When I began martial arts at the age of 16, it was easy to pick things up. When I was younger I could easily transfer what I was looking at into action. Not perfectly but I had the idea of what I was supposed to be doing. Today, at 39 things are different. I have only been back into martial arts for about 5 months but I have found I have to be deliberate in my efforts to learn. It is a more ponderous affair. I first have to watch the technique a couple of times, then I have to have some one pound me with it for a few more times, then I can work on it class back and forth. Then to cement it into my mind I have to practice at home and repeat the name of the technique as I am doing it. Then I dissect the techniques as to the hows and whys. Then at times I will go to you tube and try to find a video to get some more understanding of the technique in question.
American Kenpo is great in that the techniques are the same no matter where you go as Grandmaster Parker wrote down what was required for each belt in a book he published in the 1980’s. Granted there will some variations but the names and general concepts of the techniques are universal through the American Kenpo system. So good for me and my ponderous middle aged learning patterns. So each night I practice my current belt techniques and then do a lesser amount of the previous belt techniques. I spend more time on the current belt techniques, but even the old ones I have to spend the time to keep the muscle memory alive. Grinding the techniques into my mind is more time consuming but I think my level of understanding is more advanced than when I was younger.
When I was training in Chinese Kenpo and Kungfu earlier in my martial arts career, we used to say … “You can’t build a house on a crumbling foundation.” Effectively, your foundation (read basics) have to be good or everything you try to build on those basics won’t be effective. So the time I spend honing my basics will serve me when things become more advanced. The hundred plus repetitions of each technique I do each week help in more than just remembering the technique. I get to hone my basics. Well this is what I tell myself. I think it is worth it.
Filed under: American Kenpo, Martial Arts
