GMP – Guide, Movement and Power
This is a concept to improve the efficiency of our movements and to deal with the natural reactive response to being grasped. It is very difficult not to react impulsively from being wrist grasped, for example. Your mind immediately focuses on the point of contact and your body tries to instinctively deal with this by generating an equal and opposite reaction. It is a natural law of human behaviour. Usually the applied force from Uke comes through the shoulder and down to the hand. Tori must never the push back to the shoulder of Uke but go around it. Easier said than done! The concept of GMP offers a formal and sequential method of controlling the instinctive reaction.
Guide
This is the proposed “direction” of movement which is dictated by the hand, which function as a guide for the movement. When using rotational or spiral hand/arm movement the thumb or the little finger will act as the guide.
Movement
This is which way to move the elbow as dictated by the hand. Movement is created by using a specific point on the elbow.
Power
Power is generated by using the hara (koshi, tanden and yōbu).
Practical exercise for GMP
By sitting or kneeling it is not possible to move the hips. So it becomes easier to isolate the muscles of the lower abdomen, central torso and shoulder line. However, when standing and making a torso rotation, the tendency is to buckle at the knees and “twitch” the hips.
The rotation of koshi, tanden and yōbu create a downward pressure, the rebound from the ground will enforce the power in the arms. The elbows will move forward and back in a straight line. The focus is on the special point of the elbow.
In the exercise and also the practical applications, do not freeze the hips, let them do the work as a kind of gearbox or transmission.
Rotation of arm
In case the opponent is grasping without a hineri (or gaeshi) action, you stillcan create spiral body power by using the movement of the hara.
Study Group Tomiki Aikido 