Self Defence Basics II

Self Defence Basics

Last time, I introduced you to the concept of Situational Awareness and its importance in providing you with a much broader view of your surroundings, and potential threats.  Sadly, even with a heightened level of Situational Awareness, sometimes stuff just happens and you will need to physically defend yourself.

This is where I come in; I can provide you with personalised, one-on-one or group self defence training to prepare you for any eventuality.  How I do that is by teaching you self defence techniques and skills and the key principles that underpin those techniques and skills that enable you to use them effectively and safely.

The first of these principles is:

The Principle of Centreline

The principle of centreline is all about how you generate your speed and power if you have no other choice than to defend yourself against a physical attack.

If you have ever seen a martial artist practice his punching or kicking, you will notice one thing.  The non-punching hand, or non-kicking leg, is withdrawn in a straight line to a position where another blow can be launched along the centreline of the body.  Even with the roundhouse punches and kicks, or hooks in boxing, the power is delivered from the centreline to the centreline.

Imagine the action of hitting a nail with a hammer.  If you swing the hammer in a straight line, from the shoulder down towards the nail, the blow will exert the maximum amount of power available to the nail.  If, on the other hand, you swing the hammer from wider, outside the line of your shoulder, the impact will be glancing and have less power.  The same principle applies to punching and kicking, the straighter the line of delivery, i.e. along the centreline, the more power you can generate at the point of impact.

All of the power in any of these techniques begins in the big toe of the rear most foot, or your dominant foot.  With practice, and a lot of it, you can feel all of the muscles from the toe through to your striking fist or foot coiling and then exploding into action, one at a time.

This is not a principle that can be mastered easily or quickly.  I have had Karate students practicing daily for several years before the ‘light bulb’ moment arrives.  That does not mean you cannot learn it quickly or make effective use of the knowledge; it simply takes good instruction and practice of the basics.

Visit www.brightshare.com.au or contact me by email at: kyoshi@brightshare.com.au