Well firstly, what is quality movement?
We all move daily, but how many of us are moving our bodies with purpose and efficiency for the tasks and sport we undertake?
Quality of movement is especially integral to any practitioner of a martial art and being a long-time student of Brazilian jiu jitsu and Wu style Tai Chi Chuan, I have begun to scratch the surface of the concepts that underly quality movement.
That may sound odd since I am a BJJ Black Belt and 17 year+ student of combat Tai Chi Chuan however, only in recent years have I discovered the multi-faceted aspects of quality movement and been able to identify them individually and articulate them with understanding.
These ideas have origins in Tai Chi Chuan theory, they were not specifically part of my Jiu Jitsu training. You may not find these particular theories presented directly by your Jiu Jitsu teacher. You could say that these concepts are naturally derived from “How you do what you do” versus “What you do”. The focus in much Jiu Jitsu teaching is on “what to do” and less on “how to do it”.
We aim to balance the two aspects of What and How
Notwithstanding this, if you watch any grappler on the world stage, typically they have some exceptional qualities within their movement and they often display these concepts of quality movement naturally as a result of their intensive training.
*just one example of Gordon Ryan's exceptional movement quality, and relaxed elasticity
And so, I have endeavoured to write a series of blogs, with the aim to encourage us mere mortals who don’t train professionally, to incorporate movement quality functions into our training regime. This will increase your effectiveness on the mat over the course of your Jiu Jitsu journey.
These are advanced concepts, that take exploration over many years of training to gain a solid grasp of. However, they are also for beginners. The earlier you begin to seek out these concepts in your BJJ training, the sooner you will experience the benefits. Even if at first, they may seem elusive or difficult to understand. If you focus on the quality of your movement over submissions, you will grasp these concepts quicker and your submission success rate will increase at a stage when your control is more powerful. Fundamentally the aim of BJJ is to control your opponent through superior movement. Only when you have a solid grasp of how to control your own body do you have the capacity to control others.
First let’s chat about relaxed elasticity.
Relaxation creates a sinking quality within our body. It lowers our centre of gravity (COG) making us seem heavier, stronger, more balanced and in control to our opponent. This type of movement is the prerequisite to stickiness, (delved into in an upcoming blog). When we relax fully, including our internal muscles, we allow all our ‘inside body’ to settle down towards the ground while obviously remaining contained within your skin and skeleton, holding a relaxed form.
Gravity is pulling us into the earth and acting upon each part of us in a uniform fashion inside and out. It really does help your food pass through…. and exit, don’t over-relax!
Relaxed, perfectly executed movements are the most powerful. A relaxed form of movement becomes soft but powerful through the elasticity of the muscles and tendons. When we secure a solid anchor into the ground via our COG then utilise the elasticity of the body, we have the potential to develop a strength and power which is hard for our opponent to define and so, hard to defend.
Irrespective of whether you train BJJ Gi or No Gi or are just into Grappling in general, developing this aspect of your movement quality is of valuable long-term benefit.