Do you practice outside of class?

[PhotonGuy]

Hello all.

A couple of months ago, my son and I joined a new martial arts club. We're loving it, but we're not very good at it yet.

Here is a dilemma I face. Do we practice at home between classes or not?

Here's what I'm thinking.

On one hand, if we practice at home, then obviously that would generally be a good thing. BUT, as we're still total beginners, what we currently do will not be quite right. I'm worried that if we practice without the supervision of our instructor, all that will happen is we will perfect the art of doing it wrong.

Any thoughts?

As beginners its fine to do some practice at home and as a matter of fact, on my first day I was told to practice the techniques I was taught at home. However, you don't want to overdo it. At home you don't have a sensei to watch over you so you can develop bad habits without knowing it. So, I would recommend maybe doing a total of a hundred repetitions of every technique you've been taught, in between classes. As a beginner you probably haven't been taught too many techniques yet, just the basics. So lets say you were taught the front kick on wednesday and your next class is on friday. You could do maybe thirty front kicks at home after class, forty on thursday, and then another thirty on friday before class. That way if you do develop bad habits your instructors can correct them in time.

 

[Shai Hulud]

Definitely!

The beauty of pre-set/pre-rehearsed forms (katas, pumse's, etc.) is that you can practice them on your own, and then have your instructor correct or follow up on your progress the next time you show up in class. I highly recommend drilling those until they're second nature to you, and you can "perform them in your sleep", so to speak.

Power to you and your son!

Ally

 

[crazydiamond]

Yes I do. My school provides a curriculum. My outside school work includes

Reading - books and web and web videos. Don't discount the mind work.

Video instruction - I have collected videos (DVDs), and also created private youtube collections of videos that match (mostly) my schools cicutlumn. I also recently bought some online training from my schools teachers. I practice to these in front of the TV at home.

Heavy bag at home - do contact punching, trapping and kicks.

 

[Elbowgrease]

I think you should practice at home. Although what specifically you should practice is none of my business. "The real players are made in the off season..." I think it doesn't even get interesting until you find yourself coming up with new combinations to open, move through and close a door (maybe that's why all of the doors in my house are busted). If you are standing, you have an opportinuty to practice stances. If you are moving, you have an opportunity to practice moving. Some things might not be terribly obvious, but the more time you spend practicing, the more often you might find yourself using things you practiced in entirely un-martial ways(?). When it comes down to it, isn't that really the point. If you find that it's something you want to do for the rest of your life, you have to come up with a way to use it that isn't going to injure you so that you can continue to do it until you're 90. That's the beauty of art. It isn't ever over.

 

[tshadowchaser]

As one gets older if they stay in the arts I think that they will practice in the privacy of their minds as much as they practice where others will see them.
Sometimes it is almost a constant almost process that you do not realize is happening. At other times it is the reevaluation of techniques, people, other arts, even philosophy of founders. Sometime it just questions about everything including why you chose the arts you study.

 

[zzj]

Curse the price of real estate in my part of the world, I have hardly any space to practise my forms at home without knocking into the coffee table or tv. I don't really like to practise at the small park next to my apartment block cos all of all the funny looks I would get; the only time I feel slightly less self conscious doing it is when this weird guy walks circles around a tree in the same park. (well, not weird, I gather he is a Baguazhang guy but it just looks weird to others)

 

[Elbowgrease]

I really don't have the space at home inside to move either. I'm lucky in that I got a key to my gym, so I can go in and practice as much as I can handle. I really can't stand trying to practice in front of innocent bystanders. I do like using doors, though. It's kind of limited, but you can get a bit out of it. Push it one way, catch it and pull it back the other way, practice sticking to it, open it, move through it and close it without losing contact, etc. I never learned how to use a wooden dummy, but I try to approach it with what I think is the same kind of idea. Like I said, all the doors in my house are busted.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Thanks all. It seems to be unanimous, we train at home.

The reason for my question was that my son and I were struggling to master basic form number 1 from our club's style. I thought I'd finally cracked it, so I practiced and practiced in my garden, convinced myself I had it, then showed my son who was also struggling with it.

In the following lesson at the club, I started to do it along with everyone else, and it was noticed that I was doing the turns completely wrong. Now, 3 weeks on, my son is getting the whole form right except the turns.

Badger,

I know I am late to this discussion with you. When my students mess up as they say and learn different turns or strikes / blocks, I smile and tell them they went and did the advanced version. So think of that as a different form and just re-learn the form you were trying to learn. Of course this time around it should be easier as you have a lot of the pieces.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Curse the price of real estate in my part of the world, I have hardly any space to practise my forms at home without knocking into the coffee table or tv. I don't really like to practise at the small park next to my apartment block cos all of all the funny looks I would get; the only time I feel slightly less self conscious doing it is when this weird guy walks circles around a tree in the same park. (well, not weird, I gather he is a Baguazhang guy but it just looks weird to others)

zzj,

One can still practice and shorten up stances and steps so that you do it all in the same 3 foot / 1 meter square area. This might seem more advanced approached then the original posters comments, and it may not allow full work on all turns or lunges and or stances. The idea is to practice the movements and then when you can make it to the park or where ever put all the small pieces together into your set of motions of form or kata or *insert name here*.

 

[zzj]

zzj,

One can still practice and shorten up stances and steps so that you do it all in the same 3 foot / 1 meter square area. This might seem more advanced approached then the original posters comments, and it may not allow full work on all turns or lunges and or stances. The idea is to practice the movements and then when you can make it to the park or where ever put all the small pieces together into your set of motions of form or kata or *insert name here*.

I do shorten some stances and take steps back when necessary in order to do my form at home, however, that would ultimately be a compromise that is only good enough for purposes of memorizing the form. As you have pointed out, at home I would try to memorize the form and work on specific movements but I would still practice in the park despite being self-conscious, just that I don't do it as much as I probably should. Maybe I should learn from that Bagua guy, he is totally oblivious to onlookers and just keeps walking those circles around a small tree.

 

[Dylan9d]

For my system Ilmu Buka BelaDiri im teaching a friend of mine the basics now at home, when he is at a certain level ill start teaching in public again.

So yes i only train privately.

 

[MuayThai1987]

I practice only my stamina outside a gym, it´s "dangerous" to practice technics at home, because on my opinion it´s really easy to do sth wrong, so then you have to learn from the beginning one more time.. sorry for my english, i´m from germany ^^

 

[donald1]

I practice only my stamina outside a gym, it´s "dangerous" to practice technics at home, because on my opinion it´s really easy to do sth wrong, so then you have to learn from the beginning one more time.. sorry for my english, i´m from germany ^^

Don't worry, your English is fine

While to a certain degree i do agree but in some ways not completely. This might be just my opinion but along with techniques there should be careful. I might be wrong but if taught correctly and practiced carefully it is safe to practice at home. Maybe there are some things you shouldn't do at home but there are plenty ways to practice martial arts at home
Best of luck

 

[Cirdan]

We got the keys to the dojo so me and some other equally fanatic students train several hours outside of class every week. We also often show up early and stay after class if possible to practice and stretch even more.

To the OP I`d advice beginners to practice stuff they have already been instructed in and not move on to new stuff (and certainly not copy youtube vids unless your instructor told you about a good one to study).