Strength From Any Angle
The original quest in my young years as a martial artist was to be able to strike a knockout blow from any angle – whether standing, on the ground, in a dominating position or falling or being thrown to the ground. This was Long before anyone ever coined the termed Mixed Martial Arts.
Of course, in a real confrontation, you most certainly won’t find yourself often in an optimal position. You might be upside down, with your face smashed into the ground with one arm pinned behind your back. In that position, would you be able to hit with knockout force around up through your legs or around the backside of your head?
In order to prevail you might need to deliver such a punch some day. Have you trained that way?
How many traditional martial artist actually practice striking like this? Maybe more these days with the advent of MMA, but even so, even as ingenious much of this “new” training is, you see most of that training falling into the category of 2 dimensional training instead of three dimensional training.
After being highly influenced by Bruce Lee’s philospohies in my youth, it occurred to me that traditional martial arts training with countless repetitions striking from the most optimal angles was certainly not going to give me three dimensional striking power in a pinch – unless I started practicing it.
As a performer all my life as well, I’ve lived most of it by the addage that you’re only as good as your last performance. So, practice exactly what you’re going to perform and do it often!
I observed that if I continued training in striking from only certain angles as prescribed in all the martial arts I trained in, I would certainly become more capable at delivering powerful striking abilities – BUT probably ONLY if I found myself in one of those optimal positions – which, of course, is very unlikely going to happen in a real life unpredictable and ever-changing situation.
So, I began training striking from every awkward and weird angle I could come up with. Being an observer, you might have thought I was trying to tie myself up from the looks of the crazy positions I would be in sometimes.
It’s a workout like you can’t believe. When you first start training this way, you Feel pain from Every angle as well!
With the emphasis on striking as hard as possible from any angle, I found myself thinking different, training different and getting totally different results. I began seeing more possibilities of being stronger at any angle.
Because I was also lifting a lot of weights at the time, I started to realize that learning to strike at any angle made my body more tenacious and stable at any angle. It not only improved strength to handle a lot more tonnage but training that very way improved my stability and engaged muscles in a way that even traditional exercises didn’t even come close to affecting.
So, instead of just training to strike, I started training to be strong and stable at any angle. This, of course, was the beginning of CoreForce Energy www.coreforceenergy.com, which has you engaging your brain and body in 3-dimensional strength and thinking – for Any activity.
As a result of this kind of thinking, I started becoming strong from any angle – truly engaging stabilizer muscles in a way. I found that even falling, my abilities to strike and recover were vastly enhanced. I started looking at strength in terms of how many awkward angles I could engage it from.
Here’s an analogy that always inspires 3-dimensional thinking. A fly has hundreds of lenses in their eyes that enable them to see at any angle. Imagine having that ability! Imagine your strength having equal force projected from hundreds of lenses! Think of the possibilities!
In light of that, I started thinking of each rep should have hundreds of focused trajectories and possibilities – even if you’re training on a machine.
When you start training this way whether for martial arts, weight lifting, or body weight exercises, all of a sudden it opens up a whole new world of possibilities and inspirations. To me, functional strength means that you should be strong from any angle – with equally focused and strong trajectories through any “lens” and stability in any position even if you’re moving at hig speeds.
When you think this way, you’ll find yourself moving different, thinking different and most likely – not acting your age.
To Your Strength and Mastery,
Garin Bader
Author: Garin Bader Click to Expand
Garin Bader is the creator of CoreForce Energy, the astonishing system that instantly gives you superhuman strength and speed.
It’s the revolutionary system that supercharges your mind and muscles to work together congruently -- with a system so powerful that it can often double your muscular strength and speed - regardless of your athletic abilities, gender, or age.
He is also an internationally acclaimed award-winning concert pianist and master magician, as well as a martial artist, sculptor, painter, and author.
Garin is also a mixed martial artist, strength trainer, kettlebell instructor, author, illustrator, and sculptor. Many call him a modern-day Renaissance man because of his mastery of many arts.
His diverse background has given him unique insights into how all these skills interrelate and that he reveals in his extraordinary CoreForce Energy dvd system, seminars, and private coaching sessions.
Garin and his wife, Vanessa, also travel throughout the world with his internationally acclaimed show, “Musical Magic”, combining music, magic illusions, and martial arts. They’ve thrilled audiences worldwide from Carnegie Hall to the London Palladiumto Las Vegas.
