2 hours of nothing but kung fu training. Here's what I learned

[JowGaWolf]

So I learn again that a lot of stuff that I thought was easy is actually really difficult even though it's simple movements. My son's had a little difficulty but it was no where like the boxer. I keep thinking that my son is going to pick this stuff up right away but nope. It's causing me to really rethink my approach to beginner classes. The more I teach my son the more I can tell that I'll really need to start with the very basics of things and the concepts that that make up most martial arts. I didn't understand just how difficult things were until tonight. One of the people that hit the bags became my demo person tonight. I was hoping this would make it easier for my son to see things. Sometimes it's easier to see and understand things, when you aren't part of the demo.

So I ask the boxer to throw jabs, which he did, and the concept of what I was trying to communicate went well. Then I shared with the boxer what I was doing and I tried to gave him a chance to do the same technique. He couldn't do it off the back.

Concept is this: Move to your left and hit with the trailing right arm. The difficulty that he had was that he wanted to slip to the left and hit with the left upon rising back to center. He's brain blew up and it bleed all over the floor. It's been a while since I've seen that much confusion in a person's face. I'm going to have spoon feed the beginners. I'll have to introduce stance height changes and how to avoid punches by moving the feet vs bobbing and weaving. MMA guy was a big help tonight. He knew one of the concepts that I was showing my son so it made it easy to demo it so that my son could see the difference.

There's going to be different levels of Beginners. The first couple of moves in the form are turning to be a much bigger job to tackle.

My son's conditioning is turning out really good. His hands are starting to feel heavy and he hyper extended my elbow tonight. It's still throbbing a little. He's got a lot more power than he realizes.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Oh the other thing I learned today was another application for my beginner form. Only 2 more techniques and I will know all the applications for my beginner form.

 

[Flying Crane]

Don’t rush it. Fundamentals first. Application can wait.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Don’t rush it. Fundamentals first. Application can wait.

There's no way I can rush it. I saw how bad the boxer guy was. Even after I showed him the application, I could see his brain melt lol. Foot work has to be a must. stances are a must. That reminds me. I forgot to do the beginner form tonight before leaving the gym.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

So I ask the boxer to throw jabs, which he did, and the concept of what I was trying to communicate went well. Then I shared with the boxer what I was doing and I tried to gave him a chance to do the same technique. He couldn't do it off the back.

Concept is this: Move to your left and hit with the trailing right arm. The difficulty that he had was that he wanted to slip to the left and hit with the left upon rising back to center. He's brain blew up and it bleed all over the floor. It's been a while since I've seen that much confusion in a person's face. I'm going to have spoon feed the beginners.

I think a big part of this that you're experiencing is the "empty cup phenomenon". Admittedly, I've only experienced this as a student, but when you've drilled something so much it's become habitual to you, it's very tough to change it. So if he's used to slipping when he goes left followed with a left-hook, cross-right (or whatever he was taught), it will be very tough for him to break that and try something different.

Tougher than a beginner who doesn't know what to do after moving left. One of the major issues with switching styles. @skribs I think you were arguing a month or two ago about whether or not someone experienced in a different style will have an easier/tougher time learning your style, I think this is a perfect example. I tend to duck left, hook right, spin and hook left. If I had to learn something different starting from the duck left, I'd spend a long time getting punched in the face as I fought my instinct to hook right, before I finally got it.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I think a big part of this that you're experiencing is the "empty cup phenomenon". Admittedly, I've only experienced this as a student, but when you've drilled something so much it's become habitual to you, it's very tough to change it. So if he's used to slipping when he goes left followed with a left-hook, cross-right (or whatever he was taught), it will be very tough for him to break that and try something different.

Tougher than a beginner who doesn't know what to do after moving left. One of the major issues with switching styles. @skribs I think you were arguing a month or two ago about whether or not someone experienced in a different style will have an easier/tougher time learning your style, I think this is a perfect example. I tend to duck left, hook right, spin and hook left. If I had to learn something different starting from the duck left, I'd spend a long time getting punched in the face as I fought my instinct to hook right, before I finally got it.

Yeah the boxer was totally lost. The MMA guy didn't have problems but he took different martial arts systems so he would have been exposed to a large variety of movements. He trained in a TMA, Muay Thai, and something else. I want to say BJJ but that's probably because in my mind all MMA train BJJ. But anyway the MMA guy would have done more footwork movement then the boxer.