Gross Motor Skills vs. Fine Motor Skills

Gross Motor Skills vs. Fine Motor Skills

So you may have heard the phrase “Gross Motor Skills vs. Fine Motor Skills” talked about a lot in the self defense and martial arts fields but what does it really mean?

Well, basically, fine motor skills are small highly controlled movements that take a lot of neural and mental engagement, while gross motor skills are large borderline flailing motions that take minimal neural or mental engagement.

For example:

Fine motor skills would be like writing your name on a piece of paper or playing a musical instrument while gross motor skills would be like walking or throwing a punch.

The reason you would want to focus on gross motor skills when it comes to self defense is when your “fight or flight” response kicks in, your body goes thru several biochemical changes, most notably the adrenaline dump. When your body gets flooded with adrenaline your nervous system can no longer engage the small fine motor skills as it is hardwired to engage the gross motor skills in order to either run as fast as you can or fight back, hence the term “fight or flight”.

So, what does this mean for your training?

Trying to do small joint locks or complicated techniques work wonderfully…when your in the gym with no stress but we here at Synergy train for the reality of the street, so we really stress those gross motor skills that you will be able to do in a real life encounter, like the outward block in Tac Techs and the signature Shape Shifting in DNA.

Train for reality and focus on what will work for you whether it’s in the gym or when your stressed in a dark parking lot.

Side notes:

Kali Testing is coming up on Saturday, April 18th at 9:30 a.m.

And theres a special in house Advanced Grappling seminar working on advanced escapes and submissions coming up soon, more details to come…

Thanks Guys and train hard and train safe!