The Holy Grail of Martial Arts

In my 40 year plus study of the martial arts I have had one identifiable aim that has been a constant and that is to find the Holy Grail of martial arts and combat, those techniques that will work every time with anyone in any situation. This is a really big ask, by that I mean how do you measure it? When will you know when you’re there? How could you ever test it if you felt you’d found it anyway? Bear in mind I was in my early teens when I began so my was perhaps a little bit too optimistic coming  from such an immature standpoint though I must admit the quest has pretty much stayed with me over all this time.

Thank you for reading today. Check in tomorrow for part two of the 'Holy Grail of Martial Arts' 

Best wishes

Tony Higo

Chief Instructor

National Martial Arts College

0800 092 0948

www.nat-mac.co.uk 

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The Law of Judgement part 2

Every judgement is based on the potential success of a task and also how the action will be judged afterwards, in terms of success, law and morality. Self defence is fraught with worries about the danger to oneself obviously but also for the danger posed to ones aggressor and how any injury to him will be viewed by the law. Good training and a thoughtful education will influence our judgements, hopefully for the better but certainly it will increase the number of available choices before we decide on which course of action to take. A martial artists choice of effective action in combat will depend on the ‘relevance’ of his training to the challenge that presents itself. I say ‘relevance’ and by that I mean how applicable his training is to actual self defence. Without getting too political on the subject my judgement on many of the martial arts systems I have seen and studied is that they are not ‘relevant’ that is they are not applicable to the situation, in other words they wouldn’t help much more in combat than a knowledge of golf or tennis. This is my judgement on martial arts systems and the consequence of this has influenced what I teach and the curriculum taught in my schools motivating me to teach a system that based on my experience of combat and which I judge to work in the wide range of experience I have had.

My reasons for writing about the laws of combat is to use my experience to help martial artists realise that what they are learning should not be based so much on style but on content and that content should be driven by the universal laws that govern all things in life and combat. This is why my writing speaks of laws, strategies, rules and techniques to show the difference between these concepts. To demonstrate that every strategy or technique is governed by a law and that if one knows the laws the techniques will be practiced and applied better. In martial arts there are things that are equally if not more important than technique and every effective martial art will contain certain principles in its make up that decide its effectiveness. These are the concepts of Fitness, Aggression, Strength and Training what I call the FAST principle:

F is for Fit, every effective martial art in its practice will promote high levels of cardiovascular conditioning. One never knows how long the fight will last and at what intensity so we must prepare ourselves for this.

A is for aggressive attitude. Aggression is necessary in combat, controlled aggression but aggression all the same. One cannot fight for ones life half heartedly, one must fight at one hundred percent intensity and this intensity is pure aggression. I said earlier ‘controlled aggression’ because we must be able to switch it on and off at will so we do enough but not to over step the mark, doing more damage than is necessary.

S is for strength both physical and mental most opponents choose us as victims because they are stronger or at least they think they are. Effective martial arts systems are not out to turn us into bodybuilders in size and weight but they must develop the strength to perform effectively against the average opponent.

T is for training and as I said earlier training should be relevant to the current trends in street defence both in physical and mental attitude. There is nothing new in martial arts despite what the adverts say. No one has discovered a more effective way of running than we did thousands of years ago. Of course we have all sorts of shoes and styles and what have you but at the end of the day they are all just fads, in fact today ‘experts’ are taking us back to thin soled shoes almost like running in bare feet. Martial arts are the same as it ever was, the same the laws and principles remain unchanged for centuries though the techniques come and go with the fashion at the time.

The FAST principle is one of my judgements on martial arts effectiveness and I use it as an example of judgement and how we might apply it in our lives.

In summary, judgement is a continuous processing of decision making and action taking. Every move we make has been judged to be the most appropriate for the outcome we desire in life and martial arts. Our judgement can be improved and if it is our martial arts and life will too. The skill of the master is in his judgement and how he applies it.

Thanks you for reading today

Tony Higo

Chief Instructor

National Martial Arts College

www.nat-mac.co.uk

0800 0920948

The Law of Judgement part 1

The law of judgement states that we should ‘make the best decision possible with the resources available to gain the optimum result’

In combat judgement needs to be accurate and precise under pressure to achieve the winning outcome. Should I attack? When? Where? How? To achieve what outcome? The effectiveness of every strategy and technique relies on the quality of ones judgement; timing, target, technique all rely on the judgement that fuels the decision to use them and their order, speed, distance, leverage all the principles of life and martial arts hinge on the decision process. The judgment of when and what to use is either consciously chosen or decided by our habits and conditioning which in themselves are consciously chosen though we may not always realise that our habits both good and bad are chosen in response to the various challenges we face in life.

Judgement is a choice of action, a decision made, deemed as the most appropriate at the time to achieve the best result with the time and resources available. The law of action states that ‘nothing happens until something moves’ and no action is taken that does not involve a judgement prior to deciding on the action. Judgement is the quality or rightness of the decision we make and in itself it will also be judged. We all have made judgements that after the event were judged differently with hindsight.

Experience and our interpretation of it colours much of our judgement. How we interpret our experience will depend much on our attitude; whether we are positive and optimistic about our experience or negative and pessimistic, whether we enjoyed the experience or not. This is purely our personal perception and it’s easy to see how our views gained through experience will colour what we do.

Training in the martial arts deliberately influences our judgements by building habits to effectively deal with combat issues, although the master instructor shows the martial art teachings as they apply in life and in combat. The deliberate choice of the martial artist is to consciously change his behaviour through 1000’s of hours of repetition; to train his responses, his judgements to include a new set of actions or choices in order to solve problems more efficiently. In life our conditioning can be intentional or otherwise, we acquire habits by choice but we are not always aware that the choice we make will result in the habit we gain. Judgement is therefore based on our experience and our ability to visualise the outcome that experience will produce when we judge it appropriate to use it. In combat what decisions and judgements do we make? If we should fight, when to fight, what to use, what risk or reward is involved, tactics and techniques to use and when used to decide what comes next. Every part of every action involves a decision fuelled by a judgement. Thinking of judgement, we might think of the considered outcome of a court by the archetypal bewigged judge, however in combat and life most of our judgements are split second choices happening in quick succession. Sport, combat, driving etc all demand fast judgements most of which are immediately forgotten. Tune in tomorrow for part two of the law of judgement.

Thanks you for reading today

Tony Higo

Chief Instructor

National Martial Arts College

www.nat-mac.co.uk

0800 0920948

The Law of Vulnerability

States that ‘a chain is only as strong as its weakest link’ its vulnerability is its weak link. In combat a vulnerable area is a target and a target is a goal. A vulnerable target is a goal that is easier to achieve success with risk than a less vulnerable one. The master martial artist knows the vulnerable areas of his opponents mind and body, he knows where and when to strike for best effect. The true master makes no distinction between how he uses the law of vulnerability in combat or life he knows they are one and the same. The difference is how he treats his goals, every goal has its vulnerability and tough goals can seem invulnerable to attack/achievement of them.

However the better you know your target the more vulnerable it will become. A goal that has been achieved many times becomes completely vulnerable to your attack on it. A tough goal can be rendered less tough by studying it and learning where its weakness may lie. Like opponents there are tough ones and there are easy ones, there are some you can beat easily and some you can’t beat at all. But most opponents can be beat by applying thought and strategy even if (and it’s a good way to achieve a goal) by recruiting help, leveraging the energy and expertise of others to ensure your goal is rendered more achievable. I’m not necessarily suggesting you fight two against one but an attacker may certainly consider that when he targets you, making you a more vulnerable target, no matter how tough you are.

Stress is necessary and every goal that is worthwhile should give us at least a little ‘buzz’ as the adrenalin shoots through our system. However it is too easy sometimes to take the easy path and sometimes it’s nice to do so for a while like being on holiday but like any holiday its also nice to get back to normality and if we want to achieve in life, something that gives us a sense of progress and contribution we must endure some stress through choosing a road less travelled, a less vulnerable goal.

Our life, our character is decided by the quality of our goals and our courage to choose goals that are less vulnerable, that extend and expand our comfort zone. The skill is in attacking many goals whether in life or combat and the experience of achieving one goal can teach us much about achieving any goal if we study and review it afterwards. The more a fighter fights the better he understands combat, every fight has the goal of winning and the more goals we achieve the more vulnerable we make each goal to our skill of achieving it.

We must know the weak spots in our target, its vulnerability, whether it is your opponent’s body, or yours or perhaps an investment goal. Knowing the weak spot means to know also its strength for you cannot know one without the other; strength and weakness define each other. To know where to attack is to know where not to attack, to know where to invest is to know where not to invest.

Knowing your target means being more effective in its accomplishment as the task ahead is better understood and target that has been achieved before is easier to achieve again as the road has already been travelled, its mysteries are no longer mysteries. It’s harder to hit a target that you’ve never hit before because you have no experience, no reference point by which to measure your effort. Often with a new target we either fail to reach it or surpass it: using too much energy or not enough.

Recognising weakness in oneself is harder than seeing it in others but understanding ones own vulnerability is a strength in itself. We are too close to the problem to always see our own weakness or strength clearly. We can turn our vulnerabilities into strengths, just as every strong point or point of invulnerability can be turned into a weakness with the right approach. Heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano would attack his opponents’ arms if he couldn’t hit their body or head. Eventually their arms would be so tired and bruised they would drop their guard and Marciano would then have free reign to hit the targets he desired, using his enormous punching power.  

Understanding vulnerability well is to understand ones target well. When choosing a target choose one that is vulnerable to being achieved, that doesn’t mean necessarily an easy target it can mean that you have researched and studied your target before you begin taking action on it. In sport combat the competitor tests his target with attacks, fakes, feints and draws to find where his opponent is vulnerable. Once he can find where his opponent is vulnerable he can launch a winning attack. The same applies to warfare or business. We first find the weakness and then mount our attack. If we can’t find the vulnerability of a target we may decide not to go for it or reconsider our strategy and start again. The ability to find vulnerability in a target takes solid strategies backed up by good technique and the determination to achieve the goal. These are the skills of the master of martial arts business or life.

A useful strategy when choosing a new target or goal for the first time is to set one that is not too far from what you have achieved in the past and when you achieve it set another goal not too far beyond that and repeat this process until you have what you want.

You can also try for big goals that seem invulnerable too if you don’t might learning by hard experience. ‘If you aim for the stars you’ll at least land on the moon’ aiming too high still gets you higher than you’ve been before. The true fighter or businessman chooses his targets well; knows that every target is vulnerable in some way and uses his strategies to uncover that vulnerability. The point of all this is to say that we should not be put off by tasks that seem impossible, there is always a way to get what we want ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’ as the saying goes and we can achieve any target if we have the will to find where it is most vulnerable.

Thanks for reading today and I look forward to speaking to you again soon on the ‘Law of Judgment’

Best wishes

Tony Higo

Chief Instructor

National Martial Arts College

www.nat-mac.co.uk

0800 0920948

The Law of Guard

The Law of Guard

The law of Guard states that: ‘attack is the best defence therefore purpose of the guard is attack, its secondary purpose is defence’

The Law of the Guard is a sub law of Attitude and if you remember attitude is not just our mental attitude but also our physical position. I have said for many years that most of our defence is positional, that is our protection comes more from our position than our defence using our limbs. Unfortunately the existing genre of martial arts films portray defence as large circular blocking moves and upper body swaying madly from side to side. Real self defence is very different, large movement blocking is way too slow to work in real life where the direct attack is the best defence. However when you have time to raise your guard either in threat or to defend you must remember the law of the guard and that the guard position which in our terms is the position of the arms is primarily to aid our effective attack.

Once again the martial arts movies have introduced some bizarre guard positions and it must be remembered that the purpose of martial arts movie combat is to entertain. Unfortunately the movies are the only education that the general public have on martial combat. For this reason it is necessary to introduce what the real guard positions might involve.

We categorise guards into 5 basic types:

1.     Boxing Guard with fists about a hand span from the shoulders and about the same distance between them and held about level with ones mouth or chin. Any

2.     Long Guard with fists held well forward to catch control and counter any opponent attacks

3.     Close Guard as its name suggests the hands are held close to oneself, used for infighting, hooks and uppercuts

4.     High Low Guard where the rear hand is held high for defending and the lead hand is held low for balance. Generally at greater range and often used to draw an opponents attack to the uncovered side of the face to effect counter attacks.

5.     Low guard or no guard used in street defence, the guard is held in a non threatening non aggressive position prior to or ready to attack or defend

Each type of guard and all the variations available should aid the fighter to attack first and defend second, placing the fighter in the best position suitable to the circumstances. In street defence where we don’t want to give away our intention to fight before we actually take the initiative and attack the ‘no guard’ is preferable. We would only raise our guard initially in a threat or challenge situation perhaps to deter or scare our ‘would be’ opponent.

The guard is the adoption of a physical attitude or position toward our intended goal to aid our ‘attack’ on the goal or prevent us being injured whilst achieving it. In life our guard is our way to protect our attitude or position. There is an apt saying which goes ‘stand guard at the doorway to your mind’ meaning protect and guard yourself against any attack on your attitude or mindset. In life there are obstacles and challenges put in our way to test our resolve and motivation toward our chosen goals.

Our ability to overcome life’s challenges is what shapes our character; our achievements are not achieved without paying the price of self doubt, setbacks, problems and challenges and these can come through lack of experience, preparation, luck or even through the negative mindsets of those around us. There are those that are close to us who we must also guard ourselves against; those that either intentionally or not stand in the way of what we are trying to achieve.

Our guard position is also how we physically protect our homes and businesses through insurance, contracts and agreements, copyrights and patents. There is always some area of our life that needs to be guarded that is not necessarily through physical martial arts. It must be remembered that our guard is our awareness our recognition of challenge and opportunity so that we can place in ourselves in the best attitude or position to maximise our attack and defence in both life and martial arts.

Thanks for reading today and I look forward to speaking to you again soon

To book a free lesson at one of our academies go

http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=8 now

Best wishes

Tony Higo

Chief Instructor

National Martial Arts College

0800 0920948

www.nat-mac.co.uk

  

The Law of Predictable Response

The Law of Predicable Response

States that ‘some actions are natural and therefore predictable and if an outcome is predictable it can be used to ones advantage’.

In combat we use this deliberately when we fake, feint, draw or create surprise. Our intention is to manipulate our opponent into taking the action that we want whilst believing that his action is the best response. In fact the response we create can be a trained response that we are activating or a natural reaction.

Surprise creates a natural reaction of shock and the result is a moment of inaction or freeze. In combat this moment of freeze provides us with a window of opportunity in which to attack and in combat it only takes a moments advantage to win the battle.

Deception also often creates a surprise for us to take advantage of in combat however surprise is not always the desired outcome of deception. Deception is also used to create openings that is, to uncover targets. For instance if you want to hit an opponent in the head you can deceive him with a fake attack to his body and when he responds to your fake attack to his head you switch the attack to his body which he has uncovered by trying to protect his head. This deceptive tactic has been used for thousands of years in single combat and in warfare. It’s also used in sports such as football, rugby and tennis, directing an opponent’s attention away from the real goal.

The draw is another deception where ones opponent is offered a target a target to draw his attack to that point. Obviously it’s not as easy a target as he is lead to believe because you have prepared a counter attack to use when he commits to the false target you have offered. The drawn attack is drawn with the knowledge that his attacker will present an opportunity or target for your attack that is worth the risk of being hit by the attack that you have drawn.

Fakes, feints and draws are deceptions or strategies that create an advantage in your own favour, they require a knowledge of strategy that presumes one has time to mentally gather ones senses together in order to plan the outcome. In street defence one rarely has time to prepare mentally except at that outset and before the combat has begun. If one has the opportunity before an attack to make a strategy then that is probably more than you’ll have when the combat begins. Once it begins things will go very fast and you’ll have to rely more on instinct, reactions and muscle memory, those actions that are either pre programmed into you or conform to the natural biological fight or flight reaction. So the best time to use deceptive or surprise stratagems is either before the fray begins or during a hiatus which might occur during it.

The trained martial artist will have modified his reactions from ones of basic instinct, stimulus response and added through repetitive drills a trained and conditioned set of responses which will act in addition to the biological ones. The training relevance behind the martial arts skills developed will also affect the outcome and it is a factor that the type of martial art studied would bring a practical response. Some styles are far from practical in this respect; often even the ones which declare their street focus are based on highly improbable attack types combined with equally unlikely responses.

In life we often predict the response of others actions based on our own experience or our experience of theirs. It’s often easy to predict the actions of others particularly the further away we are as if we have a bird’s eye view on the life of another. It’s more difficult to predict our own actions except where we have taken the time to objectively study our own actions and responses. We are as animals very predictable; birds act like birds, dogs act like cats and humans act like humans but because the behaviour of other humans is so like our own its is more difficult to recognise. When the behaviour is our own it is almost impossible for us to recognise the patterns that we keep falling into.

You often hear people say things like ‘well, that’s just how I am’ or ‘I’ll never change’ assuming that the way they are is beyond change when the opposite is the probably the truth. We can predict the behaviour of others but not 100% and the same applies to our own behaviour however we are creatures of habit and habit dictates much of our responses. We often think that we are constantly making decisions and taking actions in our lives but in reality most of our actions that we take today are the same as we took yesterday, we are as easily trainable in our responses as the average dog.

A successful life is based on recognising the habits we have and separating the ones that don’t serve us from the ones that do. The new habits we build rely on us having a model of new habits to choose from either learned from improving books or programs or by modelling the habits of those we consider more successful than ourselves. Developing these wanted habits is not easy particularly as it involves breaking old ones and that is definitely not easy.

So in combat we use the behaviours and habits of ones opponent, those that we can predict either through nature or testing his response before we put a strategy into action. In life we can predict the actions of workmates, colleagues and competitors in the same way, either: through nature or experience in fact salesmen and salesmanship is entirely based on predicting and influencing the behaviour of others creating a desired response from the potential customer.

Just as in combat, sales or goal setting the outcome doesn’t always come out the way we predict but by using the odds in our favour we can generally gets the odds in our favour more than 50% of the time which means over time we’ll come out well ahead of the curve. If we can predict our own behaviour and modify that through practice and perseverance we can use the law of predictable response to reshape our lives into one that we really want rather than believing that we cannot change. Sometimes we are too close to the problem to see it clearly but now that you know how the law of predictable response works and how it can be used in our favour we are presented with a range of new possibilities. The fighter who believes that he must be able to out punch his opponent has only one strategy and is therefore highly predictable, when pitted against a more complete fighter trained in combative deceptions and the like he will be easily controlled and bested. 

The Law of Set Up - Part 2

When we attempt to defeat an opponent the set up is essential and equally essential is that the opponent does not discern our intention as it will bring about his downfall. The law of deception reminds us to use set ups that deliberately mislead, for instance a feint, where we would throw a punch to the head but our real intention is to hit the body. The set up punch must be entirely believable or the real intention of the punch to the body will not succeed. Therefore the set up requires the appearance of real commitment without spoiling the real intention.

The law of footwork is crucial to the set up of almost all our martial arts attacks and defences and no technique, no matter how skilful can hope to succeed other than by accident if it is not supported (set up) with good footwork. Footwork is not the only important factor obviously and we must consider carefully the laws & principles that support each of our techniques if they are to be effective.  The set up is used in every action we take both in life and martial arts but it is always more effective if the set up is achieved deliberately. Deliberate set ups utilise as many of the other natural laws as possible such as deception, footwork, proximity, priority to name but a few. To achieve life and martial arts mastery one must know of, practice and master the laws both universal and those applicable to specifically to the martial arts.

Consider carefully all your attacks and defences in combat and life and how you prepare them or prepare for them. If you are not achieving your goals in either life or combat look to your set up, your preparation. Are you using the law of hierarchy to put first things first for instance? Are you rushing in without adequate set up? Don’t just look at technique as that is the least important part because a good technique relies on a good set up for it to work and as we have seen the law of set up occurs in many if not all of the other universal laws of life and combat.

As I mentioned before a bad set up is better than none, action in this respect will get some result even if it not the one we want, or doesn’t get us quite the result we want. If it is the one we don’t want then the law of study (review) will be activated engaging our minds to reconsider the action and whether it could have been set up better.  

Consider your best and worst techniques for instance, the ones that work for you and those that never seem to work; look at the set up and see how you are preparing it. I would hazard a guess that the techniques that don’t work for you are poorly set up and the converse is true in your best techniques. In life if you are not getting what you want you should not blame circumstances, instead look to your strategy, set up, your preparation and look to improve on that. Once you understand and use the strategic set up process your effectiveness will significantly improve.

Thank you for reading today and I look forward to speaking again soon on another life and martial art topic.

Best wishes

Tony Higo

Chief Instructor

National Martial Arts College

0800 092 0948

The Law of Set Up

The ‘Law of Set Up’ states that: ‘every effective action requires good preparation’ and in martial arts terms we would say that ‘every effective attack needs a good set up’. Set up is the preparation of a movement or action; the set up is a preliminary action which sets up a better intended action. For instance a cross is stronger than a jab and could finish the fight but the jab is faster than a cross and has more chance of landing. It is therefore the ideal set up for a right cross.

The law of hierarchy gives us a strategy for set ups for instance; a left jab sets up a right cross and right cross sets up (for instance) rear kick or a left hook or another jab; they are blended together creating easy set ups to deliver effective techniques.

There exist a whole range of techniques that blend together well creating these natural set ups and they are obvious to the experienced fighter. The beginner needs to be carefully coached so that they learn the correct set ups early on as it can be more difficult to correct an erroneous movement than to learn the correct movement from the outset.

There are many other natural set ups that are useful such as:

1. A left punch sets up a left lateral kick (either roundhouse, side or hook kick) and another left punch either frontal, lateral, dropping or rising.

2. A left punch also set ups a right punch.

3. Rising techniques set up dropping

4. Dropping sets up rising,

5. Frontal sets up frontal, lateral and rising techniques.

Once you think about and study these movements and their complimentary nature you will see how obviously they work together. These blended set ups are not something I have put together they are created by the natural way the body moves and we utilise the body’s natural mechanics to create these strategies.

In daily life we also use the law of set up and in this instance to set up means to prepare our actions in advance. For instance setting a goal before we make a plan and making a plan before we take action on a goal. The decorator prepares a surface (sets up) before painting it; a lawyer prepares a brief before entering court. Consider this now;

No plan with action is better than having a plan and taking no action this might work well enough at times. But the best goals are achieved through first setting a goal, then preparing a plan (setting up) and then taking action toward the goal.

If you recall the AEGIS laws of success, AEGIS being an acrostic of attitude, expectation, game plan, implementation and study, implementation is the point where we take action but first comes the game plan or strategy and this is where the set up is most apparent, however it also exists in the expectation too in that the mind has already set up its intention though not yet in detail. The detail comes with the strategy. Action alone does not ensure a good set up, it is in visualising the goal and preparing the strategy that creates the best set up. We can also see the place of the set up clearly in the action process of RADAR (see the earlier essays on this RADAR)

We use these strategies to give us the best ‘set up’ for each effective action in fact strategy itself is a set up. In combat we must understand the law of set up especially well. This is because our goal will deliberately resist us. Our opponent is our target for attack, his defeat is our goal or, however he is an unwilling target, he doesn’t want to be kicked or punched so our set up must be more subtle, utilising for instance, the natural law of hierarchy as we have discussed already but also the law of deception.

End of part one

Thank you for reading today and I look forward to speaking again tomorrow in part 2 of the law of set up where we finish our discussion on how to make a better life by understanding the laws of life and combat.

Best wishes

Tony Higo

Chief Instructor

National Martial Arts College

0800 092 0948

The Law of Alignment

The law of alignment states that ‘we must use our resources in the right order to maximise force, optimise effort and minimise risk’ The law of alignment is a sub law of the law of leverage and is a system we use to maximum the force we can generate in our techniques whilst still using the minimum of energy and risk to ourselves.

As I have mentioned before, in combat and life we must optimise and conserve our energy because we don’t know when the task will be completed and if we use up all our energy by using it inefficiently we will burn out and be unable to finish.

I am sure we have all at some time worked so hard that we have burned out and we can imagine the archetypal hard working executive who burns out and goes into a physical and mental breakdown through working too hard for too long. This is because they have gone too fast for too long and completely depleted their energy reserves. Like running a marathon you have to jog it, if you try to sprint it you won’t last long, pacing yourself, carefully using your resources and applying good leverage will get you further for less effort.

In order to complete a task we must utilise the most leverage we can and understanding the law of alignment will ensure that we do this more effectively.

Proper alignment maximises our leverage, increasing the force that we can apply to any given task. Alignment is about efficient and economic movement which is necessary in most tasks but acutely so in combat. To take a combat example we can consider a kick, say a side kick, which uses a thrusting action to stamp out sideways at ones opponent. To maximise our leverage we must align the key weight carriers of our body and this requires a mobilisation of certain major body parts involved in the kick. These are the foot, hip, shoulders, hip and foot and when the kick is performed it will carry the most force if these 5 points are positioned in such a way as to create a straight line between them.

In effect if you imagine looking at the kicker from a birds eye view these 5 points would create, not a completely straight line because the body is not built that way, but the closest thing to a straight line our angular bodies can make. This ensures that as much of our weight as possible is utilised in creating the force and momentum necessary to deliver an effective kick. However, if we perform the kick without correct alignment i.e. by sticking out our backsides or without enough hip rotation the kick though it can still land will lose much of its speed and force plus the follow up technique will also very likely be marred.

The same happens in punches, strikes, lifts and throws and when performed correctly aligned techniques will maximise the force applied whilst reducing the energy consumed. Another martial arts example would be the delivery of the ‘right cross’

The alignment of key parts of the body that mobilise together to create as straight a line as possible from the fist through the shoulder, hip, knee and foot and therefore utilise the maximum body weight behind the punch.  This alignment added to the forward momentum and speed of the technique creates the knockout potential

Looking from the side, alignment is also essential from the right shoulder to the left foot. If the shoulder goes in front of the front foot balance is compromised, conversely if the foot is in front of the shoulder then distance and leverage is compromised.

Alignment is also essential from shoulder to foot in the frontal view. Imagine the punch coming toward you. Correct alignment should  create a straight line from the right shoulder to the right foot. The line created is unlikely to create a true vertical line but the key point is the direct straight line from shoulder, through the hip and knee to rear foot.

In this example you can see the alignment is 3 dimensional: front to back, top to bottom front view and top to bottom side view. By combining all 3 alignments we can create the maximum leverage and thereby the optimum force. Combining this with the other four components of distance, balance, timing and speed will create a powerful technique.

In life the closer we align our goals, efforts and resources the more effectively we complete each task. A simple example might be moving home where we recruit friends and family to assist with the moving of boxes and furniture all aligned to the same end result. The closer the team works together the faster and more efficiently the task is accomplished.  

When we set our personal goals we achieve them better if we use our leverage intelligently such as money, manpower etc and align these resources in the correct order will put more weight behind our intention to achieve a positive outcome.

Consider how you use alignment in your life, how do you put your resources to work? What leverage can you bring to bear on any problem or challenge that you have?

In your martial arts training you should work to maximise your body alignment and leverage to increase the force generated by your techniques. N o matter how light you are, proper alignment will create potentially massive force if you use properly.

Thank you for reading today and I look forward to speaking to you again soon

Best wishes

Tony Higo

Chief Instructor

National Martial Arts College

0800 092 0948

Join us at the National Martial Arts College and make massive changes in your life ALMOST overnight call us now on 0800 092 0948 for more details or go to http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=9

The First 'Un' of Martial Arts 'Unqualified'

The fact is that 99%  of martial arts instructors have no qualification in teaching martial arts. ‘But they’re black belts, the ultimate rank in martial arts expertise, surely that qualifies them to teach?’ Well this sounds like a reasonable enough question doesn’t it but let’s take a look at it:

1. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you are qualified to teach it. Otherwise we wouldn’t people to study as school teachers, driving instructors, sales trainers and the like would they? Possessing a skill does not mean one can teach it to someone else and yet the teaching of martial arts is left to those who in the main, can perform the arts but have no training in how to teach them. I estimate that 99% of martial arts instructors in the world today have no formal qualification to teach. How is it that the teaching of martial arts, potentially deadly skills in the wrong hands, passed down from generation to generation over thousands of years is done by people who are unqualified. Sure they have black belts and may be able to do amazing things but have undertaken no training in how to pass those skills onto another individual, safely and with good intent. If you have a child who is currently studying martial arts he or she is very likely being taught by someone who though wearing the universal emblem of martial arts skill, the black belt, has never been taught how to teach by anyone who could be formally recognised as qualified to do so.
2. There are many types of people that come into a martial arts school, both gifted and challenged and some of those people have special needs that have to be taken into account. What if you have a student who is dyspraxic, dyslexic, autistic or suffering from aspergers syndrome. What if the instructor has no training in how to teach people with these kinds of conditions to overcome? A fully qualifies instructor must understand and be aware of how certain challenges that their students have may be dealt with
3. A qualified instructor also works to a syllabus and plans every class to ensure that students undergo a structured program of tuition with an eventual outcome at the end of the program which they will achieve such as black belt.
4. A qualified instructor doesn’t just undergo a 3 hour seminar in a particular set of techniques and then be awarded a certificate of attendance without completing any test of their understanding and ability to teach the subject safely.
5. A Qualified instructor undergoes many hours of ongoing professional development training (Career Professional Development or CPD) during and after their qualification as an instructor
6. A qualified instructor is tested at many levels of understanding and performance in a graded and progressive curriculum
7. A qualified instructor is not just expected to know the material but also how to teach the material as well as understanding the learning modalities involved.
8. A qualified instructor is qualified in more than just tuition but also in coaching, development, safety and business protocols.
9. A qualified instructor understands how to market for and enrol new students safely at a commercially viable rate to ensure that both the student and the school will still be there at the end of the program. 
10. A Professionally qualified instructor does not allow students to pay casually  by the class or without obtaining full hard and soft facts about every student before they are allowed onto the mat thereby ensuring that unsuitable students are weeded out and any medical conditions are known from the outside

These are just a few of the reasons why all martial arts instructors must be fully trained and qualified before they can be licensed to teach. Sadly if you find an instructor that matches this basic criteria you'll be lucky. Part of our goal at the National Martial Arts Colleges and in conjunction with other high standard professional schools is to make the general public aware that any instructor they choose MUST have the necessary training. training must be both initial and ongoing and be more than just a 3 or 4 hour seminar with no testing as we see so often these days!

Thanks for reading today and please join me again in my next blog about the next 4 'Uns' of Martial Arts

Best wishes

Tony Higo

Chief Instructor

National Martial Arts College

0800 0920948

www.nat-mac.co.uk

Call us today to book your first FREE class with a FULLY QUALIFIED Instructor! 

The 5 'Uns' of Martial Arts

I have studied and benefited from the martial arts for many many years. The study and practice has kept me fit, kept me sane and kept me challenged and provides me with my full-time profession so I feel fully qualified to express my opinion of what is both right and wrong with the ‘way’.

I have categorised my problems with martial arts study into 5 key areas which I feel are the main problems with the martial arts industry; the problems that prevent us from being recognised as potentially one of the most valuable of pursuits and lifestyles of every nation. I have identified these problems as 'Uns' which mean that they are the things that we are not doing as in 'un - qualified'

The study and proper practice of the martial arts can solve huge problems that exist within society today. However owing to the method of promulgation, teaching and the mindset of those who are currently most influential in the martial arts world, means that we can not solve even our own problems never mind the problems of a troubled nation.

In the next few days I will outline what I feel is holding the martial arts industry back in terms of its potential benefit to both the individual and the society we live in. If more people studied the martial arts with an holistic and practical approach we would have little use for a police force and the police force we have could spend its time on more serious problems elsewhere.

Look out for my blogs over the next few days to find out what I consider to be the biggest problems with the martial arts industry and perhaps we can work together to solve them

Speak to you very soon

Tony Higo

National Martial Arts College

0800 0920948

www.nat-mac.co.uk