How do you make your movements more fluid?

bugatabugata

Orange Belt
Joined
Aug 10, 2011
Messages
85
Reaction score
3
Location
Washington, DC
A couple of people (including the Master) have pointed out that my movements (especially in sparring) tend to be stiff. My lower body is mostly fine, but from the waist up, I look like one of those Rock em' Sock em' robots. Reminding myself to relax is not helping. Is fluidity something that comes with experience, or, are there any drills that can be done to fix this?
 

Dirty Dog

MT Senior Moderator
Staff member
Lifetime Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
Messages
23,363
Reaction score
9,102
Location
Pueblo West, CO
You already KNOW the answer. You said it yourself. Relax. Loose muscle is fast and smooth. Tense muscle is slow and jerky.

Experience helps, but it's really that simple, and that difficult. Just relax.

I don't know if this will make sense, but in a way, I find it helpful to NOT focus on what I'm doing.

Don't worry about the move you're executing, worry about their response, and your response to their response.
 

bluewaveschool

2nd Black Belt
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
745
Reaction score
13
Location
Kentucky
Exactly right. Stop thinking. When I don't think about the form I'm doing, it looks great. When I'm thinking about the next movement, I'm a bit slower and stiffer.
 

MAist25

Blue Belt
Joined
Sep 6, 2010
Messages
294
Reaction score
19
Location
Long Island, NY
Yea bud, you answered your own question. You know what you are doing wrong, now you just need to work on it. There isn't really a shortcut, just something you need to focus on when you are training.
 

ATC

Senior Master
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Messages
2,664
Reaction score
70
Location
San Jose
It will take time. Just move naturally. Don't try to move how you see others move. Just be comfortably. The more you train the stronger your muscles will become and the movement will become easier to do faster. Right now you want to move fast so you try to move fast by being tense. Well that slows you down and make you look stiff. It takes time. So just move naturally and it will come. It won't come overnight so don't try to make it overnight. I have my students work on movement for about an hour every so often. You don't have to do it everyday but maybe once a week or so. The rest of your training will have enough movement each day to also be always working on it.

Taekwon!
 

armortkd

Orange Belt
Joined
Sep 4, 2010
Messages
63
Reaction score
2
Breathe. Have your instructor observe your breathing patterns.
 

Cyriacus

Senior Master
Joined
Jun 25, 2011
Messages
3,827
Reaction score
47
Location
Australia
Slow down, learn how to relax slowly, then learn how to relax quickly.
 

granfire

Sr. Grandmaster
Joined
Dec 8, 2007
Messages
15,980
Reaction score
1,593
Location
In Pain
Spar more.

With experience you need to think less to get your moves and combos together.
 

StudentCarl

3rd Black Belt
Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Messages
935
Reaction score
30
Location
Grand Haven, MI
One technique is to lengthen your rounds. Tension is exhausting. There are times when my master will have us go ten or fifteen minute rounds. You will feel like you're gonna die, but eventually your body will relax to conserve energy and you'll tire enough to stop thinking so much. This won't work if you get lazy and coast, but if you move and fight with intensity and focus, you can only go longer if you relax.

If it was easy, we'd all be otherworldly Grandmasters.

Keep at it.
Carl
 

Grenadier

Sr. Grandmaster
Lifetime Supporting Member
MTS Alumni
Joined
Mar 18, 2005
Messages
10,826
Reaction score
617
The folks here are correct, that relaxation is the way to go.

However, as an instructor (Karate), I can tell you right away, that constantly telling someone to relax isn't going to solve the problem. Pointing out negatives and telling someone to do the opposite doesn't really appeal to the human mind very well, especially since it can be difficult to constantly force relaxation.

The easier way is to tense certain areas in the body where such tension is a good thing. This is something that you can constantly do, since you're not really focused on the relaxation part itself.

For example, you can focus on tensing your abs slightly. This action alone can help you relax the shoulders (where you don't want the tension), since you're focused on something that you can control 100% consciously, instead of trying to focus on something you can't control 100%.

Other things you can do is to give your armpits a gentle squeeze while sparring. This action helps tense the lats, which in turn, forces your shoulders to relax.
 

Latest Discussions

Top