Sports (Athletes)

This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to the Martial Arts, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is very detailed and practical, and it will give you the physical tools you need to take the limits off of your ability to do a martial arts form with ease, power, poise, and released joints.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)

I’m going to look at what are the components of Alexander Technique postural concepts and apply them to the martial arts. This is a really interesting thing to do, because when great posture is defined, it is usually looked at in a very static sense, like in standing or sitting or in a controlled movement, like hitting a golf ball. The martial arts is different, because it is a sport of constant improvisation.

In other words, if the other martial artist can get you off balance or out of position, then he can win the match. Here are four major postural points I want to look at in the martial arts: balance, hips and knees, head/neck/spine, and shoulders. The reason I’ve chosen to look at these elements of posture, is because many martial artists find themselves off balance unnecessarily, many sacrifice the posture of the torso by not having free enough hips and knees, and many over-use the musculature of their shoulders.

Here is an Alexandrian definition of balance. It is the alignment of all of the parts of the body, so that at any given moment in time, no matter the activity, you are able to use the least amount of muscle necessary with high dynamic to get the job done. If I use a term by the founder of the technique, F. M. Alexander, you are in continuously changing postures of mechanical advantage as you move, if you want to do the least amount of work to move. Another way to say this is ideally, if you were to isolate moments of a match with stop action photography, you would see yourself on balance in most of the frames.

When you are on balance in your body in the martial arts you can generate the most kicking or punching power with the lease amount of muscular work. When I was a guitarist, whenever I felt weak on the guitar, which meant I felt I needed to tense to move a passage, I always discovered I was off balance. This meant that my left hand was out of position, and my forearm and shoulder muscles had to work like mad to make sure the notes came out cleanly.

So, I came up a way to look at this, which led to what I call troubleshooting. If the passage of music was worth doing, and I couldn’t do it, then I was doing something wrong. I didn’t lack the talent to be an extraordinary guitarist, I was unconsciously doing it the hard way, and there was always a way to make it physically possible for me to perform a difficult passage with power, poise, and ease.

When you’re moving in your martial arts form, and your neck is free leading a lengthening spine, and you are aware your head neck and torso extends from the top of the head to the bottom of the rear, then you are able to bring the full power of the whole body into the match. This means you will be using your whole body with a longer back than you have when you are sitting or just standing.

You turn up the volume of your back by having it lengthen to generate power in an intense activity like the martial arts. When I lift weights, my back is longer than when I’m not lifting, so that my spine can meet the weight without compressed joints and spinal discs.