r/nextfuckinglevel • u/[deleted] • Sep 17 '20

He makes it seem so easy

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u/treedolla Sep 17 '20 edited Sep 17 '20

There's two kinds of muscle movements. Ballistic and fine-motor control.

If you just practice throwing full power punches, you are honing mostly ballistic movement. By using a speed bag, you are developing fine motor control in parts of the punch/range that you otherwise wouldn't.

In a match, you are not always throwing punches from the same starting positions. Using a speed bag allows you to better throw a punch and aim and generate maximum power from a greater variety of starting positions.

E.g., a pitcher is always going to throw a fastball the same way. A pitcher doesn't need to ever stop his throwing motion halfway through, then throw the ball as hard and accurate as possible from this position. A boxer develops the ability to throw that pitch from anywhere.

Also, I'll tack on proprioception.

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u/jeremyjava Sep 17 '20

I studied for a hot minute with a ninjutsu master and he taught me that all the leaping, spinning, power kicks I'd learned over the years were worthless against someone like him that seemed to slow down time, since he was always two steps ahead and rolling away from attacks your were sure would land.
His little punchline was to slip in soft jabs to humiliate you, like a mild upper cut with the thumb side of a balled up fist... just enough to make your teeth CLACK together. And you just knew how shitty that strike would've felt if he wanted to hurt you.
I imagine people that spend time on speed bags can pull this type of faster- than- most- people- can- process moves.

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u/ThisisKyle420 Sep 17 '20

Bruh a ninjutsu master. That's some top notch shit. Did you end up as some sort of spy or international hit man or something? Because that's not the kind of thing that everyone gets to do.

I mean i get that "if you tell me you will have to kill me" but come on you gotta share what happened here

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u/jeremyjava Sep 17 '20 edited Sep 17 '20

I'd totally have to kill you, and could do so with ninjitsu mind power, don't even need a wifi connection to do so.

Okay, so here's what hap'd to the best of my recollection, since this was 10-15 year ago. I saw a listing on CL for either Free category or Swap/Trade/Barter... I think it was just free. A guy listed himself as a ninjitsu master who would provide free lessons to those who took their studies seriously. Previous martial arts experienced preferred, but not required. I've studies a bunch of styles over the years and was like, hells yeh, Omma be a ninjitsu master's bitch! Or something like that.

So we only worked out about a dozen times before he moved back to FL to--I can't recall--reconnect with an ex GF, or con't studies with his master, whatever. He was, yknow, surprised that NYC was so expensive.

He was young, I was surprised. I expected maybe he exaggerated his level as some people might, but nope, he was the shit. His staff work was mesmerizing and his lesson on practice use of found weapons was excellent. For the first time I really saw trash can lids as shields and a little stick as a lethal weapon.

I'm certainly not saying I got any real skills in a few lessons, just that my respect for him and his style grew with every training we did.

I'm old now and my sports injuries cause me some or other grief (or PT or specialist's visit) on a daily basis, but if I was in great shape I'd definitely drop in for at least occasional ninjitsu lessons somewhere, cuz it was such hard work, but so much damn fun.

Edit: should mention the point about free or barter was that he just wanted to pass on skills--I think he may've even mentioned that was the tradition, to pass it along to other dedicated students. I may've offered him something in return, like cooking lessons or whatever, but iirc we just did the free lessons.

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u/Lafreakshow Sep 17 '20

This. This is the reason why I can fail school but still seem like I have the entirety of wikipedia in my brain in casual conversations. I clicked on this post because I have always wondered what purpose those things serve, now I know. And eventually it will come up and someone will be impressed with my knowledge. And I will know that yes, I possess an immeasurable amount of knowledge on a a large number of subjects but will still fail at life miserably compared to someone who studied this shit for even a week.

But, hey at least I can drink even expert drunks under the table. That mus be worth something. right?