AboutMike Casto Expertise My primary area of "expertise" (for lack of a better term) is in Filipino and Indonesian martial arts. However, I've been involved in the martial arts since 1978, trained in several systems and been exposed to many, many others. I've also done a fair amount of reading about martial arts in general and about various systems. I can answer questions about Filipino and Indonesian martial arts and I can often answer questions about martial arts in general. Feel free to ask me any question about martial arts. Even if I don`t have an answer I can often point you in the right direction to find the answer.
Experience I've been involved in martial arts since 1978. I started in Tae Kwon Do and, when my instructor quit teaching, I began training in Okinawan Goju-Ryu. In 1995 I was introduced to Filipino Kali/Arnis/Eskrima and Indonesian Pentjak Silat. I've been training primarily in them since 1995. I've taught private lessons, classes, seminars and workshops all over the United States, in Europe and in China. I have also trained with a wide variety of martial artists in different disciplines. Between hands-on exposure to various martial arts and reading about many others I have a very well-rounded knowledge of martial arts in general.
Question Hello Mr Casto,
I would like to ask some advice and drills about how to be faster in blocking and punching,i need movement speed...
Thanks in advance
Answer I actually recommend that people focus on good form developed by training slowly. Developing good form leads to good body mechanics and good body mechanics are vital to power. Speed will evolve naturally over time. If you try to reach for speed too soon then you may end up with decent speed but your form will be sloppy and any power you gain from speed will be neutralized or worse by poor form. Staying focused on form and letting speed evolve as a function of relaxing into the form is, in my experience, far more productive.
Assuming, however, that you have good form and have really drilled into yourself then some things I would recommend are:
A speed bag.
A double end bag.
These are useful tools for developing basic speed but since they are "static" and rely only on the energy you give to them they are limited - but a good place to start.
I assume you have an instructor or coach - if not, find one. Even if it's just a more experienced training partner (who has trained with an instructor/coach). These people can give you hands-on advice for using the tools that I can't even begin to address in this medium.
One of the best things for developing speed is a good focus mitt partner. Someone who knows how to feed the mitts and keep you moving.
Focus mitts are *incredibly* useful training tools - in the hands of a partner who really knows how to feed them.
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Some basics that you can do with the mitts for speed:
Your partner can "flash" the mitts. He holds them against his chest (most mitts have a "target" area that is colored differently from the rest of the mitt - red target/black mitt is common but I've also seen the reverse and I've seen white/black combos too). Have your partner hold the target area against himself and then flash it for a brief time (you can start with something long like a second and then decrease that time as you improve). Your objective is not *just* to hit the target in the time he gives you. It's a far more robust drill than that. Watch your partner's body and learn to sense where he's going to put the target before he actually shows it. He can flash single shots or combos.
You can turn this drill up a little bit by having him feed strikes with the mitts along with holding targets.
The intention behind this drill is to decrease your reaction time (and, in turn, increase your "speed") to visual cues.
You can also play similar games with auditory cues (best accomplished with a third person). Your partner holds the mitts up for a single shot or a combo or whatever. You don't fire until there's an auditory cue - like a third person clapping their hands behind you or something. It's important that this other person not be visible to you.
You can also use tactile cues. You wait to fire until you feel that other partner touch your back.
A pitfall of these drills is that you may train yourself to wait for a specific stimulus. From a self-protection perspective, you may not want to strike forward when you feel a touch or hear a sound behind you. So it's important to avoid that pitfall of fixating on a particular stimulus.
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The biggest impediment to speed, though, is tension. You think, "I'm going to strike *fast*!" As soon as you think that you tense up in preparation. That tension - and if you're paying attention you can feel it rise in your upper back, shoulders, arms (assuming you're thinking about punching).
There's a great adage that goes, "Slow is smooth; smooth is fast." When trying to go fast, don't rush. Rushing, by its nature, implies tension. Don't rush.
Here's a little experiment for you to try:
Think to yourself, "I'm going to punch my heavy bag." Do you feel the tension rise at the thought - even before you physically begin to move?
Now think, "I'm going to reach out and touch my heavy bag." Chances are there was little or no (unnecessary) tension in the action - every movement requires some tension but unnecessary tension kills speed and power and saps energy we could better use elsewhere (like in our follow up attack).
This difference in intention is purely psychological. The movements are essentially the same. The difference in intention causes your body to react differently. There are a lot of reasons why our bodies do this - some of them are even useful but most are hindrances.
Now you're probably thinking, "Yeah, but touching my target won't do any damage."
But that same "reach/touch" intention can be done at different intensities. Have you ever seen a child - yours or one you care about - or maybe a pet about to do something very dangerous? You move *very* quickly with a "reach/touch" intention and little or no unnecessary tension in your movements (though, of course, you weren't really aware of that at the time - you were just "doing").
I know it's somewhat cliche to quote Bruce Lee but he did have a catchy way of phrasing things. OK - I can't find or remember the exact quote so I'll paraphrase. If memory serves, this comes from "Enter the Dragon." "I do not punch. My hand punches all on its own."
This is a good analogy of what I'm referring to. If you can "reach" your opponent instead of "punch" your opponent you will find that there is a sense of your hand punching all on its own.
My most memorable incident of this happened during a sparring session with my instructor. My instructor is a very good and experienced martial artist and fighter and he's amazingly fast. He's still much faster than I am (and than I will likely ever be) but this sparring session was about 8 years ago and the difference in speeds was even more significant. It was all I could do to land even a single shot on him. We'd been sparring for a while and my arms felt like lead weights. They were sluggish to respond to any signal I sent them and I was getting trounced pretty solidly. Suddenly, there was an opening and my hand went into it. There was no conscious decision on my part - like I said, my arms weren't responding very well to my conscious commands - it literally felt like my hand was acting entirely on its own. The shot landed. According to my instructor and people who were watching, it was an incredibly fast shot - most of the people watching didn't even see it happen. My instructor saw it coming but it hit before he had a chance to do anything. To me, it felt like I'd barely touched him but he staggered back and held up his hand to pause. He felt around a little bit and said, "Yup. That's a fractured rib or two. Good shot." I tried to apologize but he said, "Nope. I'm proud. I was hoping for something like that - though you did better than I expected." The fatiguing of my arms had been intentional. He had sparred me with the intention of getting me to that point. When your arms are that tired they *can't* tense up very much. The muscles are too fatigued. He was forcing me into a state that I call "proper relaxation."
You can simulate this type of thing by doing a bunch of arm/shoulder work (like push ups or something) to the point of failure - and then do more. Keep pushing yourself until you really don't have any more muscular exertion to use. Then spar with someone who is fresh. Your body will find ways to protect itself. Our natural tendency is to use muscular exertion to do this. When you've taken that option out of play your body will, by necessity, find other ways - specifically, it will find ways to accomplish what needs done without resorting to muscular exertion.
Obviously, there will be some muscular exertion but it will be minimal - only what's absolutely required.
