I’ve always found the “everybody has two arms and two legs and there are only so many ways they move” adage somewhat annoying. In the martial arts it is usually used to validate the method the person saying it is demonstrating, with the implication that anything else is an inefficient use of the limited options the human body offers. While there is some truth to it, there are also a huge number of variables that make it somewhat useless in training. (Provided, that is, that you are not trying to do something that actually is physically impossible, like do a technique that requires 3 arms.)

One way to look at this variability is through methods of power generation. By this I mean the way the body generates force that can then be used to hit, kick, block, throw, choke, etc.. While the adage above implies that the body has limits that lead us to one “best” way to develop power I’d like to examine that a little. To do so, I’d like to look at a few ways I have been taught to develop power. I am not going to look at specific techniques, or training methods, but instead look at the basic mechanics behind them. 

Rotation

This is pretty straightforward. It means rotating the body around the core, the spine. An example might be a standard reverse punch, a low round kick, iriminage, or the way we use the torso/frame in our basic strikes in Matayoshi kobudo. There are a lot of elements that come into generating and transmitting this rotation- how you initiate it, how you tie the large muscle groups to the limb(s) being used to transmit the power, how you connect it to the ground and into the frame so it doesn’t bleed out when you impact, and perhaps most importantly how to connect the frame together, so you are not “using your hips” but not actually connecting them to your shoulders and leaving just the arms or shoulders powering the movement- but the general idea is consistent: the body turns, the turning action generates force.

Compression and Expansion

This sounds complex but it isn’t. It is simply contracting and relaxing various muscle groups. Doing it with certain groups gives the sense of entire sections of the body getting larger or smaller, expanding or contracting, as represented by the term shime in various Okinawan arts. The term fajiang is often used for this when done quickly to create percussive force and it is essential to short power. One aspect of it is that creating tension in a muscle leaves it unable to tense further, making relaxion essential to using it again. Another is that compression/contraction with certain muscle groups can extend the oppositional groups so they are prepped to contract (and vice versa), that “drawing the bow” analogy many arts use. A third is that tension in a muscle means it is restricting movement, making relaxing it essential to using the oppositional muscle groups as well as to using it again. Examples of this might be pulling your shoulders towards each other in front then pulling them sharply apart using the large muscles of the back, as we do in Feeding Crane and Matayoshi kobudo (in nunchiyaku, or tinbe forms, for example), pushing the lunging elbow strike forward using the leg and torso in Uechi ryu, driving the foot down while extending the torso for a low side kick in Goju, throwing a jab, or applying a triangle choke. Again there are a variety of elements that are needed in practice- knowing which groups to use, learning how to connect them, and especially learning to relax and contract as needed so you don’t choke your own power- but the idea is consistent, and at times seems so simple it doesn’t need to be explained or examined.

Shaking

This sounds esoteric but it isn’t. It is similar to rotation but instead of using a single unified rotation to generate force the body is shaken. A back and forth shake/twist through the torso with hips and shoulders moving in opposite directions, much like a coil spring, is used to generate power that can then be transmitted to the limbs. The image often used to explain it is a dog shaking water off its back. It is commonly seen in Crane systems, with techniques like Feeding Crane’s elbow back or Crane Wing Pecks Eye. Much like rotation I think it is often misunderstood, as the core shaking needs to stay connected both within the frame and to the limbs and I often seen huge hip movement happening well before impact, essentially a rotation with only part of the body, isolating the limb instead of connecting it to the core. Of course it also needs training- the connections to the core need to be developed so the large muscle groups properly drive the shake across the frame as opposed to with it, relaxation and tension need to be learned, and timing, in particular continuing the shake through multiple techniques, needs to be trained- but the idea of using a cross-torso shaking/twisting motion to generate power remains the same.

Momentum

This is pretty simple. It means putting the body in motion and dumping the momentum gained into the opponent. A diving take down, a body check, and a lunging elbow might be examples. Main training elements here are connection and structure. When you impact you need to stay structurally sound so that your power doesn’t bleed out of the nearest joint, or back into the air.

Sinking

This is using gravity. It is similar to momentum, but the movement is generated by allowing gravity to do its work instead of your muscles. A sacrifice throw would be a good example, as would a dropping punch or elbow, or dropping your weight onto a joint break. Connection is a main training element here, along with learning how to time and initiate the use of gravity. Often it is through a knee release, but there are other ways. This sinking energy is also used to initiate movement, by releasing in the direction you are going and using gravity to get you started.

Those are some methods I have been taught to generate power, but to be clear this doesn’t get into how to use what you have generated. Take whipping as an example. In my opinion, whipping is not power generation, it is power transfer. That seems like a fine distinction, but I think it is a really important one. To whip, at least as I have been taught, you need to keep the limb relaxed enough to transmit the power developed at the core without choking it off and at the same time connected enough to control and deliver it. You need to know where your power is coming from and then how to get it where you want it. The same goes for any transmission method, really.

And none of these necessarily stand alone. No system I have practiced (or seen) uses just one, and indeed few individual techniques do. They tend to group and reinforce each other. You can rotate, sink, and expand to deliver a punch, compress and sink to break an elbow, compression and expansion drive rotation, shaking, or momentum, and so on. It is really useful to understand which combination of power generations you are using so you can focus your training on making them clean. That way they can reinforce instead of counter each other. Understanding what you are doing allows you to improve it.

And this is why I think the adage is not very useful. These are all good methods of generating power. There are others. None need be used in isolation. None trumps another. And these methods of power generation don’t even begin to address the use of structure, position, timing, target, leverage, tactics, methods or directions of use (like the classic rise/sink/spit/swallow) etc., all of which hugely affect how power is transmitted or received. So instead of a “one is best” approach, or a focus on limitations, looking at the multivariate way they can be used seems more useful to me. While the human body does have limited options available to it even this initial level of variability, before delivery method, structure, timing, leverage, etc. are included, creates a lot of valid options.

As an aside, I also think one part of the variation you see between systems is how these methods, among other things, are weighted and combined. That balance affects how an art looks and what options it focuses on. It creates the “engine” for that specific art. For example, Goju, as I understand it, uses mainly expansion and contraction and rotation while Feeding Crane uses mainly shaking and expansion and contraction, while both use sinking and momentum in varying amounts. Those combinations lead to slightly different answers to various problems. When I watch other arts- boxing, judo, kali, xingyi – I see varying elements of most of these methods, depending on the system and technique. And it is really interesting to see an art or practitioner focusing heavily on an element of power generation that I don’t use much of.

Anyway, just some thoughts on power generation. Take a moment. Pick a technique from your practice. Look at how it generates the power it uses. Where that power originates and how it is delivered. It might help you understand how to improve it, or give you some insights on how your system uses that specific type of power generation in other ways.