David
“It is important to synchronize the entire body when executing a technique.”
In judging basic techniques in my students and myself, my three points of focus are always connection, vectoring, and alignment. For me, connection refers to synchronizing the timing of my hand and foot, my hip and shoulder, and my wrists and ankles. It is important to synchronize the entire body when executing a technique. Connection also refers to efficiently blending techniques together while still maintaining the integrity of each technique in a combination.
Vectors are defined as something that has both direction and magnitude. It is important to have magnitude when executing techniques and expand extremities and energy as far as possible. This expansion means nothing though if the direction is incorrect or wasteful! It is important to make sure each technique moves forward with the expansion and in the direction specified by the technique (i.e. high blocks should move up and project forward at the same time).
Alignment is the most important. Without alignment the other two points are irrelevant. It is important that the correct hip position is reached at the end of each technique. The back should be straight, not leaning forward or backward. The angles of the wrist, knees and elbows should be in the specified position for the respective stance, kick, strike or block.
When grouping these three points with relaxation and breathing, the technique will be efficiently powerful and quick.
Ana
“In general, I’ve found one of the most important aspects to good technique is your overall connection to your center, or as the Koreans call it ‘Dan Jun’.”
Over time as I’ve become a more seasoned martial artist, I’ve come to enjoy the little details in techniques that I didn’t fully appreciate before. Inspecting your techniques is something to always be conscious of; how can it be better? Because it can always be better.
In general, I’ve found one of the most important aspects to good technique is your overall connection to your center, or as the Koreans call it ‘Dan Jun’. In some martial art styles, including the one I grew up in, they believe that your Dan Jun is where the source of all your power comes from. It will help you keep your balance and alignment as well as stay rooted and strong; you want your whole body to be involved in the skill, find ways to explore a full body experience in every technique.
Another overall concept to be aware of is the practice of relaxation and tension, in Korean they call it “Shin Shook”. As you advance in your training, you want to strive to keep a relaxation throughout all your movements, tensing at the moment of impact, and then back to relaxation. This will be crucial for conserving your energy, as well as maximizing your power and speed.
A basic element of techniques that is sometimes overlooked is targeting. We want to envision an opponent, and a target area on them to strike when we practice. However, this isn’t the only part of targeting that we should be aware of. You also want to make sure your own body has the correct contact area flexed and ready to strike. For example, every single time you throw a side kick, you should be shooting out your energy through your heel, where you’d be making impact in a contact situation.
The only way you’ll get good technique, is to practice and play; always strive to keep exploring nuances in all your previous skills already learned.
Anthony
“You want to push through the target to maximize the power generated.”
Look First
A lot of times we practice without targets to hit, which causes us to put our entire focus on the execution of our techniques. This is fine; however, I noticed a lot of students put so much emphasis on the execution of the techniques they are practicing, that they forget to focus on where the technique is going. When we have a target in front of us, this happens instinctively; we look at the target and focus on striking as well as how we are hitting. We need to have that focus even when we do not have a target in front us.
As a teacher, I have seen a lot of students practice side kicks without targets and their kicks are all over the place, even though I ask them to focus on kicking straight in front of them. But when I stand in front of them and ask them to kick towards my chest, their kicks suddenly go in the right direction. The only difference is, they used their eyes to focus on where they wanted to go before they executed their technique. When practicing without targets, we should do the same thing. We should look at where we want our technique to be and be sure it hits. We should practice as much as we can on hitting the targets we want, whether imaginary or real. So, when it is time to use our technique when we need it, our minds instinctively aim and send the technique in the direction we want to go. (If you are a practitioner of a striking art with forms, such as Karate and Taekwondo, one of the focuses of the forms is to look before executing a technique, and this is one of the reasons why. It helps us practice looking, aiming, and executing). Therefore, not only do we execute the technique we want but send it to the places we want it to go.
Put Your Hips Into It
Whether you are a boxer, BJJ practitioner, Karateka, or any other martial arts, you have probably heard that the powerhouse of the body is our hips. Our hips help us generate power in punches and kicks, helps us execute throws, helps us maneuver when ground fighting, and more. When practicing, we should focus on our hip movements with every technique that can benefit from it (which is a lot across a variety of arts). A lot of times, I see students just use the body part that makes contact with their target when practicing, and this hinders their technique a lot. When throwing a punch or a kick, yes you should focus on your hands and legs, but you should also focus on synchronizing your hips with them. The hips will allow you to add torque, power, leverage, and speed to your technique. By engaging your hips in the technique you do, you improve the effectiveness of your technique 10 fold. So, when you are practicing you should make sure you have a focus on your hips so it can be instinct, and all your techniques by default have these added benefits from your hips instinctively.
Push Through
One thing I see a lot of people do, especially when they are new to the martial arts, is they stop their power with their techniques. This is especially prominent in traditional arts, such as Karate, Tang Soo Do and Taekwondo, where there is a lot of board breaking. Students would strike a board with all they got and right before impact they reduce their power and the board doesn’t break. People seem to think that just hitting a target is enough to cause damage, when what you really want is to go through the target (unless you are going for a speed break or something similar, but that’s a different conversation). You want to push through the target to maximize the power generated. Pushing through your targets is important because even with the added benefit of looking before striking and using your hips, you can still hinder everything you do. If power is reduced because you are focusing on just making contact instead of breaking through, it doesn’t matter how much power you generate at the beginning of the technique. Once you have gotten the basics of the techniques you are practicing down, imagining you are going through a target when you practice can greatly improve your technique, and improve how you use them outside of practice.
