Training Tip #7 – Principle Based Instruction
We believe in principle-based instruction. Today’s training tip is a principle that will change the way you train.
When you are learning new skills and new types of movements, it is imperative that you practice them properly. This way you can internalize the lesson and get it ingrained into your mind and your body. You have all heard the term “muscle memory” and that to master anything it takes 10,000+ repetitions. What is usually left out of those discussions is the fact that you have to practice the lesson PROPERLY. If you are practicing the lesson or technique IMPROPERLY, then you are wasting time (and even worse, lying to yourself that you are learning).
Big Frame
So HOW do we practice properly? Pay attention to what you are shown. Don’t add anything that isn’t there to begin with, and don’t alter it. Do your best to mimic what you are seeing from your instructor. Then practice it slooooooooooowwwwwllllllly. And here is where today’s subject matter comes in. Practice the movement (whatever it is) BIG. That means lowering your stance. That means over-exaggerating the movements. Make everything you are doing overtly large and over emphasized. Then do it again. And oh, did we say to do it slowly? Then slow it down some more. This is NOT about sparring, nor is it even about what it should look like in “real life”. The core purpose is to program your mind and your muscles on the
proper body mechanics of whatever the movement is. This is about internalizing how to shift and move your body. It is about how to maintain your own structure while moving. This is about deeply ingraining the concepts and principles into your body. It is about understanding the spinal rotation and angles. This is about utilizing your body and footwork to generate REAL power, and this is all about unifi cation of body movement. Sounds like a hell of a lot more than just learning the #1 strike, right?
Small Frame
After you have practiced the movement (whatever it is) in a large frame context, then you practice it again in a small frame context. This is where your stance is more upright and closer to what you would expect to see in real life. And you are still doing all of the same core body mechanics (body balance and shifting, spinal alignment and body structure, angles, power generation, unifi cation of body movement, etc.). You are now just doing it from the version of the stances that are typical. The core concept here is that once you have practiced deeply in a large frame context, then it becomes easier and more natural to make the movements smaller. All of the mechanics are still there, but now they are more condensed (and even hidden from your opponent). You will fi nd that you no longer need as much space or gross body movement to generate the same amount of power because you have internalized the dynamics of how to generate it.
The third phase is Partner Pair Training
This is where most systems START and in reality it should be the third phase. And this is where you practice person on person (again slowly to start, then you can speed it up). This is where you can start to pressure test principles and concepts.
If something falls apart in the Small Frame stage or the Pair Training phase, then you simply go back to the Big Frame stage and peel it apart again!
We look forward to seeing you on the mats.
