Both on the job and in martial arts it’s good if you can step back and occassionally take a break. It’s a good way to recharge yourself and approach the routine with a fresh and energized perspective.
This past weekend I did exactly that by skipping my Friday through Sunday workouts. Last night I fought with myself on my drive home to go into the back yard and continue the burpee crazy train. Well after completing 50 (not continuous, thank you!) I felt recharged enough to go through my taekwondo forms and my Korean short stick form. Usually when I do forms now I tend to use them for moving meditation and exercise. They’re also a good way to keep the muscle memory of certain techniques from degrading. Yet I still consider them secondary to live sparring or even bag work.
Regardless of my bias, over the weekend I noticed an article at Ikigai that talks about kata application. So last night I purposely went through my forms and forced myself to envisions their combat applications. I did not focus on multiple opponents as the article suggests. However, I did focus on a singular opponent and actual combat applications of the forms. The end result was that it took much longer to complete a total of 10 forms and this is due to activating (or re-activating) the muscle that’s between my ears.
Two themes: I found myself thinking either “this would work” or “this is total bunk”. Some of the techniques that I see within these forms would work and are worth repeating. Yet others are so choreographed that you’d have to be in the perfect set of circumstances to even have the chance to realistically pull off what you are practicing.
If you are at the point in your forms or kata where you can roll through them without thought then I’d highly encourage you to give Matthew’s idea a try. It’s a way to freshen up stale forms and it also forces you to think about the dance that you are doing!
~BCP
Bob – I added a link to this post from my blog and have added you to My Favourite Martial Arts Blogs.
Colin
Thanks for the mention Bob! I think you are definitely sticking to the true goal of the article, multiple opponent or not.
It can be very rewarding finding a new technique in kata, and actually, equally as rewarding when you decide one of your preconceived notions is bunk!
Colin –
Thanks!
I feed your blog and have linked to it for some time now. In fact, after reading a few of your posts I think your the type of instructor I’d love to experience more of!
Ikigai –
Forms are my weakest link. First, taekwondo in particular places great emphasis on the performance aspect of forms. This is the part that caused me the most stress at belt tests and at all the tourneys I was encouraged to go to.
I really envy folks who can nail the performance aspects after my lack-luster experiences.
Second, I do not think that forms alone are enough. It’s instructors or posts like yours that can make the connection to bridge the gap from forms to application, sparring, or even bag work.
Sadly I’ve only experienced two sabums and one master that get this. Even then, they did not spend enough time on that and focused more on the performance aspect of TKD.
Thank you, Bob. I appreciate the feedback. Regards, Colin