Back to the Basics

[terryl965]

How often do you go back to the basics in your training? I mean I have taken all my upper and BB's and starting working on beginner stances and stuff. Some are enjoying it as a cool refresher others believe they are beyond this and want to go back to the other materials. I believe we must always go back and work basic hard for a couple of week every year. What are others people thoughts on this?

 

[Kacey]

There is always something to work on, no matter what level the student is, no matter what level the material was originally introduced. We work on basics every class - more senior students may be working on a different aspect of the basic techniques than the junior students, but they all work on it together.

First, if you lose sight of the basics, the more advanced techniques won't work - because in the end, everything relies on those basic techniques taught to junior color belts. If you don't train a technique, it becomes rusty - and therefore anything based on it won't work as well or be as well understood as it should be.

Second, once past a certain rank, most students are expected to teach. That means you need to understand something thoroughly and perform it correctly - or you won't be able to explain it, instruct someone in its proper performance, or demonstrate it properly.

Third, I don't know about your students - but mine tend to practice the things they enjoy the most when they are away from class, unless there's some reason (like an upcoming testing) to practice something else - so they get better at things they like, and ignore everything else unless forced to do it - which brings us back full circle to rusty basic technique affecting the quality of everything else.

 

[jks9199]

If some of them think they're beyond working on the basics... I suspect they don't understand them as well as they think they do.

Basics in any style underlie everything else. You can't do a spinning jumping side kick if you can't do a proper side kick standing on the ground. You can't do the standing side kick if you can't make the proper stance.

Personally -- I've been amazed how much a review of a fundamental technique opens up in other things.

 

[seasoned]

How often do you go back to the basics in your training? I mean I have taken all my upper and BB's and starting working on beginner stances and stuff. Some are enjoying it as a cool refresher others believe they are beyond this and want to go back to the other materials. I believe we must always go back and work basic hard for a couple of week every year. What are others people thoughts on this?

Nice thread Terry. We always need to go back to basics, and I do it also. Bad habits have a way of creeping into our workouts, and they can undermine our techniques. New students are watching and learning from higher belts, so a strong command of basics is important.

 

[terryl965]

Nice thread Terry. We always need to go back to basics, and I do it also. Bad habits have a way of creeping into our workouts, and they can undermine our techniques. New students are watching and learning from higher belts, so a strong command of basics is important.

I agree completely bad habits happen to the best of us.

 

[terrylamar]

I don't think doing basics one week out of the year is enough. I know you mean concentrate on the basics for that one week and you do basics at other times also.

In my school we do basics each and every class. I spend a 15 minute segment on nothing but basic stances, blocks, striking techniques and kicks.

 

[jfarnsworth]

Every class I pick one or two categories off of our basics list & do them. We cycle through the nine categories fairly quickly. This keeps everyone on their toes. Tomorrow I have a new student coming into the class. We will undoubtedly have another course on stances. Actually immediately after the class starts.
However with that being said. After that individual gets an idea on how the stance looks the others will be stepping into their more advanced stances at the same time. Same with the punches or strikes. The beginner will do a basic punch the others will be working off of the green belt list.

 

[phlaw]

Whenever I possibly can. I always try to work extra with lower belts because I know it usually helps me even more than it helps them.

 

[terryl965]

I don't think doing basics one week out of the year is enough. I know you mean concentrate on the basics for that one week and you do basics at other times also.

In my school we do basics each and every class. I spend a 15 minute segment on nothing but basic stances, blocks, striking techniques and kicks.

You are right Basic are worked everyday in some way but we really focus on them for a full week this time of year.

 

[jks9199]

I don't think doing basics one week out of the year is enough. I know you mean concentrate on the basics for that one week and you do basics at other times also.

In my school we do basics each and every class. I spend a 15 minute segment on nothing but basic stances, blocks, striking techniques and kicks.

A common part of our warm up -- and one I have to work more to bring back to the forefront -- is doing the basic drills. I like it as a reminder/warm up before working new material or forms. You do everything in the most ideal format, then take it and start applying.

 

[Deaf Smith]

I am a huge beliver that advanced BBs should be required to be in some of the beginner classes. This forces them to go back to the basics. The BB class should be on advanced techniques and not fiddle on basics (but that's just me.)

Deaf

 

[jks9199]

I am a huge beliver that advanced BBs should be required to be in some of the beginner classes. This forces them to go back to the basics. The BB class should be on advanced techniques and not fiddle on basics (but that's just me.)

Deaf

Ah...

But basics can BE advanced.

I teach 3 basic elements to a punch to a beginner.

Go down the road a bit... and those 3 parts each have about 3 parts.

Me, now? There are about 16 or 20 "parts" to that drop, ranging from when the punch passes my body, when the hands close, and so on...

Then, you take that punch from the stable, balanced H-stance where you learn it -- and you put it into application. And you still need to put all those elements into it. Somehow.

 

[jarrod]

Ah...

But basics can BE advanced.

I teach 3 basic elements to a punch to a beginner.

Go down the road a bit... and those 3 parts each have about 3 parts.

Me, now? There are about 16 or 20 "parts" to that drop, ranging from when the punch passes my body, when the hands close, and so on...

Then, you take that punch from the stable, balanced H-stance where you learn it -- and you put it into application. And you still need to put all those elements into it. Somehow.

well said. in our approach to training, advanced techniques are built on the foundation of basics. for instance, if you can't do a good forward roll, how can you do a rolling kneebar? (yeah i know this is the TKD forum but i'm working with what i got here).

jf

 

[BrandonLucas]

We do basic floor drills for the first half of class everyday...and our instructor goes around and makes sure everyone's stances are correct and the techiques are being performed correctly. Often, he takes a really, really long time in correcting someone as far as their technique goes, and we're forced to stay in the stance we're in for several minutes, which really gives us a great muscular workout.

I think that honing basics can be important to perfect the advanced techniques. Too often, I myself have been caught up in trying to make my form as a whole look cleaner, but realized that I needed to go back and work on my stances apart from the form as a whole.

 

[Kwanjang]

How often do you go back to the basics in your training? I mean I have taken all my upper and BB's and starting working on beginner stances and stuff. Some are enjoying it as a cool refresher others believe they are beyond this and want to go back to the other materials. I believe we must always go back and work basic hard for a couple of week every year. What are others people thoughts on this?

Great Topic Terry!

I personally don't have a problem with practicing just basics. As a matter of fact- one Saturday class a couple of week ago, I pre-framed the class as a review. I asked questions and demonstrated, and, let the students demonstrate. At the end of class the student complimented on how much they liked the review. I thnk we should do this at least 2x a month. Maybe more!

 

[IcemanSK]

We do basics as part of every class as well. We just had a belt test on Saturday & it was obvious to me that we really need to work on them more. It's hard to convince kids that it's important, tho. They'd rather work on kicks where you jump &/or spin.

 

[YoungMan]

It's this simple: if you have poor basics, or let your basics decline in your pursuit of higher technique, everything else you do will suffer across the board. If you can barely do a side kick, why in the world would you try spinning, jumping, or jumping back side kicks? Yet people try. I don't think black belts need to attend basic classes (although it helps to motivate lower belts), but self practice in basics is absolutely essential to maintain good technique.
Those who have good basics have good higher technique.

 

[KELLYG]

I think that basics are something that need to be studied regularly. I think that with more experience, you can see things in the technique that you may not have seen in your earlier training. I have seen some techniques 100 times but on the 101st time it clicks and then other aspects of the art click into place as well. The circle of life thing?