subject: Matrixing Internal Karate To Build The Most Powerful Punch! [print this page] Using methods developed through Matrix Karate, it is possible to generate intrinsic energy literally within days. The actual physics of the matter, the exact technology, is very easy to describe. Of course, there are a couple of things that the student should be wary of.
I'm going to start with the warnings for the simple reason that I don't wish to cause damage to anybody. I found that it was very easy for over exuberant students to hurt the shoulder when developing power in their punches. This destruction of the rotator cuff and associated elements by looking to classical martial arts.
When somebody throws a punch and lets the arm bang against the confines of proper shoulder construction the tendons and ligaments finally give way. If you practice holding the shoulder back, however, as in classical karate, the structure remains intact and is not damaged. I recommend that you search for classical movements which do not hurt the body, but which utilize the whole body (turning the whole body into the motion).
Also, I discovered that as the power builds it is possible to give oneself whiplash. This is the result of throwing energy through the body and the neck not being able to support the sudden increased magnitude and flow of that energy. I advocate that people learn to minimize their effort, and this through the study of energy and relaxation as practiced by some internal styles such as Tai Chi Chuan.
There are other warnings I could give you, specifically to be careful not to grind the knees by pivoting on weighted feet, over throwing the hips when kicking, and that sort of thing. The warnings I have given you here, however, especially in the previous sentence, should educate you as to how to avoid such problems. Thus, let's move into intrinsic energy.
Take a plastic pipe about 18 inches in length, put a golf ball in it, and cap the ends. Tape the pipe to your arm, and perform punches in such a way that the golf ball hits the end of the pipe at the same moment you end your strike. I know it sounds goofy, but soon you will learn how to thrust the golf ball smoothly through the pipe.
This is what intrinsic energy feels like, and you can take this concept and apply it to blocks and kicks, and the movement of your whole body. Now toss the pipe and ball and practice getting the feeling of moving weight through your arm so that you feel energy wooshing through the arm and impacting in your fist. Heck, just understanding the 'energetical' physics of what I have said here, you probably don't even need that silly pipe and ball thing.
Pipe and ball or not, you are going to learn subtle motions that will help you use your energy, and, if you are smart, you will look to the benefit of classical studies. The classics of karate, Shaolin, or other arts, have been developed to give this type of power. With the degradation of art in the last score of years, however, it is only through a study of Matrix Martial Arts that the physics are starting to come to light again.
