It’s comforting to see the Chin Na muddle carry over to my last days of taekwondo. Both my school and myself are done in August. So these are the last, sentimental, days…
Last night in TKD practice my punching, kicking, and forms were spot-on. Not so with our one-steps and self-defense. I really consider BOTH self-defense. The “one-steps” are basically pre-arranged responses to someone attacking you with a punch or kick. Our “self-defense” steps are defenses against grabs of all types (head locks, wrist, etc). Counting both there are 44 that we have to know for 1st dan.
Last night we were teaching new ones to a mid-belt and I was called in to demo and to be the practice dummy. Well I soon discovered that I’m starting to mix them up with the Chin Na that I’m learning!
In fact, at one point I had to laugh and apologize for being so confused!
Out of the 44 I’d say a third are very instinctive for me. Another third take a fair amount of maintenance to keep viable. The last third are unrealistic, over-choreographed, and take LOTS of maintenance to maintain (my personal opinion). Granted, I do think that the last third have value from a hand-eye coordination perspective but still there are times I wonder!
Most attackers will not stand around while you figure out how to get your mind out of vaporlock and execute a technique!
Regardless, something both sabums and my current Kung Fu instructor all say is worth repeating now: When all else fails punch and kick!
~BCP
4 responses so far ↓
Marks // 07/09/2008 at 4:00 AM
I think it s a good think that your starting to mix the arts. No matter what anyone says, every martial art can be combined with another in some sort of way and it can only be of benefit in the long run.
Bob Patterson // 07/09/2008 at 5:07 AM
Marks -
First, thanks for stopping by! Second, I agree!
I was mixing martial arts before I got serious with taekwondo. While I never got to a dan rank in anything I’ve been skipping from art to art, on and off, for the last 15 years.
Having that as a mind set has added value to my taekwondo training and kept me focused ’til 1st dan. I think it will do the same for chin na and wherever my martial journey takes me.
Thanks for indirectly putting me on to
YOUR BLOG ! I’ve added it to my roll and my feeds.
(Yeah I know you’re on the Toplist but with almost 100 sites there’s no way I can visit them all!)
Dojo Rat // 07/09/2008 at 7:25 PM
The thing about one-steps is when people forget what to do, they stop, unwind from wherever they are and try to start over.
Now you are learning more spontaneous movement, so if you goof up you just keep going with something to make it work. Other students will start asking “how did you do that”? “How did you know what to do”?
That’s why “Live” drills are so much better than canned drills. You will experiance a quantum leap if you just let go and pull off some Chin Na if you mess up on a one-step.
Sounds like progress to me!
D.R.
Bob Patterson // 07/10/2008 at 5:20 AM
DJR -
Yeah it is progress. Even if I don’t bite on the Mantis I have a cycle of striking and kicking (forms included) that I work at home. I have a bag, garage, and some equipment so I can maintain.
My big fear was when taekwondo ends I’d not have a live partner (or partners) for one-steps and self-defense.
The Chin Na is replacing that. The flow you talk about I’m starting to see and it makes a lot more sense IMO.