Energy Conservation
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To conserve energy
- Use as little movement as possible and force your opponent to move. For example, when you dominate the center of the ring, you force your opponent to move around you.
- Strike an opponent while he or she is moving toward you, rather than when he or she is moving away from you. Counterattacking is more energy efficient than attacking or just blocking.
- Let one movement flow into the next. Since stopping uses energy, it is more efficient to keep moving. For example, if your inside crescent kick misses, step the foot down, and keep spinning into a spin hook kick.
- Use your opponent's momentum. For example, if your opponent attempts a sweep and knocks your foot sideways, go with the motion into a spinning attack. If your opponent pushes you, instead of resisting, go with the motion of the push so the opponent becomes off balanced.
- Make sure all your attacks make contact with the opponent in some way so the opponent must expend energy in stopping your motion.
- Use your opponent’s attacking energy by redirecting it into you own attack. For example, punch inside an incoming punching arm so you block it and let its energy add to your punch by knocking it toward its target.
- Allow strikes to ricochet off one target into another target. For example, bounce a low block off a kick and change the block into a back fist attack to the head.
- Do not lean into attacks, it robs the strike of power by making it difficult to snap the strike back after impact. The extra movement of the lean requires more energy, and, if the attack misses, it will require more energy to stop the extra movement and recover to your fighting position.