The main thing that being fat and having a weak core does to your martial arts performance is that it prevents the smooth transfer of force from your legs to your arms. Consider the following picture from the excellent book Stronger Back and Abs.
Figure A shows what having a weak gut can do to your performance. Notice how the force dissipates into the fat. Figure B shows how having a solid core allows the smooth transfer of force out through the arms. I always keep this pic in mind when training the core. Obviously B is desirable while A is not.
As much as I hate to admit it to myself, I’ve personally felt this effect. Several years ago when I started a desk job at the newspaper, I let myself go a bit. When I decided to get back into training, my gut actually got in the way of my punches and fajing.
When I punched, the muscles in my torso contracted and tried to transfer the force. But the fat on my belly was slower and would “slosh” to the OPPOSITE side of my torso when I punched. The fat actually acted as a damper to my punching power. I noticed this in almost every movement. I even noticed that when I walked, the fat would shift from side to side as a type of counter-balance.
Naturally, this is Sport Science 101 material. But in the martial arts field, we have many myths about how so-and-so was fat and great so being fat is okay or how some teachers aren’t fat, they’ve just collected qi in their bellies, etc.
In this case, the sports science people have it right IMO.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Chad // Dec 18, 2007 at 2:13 am
Weak core muscles would definately hurt your Kung Fu. But, just because someone is fat doesn’t mean their core is weak,( look at Sammo Hung for example) but it is less likely to find people with strong core and fat stomaches. I havn’t read the book, but I think the “jello” is supposed to represent weak or underactive core muscles and no spine stability rather than fat. Fat in the midsection will increase your weight, increase your risk for insulin resistance and diabetes, as well as have detrimental effects on your entire movement system. I doubt that it will disperse any force being applied to your bones.
That being said, being overweight is never good.
2 scott // Dec 18, 2007 at 6:46 am
I take it this is a friendly response to my post about how sit-ups make us fat. Core strengthening probably worked for some unique individual a long time ago, but by the time it became a system it was deeply flawed.
I had 15 of my 8 year old students compete in standing long jump so I could observed how “un-educated” bodies would do it. One girl consistently out jumped everyone else. She didn’t jump from her legs or use her core to launch them forward after getting airborne. Everything just moved together from her center, like a rabbit– she kept everything soft.
http://northstarmartialart.com/blog1
3 Weakness With a Twist » Systems // Dec 18, 2007 at 7:01 am
[…] Formosa Neijia responded to my last post with a post of his own. Systems theory would suggest that strengthening or weakening any one region of the body is a losing strategy unless you have already shown that for a given output that region is the weak link. In other words, whole body unity should be a priority–both the measure of any intermediate steps, and the final fruition. […]
4 Chris // Dec 18, 2007 at 1:49 pm
No offense, but that diagram is ridiculous. Core strength has come to mean many things these days and now it’s just taken for granted that a strong “core” (whatever that is) is the solution to all back pain. As a PT I’ve seen all sorts of crazy exercises for the “core” come and go. Sometimes they work sometimes they don’t. Yet most people go on doing crunches or stiffening exercises for the midsection with little more than anecdotal evidence to back up the ideas. Coordinated movement being functional makes more sense but tightening up your belly is no way to achieve that. And as far as back pain goes, I’ve seen some strong athletes with a “strong core” but they still have pain.
5 Casey // Dec 18, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Well, being fat certainly will hurt your endurance at the very least, though I think that diagram is prolly a major oversimplification and in wrestling-type situations extra weight of any kind definitely helps, though lean weight is preferable. However, in regards to the “qi belly” I would say to look at that book (which I’m planning to order sometime soon) translated by Marcus Brinkman which you posted excerpts of recently. It even says in there that in the healthy person, the stomach and viscera are not artificially held up. Therefore, when you see photos of people like Wu Jianquan, they may seem to have a big belly, but it’s not all or even mostly fat–they just have strong, relaxed abdomens. Now of course, some really are just fat, and qigong is no excuse for that. However, I think IMAists should have bodies kind of like opera singers–not necessarily fat, but the chest and belly will be fuller than that on most people.
6 C.J.W. // Dec 19, 2007 at 8:36 am
Well, I partly agree with the idea that being overweight can hurt your MA because having extra weight is in most cases an advantage in any combat-oriented activities. Having surperior weight means a naturally stronger root and extra mass to add to striking power. We just need to think of the trade-offs.
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