I have become quite fascinated recently about the use of
unbalancing principles in karate. It seems to me that it is an art form in
itself; something that can and must be studied in isolation as well as in combination
with various techniques.
Unbalancing is about disruption and control: Disrupting your
opponent’s attack and seizing control of them. There is both art and science in
understanding balance and unbalancing methods. It requires a scientific
understanding of how the brain and body work together to enable balance combined
with a sense of creativity in assessing the many ways in which your opponents
balance can be disrupted.
To understand how to unbalance an opponent you first need to
understand how we are able to balance in the first place. I wrote a previous
post about balance called ‘martial arts – a balancing act’ where I described the three main tenets of good balance as being having a wide
base of support, having a low centre of gravity and maintaining the head and
spine in a vertical position. In this
article I also discussed the importance of the ears, eyes and proprioception in
the maintenance of good balance.
To unbalance an opponent then you have to disrupt at least
one on the main tenets of balance: pull them out of their base of support (or
reduce their base of support), raise their centre of gravity or disrupt their
vertical alignment. Of course you must do all this whilst maintaining your own
balance.
So how do you do it?
Ways of disrupting
the base of support:
Pushing or pulling:
pushing or pulling will move someone out of their base of support but you need
to know which way to push or pull. This requires some knowledge of the “eight
points of off balance” which relates to stances. Look at this diagram:
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As a point of principle your off-balance point is
generally perpendicular to the plane of your stance. So if your feet are
positioned on points 8 and 4 on the diagram (this could be a left foot
zenkutsu dachi (weight forward) or kokutsu dachi (weight back) and facing
point 1 or even a shiko dachi if you were facing towards point 2 or 6) then
you will be off-balance if pushed or pulled in the direction of 2 -6 or 6-2
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So for example, if you are grabbed by the wrist by someone
standing in front of you in a natural stance i.e with feet positioned on 3 and
7 then you only need to trap their hand and step backward to position 5 to
unbalance them. In order that you don’t
unbalance yourself you need to use fairly strong, deep stances to ensure your
centre of gravity remains low, your base of support is wide and your spine
remains vertical. I never understand why people argue that stances in karate
are no good and only useful for building leg strength – good strong stances are
great for pulling people off balance. Of course taking just one step back many
not be sufficient and you may need to take two or three long low steps
backwards to pull your opponent over.
Reducing the opponent’s
base of support: you can reduce the opponent’s base of support by taking
one (or both) leg away e.g. with an ashi barai (foot sweep) technique or just a
plain and simple ‘trip’. You may want to follow this up with a push, pull or
even a throw.
Raising the opponent’s
centre of gravity:
If a low centre of gravity assists with balance then a high
centre of gravity will help reduce it. Getting your opponent up on their toes
will make them seem lighter and easier to displace. Getting a good arm/elbow
lock on can often get them on their toes. They won’t drop their weight back
down to compensate because that will tighten the lock and cause more pain. You
will now have them controlled and not fully balanced making it easier for you
to apply your next technique – this may be a sweep or throw or just maintaining
the restraint to march them off (always walk backwards with your restrained ‘prisoner’,
I am told on good authority, it is harder for them to resist).
Disrupt your opponent’s
vertical alignment:
Getting your opponent’s head and spine out of a vertical
alignment will disrupt balance because it stops them from pushing their centre
of gravity in a downwards direction. It is also very disorientating because it
upsets the ‘balance sensors’ i.e. the eyes can no longer maintain a horizontal
plane, the cochlear fluid in the ears may start to swirl and cause dizziness and
the proprioceptors may have a hard time working out the body’s position in
relation to the ground.
Techniques to disrupt vertical alignment include pushing the
forehead backwards. This is especially effective if the other hand is placed at
the lower end of the spine to create a push/pull effect. Alternatively you can
twist the opponent pushing on one shoulder whilst pulling on their opposite
hip.
These are just a few techniques you can use to disrupt
balance, I’m sure that with a bit of creativity you can think of more!
Of course your opponent will instinctively try to correct
their balance once they feel it starting to go. They will do this in predictable
ways – the same ways you will try to do it. If you are pulled forward you will
put a foot out to steady yourself. You will put your foot out in the direction
you perceive yourself to be falling. If you are falling backwards you will try
to step backwards. To stop your opponent from trying to correct their balance
you need to stop them from putting their foot in that optimal position for
regaining balance – you do this by making sure your foot is there first,
forcing them to put their foot in a sub-optimal position and thus still being
off-balance.
To conclude:
Unbalancing your opponent is a good tactical self-defence principle. It enables
you to disrupt your opponent’s attack and gives you an opportunity to gain
control of the situation. Good unbalancing is both a science and an art form.
It requires some serious study into the physiological principles of balance and
an exploration of ways of disrupting those principles. In any martial arts
class it is worth spending time with a partner just manipulating and observing
the effects of balance point disruption. Experiment with this in isolation as
well as incorporating these unbalancing principles into various strategies and
techniques and notice how much more quickly you are able to disrupt and control
your opponent.
