Relaxation may seem counterintuitive in a martial art or combat sport like jiu jitsu, but it can provide many benefits. The struggle of fighting another human conjures up images of hard, forceful movements. By achieving a relaxed, elastic state, you can lower your centre of gravity (COG), enhance your mental focus, and control your nervous system by keeping adrenaline levels in check, promoting stable, quality movement and mechanical advantage.
Elasticity, on the other hand, allows for flexibility, touch sensitivity, fluid movement, rebound and redirection effects, and force absorption. Lowering your COG makes your base more stable. Being elastic and fluid in movement, built on a stable base, provides the ideal conditions for playing a game of mechanical advantage. This is what grappling is.
When you combine relaxation and elasticity, you create a body and mind that are highly adaptable and unpredictable: if you have a calm nervous system coupled with high mental focus, your sensitivity to the subtle movement of your opponent will be enhanced. Throw in the ability to rebound and redirect forces that come at you, and you have Relaxed Elasticity.
To illustrate the difference between rigid and relaxed structures, imagine two fence posts of the same dimensions buried deep into the ground, with a metre above the ground. One post is solid timber, the other is a thick-walled, hollow rubber tube. A truck drives at each post, striking them with speed. What happens?
The solid timber post breaks off and smashes, while the thick-walled, hollow rubber tube bends on impact, absorbs the force as it is pressured down under the truck until it passes over the top, and rebounds with deadly force.
What you should notice in your Jiu-Jitsu training is that when you establish a rigid structure with your body, you become top-heavy and unstable. This is because a rigid structure is formed by the flexed contraction of your muscles locking your bones in a position. When you flex, your relaxation is gone, and your COG naturally rises as you draw the weight of your blood to the area of muscular contraction. For humans, this is typically the arms, shoulders, and back because we focus so heavily on the use of our hands to fight. A rigid structure is easily manipulated and broken when force is applied.
In contrast, a relaxed, elastic structure can rebound and redirect forces, resulting in a more formidable and unreadable opponent.
Not only this but a relaxed and elastic body can apply more effective pressure. Often, we think of pressure as ‘pushing down,’ when the most effective style of pressure is one that sinks in a relaxed way – think of a sleeping human, a dead weight. Emulating this by sinking your COG as deep as possible through your opponent not on your opponent, is far more effective than downward pressure through the muscular contraction of a rigid body.
Developing relaxation in your rolls can help you absorb the force applied by your opponent and redirect it to your advantage. This alchemical approach to jiu jitsu can make your movements more fluid, your reactions more intuitive, and your energy more efficient. Try incorporating these principles of Relaxed Elasticity into your jiu jitsu practice and see the difference it can make.
This is Relaxed Elasticity.