I mentioned this in another thread. I think a positive thing we can share is new drills we've come up with (or borrowed) to enhance the TKD class. First off lets put the debate aside of 'what is TKD'. We've been there and done that and it will be easy to slip back into that debate with, "You added that? That is TKD! Its been there from the beginning!!!" While this is an interesting an important discussion we've hashed and rehashed it so many times. No reason to go there again. I'll go first. Surprisingly I've added very little ground work (despite my sport Sambo training). I've tried from time to time, but found it just didn't flow well with the class and I felt we weren't giving those things the attention they really deserved. The two things that really worked well were 1) Bas Rutten style combos (if anyone has seen his DVD of combat they'll know what I'm talking about). It is very similar to CK Choi's hand patterns: http://youtu.be/F66u7gvZuTk 2) Shotokan style sweeps. I like these. They fit in very well with our sparring and reinforce the importance of your stance's connection with the ground. Example here: http://youtu.be/2vGBCdHduXw Not exactly Shotokan like, but I like to throw the scissor takedown in as well (for obvious reasons). http://youtu.be/glNedroM7As One thing I've been telling myself I need to add in is more stuff from the clinch. I think that would fit in really well, but I haven't really done much with that yet. So what sort of drills have people been adding that you felt fit well with the class structure?
TBH I havnt added much for years - though to a "standard" TKD curriculium we include: 1. Groundwork - in the form of chokes and some other bits and bobs (pins/hold etc.) 2. Patterns Apps (obviously) 3. Self protection stuff - fence, line ups, pre-emptive strikes etc. All this is at least 7+ years old.. but we are always refining things.. .. that said, if I see something that compliments or adds to our training, I am happy to incorporate it.. much as I am happy to disregard "new stuff"/Changes found in TKD! Stuart
We've been modifying our self defence syllabus and training approach for a while now, originally it was more technique based, with there generally being a set attack and defence, with progressive levels of resistance, to keep at least some level of reality. We started doing less prescription of the defence to start with and started getting students to apply the principles they had learnt, using the best ones for them, and then testing it using progressively more resistance from the opponent. Then we really started to make the attacks more dynamic, which really forced the defence to be more dynamic as well, with the added bonus that it became clearer to a lot of our students that it shouldn't be thought of as a fight, but more as make yourself safe. And as of lately, we have been practicing more general responses, e.g being able to generate a preferred position that is instinctive to them, one that is general to both a self defence base and a threat reduction/self protection base. This has been working really well for us, and helps tie in very easily self defence to self protection. In regards to our actual ranges and techniques we are drilling, we are staying away from in depth ground striking and grappling and are instead focusing as much as possible in transitioning off the ground safely, as well as a few drills to either stop from going to ground, or go to the ground in an advantageous position. We don't do too much standing grappling either, particularly we have dropped some sweep and throw practice we had been doing, though we do practice a lot of moving from a "grappled" position, and some joint manipulation for pain compliance or similar. Along with the self defence, we have also made our sparring and form practice more "result-oriented," aiming to focus more on the end result rather than individual techniques. So as part of our testing, we are phasing out isolated techniques and really judging on performance in actual sparring, the complete form, and self defence "scenarios". Our approach to fitness has been quite a bit more revolutionary and we chucked out all the old do a stupid number of push-ups and call it a workout and replaced it with smart progressive overload that actually trains for the goals of the participants. Lacking the facilities and equipment for most weight exercises, we have a solid progression of bodyweight exercises that can be performed, with workouts prescribed to take home and do generally based around 3 "streams" of student, with aims specific to their goals. That's what I can think of at the moment, I'd be happy to answer any questions about it, because I love talking about the changes to the syllabus we create.
Ha ha. I know you have! I think some vids of yours might have influenced my decision to incorporate them. I am interested in what body weight exercises you've incorporated. We do the standard pushups and situps, leg lifts, etc. On a personal level (and getting older) I am really trying to do more dynamic exercises (whole body) to maintain fitness and ideally to help prevent injuries. I'd love to steal whatever helps me with those goals, ha ha!
There's a lot of different progressions to work through for these exercises that can really skyrocket the intensity. For push-ups you can go a few routes, including pseudo planche push-ups, where you move your hands from under your shoulders, and get them closer to your hips. The closer to your hips, the less leverage you have and the harder the exercise. You can also place your feet on something and do decline push ups, which means more bodyweight is being lifted and it places the stress more on the shoulders, which aren't as strong, so double whammy. This done right is quite good for shoulder health too. Continue with higher and higher feet and eventually work towards either supported or freestanding handstand push-ups. Also really good for a self defence context (pushing and moving an opponent with your hands) is working towards one-handed push-ups, starting with some uneven push-ups and working towards push-ups with one hand on a ball and lever push-ups. With squats, it is really beneficial to taekwondo to be able to perform both pistol squats and shrimp squats. So after making sure everyone can do nice deep squats, start working uneven squats and then using a doorframe or a partner to do partially assisted one legged squats. Great for balance and knee support. If you've got stuff to pull yourself up on (even a doorway) there's a whole great number of progressions for pull-up and chin-up style movements to do as well. And you can hang from that ledge you can do knee raises to frog kick raises right up to toes to hands. Really there's a whole bunch of different exercises to do with just your body that people don't realise they can do, and if they do know about harder exercises like the one armed push-up or one armed chin-up they think they are well out of their reach and will never get there, but there are essentially limitless little steps you can take to get closer and closer to those movements. And they have real world benefits to taekwondo athletes and regular joes as well. I'm hoping to do a rather technical write up of all these exercises, how to do them, which ones to do and how to progress. I'm hoping that will be a good guide to get a lot of taekwondo (and other MA) instructors to do a bit of revolutionary change to their fitness structure. Edit: Common taekwondo injury = knee injuries squats and their progressions = super strong knees not prone to injury That's very key for me.
Thanks. I have a chin up bar at home. Any progression to help with pullups would be gold for me. I've always been bad at them. Can only get like 10 off.
Well at the moment from me, I'm working my weighted chin-ups to progress, but you can put a towel around the bar and grip it with one hand and the bar with the other. The lower you grab on the towel, the more the one on the bar has to work. Eventually you can work towards gripping the bar with one hand and your wrist of that hand with other hand, before moving on to full one armed chins. Also try sitting with your legs out in front of you, in an L-sit position, bit of isometric core and it changes the weight distribution. It's an interesting challenge.
