Kozushi
Level 7 Valued Member
Not sure if this has come up before as its own thread or not.
Of course S&S as a GPP program, like any fitness program is going to have carry-over to fighting: more endurance, mental toughness, balance, stronger grip, more explosiveness...
Also, any kind of weight training has carry-over to grappling and wrestling since you're strengthening your grip and your body to carry loads. In this broad sense S&S isn't going to be much different than any other good weight training program. The TGU mimics some important grappling positions of course.
But in terms of fighting applications, this is what I've felt about S&S:
1. The swings relate to resisting your opponent's pressure on your arms (which are connected to your back!) from above. Getting your arms pressed down takes away your ability to control the fight. It seems swings help with getting and keeping the literal "upper hand". This applies I think to weapons handling like swords, shields etc, and to bare arm stuff like blocking and striking too.
2. The TGU is similar but subtly different. It's also about resisting your opponent trying to crush you down into the ground, but this time the weight is resisted more by your entire body and is not so much focussed in your arms (and back). I'd like to emphasize how important it is to be able to resist getting crushed or pulled down in a match.
So, what I think I'm seeing is S&S creating an excellent kind of defensive or structural strength and balance for fighting.
To me, attacking movements are usually involving some kind of movement with the feet, which is something not really happening in S&S (just a bit of a lunge or more of a step up in the TGU).
Of course S&S as a GPP program, like any fitness program is going to have carry-over to fighting: more endurance, mental toughness, balance, stronger grip, more explosiveness...
Also, any kind of weight training has carry-over to grappling and wrestling since you're strengthening your grip and your body to carry loads. In this broad sense S&S isn't going to be much different than any other good weight training program. The TGU mimics some important grappling positions of course.
But in terms of fighting applications, this is what I've felt about S&S:
1. The swings relate to resisting your opponent's pressure on your arms (which are connected to your back!) from above. Getting your arms pressed down takes away your ability to control the fight. It seems swings help with getting and keeping the literal "upper hand". This applies I think to weapons handling like swords, shields etc, and to bare arm stuff like blocking and striking too.
2. The TGU is similar but subtly different. It's also about resisting your opponent trying to crush you down into the ground, but this time the weight is resisted more by your entire body and is not so much focussed in your arms (and back). I'd like to emphasize how important it is to be able to resist getting crushed or pulled down in a match.
So, what I think I'm seeing is S&S creating an excellent kind of defensive or structural strength and balance for fighting.
To me, attacking movements are usually involving some kind of movement with the feet, which is something not really happening in S&S (just a bit of a lunge or more of a step up in the TGU).