Quote:
Originally Posted by Chinaboxer
if you watch animals in the wild or even a solid muay thai fighter, you'll notice they sink their chests and "push" the back like a cobra or a crouched tiger about to attack. This helps to "lock the core" which has many benefits while fighting. The most obvious is of course, more power as a result of being able to use both lower(leg) and upper(shoulders) as one unit. another benefit is that it also rolls the muscles over the intercostals and ribcage. This also applies to grappling. when a grappler takes your back, he will bridge to break your "core" while maintaining his core for the rear naked choke or what have you. that's why so many grapplers also get rib or intercostal injuries due to being stretched backwards when they lose their core.
With all that said, don't misinterpet the "locking of the core" as tightening the muscles. this isn't the case at all. think of it like dynamic stretching. when you do this, there is a tension from doing the action but it doesn't come from tightening the muscles, but more from the tension created by just doing the stretch.
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Thanks for the answer - big help; very informative! Though, I still don't understand what you mean by "sinking the chest".. I'm trying to lock my core standing, and from my understanding I'm pulling my back a little (so I have really straight posture) and then I'm supposed to sink the chest - how do I do this when my posture is straight? I'm probably misinterpreting what you said :S Do you have a picture on hand? (I looked at cobras/crouching tigers but I can't make the translation of their bodies to a humans).