Effortless Power - Part 1

[Note: This will be the first of a five part series of guest blogs on Effortless Power by Yosef Susskind, 4th Degree Instructor GUIDED CHAOS. I thought that this was so well written that it should be shared with a wider audience. I want to thank Yosef for giving me permission to re-publish these newsletters as a part of my blog. I hope you enjoy them a much as I did.]

By Yosef Susskind

Among all of the external and internal martial arts systems, and all of the functional and sport-specific strength and dexterity regiments, one of the most sought-after goals held in common is the development of effortless power.   Much ink has been spilled on how to attain this goal, and more injuries have been sustained in its pursuit than many of man’s higher ambitions. 

Some training methodologies focus on strengthening the instrument, others on perfecting technique.  As for the first, getting stronger is not the same as cultivating effortless power.  Being strong is a qualitative advantage, but strength is not always the same as the ability to execute fine motor movement with effortless explosivity. 

Senior Master Al noted that Mohamed Ali’s movement looked so graceful and effortless, it seemed he just touched his opponents and sent them to the mat—so much so that many boxing fans asserted that his fights were fixed. 

If you watch the tape on many of history’s great boxing champions, some of their knockouts do look staged.  Had the fights been staged, the fighters certainly could have made them look good, at least as good as untrained Hollywood actors routinely do. 

Instead, the greatest fighters often seem to touch their opponent—no windup, no follow-through, no sound effects--and put them to sleep.  This is the ability that people are chasing when they train for effortless power.  You can lift the same weights as Ali and Tyson.  It will not grant you the gift of effortless power. 

You can do knuckle push-ups until your hands are arthritic, and sit in a horse stance until your knees run out of cartilage.  It will not make you hit like an Okinawan warlord.  Strength training alone develops the muscles and connective tissues, but rarely results in the neuromuscular coordination that manifests as effortless power. 

Going beyond simple conditioning, other schools promise effortless power through refinement of technique.  Unfortunately, their idea of refinement is to practice the same technique for twenty years. 

Supposedly, sometime around year nineteen, you’ll become graceful, and power will flow through you like sake flows through a sailor on shore leave.  But practicing technique is only helpful if you know the difference between correct and incorrect movement. 

To believers in the twenty-year plan, Master Al posits this question.  What is the difference between the technique that results in the master’s effortless power and the technique practiced by the novice? 

If you can identify what makes the master’s technique superior, then teach it to the student from day one.  

If you cannot articulate a difference in their overt technique, then you must search for some hidden principle that grants the master his power. 

In either case, practicing the same thing the same way for twenty years will not magically lead to a qualitative change—not in martial arts, or in other endeavors. 

The maxim “practice makes perfect” presumes regular, positive changes toward a known end; it is not robotic repetition in pursuit of a nebulous goal.  Unsurprisingly, doing the same thing the same way over a long period of time increases your chance of doing things…the same.    

Al points out that in martial arts, as well as in professional sports, wielders of effortless power are the individuals who value natural, creative movement above the conventions of technique. 

In boxing, track, football, etc., the true outliers are constantly labeled as unconventional in their movement, and are even accused by “experts” of having incorrect technique. 

Effortless power is a result of unencumbered, natural body movement.  It is the tyranny of technique itself that prevents us from exercising effortless power.  The idea that we have to work hard and execute a “correct” punch in order to generate power prevents us from exploring natural human motion, which in fact is the easiest movement for us to perform with maximum power. 

How can we exercise effortless power while we are working so hard to hit forcefully? 

Everyone wants to move with effortless power, but how many have simply tried to move effortlessly? 

When we free ourselves from the contrivances of fixed techniques, and stop trying so hard to hit with power, we can begin the process of learning natural, efficient, dynamic movement, utilizing the entire body with graceful, spontaneous explosivity. 

Of course, this is easier said than done.  We will delve more into the mindset for cultivating effortless power next time. 

Copyright 9/29/17 Copyrighted.com NJEC-TXUN-DTPS-DWKM

Yosef Susskind a 4th Degree Black Belt Instructor in Guided Chaos, who has trained with Grandmaster John Perkins and Senior Master Al Ridenhour since 2003. He is the editor of the Guided Chaos Instructors Guide, and writes newsletters on the mental and technical aspects of the art. He holds a bachelor of arts in literature from Columbia University and a master of arts in philosophy from Duquesne, and has lectured on Nietzsche, Plato, existentialism, and symbolic logic. As a security consultant with a background in executive protection and event security, he has protected prime-time network TV hosts, Fortune 500 executives, and Israeli dignitaries, and provided security at some of the most high-risk nightlife venues in New York City.