We all want to have the hardest punch we can have. We want to know that, in the event of muggery, thuggery or similar evil doing, we can get the job done. What we don’t want is to be on the receiving end of a world class jawbreaker.

The fellow who delivered this dastardly strike to me, it was actually a side kick, was my friend and fellow karate classmate. His name was Gary, and we were freestyling, and I threw a kick, he parried, and he gave my ribs such a side kick! It was a powerful, classic kick, and I could feel my ribs bending inward, and it was the hardest strike I had ever experienced in the martial arts.

Truth, even now, so long afterwards, I have no idea why my ribs didn’t break. I couldn’t talk, could hardly breath, and I should have stopped and taken a rest, told Gary to kick with less force, seen to my protection. Being young, dumb, and full of…uh, stuff, I continued.

Cleverly, I turned to the other side and continued to fight. I kept my range, circled, went tactical, and after a minute I could breath. Then I did something very stupid, I attacked.

I thought I was recovered enough from his kick, and I threw my own side kick. Gary scooped the side kick aside and threw his own side kick. I was taller than him, and his kick came up, hit me in the groin, lifted me all the way off the ground.

Thirty years later, I happened to be at the doctors for a routine checkup, the doc noticed that one of my testicles was shrunk. Even as the doctor made his observation, I knew exactly when it had happened. That second kick that Gary threw was the hardest strike I have ever experienced in this lifetime, it should have broken my ribs, but it didn’t hit my ribs, instead, it just squashed my coconuts.

When it happened, I just continued to freestyle, somehow continuing, somehow surviving, but, eventually, I was to have my revenge for Gary’s lack of control. He stopped training, actually went to another school and taught, and then, six months later, he came back. I had not halted my training, I had continued learning, and I had accomplished something I call CBM, Coordinated Body Motion.

All parts of the body must move at the same time, as one unit, and while it is slow at first, once one understands the concept, it is not just fast, it breeds intuitive responses. Fighting with Gary, using my Coordinated Body Motion, I began kicking him, and kicking him, and kicking him, and because he didn’t have CBM, hadn’t realized his intuitive nature, he couldn’t block my kicks. I kicked his body until his ribs threatened to break, but I didn’t go beyond a certain point, he was, after all, my friend, and though friends make mistakes, they should always look out for each other.

Al Case analyzed martial arts for 4O+ years. A writer for the magazines, he had his own column in Inside Karate. You can find out more about CBM, Coordinated Body Motion, and other things, by getting a free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.

Tags: Self Defence