# absorption of punches



## valentin75 (Jun 6, 2011)

does someone know some good exercises to build absorption ? better with no training partners...


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## Thesemindz (Jun 6, 2011)

valentin75 said:


> does someone know some good exercises to build absorption ? better with no training partners...



Hi Valentin. Welcome to MartialTalk.

If you're looking for ways to practice "taking" hits, there are many exercises you can practice. Tensing the muscles in the body to resist force, practicing explosive breathing at the point of impact, developing strong bracing stances, deflecting blocks and cover positions, and body angling to reduce the angle of incidence are all aspects of receiving impact strikes safely. But my best advice is don't get hit!

All my students practice evasion before they practice getting hit. Defensively, we build skills in this order

Evade
Cover
Block
Parry
Counter
Jam
Control
Finish

Of course, in a dynamic situation you may escalate quickly from evasion to controlling, or move back and forth between blocking and jamming. But your default setting should always be evade. Don't get hit. Getting hit throws all your plans out the window in a hurry. If your opponent is unarmed, you can only take a few shots before being incapacitated. If he's armed, you may be killed by one single contact point. If he's bigger and stronger than you, getting struck or caught is an even worse idea. My leg probably weighs about fifty pounds. If I swung a fifty pound bag of mulch, or a fifty pound free weight, or a fifty pound log at you, would you want to block it, absorb it with your body, or just get the hell out of the way? Punches and kicks are no different.

Now, that being said, you won't always get out of the way, so this is a great skill to practice! All our students practice this regularly in class through dummy practice, shield drills, and specific drills. As for learning these skills _without_ training partners, that's trickier. Karate really needs to be done on the body. But there are definitely things you can do.

Imagine a ball of muscle in the middle of your chest. Focus on that sensation. Now move that ball slowly over the surface of your body, focusing on tensing and relaxing the muscles in your torso in succession as you move the ball around the front, back, and sides of your body. When you are struck in the torso, tensing the muscles at the point of impact will help to disperse the force of the strike near the surface of the skin, protecting the internal organs to some degree. Thus is important, because your skin, muscle, and bones can take significantly more impact damage than your kidneys and stomach. That's how Houdini died.

You can also practice controlled breathing. Just like you want to powerfully exhale when striking, you want to powerfully exhale when being struck. The act of exhalation will compress your upper body and tense all your muscles. It is a powerful, full body action. The inside of your body is basically a loosely articulated meat sack with a solid structure (the skeleton) that everything else hangs off of. When those things are hanging loosely and smacking around, impact damage is more devastating. When you exhale and tighten up all of that is securely cushioned and momentarily armored.

I practice a lot of my basics against my own body. Hand techniques are easy. Handswords, claws, punches, finger thrusts, hammerfists. Foot techniques are trickier, but I can practice inside some low line kicks to my own legs. You are carrying around a great punching bag all the time, make sure you put it to good use. Good safe use, of course. Don't hurt yourself. But you can learn a lot from that feedback, striking hard enough to feel, with good solid structure, while practicing receiving the impact safely.

You really need training partners to make the most of any exercise. You can only learn so much about absorbing impact without actually taking impact. You really start to learn when someone is striking you spontaneously in a dynamic environment. You also learn the importance of internal chemistry and the role it plays in taking shots. But it's like everything else. Start slow, at low contact levels. Gradually increase intensity. You're confidence and ability will grow over time.

Are you working with training partners now? I've had to spend a lot of time training on my own, and it can be a real challenge. But there are a lot of things you can do to continue to develop skill. Especially if you're willing to get creative!


-Rob


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## Touch Of Death (Jun 6, 2011)

Get into a horse and just start pounding your self all over. Its sounds kind of crazy, but it conditions you.
Sean


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## thegatekeeper (Dec 31, 2011)

You can try grabbing something relatively solid, and throwing it into your stomach while flexing your abdominal muscles. This helped me a lot learn to absorb body shots, as well as reduce the bruising. Don't know if you can do this for your face thou, I would try a sparring partner for that =D.


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## Jason Striker II (Mar 2, 2012)

Touch Of Death said:


> Get into a horse and just start pounding your self all over. Its sounds kind of crazy, but it conditions you.
> Sean



Good old Okinawan technology.


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## Bill Mattocks (Mar 2, 2012)

Necro-thread.

But since we're here...

Best thing to do is not get hit.


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## Em MacIntosh (Mar 2, 2012)

Any action which has an impact will help build bone density but it's important to remember that there's usually a trade-off, the deterioration of joints. This isn't always a case, it's just that cartelidge and ligaments don't have as much of a blood supply as the bones do and can't repair themselves as fast as the damage to them accumulates. The key is technique and moderation. 

Having dense bones will help protect the bones but it's the muscle that absorbs the impact. Physics: a bigger, more toned muscle will simply act as a bigger cushion. Simple enough, a little (functional) body building will help in this aspect.

Dense bones and bigger, stronger muscles give you better tools to work with but you need to know how to use the tools. 

A technique for absorption is timing the flex. At the moment of impact, the area struck flexes and confounds the energy transference to many angles, changing and somewhat rebounding the force exerted on the target. The result may be a broken wrist for the attacker. Brute force can overpower it though.

You can also "walk into" a strike before it has time to build full power. That can also cause injury to the attacker caught by surprise. Again though, brute force or being caught in a weak spot makes this a high risk, little gain method and isn't advisable.

Keep in mind I agree with everything said in the above posts, I just think a lot of it goes without saying. This stuff is for when the other methods, like not being hit, fail.

There are many shaolin body hardening exercises, one includes repeatedly striking a sandbag with the front, sides and back of your skull. Over time you may gain 1/8 of an inch to the thickness of your cranium.

Always speak to an expert first and listen to your body, don't push it.


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## Bill Mattocks (Mar 2, 2012)

Em MacIntosh said:


> There are many shaolin body hardening exercises, one includes repeatedly striking a sandbag with the front, sides and back of your skull. Over time you may gain 1/8 of an inch to the thickness of your cranium.



I have to believe that's a very bad idea.  I would not advise anyone to strike themselves repeatedly in the head with anything.


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## Em MacIntosh (Mar 2, 2012)

You'll also notice I said to consult an expert about these things.  I'm not promoting it, it's an option to consider (research and ask experts about).  I'd have thought you'd consider walking into a strike to be worse advice.


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## Bill Mattocks (Mar 2, 2012)

Em MacIntosh said:


> You'll also notice I said to consult an expert about these things.  I'm not promoting it, it's an option to consider (research and ask experts about).  I'd have thought you'd consider walking into a strike to be worse advice.



No, why would I?  A punch that is not yet at full extension is not yet at full power (unless you're an Isshin-Ryu practitioner).  I don't know if I would use the term 'walk into it', but I grasp the concept of changing distance; either by closing or opening distance between the attacker and yourself.  I jam kicks all the time when sparring; punches are somewhat similar.


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## Josh Oakley (Mar 3, 2012)

Bill Mattocks said:


> No, why would I?  A punch that is not yet at full extension is not yet at full power (unless you're an Isshin-Ryu practitioner).  I don't know if I would use the term 'walk into it', but I grasp the concept of changing distance; either by closing or opening distance between the attacker and yourself.  I jam kicks all the time when sparring; punches are somewhat similar.



A strike doesn't have to be full power to be incredibly damaging. Plus it can continue through even after initial contact. Ideally, I would imagine walking into a strike would be just about at the moment of acceleration. That is, unless, the strike is intended for a close range target. Then the dynamics change.

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## Josh Oakley (Mar 3, 2012)

Bill Mattocks said:


> I have to believe that's a very bad idea.  I would not advise anyone to strike themselves repeatedly in the head with anything.




Oh come on, you know there are plenty of people you'd like to advise to do just that!

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## Josh Oakley (Mar 3, 2012)

Em MacIntosh said:


> Any action which has an impact will help build bone density but it's important to remember that there's usually a trade-off, the deterioration of joints. This isn't always a case, it's just that cartelidge and ligaments don't have as much of a blood supply as the bones do and can't repair themselves as fast as the damage to them accumulates. The key is technique and moderation.
> 
> Having dense bones will help protect the bones but it's the muscle that absorbs the impact. Physics: a bigger, more toned muscle will simply act as a bigger cushion. Simple enough, a little (functional) body building will help in this aspect.
> 
> ...



Plus, those built up calcium deposits don't just stay there. If you do intense bone strengthening, for years, and then stop, those calcium depositary go away, leaving nothing in their place. Long term practitioners who stop have developed fragile bones.

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## Brian R. VanCise (Mar 3, 2012)

It is always best not to be hit!

However, if you wish to be able to take punishment the best thing is to be incredibly fit.  Push ups, sit ups, weight lifting, kettle bells, etc.  Build up layers of muscle in conjunction with sparring and striking conditioning where you have a partner slap, strike (not full power) areas so that you can get used to the punishment.  Plus add in proper breathing ie. exhaling upon impact. (this applies when striking or being struck)  Hope that helps!


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## Em MacIntosh (Mar 3, 2012)

To clarify, what I meant by "walking into the strike" would be more akin to smothering the strike at the point of origin.


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## Josh Oakley (Mar 3, 2012)

That makes a lot more sense.

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## Bill Mattocks (Mar 3, 2012)

Em MacIntosh said:


> To clarify, what I meant by "walking into the strike" would be more akin to smothering the strike at the point of origin.



That's how I was picturing it myself.  There's a punch block in Naihanchi that can be interpreted as a block to a head-on first, only of course intercepting it before it gains any power; same in Seiunchin.  Of course, in both katas, one slips the punch before intercepting it; if it were to continue on, it would be to empty air.  So getting out of the way is still very important.


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