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| The Relationship between the Centre of Gravity and the Centre Line |
| This is a popular subject among martial arts enthusiasts and Ving Tsun practitioners, and is especially so among those who are vocal about using forces in smart ways. Indeed, it is this quest for smart ways to generating forces that establishes the main characteristic of Ving Tsun beside the more commonly known elements of simplicity, swiftness and concentration of power. I came to this conclusion after years of physical practice and theoretical study in Ving Tsun martial arts. And it is because of this characteristic that I have devoted a great deal of time to studying ways of interpreting the physical experience in using smart forces, in a coherent theory which stands in the face of science, with the aim to facilitate the process of teaching and knowledge sharing. It was when I was almost exhausted in my search in philosophy and literature, that I realized with excitement the concerted meanings of the terms "centre of gravity" and "centre line". This is often an experience of many a martial artist, but it is also a risky undertaking, because the resulted interpretation can be erroneous and yet inevitable. In truth, it is not an easy problem to solve. |
A number of misunderstandings of the subject are prevalent among many people, I in the past not an exception. It took me some time to think through, despite the benefit of useful advices, before understanding the significance of the problem and subsequently making changes. I am therefore going to point out in the following a few mistaken believes which may lead practitioners to irreversible, detrimental commitments in their training.
- In a combat situation, it is unwise to take a wide, open stance in order to lower one's centre of gravity along the centre line so as to increase one's stability. It is because the effect in doing so is rather limited. The distance between the centre of gravity and the edge of our body is small, and it is easy for the centre of gravity to fall beyond the edge of the body and the body becomes unstable. In my opinion, this misconception of a gain in stability often comes from the fact that one spends too much time in individual training with an imaginary opponent and lacks sufficient actual dual training. This lack of interacting experience of chasing and threatening means that one will not be able to appreciate the sense of dynamic balance and put to good use the relationship between the centre of gravity and the centre line.
- In a combat situation, it is unwise to take a wide, open stance in order to lower one's centre of gravity along the centre line so as to build strength in the leg and foot muscles. Although the objective is not a wrong one, such training is in fact unnecessary; a brief experience of it should suffice. The reason is that in exchange for stronger muscles, the legs and feet become less flexible and less able to respond swiftly when required to alternate during a sequence of lax and tense actions. It can lead to a number of undesired consequences:
- The body becomes disunited, the legs go before the body, or the legs lag behind the body, and ultimately the overall agility of the body becomes hindered. This is what is called the tendency of "losing your balance before being attacked".
- The resulted slower and shorter contraction in the leg muscles becomes a major obstacle to achieving the whole bodily force that "originates from the ground".
- As a combined result of a) and b) above, one tends to develop only localized muscle groups in order to generate forces in a strike. These localized strengthens, and hence their ability to strongly accelerate, often end up only in the arm as a result.
Then, classical martial arts phrases such as "the ground is where forces originate from" and "unity of the waist and the stance" become misunderstood and can never be applied. This is a great loss.
- There is a large number of people who study and train hard to balance themselves on one leg while trying to increase the force generated through a twist of the body or a swing of the leg in a kick. It is not be misplaced if the idea is to heighten one's determination and endurance by raising the difficulty level as in a competitive sport. However, in a combat situation, it is impractical to try to increase the strength of any force being struck in these ways while hoping to improve stability at the same time. The reason is that when standing on one leg, one's balance is already upset by an unequal torque on either side of the body's centre line. At this point, the mind is telling the body to adjust in order to regain and maintain balance. In addition, once the kicking leg hits the target, there results a reaction force that turns into a torque about the attacker's centre line and slings the attacker's body back. (Also see article entitled "Application of Drawing in the Elbow".) Clearly, it is a complex job for the entire body to maintain balance before and after contact in every of these kicking moves. Moreover, any power being generated and intended for impact is also reduced because part of it is needed for maintaining the body's balance. One may argue that these may be irrelevant considerations if the opponent is smaller and weaker, but such an attitude does not appear to me sensible at all in the study of effective techniques and powers in martial arts.
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| I believe if you understand the essence of the examples discussed above, you will be able to save considerable time and effort, and place more importance in training those techniques and powers which bring better results. Life is short. There are not many golden decades in one's life. And time is especially precious in urban lives. The training attitude suggested here aims to put knowledge, time and the body's physical resources to their best use, and create conditions necessary for the best possible result. |
Author: Cliff Au-Yeung Kim Man
Date: March 26, 2008
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