Your Journey Into Fluid Power - PART I

The focus of this blog “SMOOTH IS FAST” deals with the fact that when discussing movement one of the more paradoxical concepts is the fact that “smooth movement” is far superior to "gross frenetic movement".

For students who train with us on a regular basis this is a constant refrain of mine. The reason is smooth movement is unitized movement, unitized movement is efficient movement.

Also without getting down into the weeds I’ve observed over the years that there is both an optical as well as “physical illusion” that seems to take place when dealing with someone who moves “smoother” than you.

For example, students constantly ask me, “So when you’re working with John ("Grandmaster Perkins" we’re not really big on the titles thing) what’s he doing? To which I reply, “I don’t know, I have no idea”.

The reason is his movement is so subtle, so smooth, that half the time it looks like he hardly moved at all. The efficiency of his movement is also so great that when moving his movement alters your perception of time in the same way that a basketball player fakes a guy out driving to the basket or a running back faking out a defender.  

He also does some other weird stuff that I’ve dubbed “stopping time” and “slowing time down”. Where he either stops his motion in a way to allow you to "over commit" on your movement or he slows his movement down leading you into his strikes. Basically it’s an ambush.

I’m all about the ambush.

Anyway, along with this a constant question I’m asked is, "How do I develop more speed,  power and control?"

Believe it or not the secret is in “moving slower” when training to develop fluid graceful movement. 

Over a decade ago I wrote a newsletter called “I NEED TO MOVE SLOWER TO GET FASTER?”. On the importance of moving slower in order to develop greater speed, power and control. But this idea is not new.

In an excellent article "5 Thoughts on Gunfighting by Wyatt Earp" at the "Home Defense Gun" website. https://homedefensegun.net/wyatt-earp/

Wyatt Earp points out the following as it relates to developing smooth seamless movement or what he calls "Mentally Deliberate". He states,

"When I say that I learned to take my time in a gunfight, I do not wish to be misunderstood, for the time to be taken was only that split fraction of a second that means the difference between deadly accuracy with a sixgun and a miss. It is hard to make this clear to a man who has never been in a gunfight. Perhaps I can best describe such time taking as going into action with the greatest speed of which a man’s muscles are capable, but mentally unflustered by an urge to hurry or the need for complicated nervous and muscular actions which trick-shooting involves. Mentally deliberate, but muscularly faster than thought, is what I mean..."

Within the art of GUIDED CHAOS, we constantly harp on the importance of going slower. The question, “Why do I need to move slower to get faster?” Is a common one and is something that once understood will add a level of power and speed to your abilities beyond anything that you can imagine.

The importance of training slow then gradually building up to moving at full speed is essential to developing the type of fluid power that you desire. I believe the concept of Mentally Deliberate that Wyatt Earp was taking about is consistent with the training methodology developed by Grandmaster Perkins. 

It is a given that in a real fight for your life any motion or action you undertake if it is not automatic then no matter how well practiced or refined, if it is not reflexive it probably will not work.

In order to fight at what I call “supernatural speed” you must start off extremely slow ensuring that every fiber of your being is moving as one.

As your Body Unity improves you’ll want to move faster and faster up to full speed remaining as relaxed as possible all throughout. As your timing and muscular control along with balance, sensitivity, body unity and looseness develop you will not have to move as much in order to strike with maximum and lethal power which, is exactly what you want.

HASTE MAKES WASTE, SLOW HARMONIZES AND REFINES

When you watch people move you can always tell when they are not moving with their body in a unitized manner because their arms begin the flail like "The Robot" from "Lost In Space".

Their movements whether fast or slow lack power because their bodies are not connected, and because they are not unitized they are unable to accelerate and strike with power except the power generated by their arms.

This disconnect is the main reason why most people when they fight do not have a "second step", meaning if you can avoid their initial onrush you gain a huge advantage since they over commit on their initial movements.

[As a side note because most people fight with their arms and not their whole bodies they are unable to bring their full power to bare, with their strikes. The real reason people fight in this manner is due to poor balance, which leads to poor body unity, coordination etc…. and so they are unable to move in a unitized manner. Many martial arts systems have “incorrectly” theorized that the reason for this is because they lack control or structure and as a result of this "incorrect understanding" set out to develop “forms”,  “katas” or sanctioned patterned movements in an attempt to structure the fight.  These patterned movements do not take into account the randomness and utter chaos of a real bloodbath, and as a result THEY TRAIN FOR A REALITY OF FIGHTING THAT DOES NOT EXIST. So their movements fail because they attempt to move in a manner, which is inconsistent with all known laws of physics. Unless you’re from Krypton like Superman, "Kal-El" for the purist.]

I know it’s hard for some to believe but the fact remains that in order to move with lighting speed and power one must be able to move with a unitized body and the only way to achieve this in short order is by moving “extremely slow” in the beginning and then gradually begin to increase your speed along with the timing of your strikes in relation to your entire body.

By moving your body in a unitized manner it ensures that not only are you able to strike with power but you are able to maintain the full range of motion with your arms and legs since it prevents you from getting over extended or over committed allowing you to fight within your "Sphere of Influence". Which is as far as you can strike with your limbs with power within their natural range of motion. 

In future blog posts I will discuss this further as well as other concepts as they relate to developing effortless combat power.

Until then...

LtCol Al

Senior Master Instructor

GUIDED CHAOS