Pick A Move

"Spirit first, technique second."

-Gishin Funakoshi

 

"If you have to think about a technique you haven't done it enough."

-Norman Haris

 

 

 

 

 



Martial arts often exemplifies focus, but focus can be a double edged sword at times. Take it from someone who walks as they read; if you focus too hard on what you are reading you are likely to miss what may be occurring. Lord knows if I focus on just the book I'll run into things, or get run into. So even though I read and engage in the story, I always use my peripherals to keep track of what's going on around me.

Likewise, a martial artist often has favored moves, yet we also have moves we do not do as well as we could.

So this is something of a challenge I am issuing; I want you to pick a move and focus on training it for the next month. Practice it an hour a day, at least, and do so without neglecting practicing your other techniques.

There will come a point that every martial artist must realize; I may have done this technique tens of thousands of times, yet something in my heart tells me I can still do better.

I know this because of one very tangible experience I shared with my father in Kendo. One day we visited a school around the new year, and they introduced us to a tradition where you did that many cuts with the shinai as was the new year. So for an hour we practiced just over 2000 cuts, and after that 'warm-up' which left both our hands raw and bleeding, there was still another two hours of actual practice.

That's a lesson I keep at heart. Even after thousands of repetitions, there is always more to be done, and further to go. After all, the goal is not just to climb the mountain, but to also climb down, go home, and one day climb another and return.

And as you practice this technique, when you spar, actively seek to utilize this technique in sparring. Learn to incorporate it, and every move you learn in your martial style in how you fight. This will make the technique become a part of you.

This will do many things, especially if after a month you choose a new technique to focus on.

For me I am going to focus on practicing reverse techniques; I have an aversion to them because I think it folly to turn one's back on an opponent when engaged, but then again, is this such an issue if I improve my speed and technique?

I will find out.

When I first began practicing this method I started small. I began with a front punch, then moved to the front kick. Then the roundhouse, and later side-kick, and after that the back-fist, and later elbow, and ox-jaw strike.

Explore the potential of this technique; you will be amazed just how versatile one move can be. And make it work.

 

"Don't think that one technique is the end. There is no end. There is no perfect technique. Just when you think you've got them, you're dead because you didn't."

-Masaaki Hatsume