Some Thoughts on the Nature of S

Loren Christensen is a retired police officer, a martial artist with more than thirty years' experience (and ten black belts in as many styles), and a prolific writer. He has written over two dozen books dealing with various aspects of martial arts training.

In Loren's Fighter's Fact Book, he describes a meeting he had with Bob Munden, "The Fastest Gun Who Has Ever Lived". Mr. Munden travels the country performing speed-drawing and speed-shooting demonstrations. The Guinness Book of World Records has timed Mr. Munden's draw speed at one-half of one-tenth of a second.

Read that again. That's one-half of one-tenth of a second, people.

That means this man can literally draw his gun, shoot you, and reholster, all before the human eye can even see the movement. I think it's safe to say that Mr. Munden knows a thing or two about the nature of speed.

Loren W. Christensen

The point of all this is this: Mr. Christensen once asked Mr. Munden about being relaxed before a strike. Does being completely relaxed, with all the muscles free of tension, make you faster on the draw (or, as it were, quicker to the punch?)

I reprint Mr. Munden's response here, excerpted from Mr. Loren's book:

"My arm and body are never completely relaxed. If I [were] relaxed, I would have to come up to the place of necessary tension that I need to be able to move fast. When I am waiting for the signal to draw and shoot, my arm and body are slightly tense, in what I call 'relaxed ready'. When I explode, my muscles don't start moving from a place of total relaxation, but they are already primed to move."

So the key to quickness, to striking fast, is to be 'relaxed ready'. Not tight, but not completely relaxed. The muscles should have a tension to them, but not rigidity. This tension will allow you to start the strike immediately, with the muscles primed for motion, and then direct the strike to wherever you want it to go.

Sensei Bill Shank often refers to this 'relaxed ready' tension as a "spring", a coiled energy ready to be sprung by the slightest effort on the student's part. The tension is created by the subtle flexing of the tendons or muscle, aided by the proper position of the body. If you're in a proper stance, your legs have this ready tension to move you when you need to move. If your hands are in a proper guard, your arm muscles have the spring tension, ready to block or strike quickly.

A student should strive to be aware of this 'relaxed ready' state, this spring energy, and use it to their advantage all the time. We all know that sometimes the difference in a strike hitting or missing is an eyeblink of time, and this spring tension can be the edge you need to understand the nature of speed.

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