I was wondering what others do when they train by themselves. I am doing an internship this summer (in western Chicago) and there isn’t a school that is near by. So I basically have to train by my self, and I was looking for new ideas. Some things that I do are regularly: 4 and 8 way forms A kicking routine suggested by Master Harmon. It involves doing 4 sets of the seven basic kicks (front kick, stretch kick, inside and outside crescent kick, round kick, side kick, and hook kick). The first set is just 10 reps of each kick each leg The second set is the same except you don’t put your foot down between reps. The third set, is 10 reps of low kick, high kick (don’t put your foot down). The last set is 10 reps of low, middle, high kick (don’t put your foot down). Thigh burners Push ups Sit ups, etc
Are you in Chicago itself or the suburb "west chicago"? Because if the former, then there are places to train. There is a school run by Michael Hill, contact info here: http://www.kuksoolwon.com/schools01a.html Also, Timothy Seitz SBN lives in Chicago; I don't know what he's doing over there or whether he's teaching, but he would definitely know of places for you to go and people for you to practice with, and if you PM me I can get you his contact info. But while I'm here, this is a good topic. There are many things that you cannot do without a partner in kuk sool. But there are also many things that you can do. What do people here do when they practice alone, and what are some good ideas for practicing alone if you're going to be stuck without access to formal training for an extended period of time?
Even without a partner you can practice techniques in the air to help with memorization. Speaking of which, don't forget the memorization drills--I'm told we're *supposed* to be able to go through all of our techniques in our minds in 30 seconds, and the same for all our forms - no matter what rank we are. I'm also told that it takes daily (or more frequent) practice to accomplish this, and that we should start ASAP. Meditation, three kinds: 1) normal, regular sitting meditation. 2) the 12 breathing poses. 3) the wrist/sword breathing meditation poses. Most of the basic weapons training can be practiced alone, the sword meditations, staff spinnings, forms if you know them. If you have a nice cushiony location, you could also practice some nak bub, especially cat rolls and hajen nak bub. Even without a real soft place, the very basic falling practices (from kneeling / sitting position) would probably help.
I know about SBN Hill's school, but it is just too long of a drive. Also there is a group of us from the seminar in champaign that are trying to get together to train, including SBN Seitz. I dont know if it will work out. Thanks for the suggestions.
You were at the seminar? So was I! (So was AZeitung actually, but he's not in this thread so I'll ignore him ) I remember you asking about that too. Cool! BTW, I was the redhead blue belt that Kuk Sa Nim told to stay behind and watch the flags, thereby making everyone laugh; maybe you remember?
OK, I don't want to sound too stupid here.... but I'll do it anyway. You say 4 and 8 way forms. I understand 4 way, but 8? Do you mean 4 way left/right to make 8, or is it something else? Now as far as my own solo practice I do: I do my forms 3 times 'quickly' to work on basic memorization, and then twice slowly to focus on different aspects. Unfortunately I do not practice them lefty very much yet, but I need to start working on that. I run through my stances (nice and low) and do some simple kicks/punches for a bit, and then work on the ones I feel I need more work on (side kick, roundhouse, high & low spinning back kick). Finally, I go through all my techniques twice from SPK up through my last set. I try to get my kids to practice with me, but they tend to lose focus after about 10 minutes of forms so they trail off and go play their computer or something until I get to techniques. I have been slacking on my staff spinning, something I need to get going very soon....
Here are some more ideas for a change in pace in training: My husband likes to practice forms in the neighborhood swimming pool. The water gives a bit of resistance, slows you down, and makes you think about what you're doing. Training outdoors is usually good, both barefoot and shod. When we mentioned our pool training to a Kyo Sa Nym, he recommended sand. I don't know if any Lake Michigan beaches are open for that, or how long it'd take you to get there, but playgrounds are okay too. (Our training group goes out ~ 6-7 am on a Sunday morning, so there's not too many people disturbed by our practice. Playgrounds might also be a good place for balance training. My sister got me a portable balance beam for Christmas, when I mentioned it at the dojang I was asked if I'd tried doing my forms on it. --*That* was an interesting experience. Ki Cho Hyung works all right, though you have to be careful about jumping, and most of Cho Geup Hyung. But to try it with Joong Geup Hyung you really have to derange the angles of the form. I'm something of a fan of multi-purpose, compact "gym" equipment in my house, not real interested in buying treadmills or huge weight machines. So one of the other important pieces I have is one of those Swiss balls, for core body exercises. You can find tons of exercises for those, CNN.com has a Mayo Clinic series, there's books on it, etc. Hope these help, too.
I have started doing my forms in our pool - it helps a lot! It makes me truly focus on getting nice and low (4ft deep pool) and I can really stretch out nice. The punches are obviously slow motion but I put as much force as I can into them, same with kicks. I had thought about trying this idea, and your post reminded me about it so I finally got off my keester to try it.
