Balance for Martial Arts

Sang H. Kim, author of Ultimate Fitness Through Martial Arts, shares the following tips to improve your balance for kicking.

For static balance, pay attention to:

1. Correct head placement
2. Correct eye direction
3. Correct body alignment (this is the key to static balance)


For dynamic balance, pay attention to details of your movement.

1. Avoid crossing your legs.
2. Keep your knees slightly bent during movement and landing.
3. Take small, quick steps rather than long strides.



Bottom line:

1. Balance comes from good posture. By aligning your feet, hips, spine and head, you maintain a stable upright posture. Keep your eyes fixed on one spot.

2. The most important sensors are the presence or lack of visual cues. Vision provides your body with a ready means of finding your position relative to the ground. To test the importance of vision, try closing your eyes and standing on one foot. You will feel your body sway and your arms reach out to the side instinctively.

3. Tactile cues are also used to maintain balance. In the pads of your feet are detailed networks of sensors. By sensing the pressure of the ground beneath them, they relay important information to the brain, allowing it to shift your balance as necessary. To test these, try standing on one foot on a soft surface like a mattress or thick mat. As the surface shifts beneath your weight, your body moves in response to the sensations transmitted from your foot pads.

4. Finally, there is the vestibular apparatus, found in the inner ear. The vestibular apparatus controls the "righting reflex," which takes precedence over other sensory and motor systems during disorientation. The righting reflex controls upright posture. Based on input from the visual, tactile and vestibular senses, your body is constantly striving to maintain a specific orientation to gravity. When you lose your balance or become spatially disoriented, your righting reflex takes over to restore an upright posture by first positioning your head, followed by your neck and upper body and finally your lower body.

Conclusion: Chose one target kick (high side kick for instance). Repeat it over and over and eliminate anything that hinders your perfect performance. Keep strengthening the necessary muscles that will help you get better and better.

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