How do you make your movements more fluid?

[bugatabugata]

A couple of people (including the Master) have pointed out that my movements (especially in sparring) tend to be stiff. My lower body is mostly fine, but from the waist up, I look like one of those Rock em' Sock em' robots. Reminding myself to relax is not helping. Is fluidity something that comes with experience, or, are there any drills that can be done to fix this?

 

[Dirty Dog]

You already KNOW the answer. You said it yourself. Relax. Loose muscle is fast and smooth. Tense muscle is slow and jerky.

Experience helps, but it's really that simple, and that difficult. Just relax.

I don't know if this will make sense, but in a way, I find it helpful to NOT focus on what I'm doing.

Don't worry about the move you're executing, worry about their response, and your response to their response.

 

[bluewaveschool]

Exactly right. Stop thinking. When I don't think about the form I'm doing, it looks great. When I'm thinking about the next movement, I'm a bit slower and stiffer.

 

[MAist25]

Yea bud, you answered your own question. You know what you are doing wrong, now you just need to work on it. There isn't really a shortcut, just something you need to focus on when you are training.

 

[ATC]

It will take time. Just move naturally. Don't try to move how you see others move. Just be comfortably. The more you train the stronger your muscles will become and the movement will become easier to do faster. Right now you want to move fast so you try to move fast by being tense. Well that slows you down and make you look stiff. It takes time. So just move naturally and it will come. It won't come overnight so don't try to make it overnight. I have my students work on movement for about an hour every so often. You don't have to do it everyday but maybe once a week or so. The rest of your training will have enough movement each day to also be always working on it.

Taekwon!

 

[armortkd]

Breathe. Have your instructor observe your breathing patterns.

 

[Cyriacus]

Slow down, learn how to relax slowly, then learn how to relax quickly.

 

[granfire]

Spar more.

With experience you need to think less to get your moves and combos together.

 

[StudentCarl]

One technique is to lengthen your rounds. Tension is exhausting. There are times when my master will have us go ten or fifteen minute rounds. You will feel like you're gonna die, but eventually your body will relax to conserve energy and you'll tire enough to stop thinking so much. This won't work if you get lazy and coast, but if you move and fight with intensity and focus, you can only go longer if you relax.

If it was easy, we'd all be otherworldly Grandmasters.

Keep at it.
Carl

 

[Grenadier]

The folks here are correct, that relaxation is the way to go.

However, as an instructor (Karate), I can tell you right away, that constantly telling someone to relax isn't going to solve the problem. Pointing out negatives and telling someone to do the opposite doesn't really appeal to the human mind very well, especially since it can be difficult to constantly force relaxation.

The easier way is to tense certain areas in the body where such tension is a good thing. This is something that you can constantly do, since you're not really focused on the relaxation part itself.

For example, you can focus on tensing your abs slightly. This action alone can help you relax the shoulders (where you don't want the tension), since you're focused on something that you can control 100% consciously, instead of trying to focus on something you can't control 100%.

Other things you can do is to give your armpits a gentle squeeze while sparring. This action helps tense the lats, which in turn, forces your shoulders to relax.