Friends

First, happy holidays!  It was a great day today in Atlanta for Thanksgiving…as in, way too much food.

We posted a video on Youtube about The Wedge and Footwork.

 

One of the things we discuss in the video is depth perception and I’ve had a lot of questions about depth perception in terms of the Wedge and striking.  No matter what art, depth perception plays a key role in how we view strikes the world.  We view the world in a three dimensional space and look for cues to respond to the object.

How can you use this to your advantage in striking and defense?

Think of driving for a moment – we view the world in expectation of the objects to change size, or move side to side, and that is how we look at the vehicle in front of us.  This motion depth perception is the brain looking at the object in front of us and making assumptions that the object will change in size due to depth.  But, we only see the vehicle in two dimensions.  When you are driving, and the vehicle in front of you brakes, you delay, and then you brake – as your brain processes the fact that the object as changed depth, or distance…but it is moving in 2D, not 3D, which would be to the side.

But, if it swerves or changes lanes, you react in a different way, because the size of the object has changed laterally, so your brain reacts differently and instead of braking, it brakes and swerves, or looks at the vehicle and makes a decision on what to do – perhaps nothing, it’s just quickly changing lanes.

When we talk about the wedge and depth perception, we are talking about a similar concept with motion based depth perception.  But, this applies to outside of the wedge, and into other strikes.  When you cut the force, or move toward the striker as he moves toward you, but do so in a way that does not laterally shift,  they react differently than when you step to the side in your defense.  This is because the depth perception is engaged and the body looks at the world in a 3D way.  But, you are moving in 2D, the brain struggles to find a 3D based response.

This is why cutting into the incoming force with the wedge is effective…because you are making the brain look at the hands first, and the body, and in short distance, make determinations on the size of the object changing….as opposed to when you step to the side, which is a lateral, 3D movement.  The reaction is completely different.

If we take it a step further, then we should cut away first, to get our own bearings and make our own judgement on what to do – trusting the wedge to protect us against the incoming strikes, and letting the opponents brain make assumptions on 3D movement – so when we cut into the force, and move 2D, the brain must make massive adjustments for the eyes to make decisions.

And this is why the Wedge is so effective at cutting away from, and into the incoming force.

You can pick up the Wedge at the shop here:  https://pramek.com/new/shop/default/videos/the-wedge

We will see you Sunday at BlogTalkRadio.com/PramekRadio for this week’s talks about combatives!

Until next time…!

Matt

 

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