A Forms/Kata/Hyung/Pattern Challenge

[JWLuiza]

I'm in a Behavioral Medicine class right now and we are working on trying to change one of our own behaviors in order to see how difficult it can be to change even the simplest things. It's an exercise in obtaining empathy for the patients that we'll see who will be obese, smokers, etc. And many of them will fail several times before they ever succeed in changing their life.

I'm working on my own health and blogging the experience as part of my project. I haven't worked out regularly since school started in August. I've begun to work out some and have been developing a small club here as well. I'd like to invite everyone to participate in the project. I have cleared directing people to my blog with Mr. Bob Hubbard, but if you wish to maintain discussion and video posting solely on MT, I will post all blog videos and posts here as well. I look forward to seeing what we can all accomplish in the next two months.

The next post will introduce the challenge. The third post will give this weeks drill. Any drill homework from the challenge is supposed to be "at-home" or in-addition to your regular workouts.

 

[JWLuiza]

Practice More! Two Months to a worthy form

I don't think I have any ACTUAL readers, but in the off chance that I do... I propose a challenge:

Pick up an old form (got to be a rusty, old form that you have neglected) or a new one and record your Day 1. Put it on youtube.

Yeah, that's right. PUT IT UP. It's gonna suck. So remove ratings and comments (unless you are a glutton for punishment). The goal here is to motivate you to do BETTER. Your beginning stage is documented.

Between now and the end of April, practice as much as you can. Every Sunday I'll post some drilling ideas for your form/kata/hyung. Feel free to document those by commenting on a post or posting a video response.

During the third week of April, participants will post an "after" video showing all their hard work. I'll keep mine open for comments at that point.

Who is interested?

 

[JWLuiza]

This week's drill...

Oh crap. It's Sunday.

What's in for us this week?

Step #1: Break your form down into "grammatical units". Sections that flow together from a performance and application stand point. This will help as you break down the drills throughout the next 8 weeks. I'll use Pyung Ahn Ee Dan/Heian Nidan/Pinan Shodan as an example later tomorrow hopefully.

Step #2: Create someway to mark down the number of times you practice each sequence as a solo performance during the week. Goal by next Sunday is to practice each sequence at least 30 times by itself, spread over at least three days of training.

Since we're drilling a new form it's still time to ingrain the movements into muscle memory.

 

[JWLuiza]

Anyone following along?!? Even if you don't share videos, let me know if you have any comments. This weeks drill will be posted early!

 

[tshadowchaser]

I am following this thread. I think many of us that have been around for a while go back and review some of our old forms that we for whatever reason do not practice as offten as we should.
For those just beginning: Keep at it and practice those forms

 

[JWLuiza]

This Week's Drill:

This week we are going to use video as a diagnostic tool. There is often a gap between how your mind imagines your forms and what you're doing in reality. Despite the feedback you may get from others, even instructors, sometimes the only way to really understand the gap between how you perform and how you want to perform is to see it yourself.

Video tape yourself doing your form 3 times and then watch it, paying specific attention to the following things:

1) Precision: Find the moves that are not being executed properly. Specifically, look at the preparation, execution, positioning, and "impact" of each technique. We're especially looking for techniques that "feel" right but clearly look wrong on the video. You will want to take these techniques and give them special attention. You need to ignore that "comfortable" feeling that coincides with the way you typically execute the moves and find the "uncomfortable" feeling coincides with the correct execution. Moving forward, make sure you use that uncomfortable feeling as your guide, aiming to "find" it whenever you execute these techniques until it becomes comfortable and automatic.

2) Consistency: Identify the techniques or series in the form that are different across the three times you did the form. These are going to require special attention. If you cannot perform a series consistently, it is extremely difficult to improve on it. Typically this is due to a lack of understanding of the techniques/series or just the need for more practice. If it is the former, consult a reference such as your instructor, a quality video, or book and make sure you understand the technique. Either way, make sure to spend extra time on these sections in every practice session until that consistency comes.

3) Timing: Ask yourself whether the timing you see in on tape matches the timing you see in your mind. Much like precision, timing changes will have to be extremely (sometimes painfully) deliberate at first and, with practice, will become more automatic.

Repeat the above process 3 times, spread out during the week, working on these three areas, applying your insight from the video each time. If you're up for it, post your videos so you can share your progress.​

This week's drill is from an instructor from TKA, my home school. He didn't mention if he wanted his full name posted, so I'll save the mini bio for later.

 

[JWLuiza]

Here is my first 3 repeats of the form Wanduan. I'll evaluate them based on the Criteria my instructor gave me and see if I can improve.

It was nice to see improvement even within the three repeats themselves.

http://tangsoodotravels.blogspot.com/2010/03/wanduan-for-week-2-drills.html

 

[xJOHNx]

I follow it, can't put nothing on the tube I'm afraid.
Because I don't think that some people would be happy with it. Style politics.

Funny, I was having the same class as you were when you posted the original post. Empathy, hah

 

[JWLuiza]

I follow it, can't put nothing on the tube I'm afraid.
Because I don't think that some people would be happy with it. Style politics.

Funny, I was having the same class as you were when you posted the original post. Empathy, hah

Feel free to send me private URLs. I promise not to tell anyone! What type of program are you in?

 

[JWLuiza]

Jake asked us to evaluate our reps for:
1. Precision
2. Consistency
3. Timing

I performed the reps within a 15 minute window. I recorded each rep, watched the video, thought through issues, recorded next rep, watched video, caught breath, recorded third video.

Precision

I find this set to be a bad baseline for precision. I'm still on an upward performance curve based on single repeats. I think the simple act of just watching my performance immediately after was a boon to my performance. I felt a really good progression with the individual techniques from each repetition.

That being said, I'm still not happy with the crispness of the down block, punch, punch, kick, elbow, down block sequences. There is a fine line between speed and complete techniques that I am still working on.

The leg breaks towards the end also look "muddy". I am working on having the Open Hand High Blocks landing with the stance, and felt I was relatively close on the third rep.​

Consistency

I don't think I have reached a plateau of fitness and technique to gauge consistency yet. This means I just need to practice more.​

Timing

I have a great reference for the timing I want. Other than my own physical limitations, the sequences have come along nicely in terms of grouping. I would like to slow down between sections though and bring up the performance aspect.​

 

[JWLuiza]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGwYKHUiH0g&feature=player_embedded

Too busy with Micro to do a challenge this week.

So keep up practice everyone!