by Tony Terranova Tue Jun 17, 2008 3:19 pm
Hi Nick,
There are endless parallels between engineering philosophy and the martial arts. I will give you just a few for starters. If you take the simple analogy of fighting a much bigger opponent and compare that to a having to demolish a large building they have one thing in common; this is - once you undermine the structure of a building it takes very little force to knock it down and the same applies when fighting an opponent – once you undermine their basic structure by breaking their balance then the bigger they are the easier they fall. A classic example is if you shoot in on an opponent and hit them at the correct angle and simultaneously lift their lead leg and drive into their hips then they are on one leg and will fall over if your momentum and body positioning is correct. Another example is blocking a punch – if you block a punch in a conventional manner with an arm/hand it will not be as effective as creating a structure based block – an example of a structure based block is using your left hand/arm to cover an oncoming right cross – you put the palm of your hand on your head, tuck your chin in, raise the shoulders, bend the knees (they are your shock absorbers) in a solid stance, and let your arm make the shape of a triangle in front of your head, keeping everything tight so that your arm, traps, neck, trunk, and legs all become one structure. This structure then creates a solid triangle in the direction of the right cross, and if is much harder to collapse a triangle than it is a square of an L shape. In this instance you took your arm as an individual component of your body and connected it to the rest of your body to make it one structure and not a stand alone part.
Regards,
Tony
