mental excercise

[tshadowchaser]

A few days ago I gave my Green belts a homework assignment. They had to come up with 100 different techniques (or targets)
as someone kicked at their stomach. Not to hard for a black belt but interseting for a green.
When they came back with the techniques we tried them out any repeats where thrown out anything that didn't work where thrown out. They struggled the first try at this but the 2nd time I had them do it was no problem.
After getting through this I told them they had to add a 1 or 2 punch/kick/ trow/takedown combination, to each technique , no repeat technique combos. The incentive 1000 push ups if they failed and no class till they did the pushups and completed the techs.
Anyone else give their students such tasks? I know in TKD 1 and 3 steps are done.

 

[Shinzu]

this is a very cool idea!! i sometimes imagine situations in my mind and picture what i would do and how i would do it. they say you can get mentally ready for real life situations this way, but i like you approach. i'll have to give it a try

 

[zen_hydra]

Do you not think those numbers might be a bit high? I am in the Army (we do a lot of pushups), and I don't know anyone who can just knock-out 1000 pushups (not even close). You assigned your green belts to each come up with 100 different techniques to deal with a kick to the stomach?! Throwing out the repeat techniques!! I don't have a clue about how many green belt students you have, but that certainly seems like an ungodly number of potential techniques to work through. How long did you give them to come up with all these techniques, 15 minutes? How long do give someone to do one-thousand pushups? If this scenario really happened, I can't possibly see the point in being so extreme.

 

[jeffkyle]

Originally posted by zen_hydra
Do you not think those numbers might be a bit high? I am in the Army (we do a lot of pushups), and I don't know anyone who can just knock-out 1000 pushups (not even close). You assigned your green belts to each come up with 100 different techniques to deal with a kick to the stomach?! Throwing out the repeat techniques!! I don't have a clue about how many green belt students you have, but that certainly seems like an ungodly number of potential techniques to work through. How long did you give them to come up with all these techniques, 15 minutes? How long do give someone to do one-thousand pushups? If this scenario really happened, I can't possibly see the point in being so extreme.

Ditto.

 

[tshadowchaser]

They had a week to come up with the techniques and it says in the original post techniques/targets. targets is the key. a roundhouse kick to the knne is one thing a kick to the head is another. If the student listened to what was said was part of the excercise.
Now the push ups where a no class until done. It could be one day or a week. The other side of the excercise was I had to do the pushups if they got it right. YES I did them . It took a while because I'm not 20 years old anymore but class was conducted and I stayed in a cornor of the room doing pushups till I did the thousand. And YES im sore as hell , my arms ached for a couple of days after. Like I said I'm not 20 anymore
If some one else trys this sset your own paramiters you might be surprised at how inventive a student can become.

 

[sweeper]

out of curiosity is it 100 targets, 100 techniques or 100 technique/target combinations?

and were they deffences? (as in an attempt to prevent dammage) or a counter attack or simultanious attack of sorts (pary off and punch the quad)?

 

[yilisifu]

I think I would ask WHY?

 

[pesilat]

Originally posted by tshadowchaser
A few days ago I gave my Green belts a homework assignment. They had to come up with 100 different techniques (or targets)
as someone kicked at their stomach. Not to hard for a black belt but interseting for a green.
When they came back with the techniques we tried them out any repeats where thrown out anything that didn't work where thrown out. They struggled the first try at this but the 2nd time I had them do it was no problem.
After getting through this I told them they had to add a 1 or 2 punch/kick/ trow/takedown combination, to each technique , no repeat technique combos. The incentive 1000 push ups if they failed and no class till they did the pushups and completed the techs.
Anyone else give their students such tasks? I know in TKD 1 and 3 steps are done.

In the Silat I train, we are expected to do things like this. We've got a "langkah" (footpath) that we teach out at basic levels. It's a kind of "map around the body." Hard to explain. But, basically, it's a stepping pattern that moves you around the person's body and we do it standing, kneeling, and lying.

As the student advances, they are expected to be able to show techniques from each position of the "map." We show them one or two at each position. There are 6 basic positions (though there are several "transitional" positions where techniques can be applied, too). But as the student progresses, they are expected to find more applications on their own. By the time we were instructors, we were expected to be able to come up with at least 7 at each position. My instructor could come up with 15 - 20 for each position (probably more now though we haven't discussed this exercise recently). He said his instructor could pull out over 30 per position (if memory serves me). I think, at this point in my development, I can come up with about 10 per position.

We were never given pushups or anything if we couldn't do it. He just "demoted" us (this was a running joke in our school in those days ... we weren't literally "demoted" ... it was just his way of saying he was disappointed with our performance and that he'd found something we needed to spend more time on).

Mike

 

[Yari]

Originally posted by pesilat
It's a kind of "map around the body." Mike

I like the idea!

It would make a lot of people concious about targets/triggers on the body. And you have something specific to work with.


/Yari

 

[pesilat]

Originally posted by Yari
I like the idea!

It would make a lot of people concious about targets/triggers on the body. And you have something specific to work with.


/Yari

Yup. It's also nice because it makes people think about "attacking" instead of "defending."

For instance, in some of the positions, you are behind the person and when looking for techniques, it's very obviously an "attack."

This helps a lot when considering situations like "you come onto the scene behind the guy who is attacking your friend or loved one." You don't have to think, "Wow ... I've never attacked a guy from behind before."

"Self-defense" can't always be "defensive". And, in fact, IMPO, it should never be about "defending". It should always be about "attacking." Now, you may "attack" to subdue, or to restrain, or to control. Or you may "attack" to maim or kill. But, IMHO, you should always be "attacking" because when you start having a "defending" mindset, you'll almost always be behind the timing curve (it's an "action" mindset versus a "reaction" mindset).

Mike

 

[Yari]

Originally posted by pesilat


"Self-defense" can't always be "defensive".
Mike

I usally call it responsive/reactive. You react to a situation, not on the situation.

But I think I understand were your pointing too, and I agee.

I think somebody said "seize the moment!"

/Yari

 

[tshadowchaser]

I agree with the last statements completly.

As for my students I never said they had to be in front of the attacker when they did their technique nor did I say it had to be an attack. A simple parry as they steped out of the way and walked away would have ben a good technique. As would a defensive kick to the opponets leg or a punch to the face. I simpley said techniques / targets that gave them the whole range of the body and all techniques they could think of to use. It was a simple excercise of listening and doing.
their own minds made it simple or not. If they listened and had confidence they had no trouble if they where not sure of themsleves their own fears made it a little harder.

 

[MartialArtist]

I personally wasn't for that sort of thing. There are a few key things you can learn from it, such as experimenting what your favorite moves are, but that's about it. You can also physically act out some of the principles, but then again, that's about it.

In wrestling, it's a bit more important. You have to get down the movement first, so you have to do one-step or three-step movements to get the muscle memory down. It's done when you learn a new move, so you get it down, get it down, and get it down. Then, you do it live so you have to add your own touches to it depending on how the opponent reacts.

In drills, anyone can perform a double-leg lift and front quarter, especially when the drill partner isn't going full speed. But do that in a match, and everyone will be in awe.