We're talking Physics

[White Warlock]

And yes TDA, that was the other point to my post. If we focus heavily on building acceleration in our techniques (not speed, not power), while at the same time aiming for reasonably small targets, we will increase all three factors discussed in other threads. We will build 'speed,' 'power,' and 'accuracy' (at least as they refer to the layman definitions).

[wolfman]

you guys should check out the discovery channels website. They got a section that has to do with martial arts and body mechanics. It doesn't really teach a whole lot about physics but they had some cool videos.

[Treebranch]

White Warlock I know you are trying to be funny, but I don't get it.

[White Warlock]

White Warlock I know you are trying to be funny, but I don't get it.

lol, it's an inside joke. On an rpg forum i frequent, they often joke about the idea of pirate-ninjas.

[JerryLove]

Here's an experiment, hit someone with a 2 gram weight and then a 10lb weight... guess weight counts as well as speed.

 

Nest: hit someone with a big red kickball, then hit them with a roll of quarters and see which does more damage.

 

OK. There's more than weight and speed, but also the ability to transfer power.

 

Now try putting on roller-skates and pushing a car and then push them in good shoes.... I guess there's more about power than just weight and speed but also root.

 

Newtonian pointal-mass physics is great for determining the effect of impacting pointal masses in free-fall in a vacuum. Two people fighting are none-of-the-above.

[White Warlock]

Jerry, you didn't understand the intent of my post.

[P.A.L]

Jerry I think as long as he talks about the connection between variables it don't matter if it's a dynamic of a particle point of view or system of particles or rigid bodies, relations are still valid. of course he can't formulate the bio-mechanics of human body as a particle. I like your view about "root".

[Drunken Monkey]

i could've sworn that warlock was just reminding us that before we use the ever popular 'physics' arguments, we should first know the correct terms to use and what they actually mean...

 

not whether or not they are relevant.

[DLopez]

Here's an experiment, hit someone with a 2 gram weight and then a 10lb weight... guess weight counts as well as speed.

 

Well, I must chime in here and say that if you're trying to be technically correct, then 'weight' is the wrong term to use. Mass is what you're reallly thinking of, because weight is the resultant Force prescribed by a body's mass times the gravitational acceleration of the earth. Your weight on the moon is 1/6 that of on earth, but your mass remains the same. Pretty useful info if you ever plan on sparring on the moon.

 

For discussions like this one, I think it is quite helpful to start off looking at the problem from an 'energy' frame of reference.

 

We can all agree that it is the the transfer of the kinetic energy from your fist or foot to some body or object which brings about the desired effect, right? The goal is to maximize this energy.

 

The equations for kinetic energy are quite straightforward (instantaneous KE = 1/2*m*v^2), and depend primarily upon velocity (BTW - speed and velocity are synonymous in a 1-dimensional model - which is what you're doin when you break down the components of your coordinate system ) and mass. Just by examining this single formula, you can arrive at a pretty interesting conclusion when trying to decide whether speed or strength is more important. By 'strength', I will presume it is meant force.

 

The most obvious one is that, due to squaring of the term, small changes in velocity impart a much bigger change in KE than equivalent changes in mass do.

 

You may be asking, "that's fine for velocity vs. mass, but how does force affect KE?" Well, if you think about the physiology of it, strength typically means more massive muscles. Inertia is primarily determined by mass. More mass = more inertia. It isn't hard to conclude that due to inertia, it is harder to accelerate a more massive body than a lighter one, and that a greater rate of acceleration of a lighter body results in greater velocity, the squared component of instantaneous KE.

 

That said, athletes can (and do) increase muscle strength enough to overcome the effects of inertia to achieve quite substantial gains in acceleration and force (strength), and ultimately KE, but economically speaking, maximizing power through speed is generally the easiest way to go.

 

I would say based on that, however you accomplish it, increasing the speed of your punches and kicks will give more immediate result of more power delivered to your target much easier than relying on strength alone.

 

Just my $.02

 

[SBN Doug]

O.k., you beat me to pointing out that some of the discussions I have noticed are swapping out power and strength. I've esspecially noticed this with grapplers, as they plan to be at 0 distance most of the time.

 

The other is accuracy. I'll just point out briefly that you can be very accurate, but still not hit the mark. What you want is precision, where your points of impact are not just tightly clustered, but clustered at the desired point of impact.

 

My 0.01 cent.