The next area that you need to understand BEFORE you even start learning Pressure Points is Power Generation or as we call it Waveforms.
I often get asked this question: “I see people on the net doing light touch K.O’s, so why do I need to learn to hit hard to use Pressure Points?”
There is a simple and easy answer to this, most of those clips are fake in one way or another and the genuine ones are demonstrations. This means that they are demonstrations of what CAN be achieved . . . there is NO animosity in these attacks etc. etc. This is the reason they can go so light and make it work.
Once you up the aggression, speed and ferocity of the attack, you must up the aggression, speed and ferocity in your defence, and this is where the real danger comes in of doing too much damage. This brings us to a another area of how to train Pressure Points correctly and safely which I will cover in coming articles.
Now back to power generation. We need to be able to hit like a freight train on steroids…We MUST have real stopping power in all our strikes. We MUST be able to hit so hard that it does not matter if we “miss” the point! I like to put it this way. If in a fight I see an opportunity to strike St5 on the jaw, I want to hit that point so hard that I snap the jaw in half, and if I hit the point great, the job is even more effective. If I miss the point, so what? I am still hitting really f$%^ing hard and whatever I strike, should hurt!
What Are Waveforms?
Waveforms are NOT strikes! A waveform is a whole body movement that MASSIVELY increases the efficiency and effectiveness of what you are doing. It is a method of generating as much of your bodyweight through a given technique as possible. It MUST ALSO be understood that using waveform should not be at the detriment of other areas such as, your own balance, ability to move, ability to defend etc.
Out and out power is great and obviously works, but only when you have made that moment in time to land your shot, unless you happen to just connect of course!
So, the waveform movement can be applied to each and every technique, from each and every art to increase the effectiveness of that technique. The waveform is nothing more than a study of the planes and ranges of movement as applied to the martial arts, in the context of power generation, efficiency of movement, speed and ease of operation.
When I teach this area of what we do, I can usually DOUBLE every ones striking impact in under ONE hour, and in fact we proved this live on DVD for New Approach Publishing (NAP) during the filming for the Power Black 6 DVD Set.
