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Why is Martial Arts Easier for Some people and not Others?
Before we start we must realise that we are all different so what might be easy for
some people can be incredibly difficult to achieve for just as many if not more. We will
discuss what makes us different - body types, muscles, flexibility - it is most important
to remember that there are no absolutes. Talent and dedication make the best martial
artist, not body type and you can enjoy martial arts whether you are
tall, short, heavy or thin. If you want to make it to the top ranks, certain body features
will help.
Let's begin by finding out what kind of "morph" you are - one of those hereditary things. Then we will talk about gears and levers, muscles, bones and flexibility and what you can and can't do to improve what you have. Finally, we will close with a few words about what you can expect to happen to the body as it goes through puberty.
Endo-, Ecto-, Meso-( Body Types )
In the animal kingdom, you see obvious relationships between size, shape and function. The elephant is huge, round, slow and powerful. The Cheetah is lanky and fast. The gazelle is small, muscular and nimble.
Humans fall into roughly the same three categories, with scientific names that make things sound more complicated than they really are!
Endomorp. Endomorphic people have a natural tendency to gain body fat, and generally have a roundish look. Endomorphs can excel when slow power is required, like weight lifting.
Ectomorph. Ectomorphic people tend to turn whatever they eat into energy. Like the cheetah, they are thin and wiry. Ectomorphs have trouble gaining weight, and almost no amount of body building will give the true ectomorph the rippling muscles that come naturally to the mesomorphs. In sport, examples of this type win endurance events.
Mesomorph. Roughly intermediate between the endomorph and ectomorph, the mesomorph is compact and muscular, neither fat nor thin. The mesomorph has a build that is square, rather than long or round. Nimble and quick like the gazelle, the mesomorph is a natural for martial arts along with gymnastics, diving, pentathlon and other sports that require a variety of skills.
Of course, almost no one is purely one body type or another. We all have traits from each category. If you look at winners in the top martial art events, you will notice that they all look alike. Most men are strongly mesomorphic and many females have mostly ectomorphic characteristics.
Muscularity vs. Aesthetic look
Muscularity is certainly important for most martial artists male or female, but too much can be something of a disadvantage. Muscles and flexibility don’t naturally go to together. The girl with plenty of muscles for kicking, punching and throwing may lack the flexibility and grace it takes to do the deep stance work and aerial kicks of wushu. The same goes for men covered in short bulky muscles with stiff shoulders and backs, which will make any acrobatic moves almost impossible. There is also the aesthetic look important for the large free flowing movements which makes Kata and Toalu (routines) so enjoyable to watch and the body line for which it is marked on.
Gears: Power vs. Speed
If you’ve ever ridden in a car, you’re familiar with gears. The car starts in a low gear with a lot of power to get moving, but a low gear cannot take the car to the ultimate high speed. As the car speeds up the automatic transmission shifts the car into the high gears. At motorway speeds, in the highest gear the car has plenty of speed but little in the way of reserve energy.
The idea is that gears trade energy for speed, and vice versa. Human bodies however do not come with automatic transmissions. We are designed for a fairly narrow range of speed and power, and we can’t swap gears (although we do have two gears in our muscles which I shall explain later).
In general, people with short thick muscles operate in a low gear: They are powerful and have explosive energy to get moving fast from a standing start. But they are not so efficient at sustaining a high output.
People with long thin muscles operate more in high gear: not too good from a standing start but efficient over long periods.
Mesomorphs tend to be low-gear people; ectomorphs, high gear. The best martial artists have some of each depending on what their discipline desires e.g. judoka tend to be mesomorphic and boxers tend to be ectomorphic.
Levers : Weight, Speed and Inertia
While the idea of gears helps us understand how muscles work, the idea of levers helps explain the role of bones. Go into the refrigerator and grab a litre of milk. Keep your arm at your side and lift the milk by just bending your elbow. Now keep the arm straight and lift the milk by raising your arm. Quite a bit more difficult. When the weight is at the end of a long lever it’s harder to lift. The "effective weight" of the milk has increased because the lever is longer.
Not only does it take more force to lift the milk with your arm straight, it is also a lot harder to do quickly. This relates to the problem of overcoming inertia. Inertia applies to just about everything from getting your car going after a redlight to slowing down at the next set of lights. It even applies to getting your body away from a TV set.
But what do litres of milk and body types have to do with martial arts? Simply, the longer your arms and legs are, the harder it is to make them move, and the harder they are to move faster, the harder they are to slow down. Top martial artists are usually small people, with relatively short bones (levers). The laws of physics simply make it easier for them to move their arms and legs quickly and precisely and with less energy. Long bones may predispose you to injuries. A long foot at the end of a long leg kicking a focus pad or body will create more force going into the ankle joint than a short foot at the end of a short leg. I’ve always noticed that martial artists with long legs and toes always seem to have more toe and ankle injuries than their shorter counterparts.
Muscle Twitches
We discussed earlier that there are two "gears" within your muscles. Really, you have two types of muscle fibres: fast-twitch and slow-twitch. Fast twitch fibres enable you to move quickly. These fibres enable you to fire explosive kicks and punches. Slow twitch fibres handle slower tasks requiring endurance in stance work and balancing.
Unfortunately, to choose the correct amount of each muscle type you have, you would have to choose your parents. Elite martial artists will be lucky enough to have a high percentage of fast twitch muscle fibres, while the marathon runner will be nearly all slow twitch. Regardless of your own particular mixture of slow and fast twitch fibres, be sure to work both of these muscle types. Plyometric exercises for the fast twitch, and strength work for the slow twitch and endurance.
The Secret of Flexibility.
In my work I meet many people, and the most commonly asked question is "How do I do box splits?". I now realise that stretching is the most commonly misunderstood subject in martial art coaching today. I can only put this down to the coaching courses which are run by associations. Taking a warm up and stretching in a warm up is compulsory by The Health & Safety Act 1978 which is the law. All stretching at whatever level is a boring, painful and slow process, but keep at it and you will succeed - just don’t give up. Young children under 10 are quite supple naturally, the rest of us have to work at it. If you are 20 years old give yourself 3 years to hit box splits training 3 times a week with at least fifteen minutes stretching in each class. I always have to explain how muscles work and what happens to them during stretching, once the student realises what is happening to their bodies they become a lot more patient.
Expensive Equipment and Flash Books.
There is a whole range of exciting machines and books that make amazing claims. In gymnastics a massive majority of gymnasts who train more than just recreationally achieve box splits with just the following: Time, a mat, gravity and someone who understands the body - their coach.
Collagen the Magic Ingredient.
You have worked on your splits for months jealous of Van Damme and Superfoot but little progress can be seen. You have become envious of your team mates who can easily go down into every type of splits and look bored. "What’s their trick?" you think "Why can’t I go any lower ?"
The answer could be "collagen" which is something you may of heard of in cosmetic ads. In the body, where it occurs naturally, collagen is a protein fibre and is the critical ingredient in muscles and tendons and ligaments. Collagen is a key in holding your skeleton together.
If you have naturally elastic collagen, your muscles will stretch easily. The ligaments holding your bones together (joint capsule) will also stretch easily, so you can get your body into the positions that most normal people cry in.
By the way "double jointed" people do not have extra joints; they just have extra stretchy collagen.
Determining Your Flexibility
Here’s a quick test to assess the elasticity of your collagen: Use one hand to bend the thumb of the other hand towards the soft inside of the arm (see illustration). If you want to do well at martial arts, your thumb should touch your arm fairly easily. The easier the better. If you find you can’t get your thumb close you might find martial arts a bit frustrating at times, but keep at it, every athlete has to stretch from baseball to swimming.
Building and Maintaining Flexibility
If you are starting martial arts at a young age - under ten - you should be quite flexible. Most kids are, make sure your training sessions include static stretching to help maintain your flexibility as you grow older. Concentrate on the back, hip, quad, hamstring and shoulders which all need to be flexible to prevent injury free training. If you are slightly older make sure the majority of your stretching is relaxed stretching with no bouncing and just hold the stretch for a minimum of 40 seconds to make a gain. Do not worry about the more advanced stretching like PNF. This usually ends with more injuries than gain and is usually due to the instructors not fully understanding how the body works.
Unfortunately, flexibility depends heavily on heretige, and if you are not naturally supple, keep stretching. Everything can be improved - you might never hit box splits but your kicking can be just as superb as superfoot. I have come to notice over the years that people who can do all three splits are not nesacerely the best kickers. The kicking must be practised just as much as the stretching.
Women vs. Men, Flexibility
Women are usually more flexible than men and here’s why. The hip joint is a simple ball and socket joint and the legs move freely forwards and backwards easily. Now when it comes to moving out to the sides all the muscles, ligaments, tendons and bone structure try to stop this happening, really to stop you dislocating your leg from your hip. Now men and women have exactly the same amount of muscles etc. on the hip, but because women’s hips are broader due to child birth, muscle density in women’s hips is less. Women’s bodies have the hormone oestrogen which is responsible for rapid cell reproduction in situations such as pregnancy, but also during stretching when you tear the muscle fibres, the women’s body will replace the fibres far quicker than in their male counterparts. Along the same line, a woman’s pain tolerance is far greater than a man’s due to the simple fact that women’s bodies are designed for child birth and a massive amount of stretching in one day. Where as men cannot handle the pain of stretching as easily. ( Sorry lads we are all a bunch of wimps really!)
Summary
Regardless of all body types, the best type of body is the one you have. Especially since you can’t change it. You just have to understand how to get the best out of it. Enjoy your body and look after it.
Article By Alasdair Monteith
BGA Level 4 Men’s Gymnastics Coach/BCCMA Martial Arts Coach
Head Coach and Director of the British Institute for Chinese Martial Arts
November 1997