We have all seen martial arts demonstrations. A master squares off against his taller and heavier opponent, extending his arm until his fist stops a mere inch from the other man’s chest. Suddenly, the master’s fist slams forward with explosive force, throwing the opponent into the air. The foe lands in a pile 8 feet from where he stood.

Nearby, another expert lets loose a full-throated kiai as he leaps up, kicks and shatters a board held high over his head. A third master smashes downward with a hammerfist, a stack of concrete blocks.

What secrets do these experts share? What endows mere mortals with such seemingly superhuman abilities? Consciously or subconsciously, these people have mastered the martial sciences. The more you understand them, the more you will come to appreciate the martial arts.

The martial arts are enormously popular, but what about the sciences? It may sound funny, but when you study the lives of masters of the past — people like you will discover they all were highly qualified martial scientists. Their disciplines covered sports medicine, biology, geometry, kinetics and physics. Knowledge of these disciplines enabled them to develop maximum effectiveness in their techniques.

That is not to say the term “martial arts” is incorrect, for the men mentioned above were indeed world-class masters of the martial arts. But the words “art” and “science” are not mutually exclusive. constitute arts because, when properly executed, they move us to see beauty in their form. Yet they are effective because they develop tremendous power as a result of sound scientific principles.

What Is Power?

On an immediate physical level, the offensive goal of a karate strike is to transfer as much destructive power as possible from the karatekato the opponent. The question is, What constitutes the power that is being transferred? From the standpoint of physics, a dictionary definition of power is “energy transferred per unit of time.” The last word gives the first clue to the nature of karate power: Time is a critical factor.

Think about placing your fist near someone’s chest and pushing him as hard as you can. Now perform the same movement but shorten the time it takes to place your hand onto his chest. As the time decreases, the push becomes a strike. The body mechanics are the same; the only difference between a push and a strike is the time involved.

The time required to execute a technique translates into speed. If we return to the dictionary, we find that speed equals distance divided by time and that momentum, which we can think of as force, equals mass multiplied by velocity. For instance, if you want to deliver a force of 4,000 units, you might have a 200-pound man move at 20 mph (mass x velocity, or 200 x 20 = 4,000). This example indicates that a great mass traveling at a relatively low velocity can result in the desired amount of force. Put more simply, a big man, although not nearly as fast as a small man, can still deliver a great impact.

On the other hand, a smaller but quicker man can produce the same impact: A 100-pound man moving at 40 mph will yield 4,000 units of force (100 x 40 = 4,000). This suggests that a smaller mass traveling at a greater velocity can produce just as much force as a larger but slower mass. An extreme example of this is a bullet — although it has a very light weight, or low mass, its great velocity gives it tremendous impact.

Developing Power and Speed

As you can see, velocity and mass are important when you’re talking about power. Let’s examine these concepts to understand their applications for real fighting techniques. The goal is to produce as much power as possible, so we’ll look at ways to increase speed and effective mass.

The greater the speed of your strike, the more power it has. Speed can be increased through good muscle conditioning. Many karate and taekwondo stylists use weight training and isometric exercises to enhance muscle tone. Explosive push-ups, or push-