Now, cover that same 50 yards, but
this time, take one bounding step
and land on one foot‚ pause for three
seconds, bound to the next foot and
so on. It’s important that when you’re
making these giant steps, you land
with a flexed knee and remain in
knee flex, which one would assume
would aid the bounding task. How-
ever, the three-second pause allows
for elastic decay.
After this is com-
plete, again note
your internal state:
elevated respiration
and heart rates and
likely a remarkable
increase in per-
ceived leg exertion
in comparison to
the sprint.NOW LET’S TIE
THIS IN to combat
— or any athletic
endeavor. When
your stance forces
you to start from
stock-still, by bio-
mechanical defini-
tion, you cannot
use elastic loading
for speed or energy
conservation. Any footwork of the
slow, plodding variety will not use
elastic load or, at the very least, will
entail small elastic load assistance.
Static stances and deliberate foot-
work are by definition slower and
ultimately more taxing.
I’m not advocating the use of
bouncing or bounding footwork in
which you are barely in contact with
the ground. That’s always unwise.
Such overactivity can lead to inef-
ficient energy expenditure, and the
reduced contact with the ground
makes weight transfers and direction
changes less efficient.
What you may find, however, is that
there’s a better method of movement
that takes advantage of elastic load
in a way that improves your speed
and reduces muscle fatigue. It’s up
to you to determine precisely what
that method is and whether it meshes
with your chosen martial art.Mark Hatmaker’s website is
extremeselfprotection.com.set. Why should this be? After all,
in the slow set, you’re essentially in
a resting position — the deep squat,
aka the third-world squat.
The difference in effort is not one of
mere perception; it is one of biome-
chanical function. When you squat
with speed, the extensor muscles,
although no longer required to remain
standing, stay under tension all the
same to control the rate of descent.
In the fast iterations of the squat in
which an immediate turnaround is
required (rising back to standing), the
extensors still under load are able to
increase the present tension and make
the rapid rise easily. In the slower
iterations, you stop at the bottom, and
the extensors, which were under load
during descent, disengage. In other
words, the tension decays.
To return to standing, you must place
them back under load, walking the
scale back up from 0 percent to full use.
Fast iterations of the squat allow
the leg musculature to use “elastic
loading” in which your extensors
behave like rubber bands stretched
and tensed for use. Slow iterations
involve slack rubber bands that
require full muscular engagement
with zero elastic aid.
Elastic recoil aids speed and con-
serves energy. When you run, the
associated calf muscles and Achilles
tendon do not go to zero slack as a
foot peels off the ground with each
stride. There is still tension loaded
in the toes, the feet, the Achilles ten-
dons and the calf muscles, and that
allows for elastic rebound once the
next foot is placed
on the ground.HERE’S ANOTHER
EXPERIMENT: Sprint
50 yards as hard
and fast as you can.
At the conclusion,
note your internal
state. I’ll wager,
just as with the fast
squats, that you’ll
have elevated res-
piration and heart
rates. However, run-
ning 50 yards at full
speed will not be
experienced as tax-
ing on your legs.Static stances
and deliberate
footwork are
by definition
slower and
ultimately
more taxing.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019 BLACKBELTMAG.COM 29