If you’ve trained martial arts for any length of time, this should come as no surprise. The old masters have known this for centuries. In the Japanese arts, this phenomenon is referred to as kiai , or “spirit shout”, and in the Chinese arts, (i.e. kung fu), we train heng/ha 哼哈, and specifically in I Liq Chuan we also train tu’na 吐納 breathing. The shout helps to increase core stability which results in more power to the limbs. For example, in this study, researchers found that improving core stability of female handball players resulted in an increased throwing speed of almost 5%.
Stability is the foundation of power. Until you can control your center and connect to the ground, you cannot effectively generate good power and maintain balance. #MartialArts #TuesdayThoughts
— Ashe Higgs (@ashehiggs) February 13, 2018
While this might seem like a no brainer to experienced martial artists, the real secret lies in using the diaphragm. Most people are familiar with the diaphragm and its role in breathing, however what's less commonly understood is that the diaphragm plays a role as a respiratory muscle and a spinal stabilizer.
My experience has been that even dual role; as a respiratory muscle, and a spinal stabilizer. In my experience teaching my martial arts classes here in Tempe, Arizona, even veterans of martial arts and yoga often have extreme difficulty in accessing the diaphragm and have faulty breathing patterns. As a coach, I’ve had to get creative at times with finding novel ways of to get people in touch with their diaphragm.
More than meets the eye?
The secondary findings of the study are possibly more interesting; the audible noise made during exertion has the potential to confuse an opponent and cause them to misjudge their defense.
22 students from the University of Hawaii were tested on their ability to guess the angle of a recorded kick in the presence of a simulated grunt.
Although I think the methodology used in the second part of the study was problematic at best, the concept has merit.
Of course, this is martial arts, so if somebody didn’t take the concept to questionable extremes, it just wouldn’t be any fun, now would it?
With that being said, when my kids were young, I used to use the concept to interrupt bad behaviour by them without having to spank them. Keep in mind this isn’t just any ole yell, it comes from down deep, propelled by a powerful pulse of the diaphragm. There were occasions when my kids were taken enough by surprise that their young nervous systems were overwhelmed, and their legs actually buckled, causing them to fall down. Of course, you can’t expect such an extreme response from a fully mature nervous system, but I have, on occasion seen grown men nearly cry in my local martial arts classes when I demonstrated by belting out out a powerful “ha” in their face (then again maybe it was just my breath…).
Going back to the study results, the students responded about 50ms slower to kicks that were accompanied by the simulated grunt. That’s about 1/20th of second slower to judge the angle of an incoming kick. Enough lag to potentially result in a KO kick, or in the old days, when swords or other weapons were involved, make the difference between life and death.
Grunting's competitive advantage: Considerations of force and distraction
Scott Sinnett , Cj Maglinti, Alan Kingstone
Published: February 22, 2018
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