Training Tips
The Gallagher Effect (or, Use Your Head)
Because I've always been someone looking for ways of improving every aspect of my personal performance: mindset, athleticism, fundamental skills, key moves, strategies, tactics, stratagems, and biomechanics etc., you can imagine my frustration when in the early 1970s it seemed I'd reached a plateau. No matter how hard and long I trained and researched the martial arts of the East and the West, sports physiology and biomechanics, etc., I wasn't showing any significant improvement. Many of my peers considered me to be the very best, but from my own perspective, I was stuck at a level I wasn't ever going to be able to rise above. All I could see in the future was a gradual decline due to the lack of motivation that would eventually result from being stuck, and the inevitable course of ageing.
Then I happened to see a tomcat called Gallagher fall off a high cupboard.
When playing back the event within my mind's eye, what seems to have taken place is that Gallagher immediately upon falling off the cupboard, rotated and orientated his head towards landing upon the ground, and then rotated his lower body the opposite way to counter his upper body rotation and then almost instantly back again to land on all fours. Gallagher's head/body actions prompted me to explore my own, as well as the head/body relationship in the movement patterns of other animals, including humans. In any given skill, what seems to be taking place is that the head initiates and gives direction to the development of power through the three 'power chains' of the body: 1) legs, 2) pelvis/waist, 3) upper torso/shoulders/arms that are interconnected through the major axes of the hips and spine. I observed that the twisting, bending, extending and flexing of the head seemed to bring about corresponding patterns of movement in the body. It seemed, rather than having to juggle the numerous joint angular changes in alignment, sequence, rate and timing upon which any given skill depends, I only had to juggle one: namely, the head. I knew I was on the right track when I watched the way a lioness on a tv documentary used her head so as to rapidly and randomly change her pace and direction whilst in pursuit of her prey.
The first experiment I performed on using my head to initiate the action of the three power chains was with the low round kick. Although my rotation is not identical to Gallagher's midair gymnastics, the principle of twisting and untwisting the body according to an initial energetic movement of the head was inspired by what I saw him do that day. The positioning and slight but energetic movement of my head over the support foot produces a stable, yet dynamic axis about which to shift and rotate and sets the level and angle at which I want the kick to be released and to penetrate the target. My head action, coupled with the violent action of my hands, elbows, shoulders and in particular the 'snatching' of my hand on the kick side, initiates the violent twisting of my upper torso one way and the equally violent twisting of my lower torso and support leg, the other (with the waist acting to connect the upper and lower body). This results in the whipping of the trailing leg around so that it violently slams into the target with a slightly downward clawing action. The body action rather resembles the twisting of a wet towel, and the eyes never leave the whole of the target area. The whole effect is a kick that, even on one-quarter leverage, has a crippling effect.
Remember: it's the head that leads the body, and the body leads the action. And any head movement in support of a given skill has to be done in such a way so as not to give yourself whiplash or mild concussion, or signal your intent, lose sight of your opponent, or put your head in a vulnerable position where it's going to get hit. Along with the breath, the head also determines the rhythm, timing, and intensity of the skill. Knowing how to use your head to set a rhythm, get in rhythm, syncopate upon your opponent's actions, miscue, draw and evade his shots, initiate the development and direction of the release of powerÑ not to mention using it to butt and headfight for positionÑis essential to becoming a successful fighter.
The idea of the importance of the head in movement wasn't completely new to me, in that my father had emphasized its importance, particularly in determining the alignment of axes of hips and spine, many years before. Gallagher simply made me focus upon the head and body relationship in greater depth. One way my father demonstrated to me the importance of the head was in walking. The way he did this was to make me put my hands in my pockets and alternately press upon my thighs with my palms on each consecutive step, and as I did so, move my head to align with one foot and then the other so as to stabilize the axis of the hip and spine. This also taught me the relationship between my shoulder and knee. In this way I learned how through the interaction of all these movements the body unconsciously organizes the loading and unloading of the leg by pressing down against the ground so as to produce those vertical and horizontal forces upon which displacement depends. We move; the Earth doesn't. My father might not have read Aristotle's line, 'The animal that moves makes its change of position by pressing down against that which is beneath it,' but he sure understood what it meant.
Just watch Maurice Green prowling up and down the track before the 100m race, or on his first few strides after coming out of the blocks, to see what I mean by the use of the head in total body action. Cyclists also move the head from side to side in a similar manner; they stand up in the saddle and use the entire body to load and unload the legs when engaged in steep hill climbs.
Other research initiated by Gallagher suggested that through specialized receptors (extero, intero, prioprioceptive) and reflexes (labyrinthine, tonic neck, ocular, withdrawal/snatch, extensor thrust, cross extensor, negative support, attitudinal, myotatic, Golgi tendon, grasp, startle reflexes, etc.) the body acts to create a dynamic equilibrium of change below the level of conscious thought through the integrative action of the CNS in response to the stimulus of a cue. Hence my expression, 'as one part reflexively zigs, another zags.' What I'd become aware of through Gallagher was how inherent reflex and behavior patternsÑthe bequeathments if you like of our primal ancestors through their various successful adaptationsÑwere the foundation of human motor skills.
After reaping so many rewards from my observation of Gallagher, I began to watch other animals more closely. Noticing how horses use their head and spine to propel them forward, and how the actions of their hooves on the ground tears up the earth, prompted me to explore the possibility that instead of trying to punch holes in people in a piston-like way, I should be tearing chunks out of them as if using a claw hammer. Not only was this effect more devastating, but I could repeat that process over and over again in a cyclonic movement, and over very short distances if necessary.
Another animal who was influential on my martial arts development was a Saluki/Border Collie cross dog named Jed. When watching Jed go at full throttle, what was noticeable was how his spine and head oscillated in an accelerating, whiplike movement to propel him forward at tremendous speeds. When watching him shake water off his body, the violent shudder of his entire body served as an example by which I could rapidly and explosively perform multiple shots from any angle and any direction with each successive movement loading the next. Although I was aware of these whiplike, shaking, oscillatory patterns from Chinese Boxing, it became more obvious to me what they were really about when I saw them in action in an animal, not being imitated by some martial arts master.
When Jed barked not only was I impressed by the ferocity and intensity and rapid repetition of that bark, but struck by the fact that his whole body produced the bark. This made me think that my emotion, my intent and my effort had to be married into the expulsive breaths I used in fighting. And I had to do that with my whole body, repeatedly. Again, in a cyclonic way, so that I could keep going as long as necessary. Jed never seemed to get tired of barking.
When looking at human patterns of movement (striking, throwing, pushing, pulling, lifting, running, climbing, etc), I started to understand there were load and unload patterns that are formed through the serielastic component and the stretching of the muscle spindle (whose reactive sensitivity can be set by way of one's impression of the gamma efferent system—I've written more about this elsewhere). The refinement of these patterns meant that everything essential to them had to be internalized and concentrated into a reduced space and time period so that their origin was no longer obviousÑand applied to the task at hand, i.e. fighting. (When Richard La Plante asked me what I meant by 'refinement' I told him it was simply the internalization of throwing a stone).
With respect to concentrating a movement pattern into reduced space and time, I had also discovered the startle reflex. I noticed that when responding to being startled—such as when hearing a sudden, loud noise—the whole body jumped. A sensory neuron, through interconnecting neurons within the CNS, has the possibility of connecting to many motor neurons. This makes the entire body able to react to a single cue with extremely complicated movement actions. I realized that the startle reflex was the quickest way I could displace my weight, hence my expression 'the nail gun principle.' For example, in punching, forces and momentum developed by the legs and pelvis are accelerated through the waist/spine and violently transferred through the shoulders and elbows to the hands, sequentially or simultaneously (and, as in kicksÑvice versa). The sequential development is exemplified in the throwing-of-a-stone, or the whip analogy, whereas the nail-gun principle utilizes simultaneous transfer of forces into the target. It is the latter to which I've applied the startle reflex. That can be done over very short spaces and in reduced time.
The result of all this was that when viewing NHB/MMA/submission fighting, I was able to identify certain fundamental patterns that keep repeating themselves both on the feet and on the ground. These patterns I term the fundamental skills. Alone and in various combinations, they are the foundation of the key moves. By understanding these fundamental patterns/skills not only can you more easily pick up a new skill, but also in situations never previously encountered, you will be able to respond in a natural and dynamic way because you are already familiar with the underlying pattern of movement that you will need to produce.
Having identified the patterns, my problem became how to adapt, enhance and refine them specific to what I needed to do within a fight. So that any skill pattern I performed was not only natural but also tactical and biomechanically sound. Interestingly, when you get a move right, it actually feels easy because you're doing what the body was designed to do. Everybody it seems wants to learn the key moves, i.e. the successful moves of NHB, but very few want to spend time on those inherent reflex and bequeathed behaviour patterns that are the foundation of them (or should be). In order to make a move specific to what you need to do, you have to understand how the head/body relationship works in different ways on the feet and on the ground. When selecting specific and non-specific exercises by which to strengthen the muscle groups within the three power chains within the body, including those responsible for strengthening the major axis of the hips and spine, you should only use those exercises that are compatible to the moves on the feet and on the ground of NHB/MMA/submission fighting. In other words, muscle groups within the three power chains or even the chains themselves must not be strengthened separately or in isolation of each other or of the major axes of the hips and spine. The whole body, including the head, must be strengthened in a way that is derives from to what you need to do in the fight.
One of the ways NHB/MMA/submission fighters attempt to solve the problem of developing the interconnective strength of the entire body is turning to that advice offered by remedial sports therapists and sports performance gurus, and any other Tom, Dick or Harry who advocates core stability. The problem with this, however, is that the exercises suggested by such experts strengthen the interconnectivity of alignments that are not compatible to the requirements of NHB/MMA/submission fighting, whether on the feet or on the ground. The last thing you want to be doing as a fighter on the feet is standing erect with your shoulders back, chest out as if balancing a book on your head. A more suitable alignment from which you can virtually do anything, either on the feet or on the ground, is one that features a linear shoulder/knee relationship rather than a linear shoulder/hip relationship. There are far more effective traditional and even contemporary ways of achieving core stability (a term I'm not particularly fond ofÑI favour 'interconnective strength' instead) than rolling around in various ways on Swiss balls. Indeed those I've seen who are expert in this particular method seem to be all stability and no mobility.
And in fact, most martial artists perceive the axis of the hip and spine in terms of a vertical, static door post, about which they slam the door with their strikes. But the axis has to be a living, dynamic thing; the body has to be able to twist, bend, extend and flex (twist, untwist, fold, unfold) and the axis has to be able to shift, tactically, dynamically, and in broken time, through footwork. And the axes function in diagonal planes rather than in vertical or horizontal ones. The head largely determines these angulations and their timing. In fighting you must be able, in an instantaneous response to the implication of a cue, to rapidly and randomly change your pace and direction--up, down, forward, back, left, right etc.--and to do that effectively, the head is a major contributor.
So: learn to use your head...in more ways than one.
SM 14 September 2003
