Six Principles of Power

[Jointlock]

The six principles of power that every technique needs to get the maximum amount of power are: Speed, Equalibrium, Breath control, Focus, Reaction force, and Timing.

Speed-Obviously the faster that your technique is the more power you can put into it.

Equalibrium- If you're off balance it is impossible to use your whole body to get power, and send your energy into the strike.

Breath control-A ki-hap or ki-ai helps with energy transfer by tightening up all of the muscles in your body especially the abdomin at the point of impact. It also assists your mind in being more focused.

Focus-Is delivering all of your energy into the smallest point. My favorite explanation of focus is to imagine a fat woman on linoleom with tennis shoes on, she does not hurt the floor. Now imagine the same woman with stelleto high heals on. She will most likely put some major dents and cracks in the floor. Now thats delivering the maximum amount of energy to the smallest point.

Reaction Force-I'm not going to get all scientific here, but when you punch for exsample by pulling back the opposite arm it makes your body work together. If you were to just leave the arm hanging there it would hinder your strike.

Timing-This brings everything together. Everything must work together from your exhale, your reaction force, focus, speed, and balance. It all must harmonize to deliver the maximum amount of power. While all of these are necessary, this in my opinion is the most important principle.

Does anyone have a different take on this? Something to add, or something that you absolutly dissagree with? Just curious.

[Zuiun]

I would add accuracy to your list. You can have all six of your elements in bucket-loads, but if you aren't hitting your target, you might as well be trying to ice skate uphill.

Or maybe another way to say it is that the seventh principle of power is Target. If you don't have a target to transfer your energy into, then you've wasted the other six principles (even when we train, we pick an imaginary target as the focus point).

:D

-- Zu

[YODA]

I would add strength to your list.

Power is the application of strength at speed.

[dmiller575]

Co-Ordination of movement - you may think that this is the same as focus but maybe not.

[Mike Flanagan]

Originally posted by Jointlock
Equalibrium- If you're off balance it is impossible to use your whole body to get power, and send your energy into the strike.

Actually there are other ways of generating power that don't follow this principle. Imagine if I was generating by power by falling into the opponent, using gravity to generate force. In this scenario it would be necessary to actually be unbalanced to generate maximum force.

Mike

[shadow warrior]

Jointlock:

A few thoughts about the your principles of power.

Speed in your post is used in what context(s)? Are we addressing the initiation phase, the acceleration segment or maximum possible velocity? How is it possible to manage these different aspects as applied to strike techniques versus say twisting, throwing or projecting? Can we assume that the same theories of energy management can be applied in ALL of these cases identically?

Equalibrium per say, is at odds with the essential application of weight transfer. For example: you will never be able to throw a much larger person without using your own weight transfer during the process. Simple weight transfer also assists in generating more striking dynamic energy through natural body motion.

Exahaling as people execute technique is certainly a required element, but the application of yelling of some type has debatable effects on the actual energy generated or delivered. To tense ones entire body during the final stages will dramitically reduce the total amount of energy available for transfer. This will prevent energy from flowing in the same way as water is restricted by a blockage in the pipe throght which it is travelling.

The general term focus is always a usefull one. But, as far as its influence on the energy transfer aspect, it does not really matter what part of a 25 lb dumbbell hits you in the temple. It is still a 25 lb weight! If by focus you mean strike them in the side of the head, that is fine, but if you mean I must conciously decided to do so in only a specific way, potential energy reserves will be depleted by the extra thought processes engaged.

Strength, as mentioned by Yoda must be a reference to physical strength. We could add to this mental, emotional and spiritual strength as well.

This can also go the way of the debate now being waged on the street racing environment. The "import" guys emphasis horsepower for speed while the "Detroit Iron" guys say torque rules. The answer is obvious..we want BOTH.. There is NO substitute for cubic inch in a motor, no matter how high an engine will rev.

In Hapkido circle, flow and harmony are supposed to determine the validity of techniques within its system. Generating maximum power can only be approached through the investigation of physically relaxed exploration of natural body motions as they are applied consistantly through Hapkido's foundation principles.

Maximum power application is a goal which all martial arts students should strive towards as a goal. The problems start multiplying when detailed methods for developing power are not universally recognized and or acknowledged.

[Tosh]

Mass.

You aint got no mass, you aint got no power.

You have to be accuarat with something.

i.e. the difference between a finger and a forefist!

[Yojimbo]

it may not be my room to speak ,but just because you have mass does not mean you have power

[Zuiun]

Originally posted by Tosh
Mass.

You aint got no mass, you aint got no power.

You have to be accuarat with something.

i.e. the difference between a finger and a forefist!

Mass is not a critical factor. By that, I mean that any average adult has all the mass necessary to cause devestating power to an opponent -- provided they know how to focus their attacks.

For proof of this, try hitting a board with a knife-hand strike and try slapping a board with the flat of your palm. Same person, same arm, same hand, same mass. Which strike is more likely to break the board?

-- Zu

[zun]

Relaxed state.

A relaxed body and mind help the co-ordination, accuracy, delivery and clear the focus for intent. A fighter when relaxed uses less energy to deliver more power.

Intent.

Most as important. When the intent is there, regardless of the technique or the co-ordination or, even, condition of the fighter, a blow can have devastating power. Power follows intent.

Mass:

Not important. A body with a small mass travelling fast is able to deliver more power than a larger mass travelling smaller. Think lorry small, car fast, same power when they hit.

I think Tosh might mean to ensure that you attain maximum power, you put your entire body into it. This is certainly true in boxing. eg. Naseem Hamed - he strikes with the power of a middleweight.

[John_IHF]

That is exactly why we redirect like the winds of a tornado, Does wind have more mass then a truck? No, Then why is it able to lift it and fling it across our world?

[Jointlock]

Originally posted by Shadow Warrior

Speed in your post is used in what context(s)?

I appologize, I meant these principles are about striking, kicking, and punching techniques, and only one technique by itself.

Also posted by Shadow Warrior

but the application of yelling of some type has debatable effects on the actual energy generated or delivered.

I understand that some schools only associate the word Ki-Hap with yell, that is not the case for us. Ki Hap means 'energy coordinated' (Just like the words in 'Hapki'do mixed around) not 'spirit yell' like I have heard from many Korean martial arts practitioners. So, even if we are making just the sound of the exhale we are using the Ki-hap and it is used on every technique. About making the body tight: we do this after we have penatrated the 2 to 3 inches and the energy has been transfered, so that it will not be transfered back into the body.

I agree with everything you said about throws and equilibrium. Still equilibrium is up for debate, if you're in control of your center of gravity when you are executing throws then are you not on balance. The same thing can be said in response to Mike Flannagan, if you're intending to fall on your opponent this does not mean that you do not have balance because you are somewhat still in control of where you are striking, but I do see your point.

There are some very good responses here that I will not argue with. I agree that there is no definate answer and every technique has many different ways of executing them. This is just a guideline, or a base. Thanks for all of the responses.

[Magellan]

[QUOTE=Jointlock]The six principles of power that every technique needs to get the maximum amount of power are: Speed, Equalibrium, Breath control, Focus, Reaction force, and Timing.

Someone was asking about how to get more power in their punches on another thread, and I posted something there, and I thought I'd post it here too. It goes into a lot of the details on just one technique, but as I said, I admit to being sort of a nerd about this stuff. Here's the post:

I assume you're not just talking about getting more strength like in lifting weights.

For most of my techniques there are both snappy, less powerful, and slower but more powerful versions.

Not sure if this helps you but I work on the body mechanics a lot, and the other day I noticed one reason why my left punch in the front stance wasn't as powerful was for several reasons:

1. The hip was hanging back a bit compared to the right on the initial launch for the punch. The reason was I had insufficient foot thrust into the floor from the rear leg.

2. The lower torso muscles were too tight for the hips to rotate quickly, and the hip muscles weren't contracting fast enough compared to the right.

3. The hip and the arm weren't synchronized completely. The hip was finishing it's motion just before the punch finished, and for a power punch, they should occur together. It's a little different for speed punches.

4. I was slightly losing the "set" for the hips in the front stance when I did the punch, which makes you more unstable. The hips should be set slightly forward to help "set" the front leg for more stability.

5. Too much upper body tension, which will slow you down. The lower body was relaxed but the upper body was too tense, so they were out of kilter.

6. The hip wasn't rotating perfectly horizontal to the ground, possibly caused by the right inner thigh muscle tightening too much for the hip set, but I'm not sure about that yet.

After making these adjustments the left punch feels real good, and after testing it on the heavy bag the left was almost as powerful as my right.

One thing that has helped me a lot over the years is I use my dominant side, which is the right, to "teach" my left how to do it. If they don't feel the same (the right usually being at least a bit better), I compare them and figure out what the differnence is. I've been able to correct a lot of small things that can't even been seen anymore this way.

Hope this helps. Maybe this sounds a bit obsessive on the details but I as I said, I admit to being sort of a nerd on this stuff. And as I tell my students, the difference between good and only so-so technique is usually in the details.

Lots of other good comments here too on this.

[kevinyusul]

The six principles that are used that not nessecarly need power when you are perfoming a technique or when you are about to perform a technique are based on

1. etiquette, mostly applys to the training in the dojang, but can be used as in the movie "The last samurai" cutting of the head of a losing samurai in battle :-)

2. the use of the eyes, maintain eye contact at all times during a technique, the eyes tell the secret of what the opponent is doing

3. breathing, using ki breathing to increase your bodies power at the instance of being attacked similar to applying AIKI

4. proper distancing, make sure the attacker is your range to attack and not further away, the attacker comes within our personal zone

5. breaking balance, essential for any technique to work without this your technique will fail

6. continual alertness, for other attackers, if attacked by more thatn one person

This are the principles our Hapkido is based around

Kev

[Alexander]

When pulling back with the 'reaction' hand in order to increase power how far are you recommending it be pulled back? e.g. Hip, ribs...

It's just although I pull back a little, free sparring has long taught me that pulling back the hand too far is an invitation to get hit as it is effectively lowering your guard. I tend to keep the hand up by my jaw and have carried this on to my Hapkido training. What are everyone else's thoughts on the matter?

[Kosh]

i dont agree with maintaining eye contact...if it gives away their secrets, then itll give yours away too. What if you want to confuse them by giving away a fake 'secret'? I prefer to look in their general direction, without focusing on anything in particular (its been mentioned that peripheral vision is excellent for sensing movement). Unless i want them to get confused in which case you can use your own eye movements to confuse them.

i also disagree with 5 but weve already discussed that...

[Kosh]

K thought id add mine...

Control via:-
-unbalancing
-pain
-deception
-counter reflexes

Alexander. the punching you mentioned is kinda like basic TKD punching. Our basic HKD punching is a little different and alot of it isnt actually punching par se. My perseption if the rigid forward backward punching you mentioned is that it is there to get a good form going (maybe to get body working right - shoulder movement or whatever) in a real situation your guard should be kept up i guess. The way we have learnt to punch uses the retraction as a setup for the next punch more than anything else.

[marc1988aston]

I like to interpret the six fighting points in a sentace to help remember them. The sentance is
A Dead Parrot Can't Tell Tails
A for accuracy
D for distance
P for pressure
C for control
T for technique
T for timing
This is handy to know while you are training because you can ask yourself if all 6 are perfect when you are performing moves