Goal setting and MA

[jwU]

so I know I need to set some goals for the new yer but am wondering in terms of MA how do people measure the successof a goal..

Eg as a runner I may say I want to run 10 km in 'x' amount of time.

However when it comes to MA I feel is not so defined. Eg if I want to improve a specific kick it isnt as tangible to define the goal and the outcome deisred compared tothat of a runner.

amother good example would be a kata....how would one define a goal for a kata and then determine how close they got to ahieving their goal..

I know what my weaknesess are and to work on them but what to measure them against I guess is what poses the biggest question.

How do others go about setting their MA goals?

 

[ashyworth]

I know some people that use tournaments to help set goals.

for example, they may want to improve kicks so will say that they want to score a round kick to the head in a tournament this year...

for kata you may set yourself to place in the next tournament, and so on...

 

[Zero]

What are your weaknesses that you wish to improve on?

As said, tournaments be they in kumite or kata are a good way to see ow others (and yourself) rate you against others in your style, both your peers and those at higher level - so this is fantastic.

I set an upcoming tournament as my goal, like a runner would set arace or say a marathon.

I'm not sure about tournmanets as being better able to guage your effectiveness at a particular technique as you sould be going with, or making ,the flow in a competition and using whatever technique is there to fill the gap, take the point or the knock out. Setting up combos is great but a mind set to see how you have progressed with a particular strike could be asking for trouble. Preconceived ideas can be dangerous.

To test your kicks try someting like:
For high kicks to increase and test stamina and control and balance see how many times you can kick, keeping in your kicking stance, so see if you can snap out 10 kicks in a row without having to lower you leg. At my club we often go to ten for eac leg, (1) 1, (2) two kicks, (3) three kicks in a row...so by te 10th set you've actually done truck loads.

 

[jks9199]

There are different ways to measure your progress. You can set a goal of meeting a promotional requirement, or competing in a certain number of tournaments where you can get a tangible measure of success.

You can also set a goal like learning a new kata or performing a certain number of repetitions of the kata or a specific technique.

You may also want to consider that maybe martial arts training isn't an endeavor that you can or should measure that way. It might be a break from lots of goal setting and measuring success in your life, and a time to simply focus on learning and letting the improvement happen.

 

[mozzandherb]

As mentioned competitions are something to work towards. Another way is to set goals in your training. For example a good goal to set is to start training outside of your school, like start lifting weights or working on your cardio. Another good one depending on what MA you're in, you can set yourself some goals working on a puching bag. Try to do as many kicks as you can in 10 secs for one leg, then multiply that # by 3 and try to achieve that # in 60 sec for one leg and then do the other leg. If you fall short of that # make it up by doing push-ups or sit-ups