It is fairly common knowledge I think: among the people who take up training in martial arts or combat sports (I believe the same thing goes for all kinds of sports and other movement practices, like dancing), there are two distinct categories. On one side, we have those who have graceful movement, who “make everything look easy”, who grasp everything taught to them from the first moment and (more often than not) achieve a high level in the sport or the art they practice. On the other side, we have those who are “badly coordinated”, or “have two left feet”, the ones who have to struggle for years in order to master just a few basics, or just quit after a short period of training, because they are “not talented enough”! I have a simple question for you on this issue: why? Why are there two sorts of people, in relation to movement? Well, I don’t know about you, but this fact puzzled me since I first started training in the martial arts, when I was a teenager. And until I started training in Russian Martial Art, I hadn’t found a convincing answer.
During the years I’ve been into martial arts I’ve seen a number of strange movement “symptoms” which were seemingly inexplicable. For example, the first time I taught a group of san shou (Chinese kick boxing) beginners, I demonstrated the “right cross” punch. A number of students were able to execute this basic [1] technique immediately, but there were others who although they saw the movement and received instruction on how to perform it, they did something completely different from what was demonstrated: the toes of the rear, driving leg were pointing to the side instead of the direction of the punch, and the torso did not rotate enough, so in order to reach the target, they had to bend sideways, resulting in an inability to generate force. A few years later, I trained with a 105 kilo police officer, who could bench press and squat my weight for many repetitions (and I am in no way what you would call a “small guy”) but could not swing a stick at me with enough force to even make me flinch. I’ve also met Wushu forms competitors of an international level (athletes who were both explosive and flexible) who could jump, twist in the air and land in a splits position, but could not perform a round kick and I’ve also heard about a guy who trained in kickboxing for three years, was fairly good in punching and kicking, but after three training sessions in Systema Russian Martial Art, could still not perform a simple forward roll!
One conclusion I reached from the very first moment, was that these symptoms had nothing to do with strength, speed or flexibility, muscular attributes, that is – the majority of the people I’ve mentioned above were able-bodied and pretty close to the common definition of “fitness”. So, while they (just like numerous others I am sure you know of and have trained with) seemingly had no problem with their muscles, they did have problems performing specific, not especially complex, movements.
Since my question (which hopefully, must have started puzzling you by now) regards the movement of humans, it might be helpful if we got some help from the study of human movement through the application of mechanical principles, also known as the science of biomechanics. One of the pioneers of the study of biomechanics (actually, he was the man who coined the term) was Russian Jewish neurophysiologist Nikolai A. Bernstein (1896-1966). In the 1940s, Bernstein wrote the book On Dexterity and Its Development [2], one scientific work which remains interesting until today, in which he presented his major ideas on the development and control of voluntary movement and the notion of dexterity in particular. In the second chapter of this book, he presents the fundamental problem of motor control (i.e. producing a specific movement, as opposed to moving in general), which is none other than… well, excessive freedom to move, the richness of mobility of human movement organs!
One of the main characteristics of the human body is its extreme articulation: “… We have only in our extremities and head-mounted devices [eyes and tongue] close to a hundred directions and types of mobility (degrees of freedom [3]). If we add the snakelike flexibility of our neck and trunk, the resulting number is enormous” [4], writes Bernstein. So, unlike the moving parts of a machine (for example, the piston of an engine) that only have one degree of freedom and are forced to move on a single, exactly defined path, human movement is characterized by an infinite and quite arbitrary variety of such paths. In simple words, let’s say that I have a friend, Bob, who is sitting in my living room and wants to pick up his coffee mug from the table and have a sip. Well, the problem in this specific movement Bob wants to perform is that his body has the ability to perform it in an infinite number of variations. But, if he does not want to bathe himself - and my carpet – in hot Java, only a limited number of these variations are correct, so he must make a choice, in order to control his movement. Thus, we reach Bernstein’s definition of motor coordination according to which, “Coordination is overcoming excessive degrees of freedom of our movement organs, that is, turning the movement organs into controllable systems”[5].
So, then, how is it that we achieve control of our movements? Actually, this role is played by a number of sensory organs in the body. Bernstein, again: “It is common and customary to think that the execution of a voluntary movement is fully the responsibility of the motor systems of the body – muscles, as direct movers; motor nerves transferring motor impulses from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles; and brain motor centers as the source of the command for the motor impulses. On the contrary, the sensory systems of the body are not less busy than motor systems during execution of a movement. Continuous, corrective flows of signals are transmitted to the brain along sensory nerves of all possible modalities, including tactile, visual, muscular-articular, vestibular (from the ears, transmitting signals about the equilibrium), and others, informing the brain whether the movement has been initiated, whether it proceeds according to a plan and whether corrections are necessary”[6]. To sum up Bernstein, voluntary movement involves a two-way exchange of information between the brain, the muscles and various sensory organs. In order for our movement to be predictable, we require a constant stream of sensory information from the outside (perceiving through our senses, that is), in order to maintain ongoing control of our muscular function from the inside out. Thus, scientists refer to a sensory-motor system.
OK, in order to slowly start drifting back to our original question, which was “why do some people have so much trouble learning to perform specific movements related to martial arts”, let’s check out one of the dominant theoretical approaches used today to explain how people learn and control motor skills. It is known as the dynamic systems perspective and that too grew out of the work of Bernstein (1967) and later, that of M.T. Turvey and J.A.S. Kelso. According to the dynamic systems perspective [7], “when we first learn a skill, we tend to freeze the degrees of freedom in a way that limits coordination and control. Then, as skill is acquired, we free some of the degrees of freedom, thus allowing for the movement to be performed more efficiently and accurately. Finally, we learn to exploit the degrees of freedom, an evolution in skill development that is needed to perform at a high level in any context”. So, could it be that a number of people remain stuck in this first stage of “freezing” the degrees of freedom? Or maybe even, have a number of degrees of freedom “pre-frozen”, thus not available to them when they begin learning a new motor skill?
I remember something I read a few years ago in the book “Pain Free”, by anatomical physiologist Pete Egoscue. “Muscles that do not move, pretty soon become muscles that cannot move”, claimed Egoscue, and although this sounds like stating the obvious (like “use it or lose it” or something equally run-of-the-mill), it contains a great amount of truth in it. It would probably be even more precise if written like this: “Muscles that do not move, pretty soon become muscles that have forgotten how to move”. Could it be possible for our muscles to forget how to do their job? According to Thomas Hanna, founder of the field of Somatics, it certainly is, in this state of pathology he termed Sensory-Motor Amnesia (SMA), which is basically “a memory loss of how certain muscle groups feel and how to control them” [8].
That is definitely a cool name, you might observe, but how does this thing happen and how does it work? Well, to make a long story shorter, during the course of our lives, our body responds to daily stimuli (psychological stress, repetitive strain, injury and trauma) with muscular reflexes. If these reflexes are repeatedly triggered, this responsive contraction of the muscles becomes habitual, which means that we cannot make it relax voluntarily, so after a while we no longer remember how it feels to have those specific muscles relaxed. As Thomas Hanna puts it [9], “…the feedback of sensory motor impulses takes place below the conscious level of the brain’s voluntary functions”. Now, have you ever had the chance to train with a partner so tense that he felt like a piece of wood? If you asked him why he had so much tension in his body, he would probably answer that he doesn’t have any tension. And even if you kept on reminding your partner to relax, again and again, all you would achieve is to become a nuisance, because he just doesn’t remember how it feels to be relaxed anymore, as the brain can no longer order the muscles to relax!!!
Of course, not all the muscles in one’s body are affected by SMA, but remember, we’re talking about movement here. In order for your body to produce movement, there are groups of muscles that have to work in synergy, like they were chains. It is easy to understand that if just one link in a chain is weak… well; you know the rest, don’t you? It might be slightly reassuring to know that SMA does not affect everybody. According to Thomas Hanna, “Some humans have an early and intense accumulation and show these symptoms early. Others have the good fortune to escape these effects of stress and trauma, and they are just as supple and lively at 70 as they were at 25”. But, could it be that the fortunate ones, who have escaped the effects of stress and trauma in their lives, are those who more often than not excel in martial arts training, the ones known as “talented”? And could it also be that the less fortunate ones are those who have trouble performing even the basic movements, the “untalented” ones?
One other thing you should know about SMA is that it can avoided and it can be reversed, because the human body can simply be reprogrammed, through specific methods of exercise. Now, take a moment and think about this: let’s say my friend Bob decides to take up martial arts, so he goes to a typical martial arts school in order to take his first lesson. There, after a brief warm-up, he will be instructed on how to perform specific martial movements – also known as techniques – that he will either be able to perform efficiently of less efficiently, depending on how many degrees of freedom in his movement are inhibited. The problem is that, if Bob belongs to the group of the “untalented ones”, there are going to be some techniques that he will never be able to perform efficiently, no matter the number of repetitions he performs (actually, the number of repetitions of a technique performed with inefficient body mechanics increases the danger of serious injury)! Wouldn’t it make more sense if Bob first explored all the degrees of freedom in his body in order to get re-acquainted with the ones he might have lost in the course of his life, so that he could then proceed unhindered in learning specific movement patterns? One might remark that Bob should not train in martial arts at all, but should instead try first a method of exercise in order to specifically address his motor deficiencies. This might be correct, but remember, Bob does not consciously know that he has a motor deficiency and his typical martial arts instructor doesn’t know it either, instead he probably thinks Bob is… untalented.
When I first started studying the Russian Martial Art, I was surprised (maybe even unpleasantly) on how much time the practitioners spend in non-combat oriented training, until I understood that there is a whole system of exercises that addresses possible motor problems, which is integrated in the Systema training method. Before practicing strikes, takedowns or knife defenses, the Systema practitioners practice the so called biomechanical exercises: these are either range-of-motion exercises (in which one bends, twists and rotates each one of the joints of the body in all possible directions) or “Systema floor work” (various rolls, somersaults and other movement patterns on the floor) in order to explore all degrees of freedom in the body, first with no resistance and then with the resistance provided by gravity and a hard floor. With the help of these exercises, each practitioner develops correct and efficient movement practices, which he then puts to use in combat applications.
I already have some experience on how effective this Russian approach to martial arts training can be in steepening one’s learning curve, both from my personal practice and people I’ve had the opportunity to train with, in both the Athens, Greece, and Gothenburg, Sweden, Systema training groups. Of course, my experience in no way constitutes scientific proof but still, I firmly believe that there is a great number of people out there whose quality of movement in general and level of performance in any martial art or sport [10] can be greatly enhanced by the biomechanical exercises of Russian Martial Art. My good friend, Jeet Kune Do instructor Vangelis Zorbas, with the assistance of Systema practitioner (and also a very good friend of mine) Vassilis Stamatiou, is already testing the effectiveness of the exercises with a number of students in the Athens Academy of Jeet Kune Do Fighting Technology. I urge you those of you who haven’t tried them already, to have a look at the resources listed below and give the exercises a shot. Or at least, until you try them, please do not believe anybody who tells you that you’re not talented enough to practice martial arts!
Resources for study:
1. Coach Scott Sonnon’s (http://www.rmaxinternational.com) IntuFlow is an excellent program of range of motion exercises and it is available on DVD. You can also find part of it available for free on YouTube. Coach Greg Mihovich (http://www.theundergroundgym.com) Amazing Mobility DVD is also a good program of range of motion exercises.
2. Systema instructor Alex Costic (www.russianmartialart-serbia.com/) has filmed a very interesting DVD, Movement as Defense, that includes a great number of range-of-motion and floor exercises and their possible combat applications. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Suggested Reading:
1. Latash Mark L., Turvey Michael T. Dexterity and Its Development. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 1996. This book consists of Bernstein’s classic text On Dexterity and Its Development, plus a number of essays by contemporary scientists working in the same field. Not in any way a light read, but still, very comprehensible and a great help for anybody who would like to know more about motor control and motor learning.
2. Hanna, Thomas. Somatics. Da Capo Press, 1988. A groundbreaking book on sensory reeducation in order for one to understand and deal with a major category of human health problems. The exercise progressions described in the second part of the book are simply excellent!
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