Sensitivity Training

Sensitivity training at Strickland’s Martial Arts is the cultivation of tactile and perceptual awareness — the ability to "feel" and interpret your opponent's movements, intentions, and energy through touch, body contact, and subtle cues. It’s especially important in close-range and grappling arts, but it has value across nearly all martial disciplines.

What Is Sensitivity in Martial Arts?

Sensitivity means developing:

• Tactile awareness: Feeling changes in pressure, direction, and intention.

• Timing and rhythm sense: Reacting in sync with your partner’s flow.

• Energy reading: Recognizing tension, weakness, or imbalance in your opponent.

• Reflexive adaptation: Reacting without needing to "think."

Martial Arts That Emphasize Sensitivity

Martial Art Sensitivity Practice

Wing Chun Chi Sao (Sticky Hands)

Tai Chi / Internal Arts Push Hands (Tui Shou)

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Flow rolling, positional drilling

Judo / Wrestling Clinch work, grip fighting

Filipino Martial Arts Hubud-Lubud, weapon trapping

Jeet Kune Do Interception and trapping sensitivity

Boxing / Muay Thai Clinch control, parrying, slipping with contact

Why Sensitivity Training Matters

• Early detection of attacks (you feel a move before it happens).

• Conservation of energy (you use leverage and timing instead of brute force).

• Increased control (you know when to resist or yield).

• Improved counters and redirection (you use the opponent’s force against them).

How to Train Sensitivity

1. Partner Drills

• Chi Sao (Sticky Hands): Constant contact with both partners adapting, deflecting, and redirecting.

• Push Hands: Feeling root, balance, and center — not resisting but redirecting.

• Flow Rolling (BJJ): Rolling with minimal resistance to feel transitions and pressure changes.

• Trapping Drills (FMA, JKD): Hands remain in contact while trapping or clearing.

2. Blindfold Drills

• Train techniques (grappling, clinch, trapping) with a blindfold.

• Forces you to rely on touch, not sight.

3. Slow Sparring / Flow Sparring

• Moving in a relaxed, cooperative rhythm.

• Helps you notice shifts in balance, structure, or intention.

4. Isolated Contact Drills

• Focus on a specific limb or point of contact (e.g., wrist control, shoulder tie, etc.).

• Build the feel of tension, relaxation, weight, and motion.

Key Concepts in Sensitivity

• "Listen" with your body: Use contact points like radar.

• Relaxation is key: Tension dulls your sensitivity.

• Yield, then redirect: Don’t meet force with force unless necessary.

• Centerline awareness: Know when your line is being invaded — or when to take theirs.

Internal Sensitivity

In arts like Tai Chi and Silat, sensitivity also includes:

• Sensing your own body alignment and energy.

• Feeling how your structure supports or collapses under pressure.

• Using breath, root, and intent to influence contact.

Common Mistakes

• Training too fast — you can’t feel what’s happening at high speed if you don’t know what to look for.

• Using strength instead of sensitivity — overpowering hides flaws.

• Overcomplicating — sensitivity is subtle, not mystical.

Final Thought

Sensitivity isn't softness — it's precision.
It's the difference between blocking a punch and redirecting it with barely any force.
It's the reason some masters can dominate you with minimal movement.