should you be relaxed?

[MonkeyNinja]

Hey, thanks guys for the advice.

 

Maybe that's why I bobed my last 2 fight tourneys. I guess I was way TOOOO tense

 

MonkeyNinja

[Hpkid0ist]

Here iswhat my GM told me about the subject. A loose muscle reacts quicker and is more fluid tahn a tight muscle. A tight muscle is slower and quicker to injur than a loose muscle. As well a tight muscle requires your heart to work harder than a loose muscles.

 

We do not tighten up anything until the moment of impact, this goes with blocking to. As for fists, we don't make fists. If we want to use a closed fist then we close it at impact. We leave our hands slightly open to allow for a quick close or to quickly execute a hand technique.

[ckdstudent]

We stay relaxed throughout, tensing up at the moment of impact gives no benefit, and shortens your technique. The better method is the simply follow on through and a few inches behind your target and then let the arm bounce back to rest in guard.

[Kensai]

My Sensei always says be relaxed. The more relaxed you are the less likely you are to get hurt, especially training with locks and holds. Plus if you are not thinking about holding your body, you are more ready to respond to any attack.

[ZeRo]

if your relaxed then you can control yourself better.

 

its hard to be relaxed when your getting punched and kicked but i spose you got to try!

[LeaF]

I understand the benifits listed here to being relaxed and a fully agree with them. The only thing that I would be consious of is to watch you fingers. If your hands are open your fingers are vulnerable. I have seen too many cases ( and participated in some) where people try to block a kick or strike with in open hand and end up braking their fingers, so be careful and aware of what your hands and fingers are doing. Altough this may be slightly off topic I believe that the part of you that should be most relaxed is your mind. You cannot enter I fight think "oh I am going to kill this guy lets go come on" or "oh my god he is going to rip my head off, what am I going to do" you must relax and quiet your mind and focus your thoughts on the task at hand.

[tekkenchaos]

YEAH! what everyone else said..just relax when you spar-mentally and physically..if your mind is focused, you'll most likely have better technique and accuracy (not to mention more speed)

[Hpkid0ist]

In my dojang we do not use our hands to block. It is to easy to hurt them any way you block. We use our forearms, and elbows. As for the original question. Compare it to a stick and a piece of string. Neither ever know that they are about to get hit, so they stay as they naturally are. The stich is tight and when struck does little to absorb the force of the impact. And possible breaks from the concentrated force. The string stays loos true to its nature, and when struck it conforms to the shape of the stick sending the force of the impact in many different directions.In the end the string is left virtually anchanged and ready for the next sneek attack to come its way.

[Hpkid0ist]

In my dojang we do not use our hands to block. It is to easy to hurt them any way you block. We use our forearms, and elbows. As for the original question. Compare it to a stick and a piece of string. Neither ever know that they are about to get hit, so they stay as they naturally are. The stich is tight and when struck does little to absorb the force of the impact. And possible breaks from the concentrated force. The string stays loos true to its nature, and when struck it conforms to the shape of the stick sending the force of the impact in many different directions.In the end the string is left virtually anchanged and ready for the next sneek attack to come its way.

[LeaF]

Oh us too. We don't block with our fingers or hands...but accidents happen...