Full potential power through Tanren

Tanren

‘Tanren’, or “repetitive slow drilling” is highly regarded as a method of power building. But power building is not the equivalent of power training in the gym. It is about moving the body or bodyparts by using all the parts of the body. Please refer to rendo and the rule of 3.
Slow movement improve the learning of new movement skills by reducing the activation of ingrained motor programs.
Directing a performer’s attention away from the minute details of a movement helps with the learning of a new motor skill.
Power generation is always developed from the legs and feet and transferred and augmented up the pelvis and back to be discharged through the striking surfaces like the fist, palm, forearm, elbow and even the shoulder and head.

Repetition or Drilling…The Master of Budo Aikido!

Is repetition or drilling the same? This question is important to progress in Budo Aikido or other Martial Arts.
Drilling is a technique that consists of repetition of  patterns and structures. Its means there exist already a pattern or structure in your brain. This pattern or structure is created by conscious repeated movements. Drilling is the skill to bring the pattern of structure to a part of the brain for instant use when necessary. This action will be performed by the subconscious mind.

The art of repetition

quote by Akira Hino

You cannot really learn and understand the meaning by copying something over and over just because someone told you that there is a significance in doing so.
There is a fine line there… between a genuine motivation to learn and just an intellectual amusement.
If you think the meaning of repetition is just a piece of knowledge given by somebody else. You will not able to learn anything worthwhile on your own.

How many reps does it take to break a bad habit vs learning the correct way first?

How important is it to learn the CORRECT Budo Aikido movement?
Answer: It takes 3,000-5,000 repetitions to change a bad habit into a correct Budo Aikido movement. Although, if you learn the correct movement right from the start, it only takes 300-500 repetitions to make a fresh habit.
Changing the pattern once ingrained requires more work (it’s estimated that 10 times the initial number of repetitions must be performed in the new way to over-write the existing pattern) than establishing the pattern in the first place. The implications of this are that spending time getting a pattern correct early on saves extra work later if you make changes to a problematic pattern.

Releasing power – Hakkei

Releasing the power (developped by tanren) can be done in an explosive way, but can also be used as a tempered use of power for example during locking or controlling an opponent. In all these cases, the power has an elastic quality and is not produced mainly by contracting the muscles alone. The power is stored and transferred by the fascia and connective tissue which has an elastic quality.

Fascia  and connective tissue system

The discovery that muscles transfer most of their contractile forces onto fascial sheets rather than the tendon attachments to the skeleton is a first step in understanding the concept of “internal” martial art.
Movements like running, jumping and throwing a stone depend largely on the elastic recoil of the fasciae supporting such ballistic movements. Many martial arts are depending on those movements to become succesfull in a confrontation.

What is fascia?

Simply put, fascia is the body’s connective tissue. It is a head to toe, inside to out, all-encompassing and interwoven system of fibrous connective tissue found throughout the body. Fascia is defined as a sheet or band of fibrous connective tissue enveloping, separating, or binding together muscles, organs, and other tissues of the body.

Fascia doesn’t really respond to traditional stretching, as the tissue usually becomes irritated when it is stretched too much. What fascia does need is maintenance. Daily regular movement through a wide range without extensive stretching is likely to maintain the health and flexibility of fascia well into old age. The enemy of fascia is extended bouts of stillness.