Which body parts are most important for fighting?

Posted on Aug 6, 2008 in Martial Arts | 2 comments

What are the most important body parts for fighting? (More specifically, for martial arts in general). Easy, right? Let me guess your answers: fists and feet. Why? So you can punch and kick. If that was your guess, you’re not entirely wrong. But they’re certainly not the most important, I’ve learned.

Disclaimer: I’m certainly not in a position to teach or speak from authority here, but I’m beginning to understand the mechanics behind martial arts (after about year of current training at NW Martial Arts and two years in college) and want to share my admittedly beginner perspective. If you’re a martial artist yourself you’ve got a pretty good chance of being able to kick my butt.

The answer I would give as the two most important body parts in fighting: elbow and the hips. Why? Real power in a punch comes not from muscle, but from body mechanics. A strong punch is supported by the legs planted firmly on the ground (which isn’t going anywhere), up through the legs and torso, down the arm and through to the fist. That power is dissipated if any link in that chain is weakened. The elbow is a common weak point because your average puncher swings the arm around with the elbow bent out. When the fist connects, the elbow does what it does best: bends. A good karate punch is performed with the arm shooting out from the body as though on track. It stays straight in line—fist up and elbow down—until it is about to connect, when the first rotates but not the elbow. The elbow is supported by the body an the legs, delivering full power into the target. Phrew, that’s a lot of words to explain a very kinetic experience. A four-minute visual may help make sense of this (but I can’t vouch for their form, these guys look like boxers not martial artists). And if you do prefer more words, you can read more people discussing elbow position here. UPDATE: Sensei Brent Yamamoto from NW Martial Arts posted an excellent discussion on elbow position on the dojo’s blog.

The second important body part is (are?) the hips. From my admittedly narrow perspective, I see three areas the hips are important:

1. Generating power – So much more power can be generated by landing a strike as the hips snap into place than just the using muscle alone.
2. Stability – One aspect of martial arts is staying put when you want to, and the hips really help that. The power and stability of Sanchin kata (about which so much can be said it requires a book) comes in large part from proper hip position.
3. Throwing – I don’t study jiu-jitsu or judo but luckily many of the students and instructors I train with do, so I’m exposed to it. The hips play an important part in executing a effective, “effortless” throw. I’ve been thrown a lot, and the best—meaning the ones that just “happened” to me without me realizing what was going on until I was staring up at the ceiling—were delivered with hip power.

Reading over this post it seems there are so many things that are important to martial arts that I’m neglecting (balance, timing, relaxing, ki, etc.). But I stand by the idea that elbows and hips are two of the most important body parts for effective techniques. It also makes me realize how much I have to learn… but that’s the goal, right? Improvement through learning and practice.

Ever see Fist of Legend? (You better have said yes!) I’m beginning to understand why Jet Li’s character says, after a very intense but measured fight against Funakoshi (his girlfriend’s Japanese uncle), “I guess I have a lot to learn about fighting.” That statement always bothered me because clearly he was equally matched against his older, karate-practicing opponent. But now I see that no matter how good you become, there is always more to learn—especially from an opponent/teacher skilled in another art.

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