Application of a Technique

Yesterday’s training sessions saw us doing a variety of different applications and although the actual techniques varied there was a red thread running through them… at least for me there was. I was struggling with one particular aspect, which I haven’t focused on before, in all applications irrespective of the technique. I just wasn’t able to react to my opponent (actually, I don’t like that expression much, because it implies some element of animosity. I’ll refer to it as training partner or partner from now on) in the way I should have, or better wanted to.
I’ve never been so conscious of the difference between performing a technique and applying it against a training partner. I’m not sure if this is a reaction to my increasing awareness of how techniques (should) work or something else, but in any case I felt like I just couldn’t apply the technique properly. When doing the technique without a partner I seemed to do ok, but as soon as I tried to apply the technique I couldn’t control what I was doing.

I tried assessing why this was the case during class and came to the conclusion that this is only natural. When practicing on your own you don’t have to account for another person’s presence, movement, timing, weigh, etc. Hence, being off by a few centimeters or seconds won’t affect your technique all that much (or so it seems), but when you have to apply the technique and have to account for another person’s behavior, things are very different.

Unfortunately, this insight didn’t help me much and as class progressed, I became increasingly frustrated with my inability to perform the techniques properly. My instructor must have picked up on this frustration and wisely told me that it’s all just a matter of practice and that in time I will get better; very good advice and probably very true as well. However, I’m notoriously impatient and always want to get things perfect right away, so I enquired how I could practice applications at home. My instructor’s simple answer: “You can’t!” This makes perfect sense; there is no way to practice training against a partner without a partner, seems logical, doesn’t it? What does this mean for me? I’ll just have to put maximum effort into every training session we have and make sure that I practice the execution of the techniques as much as I can outside of class, so that I can focus on the application when I have the opportunity.

Back in green

Well, it’s been a while since my last entry. The main reason for this is probably because I haven’t been training all that much over the past few weeks. Between my holidays, my instructor’s holidays and a brief illness, I have only attended about 2 or 3 training sessions since my grading. Speaking of… for those that care, I did pass and I’m now a loud and proud green belt. Our two white belts have also passed their grading by the way. Congratulations Nicole and Daniel, well done.

So what have I been up to? As I said, I’ve only started proper training again last week, so there hasn’t been much news. The main two points would be the side kick (which is killing my ridiculously underdeveloped hip muscles) and various applications of wrist locks (which are killing my… you’ve guessed… wrists).

My main focus at the moment is the side kick though, because I think I have a very long way to go before I’ll feel comfortable with it. For the first time since starting to train in TKD I feel that my physique is letting me down. I simply lack the strength and flexibility in my hips to properly practice the side kick. Therefore I’ve been doing a lot of exercises outside of class to remedy this (constant muscle soreness included).

In general the weeks without training have left me in a worse physical state than I’d like to admit. I’ve gained a good bit of weight and lost a considerable amount of flexibility and strength. It will take me a good few weeks to get back into shape, but I should get there, if I set my mind to it. Wish me luck…