David and Goliath

Gaining leverage over your opponent means that you are able to use something small and make it incredibly important. Has anyone - perhaps a teasing older brother - ever held your hands in such an uncomfortable position that you weren't able to fight back at all? This is the concept of leverage, of which the root word is "lever." By changing one small element of a combat situation, you are able to change the entire momentum.

Common leverage points usually deal with weak areas on the human body, such as joints. When you're able to disable an opponent's joints, they won't be able to bend. The joint is a small area that enables a whole lot of movement, which is why it's important to focus on joints in a combat situation; you want to keep yours free and inhibit the bending of your opponents' joints.

But leverage doesn't only have to apply to the levers in the physical human body. Leverage can also refer to using one aspect of a fight to your advantage: in jujutsu, you learn how to use an opponent's weight to your advantage, and against your opponent. By utilizing momentum and gravity, you can utilize this idea of "leverage" to defeat someone who is larger than you.

Oftentimes, getting leverage over an opponent is a simple matter of quickly discerning their advantages and working to inhibit them. If you're fighting a smaller, quicker fighter, then you'll want to get that fighter in a situation where their quickness doesn't count - such as wrestling on the ground, where your strength can overpower them.

In the Battle of Thermopylae, 300 Spartans and other warriors famously used leverage (in this case, the terrain) in order to repel a massive army. What can you accomplish in your martial arts sparring - or even your life - if you understand leverage? A lot.

Photo Credits: maha-online

Originally posted 2009-11-17 03:02:50.