A strategy of certain techniques in martial arts is getting your opponent off balance so your technique has a greater chance of success. Once someone’s center of gravity is disrupted, their instincts will be focused on getting their stability back; since they’re distracted and at a positional disadvantage, it leaves a perfect opportunity to attack them. That being said, it’s tricky to get someone off balance because we automatically try and save ourselves by stepping or counter-moving when we feel unsteady. One way to disrupt a persons structure is to control where their head is.
There are a handful of skills I’ve practiced that focus mainly on attacking and positioning the head offset to their center of balance to get the opponent in a vulnerable state, easier to attack. One of my instructors would always say “wherever the head goes, the body follows”, meaning if you can control their head you can most likely control their body. For example, if you try to perform a take-down on somebody while they’re standing upright it will be significantly harder than if they’re off balance; utilize striking or pulling the head to get their body easier to attack.
There’s a technique called the Puter Kepala, which my instructor calls the “toliet bowl”. To execute, if you’re able to grab their elbow or shoulder, then with your other arm you grab their head (striking first also helps). Now imagine the body like a clock face; a person standing straight up would have their head at 12 and feet at 6. From there once you have the arm and head under control, you crank their elbow to 12 o clock and their head to 6 o clock so they’re falling as they spin a little, looking like a toliet flushing its water. Even simpler, there are some skills where we’re literally told to palm strike and push away their face to stop their attack from having power, or just so they can’t see your next attack.
The Puter Kepala, and other take-downs and striking techniques are just one example of how the position of your head will determine where the rest of your body will go. If you’ve ever seen a ballet dancer or ice skater spin multiple times in a row, either on the ground or jump spinning in the air, you will notice their head moves a split second before the rest of their body. They’re told to “spot” when they turn, meaning whip your head around and look at something in front of you ever so slightly before the rest of your body turns. This allows them to spin quicker, smoother, and ultimately lets them add more revolutions into their spin. You can apply this to your spin kicks as well; if you turn your head and spot your target first you will have much more control and speed in your kick. Once I started consciously practicing this I felt a lot more comfortable throwing multiple spin kicks in a row.
Next time you’re having difficulty with a technique, see if there’s a way to make it more effective by using your head (or theirs!).
