Momentum

[marvin8]

So true! I've been looking at it from this perspective for so long now I feel like it's sort of become a mental framework to see martial arts through. But it's been bugging me. Kinda like being locked into a certain set way of thought, which I don't believe is a good thing. So this thread I guess is part of my recent attempt to change that way of thinking and get out of that mental framework.

Samir Seif
May 29, 2012

This is my basic security guard control and restraints workshop. A nononsense approach to teach and learn quickly some practicle methods with the least amount of force used. Please contact me for more info on my workshops.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Right, but those all involve using momentum

Why don't you want to use momentum? It will be to your advantage.

 

[Holmejr]

Can you move without momentum? If not, then really whatever you or your opponent does, besides being perfectly still, requires dealing with momentum. My instructor will say ‘I feel your energy moving this way or that’ but he’s really feeling my momentum, even if ever so slight. Stopping momentum from killing us, is what we do…

 

[Badhabits]

Why don't you want to use momentum? It will be to your advantage.

It's not that I don't want to use momentum- I'm trying to see if anyone can come up with anything in martial arts that's NOT about dealing with momentum, since literally everything I've been able to think of in martial arts, I've been able to trace back to momentum.

 

[Badhabits]

Can you move without momentum? If not, then really whatever you or your opponent does, besides being perfectly still, requires dealing with momentum. My instructor will say ‘I feel your energy moving this way or that’ but he’s really feeling my momentum, even if ever so slight. Stopping momentum from killing us, is what we do…

This is what I'm trying to find out, if there's anything we do that's not about momentum in one way or another

 

[Badhabits]

There are none. Momentum, in whatever form it takes, is something all martial arts have to deal with. Everything done is done to handle it. Even arts that focus on the "intent" preceding physical actions that generate momentum are still dealing with potential momentum.

This is exactly what I've been thinking.

 

[Badhabits]

Unless I've missed something, dropbear has given the only example (framing). Which did lead to locks/chokes/strangles etc that don't use momentum.

 

[Badhabits]

Like I said earlier, for a very long time I've thought of martial arts in general as being complex systems for dealing with momentum at their root. It started bugging me that maybe this was wrong, or at least causing me to miss some things.