The Three Primary Physical Power Principles

Power can be thought of as the ability to influence or exert force over something else. According to Newton’s Laws of Motion we know that the equation for force is

Force= Mass * Acceleration

The mass of a person is constant (at a given time anyway), but there are some important things to consider to make sure that you are using all of it in a given movement. We will discuss these shortly. Once you are able to use all of your body mass (what we will call back up body mass), you must learn how to increase the amount of acceleration that your body is able to generate to maximize the amount of force you can generate.

In any martial art there are three primary methods of developing physical power and proper movement in any technique. Understand that the physical is only the first of the three areas in which to develop power, the other two are of course mental and spiritual. These two will be addressed in later articles. The three physical power principles are stated by various names in different arts, in this article I will simply address them by the names that I prefer to use. They are as follows:

1) Back Up Body Mass
2) Rotational Torque
3) The Marriage of Gravity

Every other form of physical power is a subcategory or combination of these three.