequence of years of training to instinctively strike in this way, combined with a sense of timing that enabled me to break the arm while it was moving during an exchange.

This kind of delivery of a massive force within a brief impact time is one that I’ve found to be effective for breaking bones and dropping a guy with a body shot by causing deep intense visceral pain. This effect is not unlike kinetic weapons such as the bean bag. For more on this

However, as valuable as this type of shot may be, it’s not an ideal knockout shot.

Rotational Knockout

I have knocked a couple of guys clean out with the jolting shot I describe above, but I suspect that the jolt in these cases was so intense that it resulted in disruption of the reticular activating system, which controls consciousness. If the jolt occurs in such a way that the head is very rapidly and suddenly rotated—even if the rotation is small—then the knockout will occur. This is because the jolt of the blow magnifies an effect that is common to all knockouts: disruption of the reticular activating system, which controls consciousness.

The disruption of the reticular activating system occurs through the violent rotation of the brain on the brainstem (see links at end of article). In most cases, this rotation is very obvious, whether it occurs through twisting, moving side to side or through the head being violently snapped back. With fists gloved or not, the highest percentage way of knocking a guy out is to be able to violently rotate the head from different ranges, angles and through different planes. Important to this is being able to sustain an accelerated follow-through for a longer period of time than when breaking bone or when delivering a more jolting shot to the head. Rather than striking the way the mantis shrimp does, the fighter looking for a knockout needs to hit more like the ways these professionals in this clip hit.

In this clip, like many other knockout highlights I have observed, the majority of knockouts come from causing an obvious violent rotation of the head. And take note of how the entire body is used to accelerate the shoulder, elbow and fist through the head to a point often beyond the head’s natural point of rotation, often to such a degree that the head rebounds back following the initial impact. Also note how the hip on the leading side contributes to this explosive follow-through, and don’t forget to look at what the other side of the body is doing so as to complement the follow-through rather than getting in the way of it.

So, shots that violently turn the head cause more knockouts than those that only jolt the head. But that’s not to say that the snapped or more recoil/jolting shots don’t work. They do, and they most definitely have their place in fighting. Look what happens at 40 secs, 1 min 52 sec, and 2 min 48 secs on this Teofilo Stevenson clip.

Teofilo Stevenson was an expert at this type of punch, though he didn’t use it exclusively. Stevenson is well worth looking at. He often had a tremendous reach advantage over his opponents, and so the way he chambered his right hand suited his height, evasive style and his unbelievable sense of opportunity distance and timing. Also, his opponents often stood before him like sitting ducks. Having said that, in 1980 Istvan Levi and Pietr Zaer with their raised guards had him figured out and managed to go the distance with him, whilst Francesco Damiani of Italy with his forward bullish spoiling style managed to beat him in 1982. Igor Wysotsky claims to have defeated Stevenson in Cuba in 1973 on points and knocked him out in Minsk in 1976. Nevertheless, given the slightest opportunity, Stevenson was a great knockout/TKO specialist and one who should be closely studied by those who favour this way of fighting. And take note of how he uses his entire body to deliver and retract his piston-like right hand. Even if you don’t favour this approach, study him anyway in case you run up against a similar type.

Back to the rotational knockout. What’s important to remember when going for a rotational RAS knockout is that the movement of your opponent’s head can dampen the effect of the blow. He may move his head and try to ride the shot, and thereby neutralize some of the shot’s effectiveness. You must anticipate this possible dampening effect and have already compensated for it. You need to remain in accelerated contact with the head for a relatively longer period of time than, say, when breaking bone, so as to have a disrupting effect upon the nuclei of the brainstem and therefore upon consciousness. Equally, whilst by way of leverage clipping the chin might produce a greater rotational effect on the brainstem for less effort, it’s a more difficult shot to pull off in a fight, where your opponent’s head is continually moving. Rather than targeting the head in a very specific way (e.g., the point of the chin) the better alternative is to aim more towards the hinge of the jaw. So if the head does move, you will still stand a chance of hitting the head somewhere and causing a rotational RAS effect of some kind, or disrupting the labyrinthine/vestibular system and subsequently your opponent’s balance and orientation to his surroundings. And of course you have to be able to do all this within a fight where your opponent is trying to knock you out. Many of your shots will miss or have no effect. Importantly, punching with follow-through not only increases your chance of a knockout but also allows you to close the distance, move to the clinch, or use the punching hand at the end of its delivery to check or control the opponent in some way, including transitioning to the takedown.  Emelianenko is a great example of this last form of follow-through as a tactical tool.

Shavers and the role of the body

Ernie Shavers was an expert at all this and more, and his fight record speaks for itself with 68 knockouts out of 74 wins. Just watch the amount of explosive body movement that Shavers transfers to his arm, and subsequently on contact, to his opponent’s head or to his body. As the accelerating mass of Shavers’ body decreases from his legs, hips and trunk to his scapula and arms, the velocity of his fist increases, simply by the conservation of momentum. Look at the way he uses his legs, hips, waist and upper torso and head to launch the arm from the scapula to the fist. Everything he’s got is going into trying to put his opponent away, irrespective of the range, angle, or where his hands are in relation to the target. And he is able, if given half a chance, to repeat the process over and over again, or switch from attack to defence and vice versa. Shavers was no Teofilo Stevenson--he wasn’t looking for the clean knockout and in fact he often battered his opponents into unconsciousness--but his record speaks for itself and like all the other great knockout specialists he should be closely studied.

Also take note of the diagonal planes in which Shavers works, rather than vertical. Not only is he incorporating the serape/derape effect by doing this, but he’s also increasing the moment arm from the axis of the hip/spine to the fist. He’s also reducing the chances of himself being hit. Not only does hitting in a diagonal plane potentially produce more power in a safer line, but these natural body power lines correspond to the angles at which the opponent’s head and body targets are most vulnerable.

Something else to note about Shavers is the size of his hands, which when bandaged and gloved would have been hanging like weights at the end of his arms. You have just got to put a very light bar in your hands to feel the increase in the centrifugal effect of throwing punches and to realise how having something to grip on also significantly increases impact.

Training Tips

This brings me to some details about the role of the hand in the knockout. Having a gloved hand allows you to hit without fear of breaking your hands and provides more contact area with which to rotate or rebound the head. Having said that, there are ways by which you can use the un-gloved hand to produce similar advantages. Of course, any form of hand development, including hitting the heavy bag, will allow you to hit with more confidence and more effectively, but there are other ways, too. One way to develop a sense of having a heavier hand is by rapidly whirling your arm at your side so that the centrifugal force causes blood to rapidly pool into your hand. It will turn red and feel full and heavy. Now, immediately switch to the heavy bag and hit it with this heavy ‘full hand’ feeling. This pooling of blood also helps to protect the hands as a result of the fluid within the hands being brought to the surface. This works much in the same way that hand ball players soak their hands in hot water so as to protect them. By regularly engaging in this kind of practice, you can eventually learn to develop a ‘heavy hand’ feeling without the whirling, and the practice also can improve upon the dynamics of the scapula and shoulder when striking.

Another important point when going for the knockout with bare fists is to try to hit the jaw with the entire surface area of the fist so as to cause maximum rotation of the head. Remember, you’re not going for a penetrative effect, say with a single knuckle or to break the jaw, even though that might happen anyway. You are going for the violent rotation of the head. Remember, the knockout is the quickest solution to ending the fight, particularly against somebody armed with a knife.

But in order to cause a violent rotation of the head, the entire arm from the scapula to the fist, with the dynamic support of the whole body, needs to accelerate through the head. This effect is more like a bat hitting through a ball and less like throwing the fist at the head as if throwing a ball, or cracking the arm like a whip by using the entire body so as to produce a high terminal velocity of the fist within a brief impact time.  This bat-hitting-ball effect is more an application of the impulse momentum change theorem to the generation and application of force to the target where mass plays an important role rather than an application of kinetic energy where achieving a high velocity is the key ingredient. But either way, if you’re going to emphasize the head as a major target, it would be a good idea, rather than just hitting the head and hoping for the best, to hit it in ways that have been shown to be effective in the professional rings of boxing and Muay Thai.

If you want a catalogue of the various ways of delivering a knockout shot, take a look at Thomas Hearns, who against welterweights up to heavyweights had every shot in the book.

Whichever way you end up trying to hit the head in a fight, it’s worth a mention that like a hammer head and its shaft, your fists, arms, shoulders and scapula have to be capable of not only delivering tremendous impact forces from any position and at any angle but also of sustaining them. The best way I know by which to produce and sustain such forces is to spend a lot of time on the heavy bag, and I do mean heavy—just like Marciano did. And irrespective of whether you are working on hand conditioning, aerobic/anaerobic conditioning, power generation, or tactics (separately, in combination or all together), it’s crucial to always do so with an opponent, real or imagined, in mind.

Sure, the heavy bag (like slip/maize bags, ground to ceiling balls, speed balls, wall bags, uppercut bags, etc.) is never going to exactly replicate the man you are going to fight, particularly when you first start using them. But provided you are working your bag alongside your drilling, conditional fighting, and fighting, you will find that gradually as your fight experience and knowledge grows you can start to work the equipment much as you would a man in a fight. This is about you, not about the bag. It’s about being able to transfer the impression of your opponent in the fight to the bag, and that takes place on an internal level. It relies on your experience and can’t be contrived. The bag might not have arms, but in your mind it can. The bag doesn’t hit you back, but in your mind you’re fighting the man. Indeed, being able to see the bag as a man speaks volumes of the quality of the fighting experiences that have been imprinted as engrams on the sensory and motor areas of your brain. Just as when you are shadow-fighting, when there appears to be nothing there at all, when you are working on the bag you must call up the fight in your mind’s eye.

Understand what you are seeing

I would suggest that quality impressions from your own fight experience (in the gym or elsewhere) as well as quality impressions from observing the knockout specialists in action are the key to this whole thing. Look at the clips, so that when you’re next working in the gym on a head shot, within your mind’s eye you will have a clear impression of what you are trying to do to your opponent’s head. This will enable you to start to work on the dynamics and tactical application of the shot.

I’ve talked to you about the mechanics behind the knockout, but at the end of the day the best advice I can offer you is to watch the clips and really study them. Shavers, like Marciano, Tyson, and of course the mantis shrimp, was one of the biggest hitters of all time. He was also one of the toughest fighters to ever step into the ring. Just look at how he comes back from being decked by Roy Williams to then knock him out. Just because these knockout specialists are referred to as boxers, they were first and foremost fighters, and anybody who can’t see that either has to be blind or seriously locked into their own beliefs. You would not want to test your chosen combative skills against them, unless of course you yourself were an accomplished fighter or you intended to use a gun, because you most certainly would need it.

In my book it’s far more productive to watch someone of the calibre of Shavers, Marciano, Tyson or other knockout specialist like Hearns in action, than to spend your time and energy listening to any ‘expert’ expounding on the dynamics of hitting the head when most ‘experts’ fail to emphasize the importance of causing a violent rotary or jolting effect upon the head. The dynamics of a skill are determined by the effect you need to cause--just like the design and dynamics of a tool are determined by the task at hand. If you’re just hitting the head without understanding the effect on the head you need to produce so as to cause a knock out, then your chances of getting the knockout are reduced. And if you can’t put your shots together like Hearns (for example), then if you come up against somebody who can, you’re going to be in big trouble.

Look at the fighters and learn all you can. No matter how impressive, informed, or eloquent someone might appear to be on the subject of fighting, no amount of talk can substitute for the observation of the real animal in action.


References:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC155412/

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2oh18I2TRIUC&pg=PA315&lpg=PA315&dq=impulsive+loading+boxing&source=bl&ots=Ka4A6a0TfB&sig=6TeEyL6ZpeKbczYxahQRy5Fxeuk&hl=en&ei=OqWTSrnjL9KrjAeNsfT5DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=impulsive%20loading%20boxing&f=false

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=z1oj5YSq9S0C&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&dq=boxing+knockout+brain+stem&source=bl&ots=IRB4uF7oI3&sig=3fKgC3R-lqZfBT5lMEuCStE8cYc&hl=en&ei=QYmSSszNMtWMjAfMw8DnDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=boxing%20knockout%20brain%20stem&f=false

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knockout

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f2/pointed-chin-knockout-773513/index2.html see remarks by spid3yo--more on target than the rest of the discussion.

When I visited Andy Dunne's home this past spring, he took me down into his home gym.  He had one of these vibrating plate machines for exercising.  I laughed.  I said, 'It reminds me of my mother's washing machine on spin cycle.' 

When I was on home leave from Benghazi, I was already into isometrics and I remember trying to hold the machine steady as it was going through a fast spin, and noticing how the muscle definition increased.  At that time, I didn't know about the stretch reflex and how the faster you stretch the muscle fibre, then the faster you stretch the spindles that are embedded within it.  I didn't know how, through the neural impulses arising from this stretch and a synaptic connection within the spinal cord, motor neurons that innervate the muscle in which the stretch took place are activated.  This is why, the faster the stretch, the more motor units are recruited to overcome the load. 

The muscle spindle responds to the degree of change in its length, i.e. how much it stretches (termed 'tonic').  It also responds to the rate of stretch (termed 'phasic').  It's the phasic, or fast-stretch, that I'm interested in, because it's the fast stretch that activates the fast twitch and super fast twitch motor units (upon which explosive strength depends). I'm also interested in using the gamma efferent system, which enables the spindle to be pre-set so that the slightest stretch or even no stretch at all will produce a myotatic reflex.  This occurs through the impression of needed response that I'm always on about.

The problem with Andy's machine is that for many people it just ends up as a vibrating machine, which will only produce tonic stretching and therefore result in increased tonus.  But unless the muscle that you're seeking to exercise is under tension, then you won't get the phasic response. 

Let me explain.  If you pull back your arm to throw a ball, the muscles that are responsible for the forward movement are already undergoing their contraction during that pullback.  So you're pulling against tension, rather like pulling back a bowstring to shoot an arrow.  There's no slackness in the movement. 

Another example.  If you're going to do a rebound off the floor, and you start your drop without the impression that you're going to spring back up, then you'll just collapse on the floor.  You've got to drop against the tension of the muscles so as to overcome the gravitational load.  And the faster you do that (and the more you can reduce the time spent on the loading phase) then the more explosive the resulting rebound will be.

It's a bit like taking a hard rubber ball with high restitution and throwing it into the ground.  The faster you throw it, the faster it rebounds.  If you do that with a beach ball (what I call the Tai Chi ball), it will barely bounce back.

Going back to the washing machine.  What I started to connect together was this.  I know that isometrics were working for me, but now I could add to them another dimension.  Within the dynamic tension drills that I was doing, I began to add a violent shake.  So as to become my own 'washing machine.'  You'll see me shaking weights on my DVDs for the very same reason.

I was later to see this same phenomenon within the Fujian systems, of the shaking, vibratory energy.  Either they would use poles to exhibit this phenomenon, or use metal rings on the arms.  With my research into kinesiology at around the same time, the penny dropped.  I understood now that the shaking was  about finding a way of recruiting more motor neurons and activating the higher firing rate. 

There's a criticism about isometrics only being good for a specific joint angle with a range of 10-15 degrees either way.  But I'd suggest for those critics that they look at the idea of torque.  When the isometric is performed at optimal angle of the joint, then you're strengthening it at the angle you need to use it at. 

Each joint has an optimal oscillatory range, where the distance between the tendon and the joint at the point of insertion is maximal.  At your elbow, for example, the optimal oscillatory range is around the perpendicular.  If your arm is straight, it's not as strong, and if it's bent completely, it's not as strong.   That's why a starting position is usually 90 degrees.  That's where the maximal force to produce torque can be applied.

If you strengthen the different joints of the body within their respective oscillatory ranges, now it's a matter of aligning the joints and learning the sequence, rate and timing to add them all together for either a simultaneous release or a sequential one. 

Watch a fish go across a tank.  He uses the oscillatory effect of the spine to turn a group of small movements into a big result.

And the beauty of isometrics vs. lifting weights is that they can be performed from any angle, against walls, door frames, ground, so you can train very specifically for the movement you want to produce.

But back to my original point. 

Basically, what I tried to explain to Andy was that it's more important for you to be actively producing the neural impulses than to rely on a machine.  As I said to the guys yesterday at Primal, when you do the isometric or oscillatory exercise, you have to have a clear purpose for doing it; for example, an explosive punch, kick, or movement against the ground .  And remember, the isometric or oscillatory preparation is only temporary.  You've recruited the motor units and their firing so as to produce an explosive response, but you can't carry it around all day.  You have to now do something that's explosive. 

So you train the CNS to recruit, but then you've got to express that in a specific way.  That expression also feeds back to the CNS and strengthens the pattern.  So doing the isometric/oscillatory exercise is only the first part; you have to immediately follow up with an explosive movement.

So, here's my question.  Do you guys hug a tree, or do you hug your washing machine? 

Only kidding.

Here's an additional tip, and it's regarding motor unit recruitment and firing.  Ben Johnson, the Olympic 100 meter runner, would do heavy squats as a warm-up prior to the race.  It was a way of producing high motor recruitment (fast twitch and super-fast twitch) and priming a higher firing rate, so that the CNS is 'switched on' to the task at hand.  That's the same principle I show on the new DVD regarding isometrics for striking.  The method I show is a way of exciting the system, so you're already set for a high recruitment and firing.  Now when you release that shot within a fight-specific time frame, you're going to be more explosive than if you had just started from zero.

On the film, the purpose of the isometric on the wall is to create an explosive follow-through, because it's performed at the 'finish' of the movement.  If I wanted an explosive delivery, I'd put the isometric at the beginning of the move, which could be coming from any position or angle. 

If I do the isometric for ten seconds, say, prior to performing an explosive move, I'm only doing it so as to raise fast/superfast twitch motor recruitment and firing, which will allow me to experience a more explosive effect when I perform the shot.  I now have an explosive impression in my kinesthetic memory that is better than the previous impression.  And I can build on that again. 

But I'm not doing the work in order to produce hypertrophy. Quite the contrary.  Although in my training I have ways of addressing the strengthening of the structure (tendons, muscles, etc) I'd rather have interconnectivity than big muscles.  I want to be able to move effectively through a whole bunch of ranges and at speed.  I don't want muscles getting in my way.  I also want a lower centre of gravity.  I don't be top-heavy with a lot of upper body muscle, because I need dynamic footwork.

This brings us back to timing and rhythm, which I've just talked about in my last post.  If you're going to use weights, don't use them to create hypertrophy (although some hypertrophy could be a by-product).  Instead, use them specifically to produce high motor recruitment and firing, and then use that increased recruitment specifically to create a more explosive punch, kick or throw.  Also, make sure you're able to do the move repetitively and in broken time.  The explosion that you train must be employed within fight time if it's going to be any use to you. 

If you link this enhanced CNS/recruitment to the broken time I talked about in my previous post, now you've got something. 

I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff lately on the one-punch kill.  This probably has its base in Five Ancestor Fist.  The heavy bag for me was always one of the best ways of developing that kind of power.  Doing the shot and being able to repeat it, either in the same line and with the same tool, or switching the tool; say a fist switching to an elbow.  Or switching the line completely. 

Initially, I used to punch the bag with the idea of a man-on-man scenario, but as I got in more streetfights, especially in Benghazi, I found myself dealing with multiple opponents.  Surprisingly, this is where the one-punch solution really became important for me, because I couldn’t afford to spend a lot of time on one guy. If I hit him, I had to make sure he went down, because there would be another guy to deal with immediately. 

So this taught me not only to put everything into one shot, but to be able to keep repeating the shots, in a variety of ways, to deal with multiple attackers coming from different positions and in different time frames.  And the different time frames also necessitated the ability to ‘break time’ that I often demonstrate in my classes.

So there are three things that I used the heavy bag for that are not obvious: the so-called ‘one punch kill’; the repetitive, Uzi-like firing of multiple shots from various angles and positions (which includes developing footwork); and the ability to break time. 

But the most important thing about the heavy bag work came out of my experience when facing somebody with a knife.  No matter what else is important, if you get into an exchange with a guy with a knife, it’s really a case of three strikes and you are out.  If you get three strikes to the abdomen, technically speaking you’re dead.  And three is the maximum!

If you decide to initiate an attack on a knife guy and overwhelm him with your shots, then you’d better make sure that whatever you’re hitting him with fucking works.  Because if he gets the chance to stab you even once, it could be fatal.  Now, if you secure the knife hand and hit him with your other hand, then if those hits are not effective almost immediately, he’ll probably break free.  And the implications of that are not good.  So your strikes with that one hand have got to be extremely devastating.

If you decide to control the knife hand completely, you’d better make sure you’re able to break his fucking arm.  If you manage to disarm him, then be prepared to stab him with the knife, because if he’s really out for you he’s not going to be happy to remain disarmed and give up.

And here's another place where, if you are going to practice defence against a knife, it's a real benefit if you can generate the kind of power that can break an arm, because when you're blocking the knife arm you can potentially break it.  This occurs when you've learned to deliver maximum power within a reduced time frame and close-range development space. 

I'll give you a little tip on how you could do that.  Go and find yourself a door frame.  There are a lot of ways you can use this door frame to develop bone-breaking capacity, but here's one simple one.  Press on the door frame with the bone on the outside of your forearm/wrist as in a middle-block type of move.  Hold a strong isometric contraction for a little while.  Then bring the arm off a few inches, and smash it back on again as fast and hard as you can.  Repeat as many times as you can.  In this way you'll get the kind of conditioning you need to break arms with when blocking/attacking the knife arm.  You'll also strengthen the neural connections that develop that kind of power--those old motor units again.  Getting the timing in a real life situation is different, but when you train yourself to work within a limited space and reduced time, then the timing in the applied situation becomes easier.

You can apply this door-frame training to lots of body parts and moves.

The main thing here is this.  When I watch people doing knife scenarios, either pre-empting the knife attack or controlling the knife hand and striking in some way with a fist, elbow, knee, foot, head, or whatever, when you look at the strike they’re employing, there’s no potential for damage in it.  They can’t hit.  And the reason for that is because they’ve never trained to fucking hit.  They’ve probably trained on soft bags, or broken stacks of tiles in sheer.    

So make like Dennis Jones and go get yourself a hard, heavy bag!

Fifty years ago as a fifteen year old I was heavily into isometrics.  In fact, I would have to credit my static and fixation strength to this particular way of training.  By this type of training I was able to bend nails, crush potatoes—in other words, to produce a powerful force against what appeared to be an immovable object. 

However, I also attribute my ability to produce a sudden, explosive delivery force to the practice of isometrics.  And even my finish, the follow-through that destroys the target, has been very much dependent upon this form of training. 

What developed off an initial basic Joe Weider-type isometric training course became more specific to what I needed to do, and after meeting Joseph Cheng I got some insight into how isometrics can be applied both statically and through more dynamic forms of isometrics such as arm grinding drills.  In this way I learned to produce a maximal effort to a point of contact, and to connect that point of contact to the ground through the various articulations of the body.  I explored how those articulations of the body could be used to increase the pressure on the contact point against a resistance (which could be vertical, like a post, or horizontal against a table or a horizontal bar, or any diagonal variation).  In fact, I used these vertical and horizontal fixed objects to increase the force of the pu, tim, tun, toh (float, sink, swallow, spit) of the Fujian systems. 

In many ways it was learning how to deliver this final effort of contact after the ballistic release—in other words, the follow-through—that allowed me to break bones.  I was able to find ways of interconnecting the body’s leverages within a closed system and use them to increase the force directed into a single point, be it my forearm, knuckles, elbow, shoulder, whatever.  Isometric training also conditioned those points of contact.  I would often press against sharp-edged door frames so as to go beyond the pain threshold.  I’d stand inside door frames and use my arms through the five element hand positions to strengthen the movement patterns.  Or I’d stand on a diagonal with my fist in the load position for a punch and then press against the wall.  I showed this to Nick Forrer at SENI, because I’d seen some discussion of this on forums but the discussion in my opinion was pretty limited.

I used to break a lot of makiwaras in the course of training, so I discovered that a better way of using the makiwara was to place my hand on it in either the delivery position or the finish position of the shot from various angles and positions, then then explosively jerk the makiwara back.  The one I had was fixed against a wall, so the audible feedback would tell me how much I’d penetrated. 

It has always been the case that how you start a shot is far less important than how you finish it.  It’s the finish, the follow-through, where many people fail.  They get to the target ballistically, either through sequential or simultaneous action, but they can’t actually finish it.  I show my guys at Primal ways by which to get the ballistic action by throwing or shot-putting a small medicine ball against a wall.  Then I show them how to get the finish by explosively pressing against a wall for the duration in which the contact would last, and to accompany that with a violent exhalation and use of the head to initiate the sudden jolt of the body. 

One of the things I found on isometrics is that the duration (usually 3-5 seconds) is too long to represent an impact time.  So you have to reduce that time, but put more effort into that shorter period of time.  Explode every joint of the body to contribute to that effort.  The nodding, the twisting and the leaning left or right of the head helps to get the body going in the direction that you want for the angle of the shot. 

It’s a great way to condition knuckles as well.  And if your knuckles get sore, then another great way is to find an extended corner of a building and then use your elbow/forearm.  Because if you learn to throw your elbow at the target, then the fist is going to follow through.

For those interested in how I break flat bricks, this is a way of learning to exert a force when you apparently have no space to develop it.

You can practice by placing your hand on something, open the joints, and then suddenly exert into the hand and feel the joints explosively release their potential force. 

The thing about isometrics you’ve got to be careful of are make sure you don’t hold your breath, because blood pressure spikes.  Accompany the effort with a breath.  And because you’re exerting against an immovable object, don’t let the movement come back into you.  You must feel that you’re exerting beyond the point of contact and driving the force into and through the object. You must extend your energy through the target and not allow it to come back into yourself.

This is a great way, also, for people interested in fa jing of developing their ability to release a force from any point at which somebody makes contact with your body.  It’s also a great way, if somebody presses into a vulnerable point, that you can press against it to override the force.  You strengthen the target area defensively.  For example, if somebody presses their fist into your throat, you can brace up and push back against it.  There’s that photo of me doing it with a sword; that’s all it is.

Because I travel down to Primal by train and bus, every time I go I now use the fixtures around me to train isometrically.  A great one is if you’re on a train and you get a flat table, you can do your chi sao movements above and below the table with your arms by intense grinding.  But maybe not on a crowded train, or when the conductor’s about to punch your ticket!  I use the seats on buses to do collar ties and drags, pushes and pulls. 

It’s a great way of training.  It’s also a way you can get through sticking points if you’re stuck say on a particular point of a pullup or a weight training drill.  You can do an isometric at that point and I’ve found it helps to get you through. 

One other point.  With regard to dynamic tension  (as in Sanchin for example), isometric training is a great way of raising the threshold of the Golgi tendon inhibition, so as to increase the amount of muscular contraction you can recruit.   Isometrics  also allows you to produce maximal tension at  any  joint angle you choose, which could be the starting or finishing point of a shot, for example.  So you can maximize motor recruitment to overcome a load at a specific joint angle.

The most important thing for me about that was how the isometric training increases neural drive, and it's that neural drive that's vital in producing explosive power, either in the starting of the delivery of a shot or its finish. This is true whether the shot is thrown or driven.  To apply the isometrics to your striking, you must retain the impression of the effort you made in the isometric and transfer it to the delivery of the real thing.  That's the neural impression you need to capture.