Power, speed, accuracy

[Aefibird]

Leaving aside correct body mechanics (let's assume they're A-OK! ), which of Power, Speed and Accuracy do you feel is the most important element in any given technique?

I'm sure many people will say Accuracy, but out of the other two, would you rather have speed or power?

[Andy]

aefibird said:

Leaving aside correct body mechanics (let's assume they're A-OK! ), which of Power, Speed and Accuracy do you feel is the most important element in any given technique?

I'm sure many people will say Accuracy, but out of the other two, would you rather have speed or power?

Well yeah, cos if there is no accuracy, everything else becomes irrellevant.

When you start talking about speed or power, you enter the realms of discussion on physics, and the topic drifts into mass, momentum and acceleration etc.

It's all important.

Of any given technique/principle, it's important that you understand all aspects of it, rather than focussing on one or two.

[Aefibird]

Very true, but I thought I'd conduct a little straw poll.

[random]

Although it is all important, speed and accuracy can supersede power, hit someone in the same place 5 times can be more effective than hitting someone hard once or twice and not actually hitting anything vital or hitting around an area.

[AngelaG]

I think I'll be different and say power.

a- Because I'm contrary
b- Because if you can hit REALLY hard I would imagine that as long as you get something on the opponent you will get a good effect. Of course if you were so inaccurate that you missed completely it would be a bit irrelevant. ;D

[random]

If you look around your dojo, there is probably some people who possess all of these attributes, but most will have two, and depending on the person and there abilities, two is all that is needed, but the right two.

If one is strong and can deliver the big Ipon technique, while absorbing a few blows, then you don’t need to be that accurate, but you do need speed to get it in. I say not accurate because if you can hit that hard, it will hurt wherever you hit.

So if you are not that accurate, you need speed and power, just developing one is not enough.

If you are not that powerful then you need speed and accuracy, you will need to get the strike in and get it somewhere where it matters the most.

So if you are not that powerful and strong you need to be both accurate and fast, just one of these isn’t good enough.

If you are not that fast then you need strength and accuracy.

The permutations could go on but I hope I have made some sense (a first time for everything).

Obviously the best course of action is to develop all three equally, but if you can’t, then make sure you get the right two…otherwise it could really hurt.

[AngelaG]

I agree random, but also thinking about it, it depends on which scenario. For a self-defence scenario power and speed may be more important, but in a typical point scoring touch contact sparring situation, power is kind of irrelevant. If one is really fast in a sparring environment then accuracy can become less important as well, because with a fast mawashi geri to the head it can sometimes become very hard to judge exactly how far the strike was from the opponent... I totally agree with you that the best way to approach it is to become proficient in all 3 areas though.

[random]

Once I started to break it down I purposely didn’t get into the situations it might apply, that could turn into a small book, and I do sometime have to do some work. ;D

[Mr. Precision]

aefibird said:

Leaving aside correct body mechanics (let's assume they're A-OK! ), which of Power, Speed and Accuracy do you feel is the most important element in any given technique?

I'm sure many people will say Accuracy, but out of the other two, would you rather have speed or power?

I'll just annoy everyone and say power gives you speed. ;D

[Sionnagh]

Can't we just settle for practicing to be able to strike hard and fast to where it hurts...?


Mick

[Sionnagh]

Ok, on the original question there are things (techniques) which if can be done with speed and have body mass behind them can be more effective than striking with all the strength you can muster. IMO. I say that because one of our techniques is throwing a punch with the body mass riding behind it rather than setting some sort of stance and striking from there.
The idea is sort of along the lines of, if you dropped a 50kg weight on your foot then it'd hurt so if you weighed say 50kg and could load that behind the punch it's going to hurt also.

Gosh I hope that makes sense


Mick

[AngelaG]

Oh yes - perfect sense

[death]

aefibird said:

Leaving aside correct body mechanics (let's assume they're A-OK! ), which of Power, Speed and Accuracy do you feel is the most important element in any given technique?

I'm sure many people will say Accuracy, but out of the other two, would you rather have speed or power?

Where to Begin?I would not say Accuracy is most important. Q? Where would you like to be hit with a 10lb.hammer moving 100mph. Ans.Nowhere.If you turn your fist into a weapon (makiwara training) ,and develop speed and power your going to break things.

How do you develop power and speed? Correct body mechanics(Proper technique) ,speed and power.Every things in threes.The more correct the technique,the faster your weapon will move,the faster it moves the more power will be created.Just my rant.

[pasmith]

If I may quote Geoff Thompson here on the key to defending yourself physically....

"Learn to hit f*ck*ng hard!"

That seems like a vote for power don't you think?

He even mentions successful fighters that didn't possess a lot of speed BUT hit damn hard and with accuracy but, crucially, could manage the situation well so that their chosen strike hit home.

That puts the order as accuracy, power THEN speed.
If you're sneaky and pre-emptive then speed becomes less important.

I personally think that the difference in speed from one normal person to the next is marginal (even with training). Perhaps between Bob Sapp and Bruce Lee you'd see some difference.

Accuracy and power on the other hand can be vastly different and more telling in a fight.

[nkudahc]

i hate to go all physics on you guys but i'm under the impression that you get power from speed...

force = mass * acceleration .....right?

so if we're using proper body mechanics we should be using as much mass as possible. therefore if we increase our speed we increase our power. so i guess what i'm saying here is that if you're using proper body mechanics and you have one..then you probably have both. but yeah...anyway accuracy

edit: crap.. i should have read all the other posts before i went all physics on you guys ;D my bad