DOSSIERS TECHNIQUES
Dossiers   25
The importance of a firm stand

Biped - advantage or disadvantage?

Human beings are "bipeds", i.e. they use two feet to naturally stand or move around. In this sense, with the exception of snakes and birds, the latter of which have the immense advantage of being able to leave the ground and rise into the air, all "terrestrial" animals have more than two feet: 4 for mammals, 6 for insects, 8 for arachnids, and so on up to caterpillars and millipedes of all kinds.

If we also consider the ratio between our average height (approx. 1.80 m) and the surface area of our feet (approx. 10cm x 30 cm), we can see just how precarious our balance is, how fragile our stability, how limited our general dymamics. Simply pushing over a table resting on its 4 legs is very difficult: you have to lift it quite high before you can tip it over. A chair, on the other hand, seems easier, but that's because of its backrest, which raises the point of action exerted.

An animal's walk and run are very revealing. Most of the time, one limb is in contact with the ground, and when the whole body is in the air, the landing is smooth and stable, continuing the movement. As soon as you want to do a leg technique, however, there's only the other leg on the ground, and the problem of support and balance is immediately there.

Three key points

As far as we're concerned, we therefore need to be well aware of this fact, and to constantly look for anything that can enable us to compensate for these natural deficits.

First of all, the way we move must be low in the hips - in other words, not falling forward under the weight of the torso, but letting the torso follow the movement produced by the pelvis. In fact, only the pelvis imparts the movement, and then the upper body, but also the feet, all follow instead of precede.

Second point - maximum connection to the ground through the soles of our feet, with sensation distributed and continuous between heel and toe. One of my senior citizens often uses the example of a metal floor on which one would move with shoes with magnetic soles. On such a floor, it would be very exhausting to lift the foot to move forward or backward, and would become more natural to slide the foot without taking it off.

This mode of movement implies, and this will directly link to the third aspect we'd like to highlight, that we flex our joints - hips, knees, ankles, otherwise the foot wouldn't be able to maintain contact with the ground at all times.

This third point concerns the position of our center of gravity. This should be as low as possible, but without going overboard with the joints, i.e. the knees should form at least a little more than a right angle. This is both to preserve the joint and to maintain optimum explosive conditions. You only have to look at wrestlers, Sumo wrestlers in particular, to be convinced of this.

Providing your own effort

Dojo work must be carried out with the constant aim of satisfying the above criteria, even if the freer, more dynamic combat phases naturally deviate from them within certain limits. The "conventional" exercises (Yakusoku) must absolutely, in Kihon, as in Kata of course, but also in Kumite, be carried out with the concentration - and the will, necessary to reinforce these aptitudes.

It is only at this price that movements, supports and connections can become increasingly natural, and, like animals, give us the means to compensate, even very partially, for the natural handicaps of the Homo Erectus" that we are.

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