By Joel B. Belinan
Innovations in sports help in the promotion of endeavors for health. Last Saturday, September 12, and Sunday, September 13, Coach Danrey Velo of the Brave Heart Martial Arts came to our favorite stable at Burnham Park not just to work out, he does that every day at his gym in Abanao Square mall, but to introduce a new toy for martial arts practitioners. It surely is a new thing to entice more people to practice martial arts. I cannot recall how they call it, but it’s actually a body armor with an apparatus that measures one’s power, timing (speed) and agility.
Of course it was an instant hit to us who were eager to know how our performances were in punching, kicking and even how fit we really were not just in terms of endurance, speed and flexibility. I first saw such device in one episode of a TV show called Fight Quest where they brought martial arts practitioners in a fight science laboratory to measure each and every one’s power, speed, flexibility, and endurance. What I saw in that episode was almost the same as what Coach Danrey brought. The only difference was the armor was being held by a person instead of it being worn by a mannequin.
While I have been practicing various martial arts for many years, I never had the opportunity to test those aspects of my power and energy. The traditional way of measurement around here was how one performed when sparring and in actual competitions in tournaments, or if one were a street thug, then in street fights.
So we had the opportunity last Saturday and Sunday with my friend Kru Noriel Aquisio (Kru is a Thai term for martial arts teacher). Kru Noriel broke his six months home quarantine in La Trinidad because of this special armor. First to try it was Widjaya, the daughter of Coach Bonifacio Vibal with her taekwondo kicks that already earned her tens of medals in local and national competitions.
When my turn came, I tested first my punching power combined with the proper timing. The apparatus actually was programmed such that when the white lights came on then you immediately punched at the target with whatever power you had. First, we tested with a 30 second segment and I needed to punch at least 20. According to the Apps counter I delivered 34 punches. However, the power measurement was disappointing as indicated by the video recording. To aggravate it, Coach Danrey posted directly the video on my FB timeline. Of course for those who do not understand the process they would not have noticed but for those who knew, an 87 “jewel” measurement was actually a very weak punch. It was embarrassing.
Then I tried my roundhouse kick which showed a much better measurement but still very weak when compared to real power kicks. Kru Noriel’s turn came and the differences in the figures shown by the recordings were very obvious. In both his punches and kicks. I just consoled myself (as my personal alibi of sorts) that I was older than him by at least 15 years.
Last Sunday, I got another opportunity to test myself and my interest this time was my side thrusts. With Coach Danrey just by himself (without his students), he had to hold the armor alone. My roundhouse kicks definitely had improved, and when I tried my side thrusts, it was kind of funny. While Coach Danrey was being pushed back by the impact of the kicks, the power registered was still very weak. He explained that it was the disadvantage of the armor being held by a person instead of it being worn by a fixed mannequin as it was originally programmed. He continued that sometimes there was a lot of power or energy lost of this.
Nevertheless having such kind of innovation in sports and in our particular field at that surely attracts additional interest. Seeing Atty. Benjie Gaab punch with all his might and Coach Boni Vibal with his almost Bill Wallace like kicks– spinning kicks and high kicks—created a lot of interest to the performers and the spectators.
So now, Coach Danrey is organizing a Kick-Challenge Competition using the apparatus as the main basis of judgment.** Comments @ FB page Martial Arts for Health and Fitness**
