Need more snap to technique?

[Namii]

Time for me to ask the wonderful community for opinions. I tried to do a search but it came up with 14 pages of stuff.:erg: Forgive me ahead of time if its been asked too many times.
Im getting ready to test for orange belt in TKD and Im constantly told I need to be more aggressive/snappy/powerful in my techniques. Sabumnim says I have the technique right but I need to not be so "soft". Having studied Gumdo (korean sword), a flowy, softer art for a longer period of time Im stuggling to find this. What is even more confusing is Im told I have a more aggressive nature in my arts.
So what can I do to get more snap to my punches and kicks? Besides the obvious "practice, practice , practice", what specifics can I work on at home to help with this?

 

[granfire]

hmmm...

We call it 'putting muscle into it'

it is a matter of visualizing the move and it's purpose:
You throw a punch, you have to tighten the muscles and focus the energy. Like you are hitting a real target.

Same on a block: If you are too soft, the block comes back at you, together with the punch or kick you tried to defend.

Maybe you can have somebody with a foam sword/blocker and a hand target be your opponent when you practice your form, or parts of it. Fluent form is nice, but it's not a dance, it's supposed to be to practice the single elements for real application.

 

[ATC]

No you don't want to muscle the technique but rather relax and speed up the technique. With kicking you must bend the knee and then extend and re-bend (recoil) as fast as possible. I tell my students up fast then down fast. But you must bend the knee. If you muscle the technique you will slow it down.

For punching it is the same way, but lead with the elbow and sholder on the way out and back. The last part to move is the fist or hand itself. This is with blocking also, but with the block you will tense up a bit at the end of the block but not during the block. But the block should not be held as you should be striking or attacking right after the block.

So stay relaxed, speed up, and bend before and after each technique as fast as possible. You will be suprised at the increase in speed, power and snap.

 

[StudentCarl]

It's good that you are smooth. Your snap will come as you improve the timing of your movements so your body accelerates your strike. A couple of examples:

If you snap a towel, the force starts with a turn of your body, rolls down your shoulder and arm into your hand, and then out through the towel where it is very fast at the end. Another example is a baseball pitcher, whose windup starts with his feet and legs, builds through the hips and torso and shoulder, then whips through the arm to the fingers and into the ball. Your goal is to use your whole body-- feet, legs, hips, torso and shoulders as the "windup" so that your kick or punch transfers all of that built-up power to your target. The snap is the final acceleration.

Keep working, as you will find the feel with practice.

 

[Namii]

Thanks so far for your input.
I understand what you mean with the 'muscling' it, but I don't want to do too much of that for fear of messing up my sword stuff. I already get my stances confused between the two arts. Muscling the sword is bad. The speed I get. We are constantly being reminded about 'tip speed' in the sword cuts and relaxing letting the sword do the work.
And the visualizing the target. When I'm going through the sword forms I can imagine slaying the zombies, I haven't been able to transfer that ability yet over to the TKD side of things.
OK back to TKD, I don't spar yet but will start when I get orange. Will sparring help with the speed and application of things since you have an opponent there? I find that just with the one-steps it helps doing them With someone.
One thing I know i need to work on also is my round kicks. I have a tendency to throw the kick before I have pivoted all the way. I can get the knee up, its just a matter of getting my body to do it right.

 

[StudentCarl]

Thanks so far for your input.
I understand what you mean with the 'muscling' it, but I don't want to do too much of that for fear of messing up my sword stuff. I already get my stances confused between the two arts. Muscling the sword is bad. The speed I get. We are constantly being reminded about 'tip speed' in the sword cuts and relaxing letting the sword do the work.
And the visualizing the target. When I'm going through the sword forms I can imagine slaying the zombies, I haven't been able to transfer that ability yet over to the TKD side of things.
OK back to TKD, I don't spar yet but will start when I get orange. Will sparring help with the speed and application of things since you have an opponent there? I find that just with the one-steps it helps doing them With someone.
One thing I know i need to work on also is my round kicks. I have a tendency to throw the kick before I have pivoted all the way. I can get the knee up, its just a matter of getting my body to do it right.

Patience and perseverence will get you there. If it was all that easy there would only be one belt color. Working with two arts can increase confusion...a topic on its own. I don't think the sparring will help you as much as bag, shield, and paddle work. You need to kick something more than air to feel the result of what you're doing with your body. Sparring gives you a moving target and the added concern of avoiding getting hit.

Good luck.
Carl

 

[ATC]

As StudentCarl says, just give it time. You are only an orange belt and it take time and won't come overnight. Stay relaxed in your techniques and it will also come togeather soon enough.

Orange belt I assume is only your second belt (not counting white) so I do know of any orange belt that have great snap. By the time you are a 4th or 3rd Gup you will have plenty of snap if you keep good techniques.

 

[Namii]

Yep, I understand that. Maybe its also a psychological thing, trying to catch up to the level I am with the sword. I do find that every practice I do whether its at home or at the dojang, I figure out one little piece that puts the puzzle together. I just did a home practice a little while ago and was able to get a little more snap trying the technique Carl was describing.
Correct, not counting white, orange would be my 2nd belt.

 

[granfire]

Yep, I understand that. Maybe its also a psychological thing, trying to catch up to the level I am with the sword. I do find that every practice I do whether its at home or at the dojang, I figure out one little piece that puts the puzzle together. I just did a home practice a little while ago and was able to get a little more snap trying the technique Carl was describing.
Correct, not counting white, orange would be my 2nd belt.

LOL, you probably need to take TKD and sword as a separate animal. They are not in in competition with each other.

But I should imagine once you get to sparring the techniques in the forms make more sence (though you probably won't use 90% of them )

also, with the round, it's a matter of practice. Slow wins the race there. Keep focusing on the technique - the proper way - until it becomes ingrained in muscle memory. Then speed is sure to follow.

 

[Touch Of Death]

LOL, you probably need to take TKD and sword as a separate animal. They are not in in competition with each other.

But I should imagine once you get to sparring the techniques in the forms make more sence (though you probably won't use 90% of them )

also, with the round, it's a matter of practice. Slow wins the race there. Keep focusing on the technique - the proper way - until it becomes ingrained in muscle memory. Then speed is sure to follow.

Proper path need to be adhered too. No matter how slow you go, if you are doing it wrong, its wrong. "The Proper Way", as you put it, is what is needed.
Sean

 

[Earl Weiss]

A tip an instructor used once went something like this.

Don't think of your limb like rods with a hinge that opens and closes. Instead think of the fist or foot like a ball that you are throwing as quickly as possible. To do this you need to relax and only tense just before full extension.

So, before initiation think "Relax", and make sure to exhale with the extension. The exhalation timing should coordinate with the extension, i.e. begin as the extension begins. This coordinates contraction of the diaphram with contraction of muscles needed for the extension.

 

[MaxiMe]

A visual that has worked for me is a monkee's fist, knot on the end of a rope.

 

[puunui]

No you don't want to muscle the technique but rather relax and speed up the technique. With kicking you must bend the knee and then extend and re-bend (recoil) as fast as possible. I tell my students up fast then down fast.

You have your own school? I thought you were at Master Suh's dojang?

 

[ATC]

You have your own school? I thought you were at Master Suh's dojang?

Yes I am. I am one of his assisting instructors.

 

[puunui]

Yes I am. I am one of his assisting instructors.

Then they are his students, not yours.

 

[ATC]

Then they are his students, not yours.

I teach classes. There are many classes I teach when he is not there. Yes we are all Master Suh's students, but they are my students as well. They are not my superior nor are they my equal. I teach them. If they are learning from me then they have to be my students as well.

 

[Touch Of Death]

Then they are his students, not yours.

Oh for God's sake. When you are teaching, the people being taught are students. Do we need to qualify who owns the school from now on?
Sean

 

[puunui]

I teach classes. There are many classes I teach when he is not there. Yes we are all Master Suh's students, but they are my students as well. They are not my superior nor are they my equal. I teach them. If they are learning from me then they have to be my students as well.

That makes them your juniors, not your students. Seniors teach juniors all the time. It's what seniors do.

 

[puunui]

Oh for God's sake. When you are teaching, the people being taught are students. Do we need to qualify who owns the school from now on?
Sean

Say a student goes to a poomsae seminar and shares what he learns to his teacher. Does that mean that the student can now refer to his teacher as "my student"?

 

[ATC]

Say a student goes to a poomsae seminar and shares what he learns to his teacher. Does that mean that the student can now refer to his teacher as "my student"?

But that is not teaching. That would be having a conversation with his Master.

Teaching set classed weekly and being responcible for a group of students as well as fill in duties is way more than just having some Jr's. you give advice to or help out, in my eyes.