Training at home

[Blackbelt86]

Good afternoon everyone! First off,My name is Mike and I’m new to the forum. I Have a black belt in tkd and I am looking for some recommendations. I started off my training at a local school and spent about 8 years there until I moved. Since then I have done some training at home on and off for the past 10 years. (It’s been a while I know) I am looking for recommendations on things I can train at home. I have worked on my forms (I have the Keith Yates book of forms) and most kicks/punches/etc. I really want to work towards my second Dan black belt and unfortunately with my work schedule and where I live I don’t have many options of joining a good school. If anyone has Any recommendations on techniques/forms to train it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for your time!

 

[Headhunter]

Surely a Black belt should already know what to work on?

 

[skribs]

Good afternoon everyone! First off,My name is Mike and I’m new to the forum. I Have a black belt in tkd and I am looking for some recommendations. I started off my training at a local school and spent about 8 years there until I moved. Since then I have done some training at home on and off for the past 10 years. (It’s been a while I know) I am looking for recommendations on things I can train at home. I have worked on my forms (I have the Keith Yates book of forms) and most kicks/punches/etc. I really want to work towards my second Dan black belt and unfortunately with my work schedule and where I live I don’t have many options of joining a good school. If anyone has Any recommendations on techniques/forms to train it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for your time!

Unfortunately I think a lot of what you're going to want to work on is going to require you to go to a school, for several reasons:

1. The simple fact that I don't think training on your own will count towards time-in-grade (unless you already have that)
2. When training by yourself, you typically gain muscle memory in what you know, but don't get the critique to fix problems you don't even know you have. That's why you go to class and train at home, so you can get feedback and figure out what to work into muscle memory next.
3. Training by yourself is incredibly difficult to train your timing and distance for sparring. At the very least you want another person holding pads so they can move with you, and at best someone to spar with.
4. As you move higher up in rank, it's going to be more about what you can do for the art. You should be working on things like mentoring lower belts, practicing with your peers to develop your skills, coaching students in tournaments, judging belt tests, and teaching classes. Maybe not all of those things, and definitely not all at once, but these are important skills too, and you can't really practice them on your own. Now, leadership skills are maybe not required for 2nd Dan or even 3rd Dan, but by that point it should definitely be on your radar.
5. When you train by yourself, you have no support group and no accountability. It can become a chore without a purpose.

My recommendation is to not restrict yourself to Taekwondo. If there aren't any schools that you like that you can attend, try finding a school in a different art, or a different discipline entirely. For example, skills you learn in Karate will help you with your Taekwondo skills. Skills you learn in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu will round out your martial arts. Or dance classes can help you work on body control.

Surely a Black belt should already know what to work on?

A black belt who is still going to class would get feedback on what to work on. One who has not been to class in a long time might not realize what needs the most work, what mistakes are being made, or what the best way to fix them is.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I am looking for recommendations on things I can train at home.

This week you train combo 1, 2, 3, 4.

- Face east, execute your combo 1.
- Face south, execute your combo 2.
- Face west, execute your combo 3.
- Face north, execute your combo 4.

Repeat 20 times daily. Next week, train combos 5, 6, 7, 8.

 

[JR 137]

You say you want to work towards earning your 2nd dan. Without a teacher to promote you to that rank, how are you going to promote?

It seems like everyone says find a way to get to a school. My former career taught me that’s genuinely not always possible, so I’m not going to go there. What I will say is if you want to start training again, at least get a bag and start hitting it. Go through the standardized stuff you know/remember. Nothing wrong with working through the forms you know, the 1-steps by yourself, etc. Nothing wrong with hitting a bag. When you find the time and right place, it’ll be significantly easier to get back to where you were.

Your distancing, timing, blocking, taking a punch/kick are virtual impossible to train on your own. Aside from that, you can work on pretty much everything else. Just be smart about it and don’t try doing stuff you’re not sure of.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I Have a black belt in tkd and I am looking for some recommendations. I started off my training at a local school and spent about 8 years there until I moved.

You can't be a student all your life. Soon or later your teachers will pass away and you will be alone by yourself. 8 years of MA training should give you enough material to train by yourself for the rest of your life. Why not just start teaching. You will learn a lot by teaching.

 

[Flying Crane]

Practice what you have learned. Basics, poomsae, heavy bag, whatever you have learned, that you do not need a partner for.

Don’t think about the possibility of promoting until you are able to join a school. Because until then, it is not possible.

 

[pdg]

You can't be a student all your life. Soon or later your teachers will pass away and you will be alone by yourself. 8 years of MA training should give you enough material to train by yourself for the rest of your life. Why not just start teaching. You will learn a lot by teaching.

The very best teachers are students all their lives, they never stop learning.

Somehow I think we may be using "student" in slightly different contexts though

 

[Earl Weiss]

With all due respect to GM Yates he was a student of GM Jhoon Rhee a CDK product and CDK habits bled into the new patterns he spent a weekend learning, His book is severely lacking in detail and has issues. Case in point is an on line ad shows "Recent Addition of Gae Beck, a pattern for 3rd Dan" and it has been part of the system since at least 1972 and it is learned by first Dans for 2nd Dn. If you want to perform according to the most widely accepted standard which will allow you the widest level of acceptance should you at some future date look to join a school doing Chang Hon patterns forget the GM Yates book. If you don't want to spend the money there are plenty of on line resources for General Choi's 15 Volume of encyclopedia which has detail unrivaled by anything else, as well as patterns by ITF practitioners showing the standard.
I would suggest you work on flexibility, and there are some instructors out there offering lessons and review via Skype. Once you get back in shape you may want to explore this. At some point there will need to be periodic live face time with an instructor.

 

[Headhunter]

Unfortunately I think a lot of what you're going to want to work on is going to require you to go to a school, for several reasons:

1. The simple fact that I don't think training on your own will count towards time-in-grade (unless you already have that)
2. When training by yourself, you typically gain muscle memory in what you know, but don't get the critique to fix problems you don't even know you have. That's why you go to class and train at home, so you can get feedback and figure out what to work into muscle memory next.
3. Training by yourself is incredibly difficult to train your timing and distance for sparring. At the very least you want another person holding pads so they can move with you, and at best someone to spar with.
4. As you move higher up in rank, it's going to be more about what you can do for the art. You should be working on things like mentoring lower belts, practicing with your peers to develop your skills, coaching students in tournaments, judging belt tests, and teaching classes. Maybe not all of those things, and definitely not all at once, but these are important skills too, and you can't really practice them on your own. Now, leadership skills are maybe not required for 2nd Dan or even 3rd Dan, but by that point it should definitely be on your radar.
5. When you train by yourself, you have no support group and no accountability. It can become a chore without a purpose.

My recommendation is to not restrict yourself to Taekwondo. If there aren't any schools that you like that you can attend, try finding a school in a different art, or a different discipline entirely. For example, skills you learn in Karate will help you with your Taekwondo skills. Skills you learn in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu will round out your martial arts. Or dance classes can help you work on body control.



A black belt who is still going to class would get feedback on what to work on. One who has not been to class in a long time might not realize what needs the most work, what mistakes are being made, or what the best way to fix them is.

A black belt should be able to analyse their own performance and be able to see for themselves what they need to work on. I know exactly what I need to work on and that's all from my own reviews on myself not an instructor

 

[skribs]

A black belt should be able to analyse their own performance and be able to see for themselves what they need to work on. I know exactly what I need to work on and that's all from my own reviews on myself not an instructor

A 1st degree black belt is not a master. I figure the degree is basically the equivalent of a high school diploma. How many high school graduates have everything figured out?

(I'd also equate a 2nd Dan to an Associate's Degree, 3rd Dan to a Bachelor's, 4th Dan to a Master's, and 5th Dan to a Doctorate, in terms of level of training).

A black belt should be able to do some work on his own, through repetition, experimentation, and research. However, a black belt still needs feedback from a master, from higher ranked instructors, and peers in order to improve. Experimentation and drills with fellow students are also important for anything where you need to hit a moving target or to work on grappling skills (if applicable at your school).

I'm testing for 3rd degree and I still learn things when I'm assisting my Master in the white belt classes. I try to never assume that since I'm a black belt, I have all the knowledge. Unless a student asks me. Then I tell them "I'm like a teenager: I know EVERYTHING!"

 

[Flying Crane]

We all have room to grow and to learn.

That being said, we are all also responsible for our own training, especially when we find ourselves unable to attend regular classes, regardless of our level of development, or rank, or whatever. In that case, it is important to practice what we know to the best of our ability. Doing so will help us grow and improve, even if things are not perfect. Getting creative with how we practice is important, as it helps us take ownership of the material.

If one develops the habit of practicing outside of class from the very beginning of their training, then this is actually an easy thing to do if one finds oneself without a teacher.

If/when one has a teacher again later, then improvements/corrections/new material/ promotions come back into the equation.

Until that happens, practice practice practice to the best of your ability, and take ownership of what you have learned. That material should be useful. You absolutely should not need to be at a high black belt level before it can become useful. If so, then I would seriously question the system and the instruction methods being used.

 

[Buka]

Hi Mike. Welcome to MartialTalk.

 

[Kababayan]

Good afternoon everyone! First off,My name is Mike and I’m new to the forum. I Have a black belt in tkd and I am looking for some recommendations. I started off my training at a local school and spent about 8 years there until I moved. Since then I have done some training at home on and off for the past 10 years. (It’s been a while I know) I am looking for recommendations on things I can train at home. I have worked on my forms (I have the Keith Yates book of forms) and most kicks/punches/etc. I really want to work towards my second Dan black belt and unfortunately with my work schedule and where I live I don’t have many options of joining a good school. If anyone has Any recommendations on techniques/forms to train it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for your time!

Since you are already a 1st Dan in TKD I would suggest trying another art that is completely different, such as Arnis, Kempo, Wing Chun, etc. As a TKD Black Belt your kicks are already really good and I don't think your martial arts will grow tremendously if your focus is going from 1st to 2nd Dan. You already have a strong foundation in TKD. Your martial arts will grow if you train in something that you are not already skilled in. Even though you are training on your own, you should be able to pick up some skills from video tutorials.

 

[axelb]

Bag work: heavy, double end, speed bag.
shadow boxing, form work.

If you cannot get to tkd, but other classes are available, see what you can fit in;
Distancing, timing, accuracy are trained best with a live partner.

 

[Earl Weiss]

A black belt should be able to analyse their own performance and be able to see for themselves what they need to work on. I know exactly what I need to work on and that's all from my own reviews on myself not an instructor

Perhaps if you video your performance there may be some things you will note. However, if you think about most any field of athletic performance even the most elite athletes have coaches. So, to say you don't need an instructor because you can review your own performance and know what needs to be worked on, and perhaps more importantly how to do that puts you abilities in that area above the best in the world.

 

[Gwai Lo Dan]

Surely a Black belt should already know what to work on?

Personally, I like to watch videos and try things that are different than we do in class. For example, yesterday I was practising on my own the wheel kick, as here at 1:35. I always here from the other instructors (at my KKW/WT school) to have a snappy hook for more power and I think to myself "Not sure I agree with that". So I do my own thing to see for myself.

 

[pdg]

Personally, I like to watch videos and try things that are different than we do in class. For example, yesterday I was practising on my own the wheel kick, as here at 1:35. I always here from the other instructors (at my KKW/WT school) to have a snappy hook for more power and I think to myself "Not sure I agree with that". So I do my own thing to see for myself.

Using an (almost*) straight leg and connecting directly with the back of the heel is a different kick to one that hooks and connects with the sole (bottom of heel / ball / whatever).

Saying one is more powerful, well, depends how you look at it.

Against a paddle it looks stronger if I hook - the paddle moves more and makes more noise.

Against a kick shield or thai pad though (something with more mass), back of the heel makes the person holding it move more than hooking it.


*I said almost straight leg because if you lock your knee out straight with this kick there's a big risk of hyperextension of the knee.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Using an (almost*) straight leg and connecting directly with the back of the heel is a different kick to one that hooks and connects with the sole (bottom of heel / ball / whatever).

Saying one is more powerful, well, depends how you look at it.

.

One way to try and see the difference is to try a suspended break versus a multi board power break. You will likely have more success using the reverse hook (bend the knee) for the reverse hook, and more success for the power break with the reverse turning - straight (but not locked Knee.

 

[Buka]

Personally, I like to watch videos and try things that are different than we do in class. For example, yesterday I was practising on my own the wheel kick, as here at 1:35. I always here from the other instructors (at my KKW/WT school) to have a snappy hook for more power and I think to myself "Not sure I agree with that". So I do my own thing to see for myself.

Another thing you can work at home is film study. [with apologies in advance from those who don't like video learning]

That boy has some really nice kicks. I'd hate to catch many across the chops, and I in no way wish to nitpick over them. But he also has a strong tell as to when he's going to kick......the RIGHT-NOW-HERE-IT-COMES tell. A lot of kickers do. Thank God.

Look for them in the dojo, in competitions and on video. You'll start to pick up on them fairly quickly. Might even decrease your own.