Physics: It's all around us.

Man, did I hate Physics.  I hated it while in high-school, and tried avoiding as many Physics classes as I could in college.  I knew how pretty much all of our lives are governed by these so-called "rules of Physics", but saw little, if any, applications to my daily life.  Even more so, I couldn't see how it would affect decision making.

As I became a personal trainer and dealt with body mechanics much more, physics not only became applicable, it even got, dare I say, interesting.  The way we move, injury prevention, and such terms as acceleration, power and force, and sustainability of movement, became what I did for a living.

And then I began teaching self-defense, fighting, and tactical disciplines, and all of a sudden Physics is what it's all about.

Can we fight, shoot, or address a threat with little to no understanding of Physics?  Of course we can. But it'll be stupid of us to do so.  Understanding how Physics is applicable to these functions can make us better at executing them...and allow us to make better decisions on how to and when to execute them.

Let's take a few examples:

Stances:  The way we stand, with feet staggered and spaced apart, assures balance and control.  Feet too narrow or too wide and you lose the ability to move easily or to maintain a stable platform.  Both essential when fighting and dependent on Bases!

Straight punches:  we often state that the kinetic energy (what is that?!?) that makes a punch effective is not the result of a muscular upper body, but rather of proper pivot with the foot and hip, all the way through torque of the fist.  Energy is the function of mass and speed, which are generated through proper mechanics.  The energy is created, transferred, and eventually deposited into a target.  Remember, energy doesn't go away, it is transferred into something else.  Therefore, the more energy we can generate, the more impact our strike will have.

Combatives:  Remember when you learned that an object in motion will remain in motion?  Well, that is why we strike or kick through and past a target.  By aiming and driving past the target we assure that until the strike is met with a target it will remain in motion.  if we decelerate and come to a stop too early, we lose much of the effectiveness of the strike.

Choke defenses:  we talk about "Biceps to ears" as means of creating levers.  Levers significantly lower the amount of force required to generate the same action.  Instead of muscling an opponent's hand off your throat, you can utilize a lever, a mechanical instrument, to move another object (in this case the opponent's wrist), with much less force.  This is crucial when defending against someone larger or stronger.

Israeli Combat Shooting:  Yes, even when shooting Physics come into play.  One such example is spirals.  Spirals are key.  By spiraling the shooting hand towards the target we are further ensuring a straight and accurate drive of the muzzle towards the target.  Think of a football spiraling compared to one that isn't.  The same forces are rules apply when punching or shooting.

You can find Physics in every move we make at Masada Tactical.  So keep that in mind when you want to make your defense or your strike as effective and efficient as possible...it all goes back to these laws of nature that govern our lives.

You hate to admit it, but your teachers were right.  You will need this stuff in the real world!

Stay safe!
Tzviel 'BK' Blankchtein
Masada Tactical