Because you just might get it.... and THEN some! I think its safe to say that most serious martial artists recognize and appreciate the need to train with realism. In the army we used to have "As you train, so shall you fight" on one wall of the drill floor and "The more you sweat in training the less you bleed in battle" on the other. I have always kept that philosophy in the back of my mind. Lately in HKD I've been grumbling a bit about not having any sense of practicle application to the techniques we learn. Sure I can perform them properly but what do they actually mean in a defensive situation? It's like learning how to drive. I can teach you all you need to know but it doesnt mean a damn thing until you're out there on the road trying not to kill anyone. Well, last night my "prayers" were answered by the addition of a new blackbelt from the other school my Teacher owns. He's trying to become an instructor so it was announced he'd be putting in time at or school to help with that endeavor. I still have memories of the last jackwad from that school that came to ours back when I was an orange belt and how my wrist ached for the better part of a week after training with him. So this guy had me nervous. OOOHHHH intuition you naughty little thing you... I was right. This guy had two speeds. Standing still and kicking my ass. Immediately after we started working together (I'm the second highest rank in the class but the highest belt never shows up so I had to work with this guy) I had to basically relearn everything I thought I knew. I had to quickly figure out the difference between practicing on air and against my instructor vs someone who didnt care if I failed miserably. Soon, I found and corrected MANY glaring holes in my techniques going all the way back to white belt and while I took one hell of a pounding from this guy I am thankful for the lessons. It made me better and as soon as I can move again I'm sure I can increase my new-found prowess. In the meantime can someone PLEASE ITCH MY NOSE??? Sorry, had to post cause someone was coming into my cube to talk work.... Anyway, it left me thinking about how had this type of training been part of my regular training program I could have had a far greater understanding of the techniques I was learning and how to employ them. I think for anyone out there realistic training, though a bit more dangerous, is CRITICAL for a true understanding of how to use the art you're learning. Its one thing to hit a BOB or a punching bag but its entirely different to whallop a person who can hit back. Its one thing to have someone grab you adn then wait patiently while you remember and then perform your joint lock or hip toss but another entirely if the person is going to punch you if you hestitate too long. That was one thing he did. If I hesitated too long he'd throw a strike at me that I'd have to block or counter. It opened my eyes to just how quickly I needed to spring into action after the situation started. I have a feeling Brown belt is going to teach me more than all the others thus far. I just hope I survive!
Getting my butt kicked is a lesson I have absolutely NO interest in learning... the guy sounds like a bully - beating up on little ol' you. Shame on him. :evil:
lol, that wasnt the lesson, that was the circumstance through which the lesson was taught. But he is a meanie and a bully and I don' wanna be his frien no mo'
Osu Big Mikey, Good for you, I hope you can milk as much as you can from that guy; it is a great opportunity. Osu!
mike. PLEASE take that literally. and take pictures but yeah, getting those epiphanic overarching corrections to your entire training is an extremely awesome experience, and one that you invariably come out from significantly better, and/or in a position from which you can improve pretty much exponentially.
Good thing you learnt from it! Training right often means training hard, and training hard sometimes means taking lumps from someone better than you. The trick is to realize why he did better and start working on that wat
Ya know whats amasing?!? The number of detailed scenarios that can be played out in ones mind concurrently just as this is going on. I move in to attack ( or more'n likely, counter ), probably with aggression and maybe a good speed and then ..."wait, wait a minuite, now; if I do this then it'll really be on" and then ya slooowww it down, your strikes become increasingly irresolute and timorous - One feels like an observer watching the whole thing play out from a distance. You're grabbin' that bull by his bollocks, so, is he really gonna follow, or is he gonna slam a horn into your ribcage - won't care if your lung's collapsing, still gonna stomp you as ya drown in your own fluids. Its not my opponent beatin' me down, its my own head. If those little vignettes could be prevented from playing out their millisecond-long cameo in my thoughts to begin with, the outcome might turn out differently, or at least, the battle far less one-sided. I've not sparred in the ring or in the studio, I'm just thinking about rows I've been in where I feel the thrashings I took really had their beginnings at the psychological level -which was largely due to the lack of experience in the ring. Thats something you are meeting head on. Great post, Mikey!
So true Mikey My club does all the ususl stuff during class and we spar once a week roughy. They also hold a fightclub on saturdays. Basically its for those whe want to use their skills, rather than just light sparring. Holy poo balls, did my eyes get opened! I am the lowest belt as such and I thougjt I was doing ok as all the other guys and gals are brown and black belts. I sweat like a pig, get hit, but that training is worth its weight in gold. One session of fight club has taught me more than 6 months of class sparring Plus, a lot of the BB's have said the were quite impressed with my skills which is good. Wring every bit of knoledge out of the bloke Mikey, its ur duty and you would be doing him amd youself a disservice by not! Regards Rob
One thing I cant stop thinking about is how important it is to use combinations or at least have a plan B and C. For example (and forgive me if this is long winded but I dont know if I can describe techniques well briefly), typically we are taught techniques in groups. At white belt we learned seven striking techniques brilliantly called striking 1 through seven (those Koreans, boy!). For this discussion we'll just state that any wrist or grab attempt is to the right side for sake of ease. So, Striking two involves a wrist grab. The defensive movement is to step off at a 45 degree angle while lifting the grabbers arm our and away from his body exposing the ribs. The a knife hand or hammer fist strike is employed to the ribs. At yellow belt we learned a breaking technique which uses almost the same starting sequence: grab, step out at a 45... then it goes to pressing the thumb into a pressure point on the bicep, squirreling under the raised arm and employing a wrist break by pressing the elbow and wrist toward one another. Since that session so many techniques all seem to go together. For example, if I just do a wrist roll so that my hand is on top before stepping out at that 45, I can perform the strike then loop under the arm and employ the wrist break rather effectively (Thanks to my wife for letting me try that.... unfortunately it was the ONLY one she let me try, lol!). I keep having "aHA" moments where I see a combo in my head now. Breaking three for yellow belt involves grabbing the grabbing hand with my left and then bringing both the grabbers hand as well as my own up to my chest, then while trapping the wrist against myself I move my right elbow over the top and apply downward pressure to the grabbers elbow. By shifting my hands slightly I can go from that into breaking two (Fan breaking) and also break the wrist and then taking the grabber to the ground for a finishing move. It all seems so obvious to me now. I feel like a child who just learned there are more than 16 crayons... there are 64! And a SHARPENER!!! Today my pelvis still aches from impacting the mat so many times, my elbow and wrist ache from having techniques applied to me forcefully, my neck hurts, my back is killin me but thats a small price to pay for the awakening I've received. I WANT MORE!!!!
It sounds like a good day to me. I personally just love when someone new come to my dojo and show some good and different things, is like another point of view and you can always learn new tricks. About newbs, is impressive how new guys can aim suddenly to the balls and never fail
