Light Touch Sparring in Tae Kwon Do

This weekend, I taught a seminar on light touch sparring at our annual Black Belt Extravaganza.  The Extravaganza as we usually call it, is a gathering of the black belts of our federation in the Pennsylvania area to train together and develop comradery.  It was a wonderful experience filled with learning and connection with my peers from around the CTF.  

Since the overall reaction I received was positive on my seminar, I thought I would share my notes on the seminar here, so that people who attended could better understand my mindset on the drills we practiced that day.  I quipped that I could have spoken about light touch sparring for the duration of my allotted time of the seminar, so this post is me kind of making good on that comment.  

Before I go any further though, I have to apologize to my wife who was instrumental in helping me shape this seminar.  I meant to make it a point to mention her during the seminar, but since I wanted to surprise her I didn't practice what I was going to say when I practiced the seminar with her.  As the old adage goes: how you prepare is how you will perform and I completely forgot to mention her.  Her guidance on what to include, and what not to include was extremely valuable to me as I put these concepts in motion.  If people hated the seminar, it would have been because of my execution but if they liked it, it surely was because of her insight and guidance on content.  Thank you LK, you are well on your way to master level.   

The Seminar: The Lost Art of Light Sparring

I titled my seminar "The Lost Art of Light Sparring" but I think a better term would have been "Sparring's Missing Link - Light Sparring".  A 10,000 foot overview of our rationale for this seminar would be how to bridge gaps between no contact sparring and standard classroom sparring.  If I could see it realized it would be the standard way to introduce beginners to standard free sparring, and would be a place where good fighters "go to the lab" to develop new skills.  As I hope you will see and experience, it provides ample opportunity for new people to get acclimated to kicks and punches "touching" them without causing lasting injury.  It also provides fighters to work on things that aren't ready for prime time yet in standard or higher sparring environments. 

Origins

The story behind this lesson starts approximately 480 years ago, around the year 2002.  I had just returned to the greater Philadelphia area from college and was back teaching at my Tae Kwon Do school of origin.  I was reminiscing with a great mentor of mine about the training I did while away at college (a different school in the same federation).  We decided spur of the moment to drive up there for the night and take a class there together.  While warming up my mentor had me spar with him, but when I came at him how I would in a standard sparring match, he stopped me, and showed me what would eventually become the genesis of this seminar.  

I didn't know it that night, but this drill (and the time chatting, traveling and training together) was his final gift to me.  He retired from Tae Kwon Do after that very class.  I would see him one more time after this, several years later as one of his good friends was testing for 3rd dan herself at our school.  This seminar was a bittersweet reminder of my time training in the early 00s.  

Concept

As stated earlier, the idea here is to bridge the gap between no contact free sparring and standard classroom free sparring.  I wanted to do that for two primary reasons.  First, I wanted something that was more dynamic than static sparring drills, and second I wanted an exercise that allowed me to spar at a level where I did not revert to the things I am already instinctively good at to survive the matches.  It is our belief that by bringing the level of potential contact down that we can find a space to spar in where the fight or flight reflex doesn't even think of kicking in.  This allows for cognitive thought during sparring, something you often aren't afforded in standard classroom or harder levels of sparring.  

I was always told there were two ways to get better at fighting.  

1. The path of pain - spar, get your butt kicked, and evolve over time.  
2. The path of boredom - do thousands of repetitions, develop new, effective strategies to instinctively revert to in higher stress sparring.  

Our goal was to present a 3rd method of getting better at sparring.  A high intensity but minimal contact method of fighting that allows for in the moment feedback with your partner.  The lack of strong contact minimizes punishment for mistakes and doesn't immediately negatively reinforce risk taking.  

Light sparring would not replace any kind of other sparring, it simply outlines a new drill for consideration.  

Benefits of Light Sparring

The benefits of light sparring are plentiful but fall under 3 tenants.  

• Escape fight or flight
• By allowing students to take a risk on new techniques and combinations, a comfort level can be established with new techniques and combinations that will allow them to be integrated in harder sparring faster.  
• Collaboration
• Since both fighters aren't doing their best to try to "win" real, constructive feedback can be presented during the match.  
• Trust
• Since the level of contact is minimal, age, size, gender and rank mismatches should be irrelevant.  Sparring is a dynamic exercise and an instructor always has to know their student base and should take caution to ensure the rules are being followed.  
• With trust comes experimentation and the possibility of elevating ones skills, or in-the-moment raising up of a less skilled fighter.  
• Since contact is minimal, non standard sparring techniques (low kicks, sweeps, clinches) can be added creating a truly dynamic exercise.  

Drills

• Shoulder tap
• Have partners facing each other.  One turns their back to the other.  The person behind taps the other on the shoulder (similar to the prank where you get someone to try to look the wrong way).  
• This tap is the level of contact your punches and kicks should have. 
• This tap symbolizes the trust we have.  While no one likely smashed someone in the shoulder with their "tap" so should they not smash someone with punches and kicks in the coming drills.  The trust we had in this non serious drill should extend into the actual matches.
  
• Very short drill set - 3 minutes max - 1 time each person. 
  
• First matches
• The first matches were with a comfortable partner, from their own school, or a partner they knew (if possible).  
• demonstrated expectations in terms of contact by instructor and instructor's co author.
  
• Rules the same as standard classroom sparring
• 3x1 minute matches, explaining 1 benefit (above) after each match as to allow fighters to recoup.   
• 10-12 minutes
  
• Second Matches
• Switching to partners not comfortable / familiar with.  
• Allows to see the benefits in action.
• 3x1 minute matches - random information about things I saw that I liked and why I personally liked the drills in between each match to allow recuperation.  
• 5-7 minutes
  
• Third Matches
• Introduction of the concept that with minimal contact, and abundance of trust and collaboration; things outside of standard sparring were now fair game.  
• 2x1 - "clinch" sparring - Students hold on to each other and fight in extreme close quarters fighting
• 1x1 match - low kicks only - calling out that in regular classroom sparring we never kick low, but in most of our self defense lessons we talk of only kicking low.  This gave the students valuable practice time feeling out low kicks.  (An entire seminar could be taught here by someone more experienced in this than me).  
• 5-7 minutes
  
• Fourth and final matches
• All things combined, students can spar standard, can clinch during sparring, or decide to clinch the entire time, and can kick low
• 3x1 minute matches.  
• Ample time to recover after each.  

I finished with closing remarks about this seminar, like the gift it was to me, is now a gift to the CTF.  Although I do not plan to retire at this time, my hope is that the people in attendance build on my ideas like I built on my mentor's.  

  

In Memoriam

I've written alot about the over romanticizing of the martial arts in this blog.  So much so that my number one fan rolls her eyes at me when I use the term and often asks me "what does that even mean"?  

I've even scoffed at the romanticizing that people make over the instructor / student relationship.  If there is a place however, where I am most hypocritical it is in this regard.  My biggest three influences in the martial arts live rent free in my heads as semi-god like beings.  "That's different" I'd argue, but I'd be wrong.  The fact of the matter is, that when you work with someone for so long, on something as important as self defense and something with a history that you have a personal opportunity to keep alive - bonds are going to form.  

Last year in April I learned that the second person I had the privilege of training from white belt to black belt was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  I was shocked, and saddened.  Although I have trained a total of three people from their first day until blackbelt, only one remains training.  I had lost touch with this individual but quickly reached out when I heard the news.   

True to everything he was always about, he was gracious, curious about my life and proud of his family's achievements.  We talked about how fun it was to train.  I was shocked and crushed by his bravery in spite of his condition. He was excited to go scuba diving again, and he again told me how much he loved Bonaire.  He finished the conversation giving me advice on being a good father, and a good husband - something I have no doubt he was to his core, so it was appreciated, muchly.  

Today I learned that he has succumbed to his illness.  

I'm stuck sitting at my job, frequently losing my composure silently at my desk.  One of the other black belts who helped run our school said it best, "I wish I could have been around him more, selfishly...loved that guy".  Yeah, I did too.  Regardless of how I currently feel about the martial arts, I don't carry many regrets, but not keeping in touch with him much after he left my school is one of them.

He had come from a Tiger Schulman program.  Had to be in 2002, or 2003.  Something like that.  I'll never forget this short man, with a comically long goatee beard.  He was boisterous, but when he wanted to talk about a serious matter he would take a hilariously quieter tone.  Although confident in his sparring, he took on one of those quiet tones and explained to me that he was not very good at forms.  I told him he came to the right place, that I liked forms enough for both of us, and that he was going to by default get good at them just by sticking around me.  I was happy with the last forms I saw him do.  

He'd hold court sometimes after class, talking in his boisterous voice, with everyone listening and he'd always leave for the night with a hearty "good night everybody".  Little things like that stick with me.  I notice and I'm affected / bothered (many times, not this one) by idiosyncrasies like this.  To this day I can hear this in my head, in his voice.  People would laugh, or roll their eyes at the things he said -- It was a good time.  His sons trained at my school and they were good kids, hard workers and respectful.  

Sometimes there is a moment when you just know that someone is going to make it, that black belt isn't a question of if, but of when.  Sparring him one night, I threw a jumping front, round kick at him.  He bit on the fake, and unfortunately, my usual good control took the night off and I walloped him with the round kick to the head.  Truth be told, not many people ever fell for that one, so I was kind of as shocked as he was.  I stopped the fight and asked him if he was ok.  He smiled, admitted that he was seeing stars but wanted to continue.  We moved around and he encouraged me to not back off.  It was clear to me in that moment, he got it.  He very much so had what it took to be a black belt.  

His black belt test was of the harder variety.  20 or so black belts on the board all hostile towards the candidates.  He stood in that pressure, he did his forms, fought his fights, and proved his rank.  It was never in question in my mind.  I was proud.  My first student was kind of a phenom, and is a story unto itself, so when my second student stood in the fire and came out stronger, I was prouder than any moment as an instructor to that point in my teaching career.

My school closed shortly after his black belt test, and our parent school was too far of a commute for he and his family.  Similar to me now, he had a young child and his responsibilities as a father and work put martial arts on the back burner.  

There's no lesson in this post, no message, or ray of understanding.  I've said in this blog before that I write this for myself.  I'm not in a good place with the martial arts, but I kicked the dust off this blog to remember my friend and 2nd black belt ever.  

Rest in peace Nels, we were well met in this life and I hope when I see you again that you don't fall for my shitty jump kicks.    

  

Sipjin - from a Chang-Hon Perspective

The Covid-19 epidemic has changed the world as we know it...at least for now.  Martial arts classes are being held by video conference software and instructors are forming groups and sharing content.  Negatives about not being person to person, the way training should be done aside, the amount of content sharing and video posts are inspiring.  A few recent posts from some people I respect a great deal led me to scratch something off my martial arts career "bucket" list -- namely, learning a few forms from outside of the Chang-Hon that I have always loved.  The last time I thought about teaching myself a form from a different style, I asked an instructor at my school who knew the form I was doing how I was progressing.  This instructor kindly let me know that I was "not doing it right", and with only online videos to help me, I abandoned the form.  As I was doing this to honor that particular instructor for an event we were having, I figured this early thumbs down was not going to lead me to a place I'd have been happy with.  I'm a terrible perfectionist, so I abandoned the idea.  I figured I'd wait until I befriended an actual Shotokan practitioner and learn in person.  I actually had someone in mind, but let's just say it didn't work out either.  

Reluctant to ever try again alone, I was inspired by recent posts and ambitious self learning of my peers and started to consider teaching myself a form not from a different style of martial art, but a different style of Taekwondo.  Still wary of the process, I posted in an instructors group asking for opinions on how I should undertake this.  On one hand, I wanted to be true to the style I was borrowing from, but because of my past experience playing with the Shotokan form, I was considering just translating what I didn't understand from the borrowed art to what I believed its equivalent would be in my own.  Thankfully, I was talked out of this, by some of the most awesome artists in the world. 

I fell in love with Sipjin a long time ago.  As soon as youtube was founded, I started scouring it for different martial arts content, and I came across and watched all of the WT forms.  The video quality back then was terrible, and I assumed I'd have to wait until I met someone who know the WT forms to teach me.  Sipjin is cross shaped, and all of the videos would just show the back of the practitioner.  Since the vocabulary is radically different from my own, written instructions were not helpful at all.

Thankfully video quality has improved significantly since the early 2000s.  I was able to find a video where the person filming showed the front of the practitioner when they turned away from the camera.  Finding this video, and seeing my peers self teaching and experimenting I set out to teach myself the form.   

All in all, it took me about 2 hours from first watch to being able to do the form without referring back to the video. It felt very good to be able to learn a new form again.  As a self labeled "forms person", when I came out of my 6th dan test, and realized I was done learning new forms I felt lost.  This allowed me to fill a void I was currently struggling with.  

I'm not going to go too in depth with analysis as the form is not from my style.  While I can certainly emulate the motions, I'd be lying if I said I fully understand what is going on.  Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of opinions, but as I was not instructed on this form from an actual WT instructor, I am reluctant to talk too much about the technical.  

What drew me to Sipjin in the first place were the amount of slow to fast transitions in the form.  This is something that I love in forms, and I believe I am quite good at.  Of all the WT forms, this one seems to have the most Japanese influence, at least in its over all architecture.  Unlike the Chang-hon, I can't tie this form back to a specific Japanese form, most likely because it was designed without that direct influence.  

 

The opening sequence sees you throw what I would call a braced inner forearm block, slowly turning it over in what I would say is a reverse of a wrist grab, and then executing a fast flat spear finger and two quick punches.  This is done two more times in the form.  These slow to fast transitions allows a practitioner who is good at this to really show a great deal of contrasting technique, meaning the slow moves accentuate the fast moves to make both look super. 

 

The next aspect of the form I liked was the "pushing rock" technique or Bawi Milgi.  I could make a couple of guesses as to what it is for, but they'd be just guesses.  Although I loved the ascetics of the movement, I was pleasantly surprised at how this movment in particular along with the higher, narrower stances seemed to be working muscle groups that were under used in my training.  I was sore in places I was never sore after working on it.  This was truly enjoyable!

 

I did not film myself doing the form.  My basement is currently a mess, and with a new addition to the family in the form of my daughter, making a presentable video is very low on my priority list.   The form is easily found on youtube, and videos showing each individual movement from multiple angles are easy to find.  I'll never advocate going against school norms but if you won't offend your instructors by learning something outside of your skill set, this is a great form to learn.  I loved the form when I would watch it when I was younger, and now I appreciate the beauty and style the form presents.  Let's just say that if I had my own school or system, I'd likely incorporate this form somehow - that's how much I enjoy the form now that I sort of know it. 

 

 

Work From Home - Tips for Training During Covid-19

Greetings everyone.  Though I don't write here often, I figured now would be a good time to brush the dust away and start again, at least for a little while. 

It's a weird time we are living in right now.  As martial artists, we're unable to gather together to train, and most of our schools are closed thanks to Covid-19.  For many martial artists, this is going to be a very trying time, as I don't believe many train alone, or at home.  Without the formality of a dojang, and an instructor, it is understandable that motivation to train can drop.  The overwhelming nature of not only having to figure out how to train, but also how to train yourself, in a space that may not support it can feel daunting. 

As an instructor, self training is a bit of a double edged sword to me, and I find it hard to really parse.  On one hand, "practice at home" has been a mantra repeated to me since I first started training way back in 1994.  It was something I really took to heart and started doing when I was preparing for my black belt; and would eventually become a cornerstone into making me the martial artist I am today. 

On the other hand, as an instructor who has a very deep understanding of the students I see weekly, there are definitely bad habits and flat out mistakes that I would not want to see strengthened by unsupervised repetition.  Martial arts in the new school era take a much slower philosophical approach to correcting mistakes and eliminating bad habits.  To suddenly not have a guide to give those subtle nudges in the right direction could lead to very hard to make corrections for students down the line.  To that end, I'm going to write this with an underlying goal of preventing the pitfalls of self training. 

Know Yourself

If you read my blog, you know I am a huge proponent of noce te ipsum.  The best solo workouts come when you set out with a plan of what you want to get accomplished, and how you want to feel when you are done.  This goes beyond answering that two part question with "a workout" and "good".  If you are going to work from home, alone, you need to start thinking deeper than this. 

Recently, my answer to these questions would be "memory retention of my forms" and "satisfaction", as my situation as a practitioner now relies mostly on being an effective instructor.  For a student training for a test, I'd offer a much more nuanced suggestion of "Hitting every stance correct in X form" and "progress"

Once you have an idea of where you want to go, and how you want to feel when you get there, you can design your path.  Let's look at some of the ways you can accomplish what you set out to do. 

Basic Techniques

Though higher rank can find basic technique training boring and unnecessary, all you need is the mirror you look at every day before you walk out the door to go to work, combined with some patience to start a great workout.  The best thing about basic technique training is that you don't need a lot of space to do it.  Another great feature of solo basic technique training is that it can be as vigorous or as technical as you want. 

Many of us can't wait to "get moving" when it comes to martial arts, but with limited space, moving can be difficult.  Basic technique training is terrific because you don't have to move!  Every technique can be practiced stationary, allowing you to work in the most constrained locations. 

If you are looking at just "getting warmed up" pick a series of 5-10 techniques, execute them stationary in reps of 10-15 each.  I'd recommend going in a punch, kick, block cycle, so my self training may see me start with punches in a straddle stance, switching to rising front kicks in a front stance, switching back to straddle for inward-outer forearm blocks.  The beauty of this, is that if you are just looking to work off some energy, you don't even need a mirror per say.  Just rattle the technique off with some intensity.

If you are looking to work on your technique execution, slow it down, get in front of the mirror, go online and get diagrams of the techniques you want to work on and take it in parts.  Get in position, look at the diagram, look at the mirror and ask yourself "do I look like that"?  Take it one step further and find someone who can execute the techniques near perfectly on youtube (this is going to be highly subjective, to your style of TKD, your organization, etc).  After watching yourself in the mirror, and using diagrams, watch someone actually performing the technique at a high level and again ask "do I look like that"?  Finally, if you can't figure it out, record yourself, and send it to someone like me, who could help you break down the mechanics of why it isn't happening for you. 

Forms

Piggy-backing on the last part of the basic technique section, I would advise you to work with someone on forms and use technology.  I'd be very cautious of doing forms over and over with no one watching.  Although you can really work on memory retention this way, you can do more harm than good if you consistently do something wrong and strengthen that with 100s of reps.  Leverage technology.  Check in with a friend, or an instructor and get their feedback.  It is not how we do things normally, but these are not normal times.  Film yourself, watch the video, send the video for corrections. 

As far as space goes, your front yard, back yard, local park, driveway - all can all be fine places to do your forms. 

Pre-arranged

For those unfamiliar with the term, "pre-arranged" usually refers to one, two and three step training, as well as self defense.  All of these can be practiced alone.  Although having a partner is important for the timing and spacing aspect of these, you can strengthen your stances, power, and over all execution and all you need is some visualization to see in your minds eye the incoming technique you will be responding to. 

Bag Work

I use two methods for solo bag work.  If you have a standing bag, a bob, or a hanging bag, well...you are all set.  I have none of these.  So I use what I have on hand to get this training.  I have a front yard full of dead trees (sadly).  They make excellent heavy bags that I can use to good effect to work positioning, body control and mild power (I don't recommend blasting a dead tree with full force, it won't end well for you, and even if it does, in the long run you will hurt yourself more than the tree). 

You can also find traditional training designs and blueprints online if you are handy.  Makiwara boards, kicking boards, all of this can be found online and built with very low cost, if you are handy. 

Putting It All Together

In a word - don't.  I have found that one of the biggest secrets to self training successfully is to not try and have a regimented one hour karate class in your house run by yourself.  I'm sure it can be done, but it is not something I would try to do for myself unless I was really feeling it.  I'll usually pick one of these categories and work that in with treadmill work and weights.  My biggest reason is burnout. 

One to two categories per day will take you far, and allows you to maximize that category without succumbing to some of the more negative aspects of training alone.  Again though, it all comes back to knowing yourself.  If you are all about that training, then by all means, do it all every day.  If you are struggling though, try one of these options and see how you feel after.  I suspect it will be pretty good! 

And Now for Something Completely Different.

I'd be lying if I said I only talk about the analytics of the martial arts.  I have been told that I sprinkle my own opinion in to my posts enough to give them a proper amount of flavor, but tonight, I am going to talk about something a little different. There won't be a lot of analysis, no theory breakdown and no talk about technical accuracy or the science of the martial arts.  Tonight, way too late to be starting a project like this, I'm going to just share some thoughts on taekwon-do. 

Tonight my class was visited by a Grandmaster that I always enjoyed working with.  He travels a lot, but training in my youth, I always looked up to him.  Tonight, he watched me teach, and paid me all the praise an instructor could hope for.  It was good, as it always is.  Compliments from people like him, people with those last three bars that alone equal almost all of the time I have dedicated to the art telling you that they enjoyed my class is a tremendous honor and a hell of a compass calibration. 

I can't help but feel a great deal of melancholy though.  I was telling my wife a story about how he and I sparred one night, and how, it was a total mind game.  I was a 2nd or 3rd dan, and still at the top of whatever fighting game I had (I was no slouch, but was never the best fighter in the school).  He must have been 7th dan at the time.  He could have bludgeoned me to victory.  He didn't though, he took me right to the extreme limits of my fighting and kept me there, in a desperate back and forth, scoring points and getting scored on.  He was never in any danger of losing, but I felt the entire time I was on the verge of winning.  It was always a rare state to find a sparring partner like that - one that didn't exert their will on you, but held you at the brink of your limit, so that you could surpass yourself. 

God I miss sparring like this.  Maybe nostalgia and memory make these things into fishing stories; you know, the kind where a minnow caught turns into a shark?  Still, anymore, my sparring matches are completely one sided one way or another.  Either the person I am sparring is no match for me, or I'm simply out of shape and too injured to stand any kind of chance.  It can be hard, but I keep my ego locked up pretty tight anymore.  I mean, I've been there, and I've done that all before, right?  Sure, I have...doesn't make the nights where you miss the old days any easier though.  This grandmaster and I sparred twice that night, and I learned so much, moreso than 100s of other matches I had, with people of the same rank, lower, and even higher.

The match was a game of finesse, and of making the other person do what you wanted so you could score at will.  Good free sparring is a game of dirty sleight of hand, and we were Penn and Teller that night.  Feints, posturing, setups - no points scored on exploiting a slow hand, or with a blind sided attack; rather, every point was scored by causing an opening that simply couldn't close.  It was magnificent.

Today's students are so different than I was when I was a 1st dan and up.  I won't devolve this blog post into a "get off my lawn," rambling, but none of us had the potential that some of my current students do.  They are so very talented, but because of that, their work ethic can be fleeting at times.  I love teaching them, because my hope is that some day, they'll experience the glory, and the epic-ness like I have.  That at least in their heads, if not on paper, or digitally they someday write of an amazing sparring match shared with a classmate or instructor. 

Tournament glory is nice - and I've had my own small share of it.  I can tell you though, even the best tournament matches I have fought don't compare to matches I've had in certain classes.  The time Master Young cut me down with a spinning hook kick sweep and kicked me in the face before I fully hit the ground (when I was literally at the top of my fighting game); the endless matches with Master Pease, who frequently turned me into jello, or the time he spin hook kicked me in the face hard enough to blow the entire top off the "bottle cap challenge" and was shocked when I shook it off smiling; the time I made Master McCarthy nearly puke, or the time I impaled Oaks with my side kick; the time I tried to dive roll between Farrington and Barr, and they beat me to a pulp for it in a 2 on 1 match.  Then there was the time Grandmaster DeStolfo told me what he was going to score on me with (a jumping backfist), hit me with it right in the face, laughed at me, and then told me he was going to do it again, and then did it again, and laughed some more - are memories I will cherish forever.  I remember sparring with my man Jerry from NYC for hours and hours after classes, looking like a dalmatian from all the bruises on my arms.  God, what a time to be a martial artist it was! 

Now the price I pay for even throwing a kick above mid level too many times is 3 days of hip pain, some limping, and a lot of advil.  I'm not, throwing a pity party though, it was worth it all - and if I had to do it again, I would, because at the end of the day, those sparring memories are some of the best times of my life. 

So work hard, enjoy the art, and live for the moment.  If you have potential, stop effing around and unlock it.  Listen to the old heads, because they walked a different road and can tell you so much. 

Of Memes and Messages

If you are a martial artist, and you follow or have a following of martial artists in your social network, you no doubt have seen countless memes about the art and have read a plethora of different martial arts motivation posts. 

The sheer amount of toxicity that gets passed around as "a good post" in some of my network's mind has me absolutely staggered.  Although initial drafts of this post were written in a much more terse voice, I have scaled it back the best I can, because I remember a time when I didn't see the forest for the trees like I do now.  I took a class in college a long time ago, that really explored the messaging in pop culture and how it speaks to us.  It was an eye opening class, one that allowed me to see a lot of subtle messages in the media we consume that sometimes we don't even realize we're receiving. 

What I'd like people to take away from this post, especially school owners, is that your students are very likely going to hang (sometimes unhealthily) on everything you say and post.  My hope is that by pointing out some of the toxic messaging in this, I can get you thinking a little bit more about what you post. 

Let's take this example, a favorite among black belt instructors and school owners as a start:

First off, we attach a picture of the patron saint of all martial arts, the one and only Bruce Lee.  So of course, as martial artists, it must not only be true, but it must be some nugget of wisdom that came from the legend himself right?  No, google "should you be practicing" and you'll find the image of Bruce replaced with any number of other objects and graphics.  That's only one small problem with this piece, another is the messaging itself.

First off, as a working adult, with two kids and a wife that expect me to spend time with them, I can't follow this picture.  Yet, I can't help but feel just a tiny bit of inadequacy when I see peers or worse, instructors post this.  It makes me want to reach out to any instructor and ask them if this is what they really expect from their students.  Having the expectation that your students practice every waking hour of their life is not healthy.  It's not healthy to consider, and it is even more unhealthy to push on your students.  I'm glad as a teenager I didn't train in the social media era, because if my instructor had posted this, I might have quit all of my other activities and my job and tried this.  Hyperbole?  Maybe, but I hung on everything my instructors said - and had they said something like this, you better believe I would have tried.  There is nothing like unsupervised practice to bring out the absolute hardest to break bad habits for most people though - is this really what you want to deal with?

Looking specifically at this picture, the first branch starts a major problem with the message here. "Are you the student - yes or no".  Well, according to a lot of the other propaganda I see passed in the martial arts, I thought we were all life long students - so how can you even have a no answer?!  This is a paradox isn't it?  Let's ignore that glaring detail, and look at what happens when we say no which leads to the real problem with this piece.

"Find the most difficult technique - practice it".  How does this not infuriate you and immediately show you the invalidity of this piece if you know anything about instruction?  You don't get better by practicing the "most difficult technique" at anything.  You accomplish the most difficult technique of anything by being really, really good at what makes up that difficult thing - the basics.  If you don't understand the problem with suggesting that someone practice the most difficult technique as a proper course of action, you should maybe not be teaching.  Do you teach Moon-Moo to white belts?  No, you teach them Chon-ji, but by this picture's logic, we should be teaching white belts the most difficult form in the entire 24 form set.  I have seen with my own two eyes people who can do complex aerial techniques but couldn't front kick out of a wet paper bag.  It's toxic messaging at this point. 

Let's look at another aspect of this that is totally wrong - and sends a contradictory message at best and a hypocritical message at worst to your audience.  "Is there someone better than you?".

You, school owner or instructor or person of influence who posted, or is thinking of posting this meme; is that what the martial arts are you to?  A way to be better than someone else?  What happened to all the other memes about the only person we are competing with is ourselves?  What happened to humility?  You didn't think about that?  You didn't think...but you consider yourself a person of high quality or influence...hmmm.

Look, I get it, I'm not trying to be the fun police, and I get the lighter gist of this is that we could all practice more.  I'm telling you all, that there are better ways to get that message out there.  For instance, instead of a post like this, how about you take a picture of yourself practicing at some strange hour, or while on vacation, and making your own meme?  I have told my students on numerous occasions that when I was a serious competitor, I would watch TV, but get up and hold a stance for the entire run of a commercial break. 

Here's another pair I can't stand:






Ok, these messages are true, but only by default.  Of course the master has failed more than the beginner has tried, he's been doing it for years.  Same with a black belt who "never gave up".  Is this what you want your experienced students to see - that you are equating their only difference to a beginner being the number of times they have failed or the lack of "quit"? 

You want to know the real difference between a beginner and a master?  How about X number of years of dedication to the arts?  What about precision, and technique mastery, of hours sweating, and missed family events for testings, tournaments, seminars?  How about years of self study, of networking and self motivation to be the best martial artist you can be because you surpassed the title of beginner about 6 months into your training?  Did we suddenly forget all of them in an attempt to create a saccharine message for potential new students? 

There are no similarities between a beginner and a master, and there is a heck of a lot more to a proper black belt than just a no quit attitude.  Do you really want your new students to read this and think "all I have to do is survive in class a long time and I'll be gifted a black belt"?  Because, when I read this, that's what I see.  If you are going to bemoan the "participation award generation" for being too soft, perhaps make sure you haven't posted messaging to advance that mentality no? 

Here is by far the worst example of this meme:



With respect, to GM JR West, this is just a completely illogical statement spawned from the pools of over-romanticized nonsense.  Let's spin this another way - if your doctor walked in to your hospital room on the day of a surgery and said to you that he still considered himself a beginner - would that fill you with confidence?   If my hip doctor had said "Well DK, I have done over a thousand of these surgeries, but I still consider myself a beginner at it" I would have walked out.  Beginners are supposed to make mistakes, and that is ok.  If you aren't holding your black belts and masters to a higher quality level than a beginner, you are doing it wrong!

Again, I get it, martial artists like to believe they are humble and like to teach the message that there is always something to learn.  Here's the problem - if you don't just inherently know that there is always going to be more things to learn by the time you get to black belt, then you haven't been paying proper attention.  If you have to remind your student body of this over and over with memes on social media, you are not teaching properly.  Also, and again, way to belittle your advanced rank.  Why even differentiate with rank if this is the way you feel - just go back to the myth that there never were any colored belts and that a black belt was just a white belt that got dirtier and dirtier over time practiced. 

I'm not a person to not offer better alternatives, here's a few I do like that get the same messages across in a better way:



This sums up being a black belt kind of perfectly.  This speaks so much more to what makes a good foundation for an excellent black belt and eventual master - way more so than the previous examples.  It does this without minimizing the work or the accomplishments of your existing body. 

Here's another one, aimed at beginners that I love - because it really makes a great solid point, again, without looking at established ranks:



A simple message, that gets the point across.  Hell, I'd rather be a bad black belt than a dude sitting on the couch. So this message even motivates me, a sixth degree black belt!

These two messages are some of the examples of a messaging type that gets the proper points across.  You're not preaching a lifestyle of unchecked physical conditioning, or bringing down your existing group of students in the hopes of attracting new students by minimizing the amount of work that goes into martial arts accolades - you are using actual positive motivation. 

Memes and messages are powerful, and as school owners, instructors or even people of influence, we need to be aware of what we are really saying when we post things. 

Koenig's Anatomy of a Form (Part 1) Overview

Introduction

I've been working on this for a long time now.  For all of my writings on Taekwon-Do, this is by far the longest I ever worked on an idea before I put proverbial pen to paper.   When the idea came to me, I thought "this is revolutionary". I felt that way, because I had never seen an articulation of forms the way I had in mind. Now, granted I am not the most well read martial artist, so perhaps someone has done something like this, and if they have, I apologize for trying to take credit. I haven't seen it though, so I became inspired. 

After a while, mostly spent moving things around in Visio, listening grudgingly to my wife (a 3rd dan, who I have come to trust on many matters); I decided "this isn't that big of a deal".  It was at that point I was content to let this project die on the PCs I copied said Visio files to.  They'd be deleted in a few more months when I realized how silly I was for thinking that I could do anything actually insightful.

Finally, I decided that I am just going to put this out there, and maybe teach forms with this as an underlying method.  My hope is that at least one person who sees it says "wow, this is great - I never thought of forms like this" or even better, if they can use this to help teach forms themselves.  I think that it will help people take a look at an aspect that a student (or themselves) is struggling with, and help them find exactly what they need to do to improve that aspect. 

The basic idea of my anatomy of a form came from two places.  First, as I get older, and I'm not able to train the way I'd like to, I wanted to prove to myself that I could really contribute to the art without being a person who trains religiously.  There is a heavy stigma though, placed on the instructor who doesn't train like they did in their youth.  I think this is unwarranted, and believe that as long as you are involved in the art in some way, you are connected to the art and can have valuable insights.  I feel like only martial artists seem to think that you can only have something critical to say if you are training like a 20 year old.  

It also came about because I was thinking about what makes a form a good form.  I started to think about all the moving parts of a form, and realized that it is really difficult to articulate all that goes on in a given form.  That led me to realize I had never even seen an all encompassing description of it written.  I started to write about it months ago, and realized that writing alone wasn't going to do it justice. So this post is my attempt to illustrate all that goes on in a form.  Let me say that Visio is not the perfect media for this.  Forms are not flat; they are not 2 dimensional.  Many of the sections of these illustration that you see are happening at the same time as other parts and some are happening because of other parts.  It's hard to put something so dynamic down on on paper.  Forms, good forms are like a complex factory machine, there are a lot of moving parts, many you would never see by looking at it from the outside.  You have to know the moving parts are there. These illustrations I hope are a way to highlight the things you may not be seeing. 

  

Here's a quick reference for what you are going to see.  Try not to get too hung up on the lines and the shapes.  Again, a 2 dimensional medium is not the best way to describe a dynamic 3 dimensional movement, but sometimes, it is what we have. 

Lines:  

• Red Lines - These are the extensions of mental mastery.  These are places where your mind is doing more of the action than the physical side of your body.  
• Green Lines - These are what I call facilitation lines.  I use the green lines when something directly facilitates another aspect.  
• Blue Lines - These are what I call "lead to" lines.  They differ from green lines in that you can theoretically have one side without the other.  

Shapes: 

• Circles - These are intangible attributes.   
• Squares - These are the tangible physical attributes of the form.   
• Ovals - Ovals are the "in between" They are attributes that bridge the intangible and the tangible.  

Section 1 - The Mental

My graphic starts with the top most attribute being "Mental Mastery".  Mental mastery is a very slippery concept because it encompasses so many things.  All movement starts with a thought to move.  So all martial arts start with a mental idea to do so.  Our breathing, which facilitates our life and all vigorous movement, is controlled by the mind (consciously in some cases, subconsciously in others).  At our most basic levels of movement our mind is our engine.  Although breathing is going to play a bigger role in the movement section, I am including it in this breakdown because it is a physical attribute that is directly controlled by the mind.

Moving beyond the basic motor functions, our mind is where memorization occurs, and this happens in several capacities.  First we have to memorize what the techniques are - this is what I call this technique positioning.  For example, knowing that a certain punch in a form is meant to be high section, but also, knowing what "high section" means and where a technique that is "high section" goes.  Next we have application of the technique.  In forms, application of the technique is what sells the effectiveness of the technique.  In order to do a good form, the movements have to look like they would work.  You can have the correct technical positioning, but also, be clueless on its application.  Many times someone who has this shortcoming will look dispassionate;  their movements, robotic or static.

Application of technique and technique positioning feed into each other.  As someone's positioning increases, their understanding of the application can grow, and vice versa.  This won't hold true on every technique - some things need to be shown first, but as you flow from the right side of the mental to the left, you notice that the whole thing repeats.  Each step, in a clockwise cycle increases the effectiveness of the next and it never stops.  

Where "technique positioning" is the static, stopped position of the technique, the bottom 4 technique blocks (from a mental standpoint) would be considered the techniques in motion.  In a good form, the end of a movement is usually a stop, and your accuracy of your technique is often judged here.  There is more to a technique than just the beginning point and the end point.  The bottom 4 blocks are the techniques in motion. 

Surely you have had a student, or saw a student who can throw a beautiful round house kick, but their bottom foot never pivots enough to really release the power of that technique.  This is what the bottom 4 blocks represent in the mental side.  I believe the movement of the technique and the end point of the technique are unique aspects of having a good form so I have separated them.  Simply stated, in terms of moving in that clockwise cycle, once you have a beginning and an end point, you can begin to refine the in between.  

As this cycle repeats over and over again, more mental mastery attributes are gained.  Confidence increases, mental discipline increases, fear is abated, and understanding of the art is gained.  I would like to list everything, but I'd have no room in the diagrams to post anything else!  Suffice to say, the mental aspects of form training are extensive and many are often overlooked.

Section 2 - Movement

We already established that all movement starts with a thought and that breathing is what powers our body.  If we do not breathe, we're not going to be able to move for very long before we pass out.  Afterall, no instructor has ever been heard saying "now hold your breath" to a student doing anything.  Quite the contrary, "breathe" is advice given for so many things.  Students who are struggling with stamina, students that are nervous, angry, or upset - a typical first piece of advice is always to "just breathe".  We take it for granted I think, but breathing is one of the most fundamentally important things we do in life in general, let alone in martial arts training.  Breathing allows us to make the small and large movements we perform in the martial arts.

Small movements are the subtle things we do.  These are weight shifts, hip turns, head and eye movements.  I would classify them as the micro elements that make up actual movement.  These happen before an actual technique is even initiated (like a look, or a head turn) or, like hip rotation or a weight shift, happen during the actual technique. These subtle movements, or the lack of them, can have huge ramifications for a form.  Without a focus on small movements, forms will rarely leave a mediocre state.

Large movements are the movements that aren't part of the actual technique.  I am thinking primarily of stepping, turning and chambering.  Though you can argue that chambering is part of the actual technique execution, I would disagree.  Chambers can vary depending on the technique and the intent of use of the technique.  With very few exceptions turns and stances are not tied to any particular technique, and chambers are the same way.  We see this primarily with how fighting differs from forms.  In fighting, we try to disguise our kicks by throwing them all with the chamber of a front kick.  Though we would never do this in forms (unless, it was called for), that versatility makes chambering belong, in my opinion here in the movement section, and not a part of any defined technique.  If you do not properly chamber your technique, you cannot properly execute it.  So a successful technique depends on this long movement.  The same is true of turns and stances.  These large movements are the foundations of the techniques, if the foundation is bad, the technique is bad.

Negative movements are the stops after each technique in the form.  This is such an important part to doing a good form.  Negative movements keep the proper pace in the form.  Without it, you have movements bleeding into each other, which looks sloppy, or too much pause which makes the form look robotic. The proper negative movements should be a learned execution just as any movement is because they can vary, from technique to technique and from form to form.

Furthermore, negative movement isn't just movement to movement - it's also about the start and stop of the whole technique.  Having the proper stop time means your punches, blocks or kicks don't waggle to a stop, but have stillness factor.  This comes only from refining your movements over years of practice and accomplishing balance in all aspects of your form.

The culmination of small movements, and large movements with the correct stop time in between is body control.  Body control is the figurative balance point where the physical movement and the mental understanding of how to move meet.  Combined with technique positioning from the last section, we end up with a strong foundation for technique execution.  A person with body control knows where everything goes, and gets it there the correct way. 


Section 3 - Technique

On the heels of movement comes the technique portion, and "on the heels" couldn't be more apt.  Think about a single technique, executed from a ready stance, or if in the middle of a form, the stop of the last technique.  You breath in, look in the correct direction, see the target of the technique, set your hips and your weight the right way, chamber - all of the movement section items happen and happening - then: technique!  Your movement items drive the technique.

You'll notice there are a lot more items on this segment of the chart and this is because the technique would be the macro level of everything going on in the form.  Technique is the easiest part to see and the place where many a black belt and master stops looking for improvement.  Still, as we see above, there is plenty of nuance even in technique execution.

On the mental side of things, we see that memorization, technique positioning and application of the technique all factor into the stances, blocks, punches and kicks.  In other words, we need to know how to throw the correct techniques (memorization) and why we throw them (application) to where (positioning). We practice this every time we do a form so this cycles.  Every time we do a form we strengthen, for better or for worse, our mental understanding of what we are doing.  I say for better or for worse because the more times an instructor lets a student make a mistake (for whatever reason) that mistake gets strengthened just like any positive attribute we'd like to encourage.  Furthermore - this is the pitfall of self training.  If one thinks that they have a form "down" and begin unsupervised practice, they could solidify things that are not only poor, but flat out incorrect.  This will obviously make repairing that mistake that much more difficult.

On the physical side, we see a green relational line between the mental side's technique positioning and the physical side's body control.  Body control, which we know from the movement section is balancing point of all the physical movements and their correct end points.  These are really mirror images of the same thing.  Body control deals with the physical stopping, technique positioning deals with knowing where that stop should occur.

This is really where Visio fails me, because the relationship between the next parts and the parts before are really happening on top of each other, or at the same time as each other or even inside of each other.  Think of it sort of as a Russian matryoshka doll (the dolls that are the same but smaller and smaller inside of each other).  Speed and Power and Timing combine in a balance to lead to our kicks, blocks, punches and stances.  These are not all isolated from the movement section, the movement section again, powers the technique.  For the purposes of breakdown though, we'll dive a little deeper into the relationships between speed, timing, power and balance first.

Speed, Timing, and Power are special players in this anatomy.  They are all in their own right worthy of their own breakdowns in contents.  Although my goal was to break a good form down to its most basic parts, there is simply too much to unravel in this section to fit neatly on a chart.  Perhaps someday I'll write a follow up examining this section even closer.  For now, we'll recognize that power is derived from a number of sources.  Weight, muscle mass, and strength are going to play a part in power for instance.  Speed is probably the most faceted of this triad.  Speed can be broken down to raw speed (the actual time it takes to travel a distance) and the illusion of speed (that being how fast a technique looks). Timing is the practice of the balance of technique position and body control.  It is the execution of that culmination.

These three attributes are unique in that they all directly play off of each other.  Power and timing are one of the ways to create the illusion of speed for instance, and speed and timing make a technique look powerful. even if, from a kinesiology perspective it is not.  When these three attributes are combined in the proper proportions you attain balance.

I am not limiting balance to standing on one leg but rather every concept we spoke about in their correct amount for each technique.  This is a balance of the optimum speed, power, timing, positioning and body control.  All techniques should execute from this position and if so, you end the physical side of this chart with well executed punches, kicks, stances and blocks.

Section 4 - The Big Picture

This, my fine readers, is a form - it is any form you do.  All of these items are happening, some at the same time as others, some that are strengthening other sections, while others are making corresponding sections happen at all.  If you are with me so far, my hope is that this can help you troubleshoot a form more effectively, by allowing you to see an X-ray of what is going on at all times.  I believe a person could use this, to look at a student, identify a weakness and then follow this guide to a root cause for correction.  In the least bit, I believe it can be helpful to identify and resolve issues more systemically - rather than relying on older methods which feel more like "shot in the dark" methods than an actual troubleshooting.

In the next post, we'll take a look at how to use each section to effectively troubleshoot issues in forms.