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The Art of Kicking and Punching and The Science of Defence.

English Martial Arts students come from a variety of martial backgrounds. 3rd Dan Black Belt in Kukkiwon Taekwondo and English Martial Arts Free Scholler, James Danson tells his martial arts story and explores parallels he’s noticed between the two arts.

My journey in the martial arts began in 1982, at the tender age of eleven. Although a ‘born Australian’, I had recently re-emigrated with my parents to Perth, Western Australia, (arriving in late 1980) having spent most of the first decade of my life in the United Kingdom. To say that the readjustment to life in Australia was difficult is employment of the great British art of understatement. Simply put I was the only English kid in Liwara Catholic Primary school and being a ‘Pommie kid’ in 1980’s Australia was certainly no fun. Poms or Pommies rated in the minds of the very parochial and (to our eyes) somewhat backwards Australians, as only slightly higher in importance than amoeba and about as welcome as a fungal infection. 

Consequently, I was picked on every day and got into a fight at least once a week. My first fight was with a cocky kid with a bad mullet haircut and a mocking, shit-eating grin. Hs name was Justin Langer and he would later go on to captain the Australian cricket team. I remember also that I won this particular skirmish.  When, after weeks of taunting about my accent and appearance, I sharply kneed him in groin and then (grabbing him by his rather silly haircut) brought my knee repeatedly up into his face. 

The problem was I hadn’t won in ‘the right way’, in so much as I hadn’t fought under the unwritten rules of the Aussie school yard…fists fine, wrestling o.k. …but apparently feet and knees…not so much. Some older boys intervened, saving Justin from what might have been a nasty kicking and I very quickly became public enemy number one. Furthermore, I could expect very little help from the teachers, many of whom wore the prejudice and obvious dislike for ‘the Poms’ on their sleeve. Whereas others considered it ‘character building’ and ‘boys being boys’. I was on my own. 

This was something of a new experience for me as my two much older (and very protective) sisters had chosen not to emigrate with my parents (one remaining in the UK with her new boyfriend and the other emigrating to the Middle East with her new husband). It was a lonely and frightening experience for a skinny, awkward English kid from Bournemouth, as both my parents were busy trying to build a new life and establish themselves in both business and society. 

After nearly two years of this treatment and with the school doing precious little in response (and in truth, what little they did do was not only ineffectual but actually exacerbated the situation), my mother decided that I needed to learn to fight back and fight back hard…bollocks to the school, bollocks to the backwards, bigoted Aussies and bollocks to the pre-conceived notions about a ‘fair fight’. This notion of a ‘fair fight’ often resulted in me getting battered by often larger, stronger, older Aussie kids (having been put up one year on arrival at the school as I was also brighter than most of them). Thus my Mum in her wisdom enrolled me in ‘Tae Kwon Do’ classes at the local recreation centre. 

 

Enter Siang Kooi Quah, a Chinese Malay gentleman who is perhaps one of the most important male figures in my formative development next to my own father. 

Known to me as a child as simply Mr Quah (not Chosu, Sensei, Master or any other imperious title) and later in life as simply S.K. This quiet, humble, normally smiling and generally affable man was quite literally my saviour and I have often since wondered what might have become of me if he had not entered my life when he did. 

He could be however (and often was) a stern and demanding instructor. His usual refrain being, in his at the time limited and broken English… “No! No! Zhames do it again!”

 

I must have been a frustrating student to teach having the grace and co-ordination of a baby goat (with learning difficulties) and being about as flexible as a broomstick. Fortunately S.K. was endlessly patient and slowly (painfully slowly as he will no doubt attest) I began to pick it up and begin to get more flexible. Perhaps as a consequence we became (and still are) quite close.

 

The training was hard…really hard. In a way that many modern students of Taekwondo would struggle to understand. The hall in which trained had hard and often dusty wooden floors, which were both slippery underfoot and unyielding when you fell or were often knocked down. There was no air conditioning and in Summer we trained in 30 degree plus heat to the point of exhaustion and often near collapse.

 

This was a ‘deep science’ and a deadly serious combat art…the authentic old school, hard style, martial art of Taekwondo. Nothing like the middle-class gentrified and somewhat superficial combat sport it has now largely become. 

This was the Taekwondo of the 60’s and 70’s, born in the harsh environment of post war Korea. Today it is called Siljeon (or real combat) Taekwondo, but back then it was all ‘just Taekwondo’. 

All parts of our body were conditioned and trained to be used as weapons. Fists, knees, palms, both edges of  the hand, the head and of course the feet, with kicks being delivered using the ball of the foot, shin, heel and edge of the foot, rather than simply the instep as is so common today. We also learned throws, sweeps, takedowns, joint twisting and locking (often to the point of near injury) and vicious open hand techniques such as the spear hand and arc hand strike to soft and vulnerable targets. We learned techniques that were both direct and by today’s standards rather simple, but we drilled them endlessly until we could deliver them with crippling power if ever used in anger. We also learned combative principles such as the ‘theory of power’ and to attack, attack, attack…being the best ‘self-defence’.

Recently a great man said to me ‘techniques fail but principles do not’ and I once asked S.K. what he felt was the most important principle to understand in Taekwondo. His response was typically direct and succinct… “Can you knock him down? If you no knock him down …your Taekwondo no good!”

Hence, in order for my Taekwondo to be ‘any good’ a sound understanding of power and how it is both generated and effectively delivered was vital.

The Taekwondo Theory of Power is based on an understanding of biomechanics and Newtonian physics (which also underpin English Martial arts) as well as concepts taken originally from both Japanese and Chinese martial arts. For example, the power of a strike increases quadratically with the speed of the strike, but increases only linearly with the mass of the striking object. In other words, speed is more important than size in terms of generating power. This principle was incorporated into the early design of Taekwondo and is still used today.

Also, the smaller the impact area of the striking weapon the greater its penetration and all kicks and strikes should be delivered to the centre line (an imaginary line running through the centre of the body). Judgement of distance is thus vital.  Too close and the kick or strike is a push, to far away the force is dissipated and the strike/kick is ineffectual. Somewhere in between is the optimum range to deliver disruptive force into the target, possibly knocking out your opponent or causing internal damage and at the very least stunning or incapacitating them. Taekwondo is hard style and much like English Boxing and the Science of Defence you must be able to swiftly deliver serious stopping power in order for it to be effective. 

This corresponds to two of the most important principles in English Martial Arts, the principle ‘grounds’ of judgement and distance. In English Martial Arts we are taught that with judgement you keep correct distance and with correct distance you get time to find place…but in Taekwondo this judgement of distance also places you at the optimum range to deliver maximum power.

Some of the other key components of the Theory of Power include: 

  • Reaction Force – the principle that as the striking limb is brought forward, other parts of the body should be brought backwards in order to provide more power to the striking limb. As an example, if the right leg is brought forward in a roundhouse/turning kick, the right arm is brought backwards to provide the reaction force.
  • Concentration – the principle of bringing as many muscles as possible to bear on a strike, concentrating the area of impact into as small an area as possible (as alluded to earlier).
  • Equilibrium – maintaining a correct centre-of-balance throughout a technique.
  • Breath Control – the idea that during a strike one should exhale, with the exhalation concluding at the moment of impact.
  • Mass – the principle of bringing as much of the body to bear on a strike as possible; again using the turning kick as an example, the idea would be to rotate the hip as well as the leg during the kick in order to take advantage of the hip’s additional mass in terms of providing power to the kick.
  • Speed – as previously noted, the speed of execution of a technique in Taekwondo is deemed to be even more important than mass in terms of providing power.

 

Nor is this where similarities between the Art of Kicking and Punching and the Noble Science of Defence end.

In Taekwondo we stand ‘side on’ to our opponent, to present less of a target. We also ‘step offline’ to 45 degrees rather than meeting an attack head on, thereby being able to counterattack the assailant’s exposed and vulnerable areas (ideally with a kick) whilst avoiding their attack.

This is similar to the principle of wide and narrow spaces in English Martial Arts. This principle revolves around the idea of how much your body is exposed to attacks by your opponent. If you are ‘narrow spaced’, you are also standing ‘side on’ to your opponent and are consequently less exposed. Conversely, if you are wide spaced you are standing square to your opponent and thus exposing more of your body to an attack.

The ‘magic angle’ for English pugilists and swordsman was 30 degrees, which not only placed you offline, but allowed you close enough to strike your enemy whilst placing your opponent at an angle and in a position that they could not strike at you without again stepping forward. 

Both old school Taekwondo and the English Science of Defence were (as the name of the latter indicates) ‘hard styles’ using scientific principles for the purpose of self protection. It should come as no surprise then that they share so much in common, both in terms of techniques and the principles on which they are based.

 

When I first encountered the English Martial Arts (through Maister Frank Docherty) back in 2009, I instantly recognised these similarities and it was apparent that English Martial Arts were also a ‘deep science’. Whilst the techniques often seemed simple, direct and brutally pragmatic this belied a sophisticated and complex fighting art informed by scientific principles and ‘combative truths’ that are both universal and perennial.

Perhaps best exemplified in the person of our founder – ‘Ancient Maister’ Terry Brown.

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Exercises For Isolation

Personal Trainer, Door Supervisor and Former Soldier Alvin Soosay, gives his suggestions for maintaining and developing condition during lockdown.

As most of us right now do not have access to a gym and grow increasingly frustrated with not being able to train with the usual equipment we’re used to in a gym setting, we must not slack of training. There are hundreds of exercises that can be done whilst in isolation without the typical gym equipment. The key is to get creative. If you have resistance bands GREAT, this is a vital piece of kit that can be used to train the whole body. If you don’t have resistance bands think outside the box, use furniture at home, objects, boxes, suitcases, rucksacks, bricks. Recently I got chopped tree stumps from my local park and now have them in my back garden and walkway where I use it for strongman lifts and distance walks whilst carrying them.

Here are a few examples of exercises you can do with everyday objects and furniture in your house:

3 sets of 15 reps per exercise. To make it more of an intense workout select 6 or more exercises and perform in a circuit type format non stop back to back exercises per rotation. Then take a 2 minute break and perform the rotations another 3-4 times.

  • Push ups- normal push ups, legs up onto a sofa (decline) or hands up onto a chair (incline). Make this harder by putting a rucksack on your back whilst doing it. Can be done with 3 chairs. Elevate your legs onto a chair behind you and each hand onto a separate chair left and right. As you lower your body it will dip into the gap between the chairs making it a harder variation.
  • Squats- air squats, box squats by sitting onto a chair and getting up, again make the exercise harder by putting a heavy rucksack onto your back.
  • Triceps dips- this can be done of the back of a chair, vary the width of your hand placing to make it harder/easier. To add resistance put something of weight onto your lap whilst doing dips.
  • Lunges- put 1 leg onto the sofa/chair with 1 leg forward and squat down, switch legs after completing a set of 15 per leg. To add resistance you could carry shopping bags full of items in each hand or water bottles, again a loaded rucksack can be used.
  • Suitcase carry- pack a suitcase to the weight you desire, hold it in 1 hand and walk a distance then switch hands. Repeat this several times and you will feel your core muscles on fire.
  • Sit ups/ ab crunches/ laying leg raises/ flutter kicks/ Russian twists- all these simple core exercises can be done at home if you want to add resistance simply hold a weighted object whatever you have around your home.
  • Planks- can be done in traditional way, incline with your arms rested onto a chair or table and decline where your legs are elevated higher than the torso. For added resistance wear a rucksack whilst doing it.
  • Reverse hypers- I cannot stress the importance of doing this exercise even without the actual machine itself it can be done with improvisation. After suffering back injuries, myself the reverse hyper and hyper extension helped me recover my back and aided me in lifts to the strongest and best shape of my life thus far. If you suffer from lower back pain in stongly encourage you to do this exercise multiple times per week in a high volume and you will see improvements in your lower back strength, posture and a reduction in back pain. Here’s how to do it at home; Jump up onto a bench or table where your waist line meets the edge of the surface. Your upper body will rest on the surface without moving. Raise your legs up by contracting your glutes muscles and lower back muscles, lower the legs back to starting position. If you have ankle weights then attach them for extra resistance.

The above are an example of exercises that can be done at home with everyday objects, get creative, think outside the box. Also think about movement fundamentals such as pressing, pulling, squatting. Consider the normal exercises you do in the gym such as shoulder pressing and bench pressing, now improvise the same pressing biomechanics but with a loaded suitcase or a ruck sack or camping bag.

The importance of strength training to fighting systems/martial arts

Strength training will develop overall strength which will allow you to generate more force, power and speed. DO NOT make the mistake of thinking weight training will turn you into a slow muscle bound freak it will not if done properly with specific rep and set ranges as I will explain in further detail.

Everything in sports is based on force, power and speed. Lets look at force….

Force = mass X acceleration

The quicker you can move a weight you are going to develop more force. This can be done with several methods but I recommend concentrating on 2 principles which are maximal strength (1 REP MAX) and speed strength (ability to move weight with speed approx. 0.8-1 metre per second). If you are a 100kg man who can bench press 100kg with ease at a relatively fast speed, imagine that force being translated into fighting… that’s a 100kg force that you can generate into a punch, your opponent is going to feel some pain when hit with that force.

Speed strength as I mentioned is achieved my moving a smaller weight in an explosive manner with multiple sets of 3 reps at a time with short rest periods in between. For example 9 sets of 3 on bench press with 30-40% of your 1 rep max done as explosive as you can. Again… imagine being able to generate that speed of throwing a punch or kick, you are going to be a devastating fighter !!!!

Strength training makes your body stronger hence more “bulletproof”. You will be more conditioned and stronger than your opponent in a fight or in training. Compared to a fighter who neglects strength training you will have more power and force behind your punches and kicks and your body will be harder to “break” you are a more robust athlete overall.

In fighting as well as every other sport, all major movement patterns occur at the shoulder and hip region. In any martial art/ combat discipline all power derives from the shoulder and hip. Therefore it is essential to perform strength training exercises that target the shoulder, hips, glutes and core muscles.

Please do not be ignorant in thinking core muscles involves ab crunches to look like an FHM model, proper core training should include movements that target the obliques, rectus abdominus, spinal erectors and iliopsoas muscles that tie into the hip. Exercises such as reverse hypers, Russian twists, suitcase carry, kettlebell swings among other should be conducted on a regular basis. A strong core will give you that balance and ability to generate force through your body when throwing punches, kicks, take downs and ground grappling. Very important for those practicing judo where hip tosses are common, a strong core is needed to toss your opponent over your hip and to the floor without injuring yourself.

Exercises for glutes such as; glute bridges, glute kickbacks, duck walk with bands, hip abduction and adduction, Romanian deadlifts, walking lunges, mountain climbers. These should all be incorporated into your training. Strong glutes will allow you to develop a tremendous power when kicking, movements such as round house kicks, push kick will be much stronger once you develop bigger and stronger glutes.

Exercises for shoulder such as, landmine presses, overhead military presses, punching with dumbbells, face pulls, single hand med ball throws. These will develop incredible punching power, if your able to press weight above your head or in front of you with force…. Imagine how much power you can generate when you are punching an opponent without any resistance.

This is an example of a workout I recommend you implement into your training regimen:

I want to briefly touch on another training system that I believe is vital for any fighting system; CONTRAST TRAINING. It involves core compound lifts such as a bench press followed by explosive dynamic movements done back to back in a circuit fashion for a rotation. It works explosive power and strength, crucial in developing that “fight muscle”. Below is an example of a contrast training circuit

Perform these exercises non stop back to back. Once completed each rotation of this take a 1 min break and repeat 3 times. Remember the point of this is explosive power, you want to perform the reps in a highly explosive manner. If you struggle to develop punching power try this workout twice a week and see the difference in the power and speed of your punches.

As I said earlier on in the article strength training is vital to becoming a better and more effective fighter regardless of what martial art discipline you participate in. It will not turn you into a bodybuilder or inhibit your flexibility, technique or fitness in regards to fighting. It will turn you into a stronger, faster, fitter and more efficient fighting machine with less chance of injury to yourself and a greater chance of exerting pain onto your opponent.

I would like to briefly touch on how strength training can also have real life applications outside of a martial arts setting. I was a doorman for 10 years, during this time I’ve encountered dozens of physical confrontations and scraps where I was able to take necessary action to diffuse the situation using physical force without injuring myself. I attribute a lot of this to strength training. Being a bigger person allowed me to exert more force over another, overwhelming them with power and speed that they could not handle giving me the upper hand. I am not an expert in martial arts and not that technically great at fighting however I was able to be effective many times over with physical confrontations purely through having the added advantage of strength. Strength coupled with pre-emptive strikes enabled me to always get the better of the person I was dealing with. Do not hesitate in situations like this you do not know the skill level, capability or whatever weapon the person may possess. Overwhelm them with force before they have a chance to attack you and you put yourself in a better position to then use your martial art techniques and neutralise that threat with minimal damage to yourself.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article and remember if you are training at home without a gym, don’t forget the fundamental movement patterns you normally do, adapt it with whatever weighted objects you have at home. BE CREATIVE WITH YOUR WORKOUTS AT HOME, THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX ALMOST ANYTHING AT HOME CAN BE USED.

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