Author: Ar. A. Kadochnikov
Left hook, right hook, an uppercut,
A jab to start round nine;
Boris Budkeyev’s kicking butt –
Alas, that butt is mine.
Vladimir Vysotsky
If you haven’t heard Vladimir Vysotsky’s “The sentimental boxer’s song” yet, you have to do it. Being inimitably humorous, this song is about a boxer who managed to win the fight without a single strike, mauling his opponent to the point of exhaustion:
“He’s reached complete exhaustion, and
Collapses with a sigh;
The referee lifts up my hand,
Which hadn’t hurt a fly…”
All themes Vysotsky mentioned in his songs were taken by him from real life; he literally warmed to characters of people with different professions and fates. For this reason his texts are so convincing that we believe in every single word. And this song is not an exception. Actually strikes take a great amount of your energy and can bring your body to complete feebleness in a matter of seconds. This fact is well-illustrated by one real story that has recently happened with Alexander T, a renowned martial artist and hand-to-hand fighting master.
Every morning he trains in a park near his office. One of the elements of his training is throwing knives. For this exercise he made a special wooden target and put it in a special place, imperceptible for park visitors. One day, early in the morning he went to the park and saw a man trying to pull his target out of the ground. He called to this man, went closer and asked him to place the target back and get out while the going was good…
But it wasn’t to be. Alexander himself is of medium height and he does not give an impression of a super-athlete. But the man was rather big, tall and apparently also insolent: he hit Alexander in his jaw without saying anything…to be more exact he wanted to do it but failed. (However, Alexander noticed that the strike of his opponent was not only strong enough, but also polished and rather good).
Alexander chose the optimal distance, creating thereby the illusion of proximity to the target. At the same time it allowed him to have the whole situation under control. While Alexander was trying to decide what to do (he didn’t want to beat the stranger as well as to give him the target), the situation surprisingly resolved itself.
After several failed attempts to knock Alexander, the man suddenly fell heavily to his knees and croaked: “Kill me … “. His energy was enough only for ten seconds.
If you think these examples are given in order to say that you can dispense with strikes in situations of self-defense… you are wrong. They are not only needed, but also indispensable to use. But there’s another question – how to master such difficult techniques that would be not only effective but also require no large amounts of energy, which can be completely expended?
The Kadochnikov System approach to any situation presupposes the possibility of development of a very undesirable scenario, and due to this fact it takes into consideration the economy of force and energy supply of the body.
That is why the striking technique of the Kadochnikov System has strong distinctive features, which are based on a combination of scientific principles and a practical approach to the realities of those life situations in which it can be applicable. The Kadochnikov System striking technique covers the following factors:
- A strike as a physical phenomenon is a short-term interaction between two (or more) bodies, that causes greater forces;
- On the counter motion during the strike (bump) of bodies their speeds are added;
- The smaller the area of a strike is, the more striking effect will be (in case of other equal conditions);
- The time of a strike has direct dependence of body weight, value of joint displacement and inverse dependence of the power of a strike;
- A strike is a powerful tool for sudden defeat of the opponent that often, but not always decides the battle;
- Strikes have three major drawbacks:
– it’s difficult to control the power of a strike;
– while striking you can be injured and that will reduce the combat effectiveness;
– clothing (especially winter) is good protection against many types of strikes; - All strikes must be quick and unexpected. Their effectiveness depends on a steady position, the ability to create momentum and the correct choice of striking point.
The important feature of the Kadochnikov System striking technique is the wave principle in the formation of strike energy. According to this principle, the striking motion is formed firstly by the most massive parts of the body – the “wave” is formed from the hips and pelvis through the shoulders to the arms. The impulse of these body parts creates a “wave” with relatively low velocity and amplitude. Due to relaxed muscles it goes through the body from the “initial” part of the body to the striking part of the limb. In conformity with physical laws due to wave movement there is a “pumping” of energy of the relatively low-speed massive body parts movement into the high-speed motion of striking limb parts.
In school course of physics, this phenomenon is considered by the example of a whip: a relatively quiet movement of a whip handle assist in getting supersonic speed at it’s point! The same process occurs in the transmission of energy of the strong but not very fast hips impulse to the impact surface of the hands – provided relatively low cost of muscular effort it’s possible to get the hang of powerful strikes with a high penetrating ability.
The key to the technique of wave strike is the ability to work relaxed, without unnecessary straining of muscles. Because in case of tensed muscles the initial impulse is spent on overcoming the resistance of your own body; it is just “blown out” in the tensed muscles, therefore the proper acceleration of the striking part is impossible. Taking this into consideration your stance is required to be relaxed.
If your wave strike is done correctly the initial impulse of motion (of pelvis, for instance) will be transmitted through the body to your hand in the form of wave. In accordance with the law of momentum conservation, the mass of a limb involved in the wave motion is quickly reduced in comparison to the body mass; there is a sharp increase in velocity of the moving limb. Having brought a wave to the wrist and giving to it necessary rigidity at the point of contact, it will result in a crisp, sharp strike.
The method of creation of stiffness during the transmission of strike energy through striking surfaces is one more feature of the Kadochnikov System striking technique. The rigidity at the point of contact is achieved not by the tension and fixation of striking part of the body (as is typical for the striking technique of various martial arts, where you should tense your fist and wrist), but by gradual “turning off” loose joints due to the twisting of joint articulations. The initial impulse may be created by movement of the pelvis, torso, and other parts of the body, accomplished for protection against opponent attacks, escaping from the attack plane and completion of the previous attack.
After the strike, the return to the original state is carried out by the same wave motion, using the recoil momentum. In this case, the returnable movement after a direct hit is applied as the initial momentum for the next strike or other action .
As another important principle of the Kadochnikov System striking technique is that we can distinguish the principle of maximum use of striking motion energy. The consequence of this principle is that the Kadochnikov System strives for minimizing “blank” limb movements, i.e. those movements which are not involved directly in attack of the opponent or protection against strikes. A further implementation of this principle is the combination of protective and defensive movements.
The other rules of striking technique formation is quite obvious to any expert. Strikes are recommended to be delivered while exhalation with the removal of the striking surface at a distance equivalent to one and a half bodies, while squatting and doing step with half step at the moment of contact with the opponent, with the rotation of the striking surface at the contact point.
Punches are carried out with constant rotation along the longitudinal axis of the striking surface to painful places and points of active defeat (see further) or unprotected parts of the body at an angle of approximately 45 ° to the target. Strike accuracy depends on the sense of distance. Correctly chosen distance is equal to one third of your victory.
You should remember that while delivering punches it’s possible to injure the arm. Your arm is an organ created by Nature to snatch but not to beat. The finger joints are usually too sensitive to withstand an extremely heavy strike. In battle you should strike a determined blow. You shouldn’t hurry and you should avoid inaccuracy of movements. There are no “incorrect strikes” in hand-to-hand fighting; correct ones are those which help gain an advantage over the enemy. There is one way you can reduce the probability of a hand injury – strikes should be studied and fulfilled constantly.
Energetics and kinematics of kicks is based on the same principles as punches . While kicking your striking surfaces should be: the base of toes, the heel , the top of the arch , the outer and inner edge of the foot and the heel area. While kicking in shoes you should benefit from their properties – and first of all – from their welts. For instance, the kick with the base of toes (barefoot or in light shoes) has a relatively weak influence of pain. The same kick with the angle of the welt of shoes with rigid soles (such as army shoes or boots) brings severe pain, that can disorient the opponent and even lead to shock.
All strikes have to be quick, sharp and unexpected. Their effectiveness in all cases depends on a stable position at the moment of a strike, the ability to create momentum and the correct choice of points when delivering the strike.
