Improving Line Drills

[dancingalone]

I generally favor training with striking pads and heavy bags over simply punching and kicking in the air. That said, sometimes the line drills are useful when you have a large number of beginners in class, since they can train an isolated motion in the air.

How do we improve these though? Does anyone think learning to pivot and attack to the sides and the diagonals is more 'realistic' as well as practical than moving and striking straight ahead? Don't think of this as necessarily just turning to face an opponent either... What are the implications to learning proper form and hip motion? Any at all? What other ideas do you have?

 

[granfire]

You make them up the way you need them.

Then again, depending on the level 'beginner' KISS

Anyhow, we have in the past done drills, moving up and down the floor, with kicks and whatnot, with punches to the side, no pivot.

Siting stance, stepping side kicks, and punches...

You can add different levels for the more advanced students.

So if your total fresh student labors over a front kick, your more advanced guys can do a front/round combo.

Add a block to a punch etc.

You can step it up to who knows what in terms of difficulty.

I think you can incorporate a lot into line drills. It helps with overall fitness, and awareness...

 

[terryl965]

We do combination kicks in the line drills, like back leg roundhouse - Backswing, Fast kick - backleg - backkick, we also like to do backleg roundhouse - squarts to help build leg strength. Hope some of that helps you.

 

[dancingalone]

Anyhow, we have in the past done drills, moving up and down the floor, with kicks and whatnot, with punches to the side, no pivot.

Is this just to train an impromptu response, Granfire? I generally emphasize full stance changes in my drills since they're part of proper technique formation. If you just punch to the side with no pivot and your torso and hips facing the front, the punch is purely an arm motion and won't have any real power at all.

On an added note: You can punch to the side with some power if you are working hip vibration or waist turn. The Naihanchi (Chul Gi) kata and Pinan Godan (Pyung Ahn #5) kata help teach this.

 

[granfire]

I do forget that the nomenclature is not unison...

Ok, here it goes:

direction of movement is towards whatever qualifies as 'front' on the floor
position: horse riding sitting stance, feet point to the side.

So you move, like a step together/behind side kick, looking toward the front, but do the punches to the side. It gives you plenty of power, not as much as if you put your whole body into it, but good enough.

you can also start the sequence off with squats and/or crescent kicks...

So you could have # of squats, crescent crescent (one each leg, or more) sidekick, punches to the side.

What we also did, yo get out of the static thinking we started a sequence off with a round step, so you would aim at a corner vs the front, combination of blocks, kicks and punches.

Ideally you can translate those drills to partner/target drills.

I hope I made things a bit clearer (I have not worked out in a long time, so I am rusty, plus I think it affects my memory...)

Anyhow, it's supposed to keep you from thinking only linear. It takes the muscle memory a bit further. (have you ever composed your own form and found it impossible to split 2 elements, because you have done it a million times in a form?)

 

[ATC]

We do as Terry does. Line drill by having the student do the basic kicks up and down the floor. Basic kicks are:

Ax Kick
Inside out ax kick
Outside in ax kick
push kick
front kick
round house kick
side kick
back turn kick
hook kick
back spin hook kick

We start the above combo set of kick with the right foot first then alternating to whatever foot is back next. So if in a right foot back fighting stance we would start with a right foot ax kick then immediatly do a left fook in out ax then a right foot out in kick then a left foot puch kick and so on until the set is done. Then we switch feet on the second set to start with left foot back and repeat the kicks. We may do 6 sets before moving on to more advanced kicks.

We also do the same thing up and down the floor with blocks and punches as well. We will do a low block followed by a mid punch then step and do a high block followed by a mid punch then step and move to an outside middle block followed by a punch and so on until all blocks are done. We will transition from walking stance for all the blocks and punches then do it again with backstance, then again with front stance and so on. We will also do these drills in reverse as well with all the stances moving backwards into each stance and performing the blocks and punches.

Line drills and kicking and punching air is much harder than hitting a bag or even a target pad for that matter. It develops the control needed to become faster by teaching you to flex at the last moment and snap the kick as well. Air kicking and punching is needed just as much as bag and target training as you need to use the muscle of the legs or arm to start and stop the kick vs. letting the bag stop and or bounce the kick off of.

 

[dancingalone]

Line drills and kicking and punching air is much harder than hitting a back or even a target pad for that matter. It develops the control needed to become faster by teaching you to flex at the last moment and snap the kick as well. Air kicking and punching is needed just as much as bag and target training as you need to use the muscle of the legs or arm to start and stop the kick vs. letting the bag stop and or bounce the kick off of.

Some counter-reasons why I prefer a target:

1) Kicking and punching the air may be more injurious to your joints if coupled with poor technique. There's more leeway with a cushioning target to prevent over-extension.
2) Without a real target to hit, you never learn a proper sense of interval for your strikes. With a target you can training to hit the surface, hit 1 inch past the surface, or push through the target entirely. More versatility along with proper distancing...
3) Instant feedback on power and power TRANSFER of strike. This one should be self-explanatory.

There is a place for air drills, but I would not put it on the same level as practice with a bag or other striking surface.

 

[Archtkd]

I generally favor training with striking pads and heavy bags over simply punching and kicking in the air. That said, sometimes the line drills are useful when you have a large number of beginners in class, since they can train an isolated motion in the air.

How do we improve these though? Does anyone think learning to pivot and attack to the sides and the diagonals is more 'realistic' as well as practical than moving and striking straight ahead? Don't think of this as necessarily just turning to face an opponent either... What are the implications to learning proper form and hip motion? Any at all? What other ideas do you have?

I am a big believer of line drills for everyone in the dojang, including advanced students. I use them at the beginning of most classes to set the tone of traing and cohesion of students; develop footwork, posture, stance, balance, timing, kiap, etc.

My thoughts are that line drills should be a precursor to more targeted work in the dojang with paddles and bags, and hogu drills. Depending on the pace and distance one sets, line drills can be used to develop cardio endurance, speed, etc. Paired students in line drills can also work on attacking, counter attacking, evasion, foot placement, etc.

I think developing a wide variety of stuff to be done in line drills is what can make them interesting, realistic and useful.

 

[ATC]

Some counter-reasons why I prefer a target:

1) Kicking and punching the air may be more injurious to your joints if coupled with poor technique. There's more leeway with a cushioning target to prevent over-extension.
2) Without a real target to hit, you never learn a proper sense of interval for your strikes. With a target you can training to hit the surface, hit 1 inch past the surface, or push through the target entirely. More versatility along with proper distancing...
3) Instant feedback on power and power TRANSFER of strike. This one should be self-explanatory.

There is a place for air drills, but I would not put it on the same level as practice with a bag or other striking surface.

I am not saying replace taget or bag training with air kicking. I am saying in conjucntion with. If you do no air kicking and only bag or target work then you are missing part of you development. Just as if you do only air kicking or punching and not bag or target work. You must have a balance.

 

[dancingalone]

I am not saying replace taget or bag training with air kicking. I am saying in conjucntion with. If you do no air kicking and only bag or target work then you are missing part of you development. Just as if you do only air kicking or punching and not bag or target work. You must have a balance.

As I said there's a place for it. But I don't consider it on the level as target work at all.

My thoughts are that line drills should be a precursor to more targeted work in the dojang with paddles and bags, and hogu drills. Depending on the pace and distance one sets, line drills can be used to develop cardio endurance, speed, etc. Paired students in line drills can also work on attacking, counter attacking, evasion, foot placement, etc.

I can agree with this. Actually I use paired drills extensively, but I actually don't consider these line drills since they are not static, forcing students to adjust to each other's target areas due to body shape or body movement.

 

[ATC]

As I said there's a place for it. But I don't consider it on the level as target work at all.

Hmm...I have to disagree. To me air kicking is just as important as target kicking. I tend to find those that do mostly target or bag work have sloppy or bad control vs. those that do both equally. Bag or target kickers primarily tend to over kick and have no snap. This tend to leave them out of position to follow up when sparring if they miss the opponent. They also tend to have a wind-up when kicking making them more readable also.

again with that said a good air kicker even when kicking targets tend to be more accurate and snap the target vs. push the target. The air kickers are also faster as they are able to recover or recoil faster as they don't rely solely on the rebound effect of hitting and bouncing off the target. They also don't let the leg drift when kicking, up or down and use muscle control to put the leg down not gravity.

Just my observation.

 

[dancingalone]

Hmm...I have to disagree.

That's fine.

again with that said a good air kicker even when kicking targets tend to be more accurate and snap the target vs. push the target. The air kickers are also faster as they are able to recover or recoil faster as they don't rely solely on the rebound effect of hitting and bouncing off the target. They also don't let the leg drift when kicking, up or down and use muscle control to put the leg down not gravity.

But why do you link these good traits to practicing kicks in the air? Could not the same good habits be practiced with a target, only you also reap the advantages I mentioned above?

 

[ATC]

But why do you link these good traits to practicing kicks in the air? Could not the same good habits be practiced with a target, only you also reap the advantages I mentioned above?

To me even when kicking a target (not a bag) there is help in stopping the leg and getting use to disconnecting the kick only after you hit something. As I stated this tend to lead to over kicking and training that you must always hit something. When in combat that is not true an many times you will need to miss a kick to setup the kick that you want to connect. If you cannot kick air and make it look real then your setup will fail.

I am not saying that you should not kick targets (You should as they develope accuracy and focus) But air kicking is just as important as you will develop a better sense of mucle control thus making you able to kick faster and also harder. Kicking nothing is hard, Kicking a bag is easy. You don't always have to kick full power or speed either as slow air kicking is great as well. But being able to kick full speed in the air is needed as well.

I see the difference everyday as we have over 200 students to see the differences in. There are many that only practice on a bag, shield, or target and none of them are as good as the kids that can air kick and practice air kicking as well as target or bag work.

Just what I see.