Theme of the month May 2009: Minimum effort, maximum effect

The founder of Judo, Jigoro Kano, used -- in part -- the criterion of "minimum effort, maximum efficiency" to select techniques from the older jiu-jitsu schools to include in his new syllabus, and labeled this criterion as one of the two key principles of Judo, along with the goal of practicing for "mutual welfare and benefit".

This month I will be exploring ways to reduce effort and simultaneously increase effect, together yielding higher efficiency (since efficiency = effect / effort).

The first point when learning a technique is that when it isn't working, don't just apply more force.  This is just adding extra effort (which we should be minimizing!).  Instead, assume that something is amiss and vary it until it starts to work.

Conversely, when a technique is working reasonably well, can you reduce the amount of applied effort and achieve the same effect?