Flexibility and the Warrior - I
Since 05-26-08
Cold War Scout
Have you
noticed how easily guys like Sonny P., Crafty Dog, Tom Sotis
and Gabe flow while executing combat specific tasks and
movements? How they make what they do look so effortless,
yet the results are so visibly powerful and effective?
Aside from the skill levels they have risen to, the fact of
the matter is they have done an excellent job of mastering
control of their bodies which includes the concept of being
loose and mobile until it is time to become firm and
strong. In addition to superior balance (another topic for
another time), these warriors have developed physical
attributes that are sufficiently flexible to be able to flow
loosely, and thus with speed. We have all heard the old
adage “smooth is fast.” It’s an old adage for a reason.
It’s simply true. When your muscles are tense they slow
down your movement speed. In combatives and mobility-based
gun fighting (regardless of weapon) the looseness that
flexibility training promotes translates to speed,
efficiency and even power of movement. These are highly
valuable factors to have going in your favor when “it’s on
like Donkey Kong.”
How many
times have you read about a bunch of cops mixing it up with
a bunch of bandits and it seems like everybody had to go to
the hospital? It is not at all uncommon for a number of
cops to get hurt during scuffles and high intensity
performance, not because a bad guy got the best of them, but
because the dynamic, chaotic nature of real
mano a mano
street combat results in stresses, strains, multi-planar
directional changes, and hyperextensions being placed on the
human body that joints and muscles have not been adequately
prepared for. It does not matter how strong and fast you
are, if you throw out your back or blow out an important to
street combat muscle or joint, you may very well find
yourself incapable of even basic self-defense in the face of
grave danger. Anybody who has ever experienced “tennis
leg”, a muscular injury which often occurs from a sudden,
forceful push off one foot, knows what I am talking about.
When it happened to me, and as I collapsed to my knees, I
literally thought I had been shot in the leg from a passing
car. A friend of mine, when this happened to him in the
middle of a full contact match, said it felt like somebody
had come up behind him with a 2 by 4 and walloped him in the
calf as hard as they could. And yes, he dropped to the
ground as well.
Tennis leg
occurs with greater frequency to men from their 40s to their
60s. This type of injury is insidious and will potentially
take your ability to stand in any meaningful way completely
out of the equation. Insufficient flexibility of the calf
muscle is a huge factor in the incidence of this
debilitating injury. The type of loss of flexibility that
sneaks up on you as you age and when you don’t go out of
your way to maintain flexibility.
The modern
warrior knows that he must train and prepare for a wide
spectrum of street combat scenarios. From empty hands to
impact weapons to edged weapons to firearms. The foundation
for success in this complete warrior package is
conditioning. Conditioning is more than just weight lifting
and running. Flexibility training, especially when you get
older, is an important element of the conditioning training
equation. Your flexibility, when crunch time hits, will
significantly improve your performance and minimize untimely
injury.
* NEXT: THREE SIMPLE HOME FLEXIBILITY TESTS THAT WILL GIVE YOU A GOOD SENSE OF EXACTLY WHERE YOU STAND*
__________________
Gabe Suarez
Suarez International USA, Inc.
One Source Tactical
info@suarezinternational.com
Office
928-776-4492
Spaniard by
Heritage
Cuban by Birth
Christian by
Grace
American by
Choice