FORCE VS. SHOCK

 by Phillip Starr

Nowadays, I see many (perhaps most) martial arts aficionados striving to develop more and more force (what we call “brute force”) rather than concentrating on developing and refining shock. There's a real difference between the two. Force is heavy and blunt. It doesn't necessarily penetrate very deeply into the (human) target. The depth of its penetration depends upon how strong and large you are relative to your opponent. If your opponent is much larger than you, the odds of your blow (and the force of it) acquiring minimal penetration and bouncing off are pretty good. This can be more than a little disconcerting, especially in a self-defense situation wherein your enemy is much larger and stronger than you are. It reminds me of a true story involving the great boxer, John L. Sullivan of the sport's early “bare-knuckle” years in the 19^th century.

Now, Sullivan was no runt. He was quite tall and very physically powerful. And, being the “champ” he often attracted unwanted pests who wanted to prove themselves and gain a great reputation by beating him...any way they could. One one evening, Sullivan was in a tavern in New York enjoying a beer when a rather small fellow walked up and began wailing on his abdomen with his fists.

Sullivan took another gulp of beer and putting his glass down, he grabbed hold of the little guy and warned him, “If you ever hit me and I find out about it, I'm going to beat the hell out've you.” Then he released the guy who ran for the door...

Shock is a different story. It is a great amount of force that is concentrated onto a small surface and it penetrates deeply into the target and releases its energy within it, much the same as a bullet does. And there are different types of shock, each of which has a different effect – all of them nasty – on the target, For instance, a properly executed backfist has a completely different effect on the target than, say, a punch. It doesn't matter if your opponent is much larger and stronger than you. The effect is devastating.

Any way that you move will create force to some degree. But because we're all built the same as humans, there are only 8 ways that you can move that will create shock (what I call “body shock”). These are outlined thoroughly in my book, MARTIAL MECHANICS. Each one must be studied in detail and then applied to your practice of individual techniques, combinations of techniques, and ultimately your forms. This absolutely cannot be done quickly and it's important that you don't try to hurry the process. It takes time to acquire genuine skill (after all, that's the meaning of “gong-fu”; a fine skill developed after a lot of practice over time).

As martial arts practitioners,we should be able to strike with different kinds of power (shock), depending upon the target (the head as opposed to the rib cage or abdomen) and the degree of damage we wish to inflict on it. One of the types of shock that we seek to develop is hydrostatic shock, which affects liquid. The human body is 60% water and a proper technique will send a “shock wave” through the target. This is really the objective of most training routines. To develop this fine skill doesn't require much strength but is DOES require absolute precision. If we're unable to do that and we rely instead on simple brute force we're just a kind of glorified, fancified street-fighter. What we do is an ART and it takes time to develop it.