ways to not tense up?

[colinkelly]

I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips on not becoming tense when doing sparring or blocking and counter-striking, I tend to fall into the trap that I have to be tensed up to be powerful.

 

thanks.

[TheDevilAside]

Usually becoming tense is a product of intimidation. Are you new to sparring? Still a little afraid of taking a hit? That's probably the reason, to relax yourself is pretty much mental.

[White Warlock]

There are two theories of practice. One is to practice while full-tense, while the other is to practice full-relaxed. I prefer the latter, but both help to expose you to how you 'are' in a fight, as opposed to how you 'should be.'

 

If you practice full-tense, you will become more familiar with that feeling of your body not quite cooperating, and your muscles fighting themselves. Full-tense practice is helpful in bringing you to a more 'comfortable' state with your body, in case you find your body behaving this way. Just don't pop a blood vessel doing this.

 

If you practice full-relaxed, you will bring to your mind the 'state' at which you 'want' to be whenever you enter a confrontation. Practicing this state is beneficial, in that you are training your mind to either 'be' this state, or attempt to 'attain' this state whenever you enter into a confrontation.

 

So, in short, practice both. In a confrontation you will actually need both. You will need to be able to repeatedly and rapidly switch between being relaxed and being tense.

[colinkelly]

devil, I think my problem is that i'm a meat head, I have a background in wrestling and I'm a weight room nut; sometimes I fall into using muscle power over technique and body mechanics. When my sensei points it out to me I'm ok for a while and my technique is fine, but after a few mins I'm right back to the "meat head" approach, it works but I find I have so much more power when I relax, why is that?

 

warlock, would it be good for me to pratice kata for example also in full-tense? Should I do one more than the other?

[TheDevilAside]

I find I have so much more power when I relax, why is that?

I'm going to try to explain this the best way I can. The most powerful way to hit a target (in my opinion, at least) is to throw the punch in a relaxed state (gives you speed), and then tensing up immediately before you impact (so that your arm is a "solid structure" and can deal with the force of the impact).

 

Our muscles are naturally built to retract, the more you retract or the harder it is to retract, the more strength you are using. This would be like what you do when you do a bicep curl, your muscle retracts when you bring the bar closer to your chest.

 

Therefore, when you relax, it is easier to detract (lol, I don't even know if that's the antonym of retract or not, but let's pretend it is) since your muscles aren't engaged and prepared to either retract or stay in the same position that they are. Now.. I hope that made sense. Basically.. relaxed = more speed.

 

So, why you feel your hits have more "power" when you are relaxed is because your punches have more speed, and speed very much affects how "hard" you hit.

 

See the We're talking Physics thread in the General Martial Arts forum for a more technical and detailed explanation of how power speed affect each other.

 

Also, I talked only about punches, but the same principle applies for kicks, etc.

[Ryan gry]

''The most powerful way to hit a target (in my opinion, at least) is to throw the punch in a relaxed state (gives you speed), and then tensing up immediately before you impact (so that your arm is a "solid structure" and can deal with the force of the impact). ''

 

But can You Do that?, It is easier to say than do , do you always remember to tense at the last minute or do you hit the target before you tense ?

[TheDevilAside]

heh, yes, I do do that. I don't really "remember" to do it, I just do it. Practice doing it with a punching bag.

[shotochem]

I used to be the tensest guy around. IMO tension is purely mental. I discovered that when you think too much it slows you down and tenses you up.

 

The thing that changed my whole outlook and performance in sparring is that I "trusted" my block. Tell yourself that when you throw that block you won't be hit or if you are you will not be hurt much. Then start to believe it!

 

Mentally that was the difference. That extra confidence.

 

As for the tension part, I just went in to class one day I was not really mentally in to it and my mind was wandering and wondering if I should even be there. We were doing the familiar stand in horse stance and punch drill. Out of nowhere loud popping noises just flew out of my gi as I was punching. Now I made popping sounds before but not like this (and I was wearing a med weight that night!) My arms were very loose and my fist tensed and locked at the impact point yet there was no tension in the shoulders. I've heard the term of doing karate with "no mind". Perhaps this is what that really means.

 

The next evening was sparring night I stayed completely relaxed and the difference was night and day. My reaction was faster as was my attack and oddly enough I seemed to see the attacks coming much sooner than before. I sparred multiple opponents that night and it was the same and has been ever since.

[shotochem]

I used to be the tensest guy around. IMO tension is purely mental. I discovered that when you think too much it slows you down and tenses you up.

 

The thing that changed my whole outlook and performance in sparring is that I "trusted" my block. Tell yourself that when you throw that block you won't be hit or if you are you will not be hurt much. Then start to believe it!

 

Mentally that was the difference. That extra confidence.

 

As for the tension part, I just went in to class one day I was not really mentally in to it and my mind was wandering and wondering if I should even be there. We were doing the familiar stand in horse stance and punch drill. Out of nowhere loud popping noises just flew out of my gi as I was punching. Now I made popping sounds before but not like this (and I was wearing a med weight that night!) My arms were very loose and my fist tensed and locked at the impact point yet there was no tension in the shoulders. I've heard the term of doing karate with "no mind". Perhaps this is what that really means.

 

The next evening was sparring night I stayed completely relaxed and the difference was night and day. My reaction was faster as was my attack and oddly enough I seemed to see the attacks coming much sooner than before. I sparred multiple opponents that night and it was the same and has been ever since.

[colinkelly]

Thanks ya'll this has been a big help!