Training
by yourself is all the rage these days, obviously, so everybody and their
brother is casting their vote on what to do in isolated conditions. Now, I have
already written about it
(exactly five years ago!), and some of the more obvious
aspects or approaches
to solo training have seen their fair share of treatment here. Now, there is
another way to train solo, and quite controversial one, too.
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| Say what!? |
I’m
talking about formal practice, i.e. kata,
hyung, jurus, taolu…depending on the geographical origin of your chosen
martial practice. The controversy arises, of course, in view of the value of
such practice. Some traditionalists will swear by it and claim it the ultimate
supreme training method; the modern day, sparring oriented systems, such as MMA
or various (so called) reality-based defense methods will think of it as a bad
joke.
Now,
a lot has been written and said about the actual meaning, or original purpose
of these forms, so I will not delve into it here. Suffices to say that, as some
may expect from me, the point is not so much in what you do, but rather how
you do it. And there are some glaringly different approaches!
First,
let me stir some commotion – (kick)boxers do katas, too. In essence, whenever
there is a standardized set of techniques strung together to be performed as a
sequence, you get a formal exercise. In boxing, one of those might be
jab-cross-front hook; in kickboxing jab-cross-roundhouse kick; in Thai boxing
they can get quite
elaborate; in savate there are
standard combos performed when testing for grades, just like in many
traditional Asian arts.
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| savate is French after all |
However,
it is immediately evident how these formal exercises are practiced in said
systems. Let’s just go back to that basic boxing combo – all three punches
might be done to the head…or, head-body-head…or head-body-body…or body-head-head…or
you-get-the-picture. Next, add the footwork variables, as in stepping: all
advancing; all retreating; advance-advance-retreat etc. All of a sudden a single
formal exercise yields a mind-numbing number of possibilities
in application.
In
most Asian arts, as practiced today, forms tend to be some kind of pictures to
be added to your album. Basically static in presentation, even with predefined
rhythm in performance. Yes, even so there could be some merit in doing them, to
work on your breathing, focus, stamina and so on. I mean, in the circumstances
of home quarantine that may be enough… But why not take it a step further and
break them apart, maybe even assembling techniques in a different order
altogether? Kind of like Legos! You can follow the instructions, but you can
also make your own ideas.
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| Lgo action! |
The
only traditional art (as far as I know) that nurtures this approach as an
integral part of its teaching is silat
with its pecahan method. Admittedly,
there are schools out there who also work on bunkai, along with their kata, but those are also frequently
fossilized and done by numbers. Indeed, there are always those thinking out of
the box, such as Iain Abernethy or Gavin Mulholland, but everybody could, and
should, try this approach, at least once in a while.
Finally,
there is another very important aspect of traditional forms that I find
interesting, but, alas, it is not often paid attention to. It has to do with
finer mechanical points of technical development, but instead of trying to
explain it in writing, take a look at this brief but good demonstration:
In
conclusion, although nothing beats working with good instructors and training
partners, there is still so much work to on your own that you should never be
caught idle of bored!
