Some Saturday Morning Forms/Hyung/Kata Practice

[michaelbiancardi]

While training yesterday, I recorded a few videos of my forms to look back at. I thought I'd share them here, along with my thoughts on my performance. Overall, I'm actually quite happy with how my forms look. I don't record myself often, so there's always a bit of uncertainty in how I look vs. how I feel. But I'm pretty happy with my performance.

The first video is of my Pyung Ahn Cho Dan. This is a more basic form, but I've actually been slacking on it lately . To fix that, I spent a lot of time on it this session. My first time running through it, I actually felt a little shaky on some movements. Not great. So, I ran through the form many times, specifically focusing on weight distributions in my stances and, more importantly, the weight shifting necessary to move between stances. This made my form feel a million times better. Looking back at the video, my main concern is my posture. On some of my front stances, my back and torso look a bit too far back. This isn't too surprising as I have generally bad posture - not just in martial arts but in day-to-day life. I've been fixing my neck posture this past week; my physical therapist pointed out that I keep my neck too far forward. So I definitely have some work to do there.

The second video is of my Naihanchi Cho Dan. For a long time, this was my weakest form. But I feel like I've gotten good at it over the years. When one arm goes up and one goes down in the middle of the 'Naihanchi triple' movement, my upper arm is a bit off to the side, so I'll have to fix that. But I think my form looks pretty good.

The last video is my Bassai Dai. This is generally one of my strongest forms, but it felt a bit weaker today. The video actually doesn't look too bad, though. The biggest thing that popped out to me is that my back hand drops a little low on my knife hand blocks/strikes, especially in the first set. This is a bad habit that occasionally rears it head still - I'll have to be careful to keep the positioning correct there. Also, I think my body comes up a bit around 0:31 during the first of that 5 move (1/2/2) sequence. I'm normally better about that, but I'll have to practice that specific part of the form.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my performance. I was genuinely when I watched these videos. I have a few specific things to work on, but I'm pretty happy with my performance. Do any of you wonderful folks have any other comments on my forms?

 

[Flying Crane]

I don’t know karate kata so cannot comment much, beyond a couple of basic observations.

1. Your posture tends to be hips foreword, shoulders back. It is most prominent in the first video. You’ve got to figure out how to hold your torso centered.

2. You have an overall stiffness about your movement. You need to relax.

3. Kata is a tool to help you develop your skills, so it isn’t ever a finished skill. These videos are simply a snapshot in time. Just keep working on your training. Keep doing it. That is what is important.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

May be this clip can give you some good idea such as:

- relax.
- stretch body to the maximum.
- flow through moves.
- develop personal art flavor.
- ...

 

[michaelbiancardi]

I don’t know karate kata so cannot comment much, beyond a couple of basic observations.

1. Your posture tends to be hips foreword, shoulders back. It is most prominent in the first video. You’ve got to figure out how to hold your torso centered.

2. You have an overall stiffness about your movement. You need to relax.

3. Kata is a tool to help you develop your skills, so it isn’t ever a finished skill. These videos are simply a snapshot in time. Just keep working on your training. Keep doing it. That is what is important.

Thanks for the comments! You're definitely right about my posture, and I think you described the issue better than I did. I am actively working on my posture, but this video was good to actually see it for myself. I sense a lot of mirror practice in my future. I started physical therapy recently, so hopefully that helps strengthen some of my back, neck, and shoulder muscles to support a better posture, too.

The relaxation comment is fair and good feedback. For a long time, it was hard for me to be relaxed and keep good power. I think I'll focus on practicing this in the coming week or two. I certainly agree with your third point - I have no intention of stopping my practice anytime soon!