by Adrian Roman 

For a martial artist to be worth his salt, cause and effect is the single most important concept to take into consideration. Without understanding this simple law, you cannot teach the art of physical engagement because you cannot predict it.   

Anyone with my years of experience in martial arts can quickly glance at a photo sequence in martial arts magazines and tell you if the author understands cause and effect.  Quite simply, if the author grasps this principle the photos will tell a believable story; if not, the action sequences are clearly choreographed but unrealistic. 

CAUSE AND EFFECT IN LIFE IN GENERAL 

As a young man I had a brief stint at gambling on pool hall tables.  While a pool hall may not seem like a place for higher learning it certainly taught me the importance of “cause and effect.” After the break and looking over the table, a good pool player can predict the outcome and which pocket he will sink the winning ball in. Striking the first ball in a certain manner will start a chain reaction for each ball thereafter. This is where “cause and effect” has the most profound impact. Any miscalculation with any one shot can change the course of action and change the outcome of the game. If he makes a bad decision, he could lose the game and won’t be able to afford pork chops for dinner table tomorrow night. In the game of life, the risks to rewards factors are much greater. Making a stupid decision without considering “cause and effect” could cost someone the ultimate sacrifice, their life. 

From the mundane world of the pool hall to all aspects of life, one aspect of wisdom that comes with age is knowing you can predict that certain effects follow certain causes.  Most of my students are adults, some of whom are physicians, teachers and scientists.  They confirm that science, (stripped of the math no one else can understand) is basically “if this happens what else will happen as a result?”  

What a different world we would live in if we all took into consideration “cause and effect” before making any decision. Everyday simple decisions can and do have a profound impact on our lives and everyone around us. The man at the bar has one two many drinks and gets behind the wheel of a car and kills a family in an auto accident. 

CAUSE AND EFFECT IN PHYSICAL ENCOUNTERS 

No aspect of life is more real than unarmed self-defense and no aspect of life makes cause and effect more important.  Yet, many martial art techniques assume that the assailant is stationery stuffed dummy, an assumption that is of course false.  

When you strike a person with speed and power you must consider what kind of impact it produces on the target area and what that means for your follow-up strikes.  You must consider likely voluntary counters the opponent may use as well as the involuntary actions (flapping head and limbs) your strikes may cause – all of which can affect your body.  You must know and respect your assailant’s weapons. You must also consider the effect of your strikes on your own body, a body that is far more fragile than some martial arts hype would lead you to believe! 

Angle of entry, target area, soft tissue, or hard skeleton are all considerations in calculating the follow-up movement because these factors all effect the way the body will move and how you will be impacted yourself. 

Cause and effect of involuntary action on your opponent’s body on your body – If your opponent’s arm whips around and strikes your face you may have a broken nose.  And it doesn’t matter if it was his intention or an involuntary movement!

Cause and effect of your strikes on your own body – If you have ever struck someone in the skull with your closed fist, you quickly learned that you did not match your weapons up well. Parts of the skull are very hard, the bones of the hand are very fragile and if your hand is broken, you have lost a key weapon and a primary defensive shield. You would have been better served to have chosen a soft tissue area for your target. 

Cause and effect of your opponent’s specific weapons – Have you ever joined an opponent on the mat when he was wearing brass knuckles?  Of course not, because even in the so-called “no holds barred” that use of weaponry would not be permitted.  But in the street, an opponent with a large signet ring is, in effect, wearing brass knuckles and you may need to pay more attention to protection than usual. 

Cause and effect in sequence of strikes – You must learn to throttle back on some movements in order to manipulate your opponent to set up the next movement or strike. We refer to this in Kenpo, for example, as the minor/major concept and this key concept is a clear example of cause and effect thinking. 

Major/minor thinking is found in all areas of expertise. All the strokes of the pool player are not the same intensity. The baseball pitcher throws with different speeds to keep the batter off balance. If we hear a musical piece with all major chords it sounds one way. Embellish the same piece with minor chords and you will get a more pleasing arrangement. I have been asked more than once by a concerned parent, how is “Johnny” doing in class. I have replied, “he doing great, but he’s like a bull in a china store”. He goes full speed, full power, without any sense of direction. It is this raw strength and power that a good martial arts instructor must begin to harness. Going full speed at all time is wasted energy. Without direction, the students can expend themselves and not achieve anything. 

As a specific example of the importance of cause and effect in martial arts – If you strike your opponent with full power in his solar plexus with your strike moving on a horizontal plane, he may double over slightly but even more likely he will be driven backwards. This backwards movement is good if you want to turn and run. But this separation may be so extreme that follow up movements or strikes are not possible.  The cause of your strike had led to an effect such that you are now limited to one power punch. If that power punch does not have a long-lasting effect you will surely have to engage again. From experience as a teacher and fighter I know that the initial engagement is the most dangerous for both participants. Ideally, you should limit the time of that initial engagement and put it strongly in your favor. 

Now let’s suppose that you strike your opponent in the solar plexus but throttle back on the same strike and deliver it on a descending angle at 40 to 45 degrees. Instead of catapulting him backward, the descending punch shrinks his vertical height zone and his head bends forward.  Now the extreme gap and separation has not taken place but you are still safe because of his vulnerable position and surprise and pain from the strike.  You are in a position to strike to his chin, head or chest with another weapon.  The same reasoning will give you a third, forth and fifth strike to take you opponent out. 

The true masters of American Kenpo, an art that’s been my life study, will have a flow to their art because they have embraced “cause and effect.” If you incorporate “cause and effect”, you will see the emergence of “economy motion” and other important principles. If one ignores these principles, breakdowns and gaps will take place when doing sophisticated and complicated movements thus making it difficult to recover. The skilled martial artist who has mastered the necessary tools can accomplish this easily enough.  They will have taken in consideration the profound impact of “cause and effect” in their presentation. That is why the true Kenpo masters move with such speed and grace,  making their movements looks effortless but lethal.  My recreation of the ancient American Indian fighting art, Red Warrior, always considers the life or death, cause and effect factors when facing an opponent armed with a knife. 

Embrace the single most important ingredient in martial arts – cause and effect.  And, as with all good martial arts principles you will find that even outside of the studio or the street fight you can embrace this principle in your journey through life.