Using videos to supplement what you learn in class?

Flying Crane

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I am having trouble kicking out of a wide back stance. I understand it is more stable and maybe in time, I will do it this way. The way I learned it in the past in TSD MDK, was, 70% of the weight on the back leg, front leg a little wider than shoulder width with the weight resting on the ball of the foot. From what I recall, we used the front leg as a jab. Anyway, I haven't started sparring yet in TKD so I don't know how I will adapt to throwing more kicks off the back leg.
In training, movements and stances are often more exaggerated. This is a training mechanism that helps your body understand the correct movement better.

In application, movement and technique is usually not so exaggerated. Your body understands how to do it correctly, and you can still do so effectively without the big movement.

So, there is a time and a place for everything.
 

skribs

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One other thing I can think of is: there's a lot of bad advice on the Internet. I've probably given some, and I've definitely gotten a lot of it. A beginner might not know how to parse bad advice from good.
 

Jaeimseu

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Speaking only for myself, I encourage my students to use video or other resources to supplement their training or review what they’ve learned. I provide them with links to online resources that I have seen myself and know to be “standard.”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

punisher73

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I don't see an issue with using video/dvd as a supplement to face to face instruction. Most have already pointed out that there may be differences in technique between schools and organizations on how something has been done. Those are easily fixed with live instruction.

Some may not want students to do that because they are skipping to material that they aren't ready for yet because they haven't spend enough time with the material relevant for their skill level. To me that is a legitimate reason to tell them to work on whats been done in class. In this case, it doesn't sound like that was the issue though.

When I started training almost 25 years ago, there were no videos or youtube to reference for what I needed. I took a journal with me to every class and would write down what I remembered clearly. If I wasn't sure of it, then I didn't write it down until I was. My instructor has always said that if you don't remember it, then it is your body's way of telling you that it's not ready for it yet. We've all had that one movement that we just couldn't remember and then one day it just suddenly was there and we could do it and remember it and wonder why we couldn't do it before.
 

JR 137

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If you apply no philosophy to mowing a lawn, you're doing it wrong...

I don’t apply any philosophy to mowing my lawn, yet it still gets cut correctly (provided my mower doesn’t break down).

I do however apply strategy.
 

JR 137

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I have neither strategy nor philosophy for mowing my lawn. I have a goal: get it shorter, and relatively orderly (about the same height). Beyond that, I just want it over.
Do you go in random patterns every time you mow? Or do you go in a specific pattern, slightly overlapping the previous line, thereby being efficient and timely?

I’ve never seen you cut the grass, but I highly doubt you get all squirrelly and put zero strategy into it.
 

JR 137

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I don't see an issue with using video/dvd as a supplement to face to face instruction. Most have already pointed out that there may be differences in technique between schools and organizations on how something has been done. Those are easily fixed with live instruction.

Some may not want students to do that because they are skipping to material that they aren't ready for yet because they haven't spend enough time with the material relevant for their skill level. To me that is a legitimate reason to tell them to work on whats been done in class. In this case, it doesn't sound like that was the issue though.

When I started training almost 25 years ago, there were no videos or youtube to reference for what I needed. I took a journal with me to every class and would write down what I remembered clearly. If I wasn't sure of it, then I didn't write it down until I was. My instructor has always said that if you don't remember it, then it is your body's way of telling you that it's not ready for it yet. We've all had that one movement that we just couldn't remember and then one day it just suddenly was there and we could do it and remember it and wonder why we couldn't do it before.
My former organization had standardized curriculum stuff for the kyu ranks on VHS. The videos had “FOR REFERENCE ONLY” clearly printed on all labels. The head of our organization said in the intro and outro “These videos as done as a reference only. They are not to be used to teach you material your teacher hasn’t taught you yet.”

People would promote, then the first class of their new rank they’d already know the material. How? They were doing the next belt stuff from the video. The head honcho wasn’t happy at all. Then someone had the nerve to argue with the head guy during a promotion test about how a technique was supposed to be done. He insisted “the guy in the video said it’s done like this.” The head guy shook his head and walked away with a distinct look on his face. One of the seniors helping with the test asked the guy testing “do you know who the guy in the video is?” He shrugged his shoulders. Yeah, it was the same guy running the test. And no, the technique wasn’t changed after the video was released. The student was a complete idiot. The videos weren’t ever sold again. It was the final straw.
 

Dirty Dog

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Speaking only for myself, I encourage my students to use video or other resources to supplement their training or review what they’ve learned. I provide them with links to online resources that I have seen myself and know to be “standard.”

That is one of the (relatively few, to my way of thinking) advantages of being part of a huge org, as you are. There will often be official, professionally produced videos. I like the series done by GM LEE, Kyu-Hyung with the KKW demonstration team.

Smaller orgs aren't as likely to devote the money and resources needed to do similar videos.

I don’t apply any philosophy to mowing my lawn, yet it still gets cut correctly (provided my mower doesn’t break down).

I do however apply strategy.

I despise lawn care. I know there are people who spend tons of time on their lawns, trim them with scissors and a millimeter ruler and comb the blades so they all bend the same way. I'm glad they have a hobby.
Xeroscaping, baby. Xeroscaping.
 

JR 137

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That is one of the (relatively few, to my way of thinking) advantages of being part of a huge org, as you are. There will often be official, professionally produced videos. I like the series done by GM LEE, Kyu-Hyung with the KKW demonstration team.

Smaller orgs aren't as likely to devote the money and resources needed to do similar videos.



I despise lawn care. I know there are people who spend tons of time on their lawns, trim them with scissors and a millimeter ruler and comb the blades so they all bend the same way. I'm glad they have a hobby.
Xeroscaping, baby. Xeroscaping.
I hate cutting the grass so much that I tried a bunch of different ways to get it done faster. I’ve got a system now, aka strategy.

My uncle tried the Xeroscaping as you put it. He said F this, I don’t care anymore. The city sent him a letter telling him to cut it. He ignored that and 3 more letters. He came home on day and found someone cut the grass for him. And a bill in his mailbox from the city for $200 (20 years ago). We live in the same city, so I cut it myself to avoid having the city do it and charge me an exorbitant amount.
 

Dirty Dog

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I hate cutting the grass so much that I tried a bunch of different ways to get it done faster. I’ve got a system now, aka strategy.

My uncle tried the Xeroscaping as you put it. He said F this, I don’t care anymore. The city sent him a letter telling him to cut it. He ignored that and 3 more letters. He came home on day and found someone cut the grass for him. And a bill in his mailbox from the city for $200 (20 years ago). We live in the same city, so I cut it myself to avoid having the city do it and charge me an exorbitant amount.

Then you may not be doing the xeroscaping right. We own half of a rural block. Most of it is allowed to grow wild, and I have a guy with a tractor mow it down 2-3 times a summer. I'm planning to dump a bunch of sunflower seeds out there to eliminate the need for that. The part that's the actual yard is xeroscaped. I don't do anything with it. At all. One of our students did trim some deadwood off the trees last fall, and he sprays weedkiller on the gravel parts once in the spring and once in the fall. That's it.
Xeroscaping doesn't mean just abandoning your lawn and letting it get overgrow and weedy. It means using plants that are native to your climate and area (so there's no need to water or fertilize) and that control their own growth.
 

pdg

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People who don't like doing stuff in their gardens do confuse me slightly, it's a relatively enjoyable activity.

The flipside though is that I really like people who don't like doing stuff in their gardens - because they pay me to do it instead.

If everyone liked doing their own gardens it'd mean I'd have to get a real job again and that's something I never want to repeat ;)
 

Gerry Seymour

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I think that is where I am at right now. I can do forms from a wide stance if that is what is required, but I have trouble kicking from such a stance. My knees are OK right now, especially given my weight.

I had a talk with another assistant instructor who seemed more flexible on the issue. His view was, for curiculum and testing, do things their way. But when it comes to sparring and tournaments, develop a style that works for you. I asked if the head instructor had a problem with that approach and he said, no, so long as it works.
That’s pretty much my approach.
 

Gerry Seymour

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I am having trouble kicking out of a wide back stance. I understand it is more stable and maybe in time, I will do it this way. The way I learned it in the past in TSD MDK, was, 70% of the weight on the back leg, front leg a little wider than shoulder width with the weight resting on the ball of the foot on the front leg. From what I recall, we used the front leg as a jab. Anyway, I haven't started sparring yet in TKD so I don't know how I will adapt to throwing more kicks off the back leg.
This is an area where your prior experience may slow you down. If you got good at the kicks from the stance you learned before, you reached a point where you made small adjustments automatically to fit the stance and situation. Those now-subconscious adjustments might actually be counterproductive for the deeper stance.
 

Gerry Seymour

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Speaking only for myself, I encourage my students to use video or other resources to supplement their training or review what they’ve learned. I provide them with links to online resources that I have seen myself and know to be “standard.”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I’ve been searching out videos I find useful and marking them for students who want to dig around a bit.
 

Dirty Dog

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People who don't like doing stuff in their gardens do confuse me slightly, it's a relatively enjoyable activity.

For you, sure. For me, not so much.
Personally, I don't understand why anyone would pay someone else to change their oil or do a brake job.
 

Gerry Seymour

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Do you go in random patterns every time you mow? Or do you go in a specific pattern, slightly overlapping the previous line, thereby being efficient and timely?

I’ve never seen you cut the grass, but I highly doubt you get all squirrelly and put zero strategy into it.
I stop at the tactical level. My “yard” is neither rectangular, nor level, nor contiguous. I use overlapping cuts as a tactic, but just start at the closest point (near the top) and work my way down. I’ve likely never cut it in the same pattern or order twice. I just want it over.
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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Well, this is the gist of the criticism of my post. You pay for instruction which means you do it the head instructor's way.
And as a beginner, that is, I suppose, the way to do it. That said, there are variations within styles or even within schools. I ran into this issue not with the head instructor, but one assistant instructor who keeps pushing me to widen out my back stance. (it feels wrong to me, but I think this is muscle memory from my previous training) So I asked if this is the only way to do a back stance. She said no, that Master. X, a 4th Dan, and second highest ranking instructor at our school prefers a narrower stance, but the correct way to do it is with a wide stance. Anyway, I watch others closely to see if everyone does such a wide back stance and frankly, I see a range. When I get a chance, I will ask the head instructor.
I was at a dojo for a while in my main style, that did things a bit differently then I learned them. Every time we did techniques, myself and my instructor would start laughing for two reasons...1: I would always forget the numbers/orders for techniques (but know all of them). 2: I would do half the techniques 'incorrectly'. I know slight variations for almost all the techniques/combinations/kata, and will do different ones based on my muscle memory, or by talking it out with my instructor and seeing which made more sense for me. The other students would get confused, and the other instructors would get frustrated with me, but I didn't care. Just because one school does something doesn't mean that is the 'correct' way to do it.
 

Gerry Seymour

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For you, sure. For me, not so much.
Personally, I don't understand why anyone would pay someone else to change their oil or do a brake job.
If you could watch me do a brake job (did my last one one, including new rotors and one caliper about 10 years ago), you’d understand.
 

Dirty Dog

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If you could watch me do a brake job (did my last one one, including new rotors and one caliper about 10 years ago), you’d understand.

You could learn how to do it right from a YouTube video...
 

Gerry Seymour

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You could learn how to do it right from a YouTube video...
Oh, I did it right - drove that car many thousands of miles on that brake job. I am quite able to do such things. It took me almost 2 days, though. If you watched me, about an hour in, you’d take away my tools.
 

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