From: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To: the_dojang-digest@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Subject: The_Dojang-Digest V6 #589 Reply-To: the_dojang@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Errors-To: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Precedence: The_Dojang-Digest Thur, 9 Dec 1999 Vol 06 : Num 589 In this issue: the_dojang: The Flu the_dojang: Hapkido Book the_dojang: RE: The_Dojang-Digest V6 #588 the_dojang: Fading skills the_dojang: Re: Retention and loss of skills the_dojang: Re: Retention and loss of skills the_dojang: Do you worry about... the_dojang: . ========================================================================= The_Dojang, serving the Internet since June 1994. ~710 members strong! Copyright 1994-99: Ray Terry, California Taekwondo, Martial Arts Resource Replying to this message will NOT unsubscribe you. To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe the_dojang-digest" (no quotes) in the body (top line, left justified) of a plain text e-mail addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. To send e-mail to this list use the_dojang@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com See the Korean Martial Arts (KMA) FAQ and online search the last four years worth of digest issues at http://www.MartialArtsResource.com Pil Seung! Ray Terry, PO Box 110841, Campbell, CA 95011 KMA@MartialArtsResource.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Lady Black" Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 23:39:40 EST Subject: the_dojang: The Flu Ray, Sorry to hear about your flu bug... I hope u get better soon. - -Lady Black ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ From: Jesse Segovia Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 23:51:44 -0500 Subject: the_dojang: Hapkido Book Nobody replied to the question on this but does any one know anything else about Chong Min Lee's book 'Hapkido -- First Degree Black Belt Course?' Is it in English or Korean? Is it worthwhile? I thought I had just about every book there was on Hapkido (except the ones I just can't bring myself to buy) but now I'm always finding out about more. Jesse ------------------------------ From: "Vaught, Clifford (CLF N6Y2K8)" Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 07:47:04 -0500 Subject: the_dojang: RE: The_Dojang-Digest V6 #588 Anthony, I checked your site and you apparently practice a sword art. Perhaps it is harder to retain specific skills in a sword art - I can't say. What I find is more the case for me, and I practice Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan, is my physical abilities impact what I can do as I get older and ailments such as arthritis affect my hips. I can only train 3 times a week and we practice the basics, over and over. It has been said that if you never leave the basics, you never have to go back to them. Not to say that you don't move on and learn more advanced techniques, but I would assume every art has basic techniques that prove to be the foundation for all the advanced ones. One thing I try to do is remember why I practice the arts, and also, I don't compare myself to the younger more capable (physically) students in our school - that could be frustrating! Soo Bahk!! Cliff - ------------------------------ From: "Anthony or Clare Boyd" Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 12:50:37 +0900 Subject: the_dojang: Retention and loss of skills It seems the more I learn and the harder I practice, the more difficult it becomes to chose what to focus on in a given training session. Do I work on timing and if so, timing of what skills in particular? Do I work on endurance and if so, what areas will I target for punishment today? Do I study forms, which forms? It used to be so easy to chose when I knew nothing! ;} So, now I find myself trying to play catch up as I go through the week. My instructors have a good system for drilling everything but I'm one of those people who needs more practice time and since I moved, I no longer have the space to practice on my own. All of this brings me to my questions. Do any of you find that some skills are harder to maintain than others? For example do certain techiniques fade from memory while others stay sharp? Do you lose the basics but not the advanced skills, vice versa or a mix? Is there one skill that even with drilling every day you just can't keep sharp? Does anyone know why? Anthony Boyd - Swordsman and Teacher http://victorian.fortunecity.com/operatic/739 ICQ# 45348443 ------------------------------ From: Nyneerland@aol.com Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 08:28:32 EST Subject: the_dojang: Fading skills <<>> <> __________________ Anthony, I trained in Tang Soo Do for several years and then had to move away from my school last year. I decided to continue training on my own in my basement, repeating things I had learned at school and including other elements such as running to keep in shape. It seems to work, but I have noticed it's really hard to remember forms correctly- as well as keeping my self-defense techniques sharp. The one thing I have found that stays with me are the basics, like kicks and blocks. We did them so many times each class in my school that they seem natural to me now. The more I continue to practice the basics on my own, the more I realize that my forms will hang in there, and my self-defense techniques will become more natural to me in time. I think high repetition of the basics will strengthen your foundation, and everything else will build from there. It may seem like a boring workout, so do lots of combinations to keep it interesting. I find that it's normal to have one or two elements of a workout that don't come naturally to you- even if you work hard on them. Keep checking the way you are doing the technique with a higher belt or an instructor to be sure your approach is correct, and then just do it over and over again! Anyway, this is my humble opinion - through my own experience! Hope it helps. Tang Soo! A. Conlon ------------------------------ From: dbuehrer@carl.org Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1999 07:15:38 -0700 Subject: the_dojang: Re: Retention and loss of skills >From: "Anthony Boyd" > > It seems the more I learn and the harder I practice, the more difficult it >becomes to chose what to focus on in a given training session. Do I work on >timing and if so, timing of what skills in particular? Do I work on >endurance and if so, what areas will I target for punishment today? >Do I study forms, which forms? It used to be so easy to chose when I knew >nothing! ;} Well, my instructor has a saying. "Feet first, hands last." His theory, and I agree with him, is that you must be able to move your feet. When my instructor has free time I see him doing moving forms. Based on that, I would suggest practicing stances and moving forms. > All of this brings me to my questions. Do any of you find that some skills >are harder to maintain than others? For example do certain techiniques fade >from memory while others stay sharp? Do you lose the basics but not the >advanced skills, vice versa or a mix? Is there one skill that even with >drilling every day you just can't keep sharp? :) There are some techniques that I can't seem to even learn, let alone stay sharp (round house kicks and breakfalls come to mind). And yes, sometimes I find that something that used to be easy suddenly isn't, and I feel like I'm learning it all over again. > Does anyone know why? I think it's part of the learning process. When I first began learning Hapkido everything seemed to come pretty easy (with a few exceptions of course :). As time went by there were moments when I was watching a higher belt perform a technique and I would see something that I hadn't seen before and think, "Oh, so that's how it's really supposed to be done." And then I had to learn the technique all over again and it wasn't as easy as before. Now I find myself looking for aspects of techniques that I missed the first time through, and striving to perfect my technique. And I suspect that shortly after I feel that I'm doing it right, I'll notice something else that I'm missing ;) The more you learn, the more you don't know. - -David Buehrer 6th Gup, Hapkido http://home.att.net/~Graht/Hapkido/Hapkido.htm - -- "The light is reached not by turning back from the darkness, but by going through it." ------------------------------ From: Piotr Bernat Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1999 07:49:49 +0200 Subject: the_dojang: Re: Retention and loss of skills Hello Anthony wrote: > Do any of you find that some skills > are harder to maintain than others? For example do certain techiniques fade > from memory while others stay sharp? Do you lose the basics but not the > advanced skills, vice versa or a mix? Is there one skill that even with > drilling every day you just can't keep sharp? > Does anyone know why? I think the hardest thing to maintain is the level of fitness - strength, flexibility, speed and so on. If the level of fitness is going down, it`s becoming harder to execute the advanced techniques (e.g. in Taekwondo, jumping kicks, spinning jumping kicks etc.). The basic techniques usually "sit" quite well for a long time, if one practiced them enough. Just my opinion ;) Regards - -- Piotr Bernat dantaekwondo@lublin.home.pl http://www.taekwondo.prv.pl ------------------------------ From: "Dale G. Gutt" Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1999 08:50:33 -0600 Subject: the_dojang: Do you worry about... I have a question that I would like to pose for your consideration and discussion. It sometimes enters into my mind and I wonder what others think about the same situation. It applies to both sides of the issue, instructors and students. Each of you may have gone through this before or are coming up upon it. For the Instructors: Do you worry about whether or not your students will "like" the class that you teach (and if they like you as well)? Do you try to make the lessons fun and not just the "same old" thing? I have often wondered what goes through the mind of my students and whether or not they like the class. I guess my belief is that if they like the class, then they will learn from it and are more likely to take away the concepts to try/practice on their own. Whereas, if they don't like it they are more likely to be bored with it and not want to practice it on their own. For the Students: Do you care whether or not you "like" the class (or that the instructor try to please you)? Do you look for flash in the instruction or just what the instructor gives you must be good? Back when I was a full-time student, I always assumed that what the instructor gave me was for my own good. I didn't necessarily have to like it to know it was something that was good for me. But now on the other side of the fence, I wonder about it and whether or not students will leave cause they are "bored". So what do you think? Thanks in advance for the discussion and thoughts. Hopefully, we will all learn something from it. Here's a topic Ray and I hope you feel better real soon! Dale. ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 07:59:25 -0800 (PST) Subject: the_dojang: . ------------------------------ End of The_Dojang-Digest V6 #589 ******************************** It's a great day for Taekwondo! Support the USTU by joining today. US Taekwondo Union, 1 Olympic Plaza, Ste 405, Colorado Spgs, CO 80909 719-578-4632 FAX 719-578-4642 ustutkd1@aol.com http://www.ustu.com ===================================================================== To unsubscribe from this digest, the_dojang-digest, send the command: unsubscribe the_dojang-digest -or- unsubscribe the_dojang-digest your.old@address in the BODY of an email (top line, left justified) addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. Old digest issues are available via ftp://ftp.martialartsresource.com in pub/the_dojang/digests. All digest files have the suffix '.txt' Copyright 1994-99: Ray Terry, Martial Arts Resource, California Taekwondo Standard disclaimers apply.