Curriculum and the Individual

Curriculum is often a double-edged thing. It is a way to have a logical organization of material, but too often it's just a regurgitation of tradition, and a way of justifying having blinders on. I may have a general progression that I use, but it's always adjusted to the individual. It's clear that each person has different learning capabilities and predilections that need to be addressed. To fine-tune training to a particular student's abilities, physical and cognitive, is a challenge (usually enjoyable). The important goal for me is to feel that the student owns the material rather than having memorized a curriculum, and indeed, none of my students have been "curriculum junkies," or concerned with rank (which I don't generally bother with). I'm glad the concern has been, as the saying in JKD goes, "It's not what you know, but what you can do."

Available Weapons

We have talked about "available," i.e. improvised weapons before. Since I go to deserted and not particularly welcoming places as part of my ongoing documentation of graffiti, I keep my eyes open for              such objects even if I carry a knife. Here's one I came across while walking down the rail tracks in Watts. It would be great even without the spike.

Time Hitting

"Time Hitting" is the western fencing term for simultaneous defense and attack, what in (at least one transliteration) Wing Chun is referred to as "lin sil die dar." My "Sectoring" DVD is about that subject, particularly against jabs and crosses.

The reason that developing the ability to time hit is so valuable, is that attackers rarely think of defending during their attack. Human combative instinct is not that efficient. Rather, the commonality is all defense, all attack, all defense until one sees an opening after an attack has failed, or two knuckleheads just trying to out-punch each other. The example I like to point out is that even world class boxers drop their non-punching hand when punching, and they more than anyone else are supposed to be trained to keep their hands up. I would recommend getting a video of a world class match and watching the exchanges in slow motion to see how many time-hit opportunities are presented.

Yes, I certainly acknowledge that when it's coming fast and hard that it's not a done deal, but the opportunities are there and worth training to look for and catch.

Costs Versus Benefits

I've said it before and I'll say it again, there's a way to train without jacking yourself up, yes? So if you love being a tough guy and getting pounded on, read this:

http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=14439&Section=Aging&utm_source=DailyHealthBulletin&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Aging&utm_content=Body+Title&utm_campaign=DHB_1200803

Comfortable Complexity

As I have written about before, the simplest actions involve intrinsic complexity if they are in flow, with the potential to go in many (arguably infinite) directions. If we diagramed all of the things that commonly happen offensively and defensively as you try deliver a jab, it would quickly become a very dense diagram. If we tried to memorize or codify all of the potential footwork variations, for example, it would be very "top heavy," meaning that it would require an unwieldy amount of conscious mental work and that's not the way to go.

Don't get me wrong, a good deal of mental work is required to understand good technique and training process, but any neurological/cognitive research will confirm that what we do best is done without conscious internal dialogue, or without sub-vocalizing at the very least.

To make fine-tuned (i.e. complex) responses natural and comfortable requires training games where choices are made in the moment. Kinds of sparring would of course be included in that category, but drills can be constructed around any kinds of choices that you are looking to deal with. My recommendation is that when constructing a drill, you start with the lowest amount of choices possible, two and then add more choices progressively. The intensity should start mellow and build appropriately. What I like to do eventually is to throw something at the trainee that is not what the drill is focusing on, and if the trainee responds smoothly to the unexpected offensive opportunity or defensive need, then I know the response is genuinely there for them.

Drill Post #30: More on Footwork

Interesting how much has been written and demonstrated in JKD and kali circles about footwork, but it's always very black and white as it were. In other words, the "slide and step advance" in JKD, for example, is always shown as bringing your rear foot all the way to your lead foot which then moves a step forward. However, the movement of the rear foot, and therefore the distance of the advance, could easily be any where from a few inches to anywhere up to the lead foot and indeed should be practiced with varying distances so that you are comfortable moving an appropriate distance to, for example, deliver a stop kick. Same with the "step and slide advance," where you move your lead foot a comfortable step (usually defined as half of a step distance). If you thrust forward as far as you can, it's called a "push shuffle." But again, we should practice it anywhere from moving one inch, all the way to  the full push shuffle. The slide and step has easier potential to go further than the step and slide, but beside the distance you want to move, the choice as to what footwork you use is made by where your weight is and what tool you are attacking with, hand or foot.

To develop the choice making smoothly, the trainer moves forward and back at varying distances from the stationary trainee (but without crowding him at this point), and periodically stops and says "Go!" at which point the trainee immediately advances with appropriate footwork to touch a target with a hand or foot.

Then do the same drill but with both partners moving. Developing the instinctive feel for proper attacking footwork is a crucial skill set.

Where the Magic Happens

This is my humble little studio. Come on by!