Spear hand conditioning?

[JR 137]

Whether the target has a recommended choice of attack, imho, that'll matter very little because the fist will be used most often, not out of choice of the practitioner, but out of muscle memory. Imho, that muscle memory chooses the fist over any other MA hand attacks.

Yes, some targets favor certain hand attacks, but in the heat of the moment, will the spear hand come into play?!?! I wonder!!

No argument from me here. But you can train the spear hand, and any other strike for that matter, into muscle memory.

But to further your post, if I may... Even if we make it muscle memory, does it become instinct? There are people who've trained for years, perhaps decades who once they're confronted with "the real thing" resort to instinctual stuff like covering up, throwing haymakers, etc. rather than their training that has become muscle memory in the dojo.

If you think muscle memory's hard to break, try breaking human instinct during the fight or flight response.

Sorry for my skepticism; I had an interesting conversation today with a police officer friend who teaches defensive tactics at the regional police academy.

[sensei8]

Whether the target has a recommended choice of attack, imho, that'll matter very little because the fist will be used most often, not out of choice of the practitioner, but out of muscle memory. Imho, that muscle memory chooses the fist over any other MA hand attacks.

Yes, some targets favor certain hand attacks, but in the heat of the moment, will the spear hand come into play?!?! I wonder!!

No argument from me here. But you can train the spear hand, and any other strike for that matter, into muscle memory.

But to further your post, if I may... Even if we make it muscle memory, does it become instinct? There are people who've trained for years, perhaps decades who once they're confronted with "the real thing" resort to instinctual stuff like covering up, throwing haymakers, etc. rather than their training that has become muscle memory in the dojo.

If you think muscle memory's hard to break, try breaking human instinct during the fight or flight response.

Sorry for my skepticism; I had an interesting conversation today with a police officer friend who teaches defensive tactics at the regional police academy.

Solid post!!

Imho...

It is possible to train the spear strike/thrust/block/deflection into muscle memory, however, only to the mechanics of it will survive. Why?

We, human beings, are a product of our own comfort!

When's the last time anyone saw a spear like technique consistently at every single opportunity?? I've not! I've seen a very small plethora of techniques, but I've not ever seen a spear hand anything except during class.

In the heat of the moment, the mind will call upon those techniques that have, for that practitioner, a very high probable intent of success to said target; comfort and belief goes along way with technique effectiveness.

[DWx]

On the topic of spear hands, here's Col. Nam Tae Hi (often thought as the mastermind behind ITF TKD) talking about using the spear hand when fighting during the Korean war. The story is he used to strike so hard he actually broke skin.

[JR 137]

Whether the target has a recommended choice of attack, imho, that'll matter very little because the fist will be used most often, not out of choice of the practitioner, but out of muscle memory. Imho, that muscle memory chooses the fist over any other MA hand attacks.

Yes, some targets favor certain hand attacks, but in the heat of the moment, will the spear hand come into play?!?! I wonder!!

No argument from me here. But you can train the spear hand, and any other strike for that matter, into muscle memory.

But to further your post, if I may... Even if we make it muscle memory, does it become instinct? There are people who've trained for years, perhaps decades who once they're confronted with "the real thing" resort to instinctual stuff like covering up, throwing haymakers, etc. rather than their training that has become muscle memory in the dojo.

If you think muscle memory's hard to break, try breaking human instinct during the fight or flight response.

Sorry for my skepticism; I had an interesting conversation today with a police officer friend who teaches defensive tactics at the regional police academy.

Solid post!!

Imho...

It is possible to train the spear strike/thrust/block/deflection into muscle memory, however, only to the mechanics of it will survive. Why?

We, human beings, are a product of our own comfort!

When's the last time anyone saw a spear like technique consistently at every single opportunity?? I've not! I've seen a very small plethora of techniques, but I've not ever seen a spear hand anything except during class.

In the heat of the moment, the mind will call upon those techniques that have, for that practitioner, a very high probable intent of success to said target; comfort and belief goes along way with technique effectiveness.

It's never even crossed my mind during sparring. Inner knife hand to the side of the neck or throat have crossed my mind during sparring, but that's not something I'd ever throw against a sparring partner. The other shuto strikes such as gammen uchi, hizo uchi, etc. haven't crossed my mind in sparring either.

I guess if I recognize the potential/opportunity to throw them during sparring, I'll most likely throw them at the appropriate time in a real situation. Hopefully I don't find out.

[bushido_man96]

But to further your post, if I may... Even if we make it muscle memory, does it become instinct? There are people who've trained for years, perhaps decades who once they're confronted with "the real thing" resort to instinctual stuff like covering up, throwing haymakers, etc. rather than their training that has become muscle memory in the dojo.

If you think muscle memory's hard to break, try breaking human instinct during the fight or flight response.

Sorry for my skepticism; I had an interesting conversation today with a police officer friend who teaches defensive tactics at the regional police academy.

I'd say no, muscle memory does not equal instinct. Muscle memory merely means your body has learned a movement pattern; i.e., your body knows how to do it.

That doesn't mean that your body knows when to do it. That's when training applications comes into play. I do overhead presses and squats at the gym. The movement patterns are ingrained, but my body isn't going to use those patterns unless I tell it to do so. But when I do decide to squat down and pick something up, that movement pattern is going to show itself when I move.

With self-defense techniques, its not just enough to train a form or kata and assume you will use the techniques in it when you need to. Your body will know how to do the techniques, but you have to train yourself to recognize when the techniques need to be used. Hence the need for application and scenario-based training.

[sensei8]

On the topic of spear hands, here's Col. Nam Tae Hi (often thought as the mastermind behind ITF TKD) talking about using the spear hand when fighting during the Korean war. The story is he used to strike so hard he actually broke skin.

Interesting. Perhaps, he's the exception!

Thanks for sharing that, Danielle!!

[sensei8]

But to further your post, if I may... Even if we make it muscle memory, does it become instinct? There are people who've trained for years, perhaps decades who once they're confronted with "the real thing" resort to instinctual stuff like covering up, throwing haymakers, etc. rather than their training that has become muscle memory in the dojo.

If you think muscle memory's hard to break, try breaking human instinct during the fight or flight response.

Sorry for my skepticism; I had an interesting conversation today with a police officer friend who teaches defensive tactics at the regional police academy.

I'd say no, muscle memory does not equal instinct. Muscle memory merely means your body has learned a movement pattern; i.e., your body knows how to do it.

That doesn't mean that your body knows when to do it. That's when training applications comes into play. I do overhead presses and squats at the gym. The movement patterns are ingrained, but my body isn't going to use those patterns unless I tell it to do so. But when I do decide to squat down and pick something up, that movement pattern is going to show itself when I move.

With self-defense techniques, its not just enough to train a form or kata and assume you will use the techniques in it when you need to. Your body will know how to do the techniques, but you have to train yourself to recognize when the techniques need to be used. Hence the need for application and scenario-based training.

Solid post!!