A wonderful martial diversion

[Bill Glasheen]

I have a project I'm working on that involves several other parties and some general applications of important principles. It's complicated... and I don't want to reveal it yet. I'm just a player and facilitator in the effort.

That being said...

The project is - in part - a playful exercise in the use of core muscles. Anyone who started as an athlete before they ever got into highly stylized martial arts understands the importance of the core in power generation. As I am want to say in my dojo, core muscles are the caffeine in your martial coffee. Doing Sanchin just with upper body movement? Sorry, but that's decaf. And Billy don't do no decaf.

Getting overly-schooled Uechika to find their core in their art is almost like trying to get a tone-deaf person to carry a tune. People try... Often the result is too much, not quite right, or just plain denial.

In some cases you get ridicule. And I wear those labels with pride.

The big problem with Uechi Ryu is that we do everything very, very SMALL. But to feel it, you have to start BIG. I use my examples in class. I take one peanut gallery label of "Uechi hula" and run with it. We have hula hoops in the closet of my classroom where I point out how it takes BIG motions to get the thing going. But to make it really hum, the motion is a barely perceptable shiver.

Getting from soup to nuts in your training is not easy. Getting started does not need to be difficult. In fact... sometimes a diversion can be downright fun.

My first female Uechi black belt was a bellydancer. Teaching her was easy. Her body just knew how to do certain things the way I can teach a musician about athletic timing without a lot of explanation. Moreover, bellydancing is just fun to watch, and fun to do.

So... here's a video of a "diversion" that someone sent my way yesterday. It isn't martial at all. Or then is it?

Enjoy.

Sword bellydance

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

Several things I noted when watching this video:

• Note the video from 0:39 to 0:50. Essentially it's Koshi no nenten (trunk twisting) done on the knees, and to music. Why did Uechi Kanei think this type of trunk dexterity and flexibility was so important?
• Lately I've been working a lot on bringing Uechi Ryu principles down to the knees and on to the ground. I was first inspired to do this after watching Wes Tasker interpret shoken sukuiage uke as an ankle lock. Grappling arts teach you to take the same technique and apply it on your feet, on your knees, and then on the ground.
  
  One fun thing I do with my advanced students is have them do kotekitae with a kid half their size - while on the knees. They must maintain Sanchin posture that way, and do knee walking (as in iaido or aikido) for the steps forwards and backwards. And you know what? It works pretty well.
  
  Anyhoo... A good iaido master has nothing on these girls when going from ground to knees to standing. They've got some pretty powerful (and coordinated) legs. There isn't an anorexic among them.
• Doing the sword with a Middle Eastern dance (a.k.a. bellydancing) is a lot about showing superb balance and an ability to separate one body part's movement from the next. It was no wonder to me that my bellydancers were such good students in the dojo. I've often talked about a broader translation of pangainoon as being like the yin-yang concept. One corollary to that is being able to pat your head and rub your tummy. Practice on that starts in sanchin (with the wauke) and works its way up to the many complex circular movements in the advanced kata.
• Splits anyone? Going down without the aid of your hands? While balancing a sword on your head? (2:40 - 2:50) How many of your martial arts students can do that?

Oh... and it doesn't hurt that you can't take your eyes off of them.

- Bill

[nosib]

Bill,just wondering if you be covering
the relationship of temperture as it pertains
to core strength and motion?....... Mine seems
to be somewhat elevated now!

[Van Canna]

Well...that answers the question...would you rather be on top or on the bottom...quite easily for me...

[Bill Glasheen]

It's so damned primal in so many ways.

- Bill

[Van Canna]

Those are women with a capital W

[Van Canna]

Look at the core training for soccer action. One of the most demanding and exhausting game in the world.

'elitesoccerconditioning.com/CoreTraining/CoreTraining'

http://tinyurl.com/28tvwqg

My avatar gives an idea of a strong core for the game...a core previously conditioned by rowing training and competition.

Aspiring rowers and soccer players without understanding and training the core...were quickly put to pasture.

[Van Canna]

Comprehensive is the key word when designing a solid program. No longer is it sufficient to just do crunches or sit ups. Current core training programs focus on training the hip, lumbar and pelvis region.

Why is training the core important?

1. The core is where all movement begins. (1)

2. “A weak core is a fundamental problem inherent to inefficient movement that leads to predictable patterns of injury.”(1)

3. If our arms and legs are strong but our core is weak there will not be enough force created to produce efficient movements. (1)

4. If you have bad core strength, specifically hip instability, the energy will leak out at the hip, then the body must compensate, thus leading to injury.

5. By strengthening the core one becomes more able to better utilize the muscles of the extremity like the legs and arms.

...no kidding

[Van Canna]

What is the core?

The core is where the body’s center of gravity is. (1) Many people think of the core consisting solely of the muscles of the stomach. In actuality the core consists of the parts in the lumbo region, pelvic region and hip region. Here are some of the muscles that are part of each region.

1. Lumbar Spine Muscles
a. Erector spinae
b. Quadratus lumborum
c. Transversospinalis Group
d. Latissimus Dorsi


2. Key Abdominal Muscles
a. Rectus Abdominus
b. External Oblique
c. Internal Oblique
d. Transverse Abdominus


3. Key Hip Muscles
a. Gluteus Maximus
b. Gluteus Medius
c. Psoas

It is the integrated function of the above muscle groups that stabilize the entire body. (1)

[Bill Glasheen]

Sometimes you have to squint your intellectual eyes to understand the foo foo language.

And no, I'm not talking martial arts and that wacky "c" word. I'm talking baseball. I'm talking about one of the best managers in baseball trying to describe the motion of one of the best power hitters in the game today (even if a touch over the hill).

To wit...

David Ortiz's two HRs help Red Sox beat Tigers 7-2

DETROIT (AP) -- David Ortiz hit one of the longest homers in Comerica Park history. At least one Detroit Tiger thought his other home run Friday night was more impressive.

Ortiz had his second multihomer game this month and drove in four runs, lifting the Boston Red Sox to a 7-2 win over Detroit.

His first went an estimated 450 feet to right-center, clearing the brick wall that is beyond the right-field fence and landing on a standing-room-only concourse. It rivaled the Comerica Park-record blast of 461 feet off Carlos Pena 's bat in 2005.

Ortiz's second homer was a majestic, 394-foot rainbow that cleared a tunnel past the right-field wall off an inside pitch off the plate.

" He's getting older, I didn't think he could get to that pitch no more,'' Detroit catcher Gerald Laird said. " That was an old David Ortiz swing."

***

Ortiz hit more than one homer for the 34th time with the Red Sox - trailing Ted Williams (37) and Jim Rice (35) in the team's record books for multihomer games - after doing it twice with the Minnesota Twins .

***

" The impressive thing was that he didn't muscle up for those swings,'' Boston manager Terry Francona said. " We've all seen him take those huge swings, but those two were all about generating bat speed with a quiet body. That's how he got backspin and that's why those balls went a long way."

With a quiet body??? *

Let the girls inspire you.

- Bill

* References:

1) Sequential summation of movement

2) Force summation

[Bill Glasheen]

I had someone call my attention to this superstar of the bellydancing world.

Rachel Brice has a truly unique style. She has mastered the art of trunk muscle control in a way that few can. The serpentine effect she creates is stunning. What I also appreciate here is the ability to switch from slow and smooth movement to intentionally abrupt and almost explosive.

I went through quite a few examples before I chose this one.

Rachel Brice paris performance 2005

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

Here are some of the trade secrets revealed. Just a little...

undulation

Nobody does it like Rachel Brice.

Listening to her teach reminds me just a little of teaching things like Nakamatsu wave generation, making yourself round to roll on a hard floor, managing a sudden load on your torso due to dumping someone you're holding on to, etc.

- Bill