My three rules..

January 15th, 2012

As anyone who regularly teaches class knows, we all face certain hurdles. Some exclusively involve the instructor, some the parents, some the students, or some combination therein. At the end of a long day finding mental motivation to train effectively in the spirit of our martial art is always a challenge. I find it helpful to simplify my personal feelings on the matter into three rules – these rules apply not just to the students, but it instructors as well.

RULE NUMBER ONE: have fun! Remember, this is not basic training during wartime – this is an activity we all engage in because we enjoy it. It takes a very sick and twisted individual to enjoy being yelled at and chastised on a regular basis, and even sicker individual to enjoy doing it! So, smiles, laughter, pumped-up tunes, and clapping are perfectly acceptable. It is also proven that adding a distractive element mentally allows us to engage in higher intensity activities for longer periods of time.

RULE NUMBER TWO: have intensity. As an instructor you have a chance to see the faces in the technique not just of the people around you, but of the entire group. It is deflating and demoralizing to watch someone put forth substandard effort during class time. So, in our group everyone is required to put forth maximum quality effort on each technique. Remember, this is a martial art – someday you may be required to call on these skills – sloppy training today could literally cost you your life tomorrow. Hold yourself to a standard. Be the real thing.

RULE NUMBER THREE: follow the customs. This topic could be the subject of numerous blogs and, is the subject of countless books. There are too many to mention here, but some examples are bowing when we leave and enter the Dojang, addressing our seniors as Sir or ma’am, and in general being respectful of both our fellow students in the area in which we train. Another great resource is a short piece put out originally by the Korean Taekwondo Association – the link is below – but remember this is not an all-inclusive list. When you demonstrate the fact you understand the customs you present yourself as a high-class individual.

Train hard and make 2012 a terrific year for Taekwondo and yourself.

http://www.chaehooksung.com/public/etiquette.pdf

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Nothing so constant as change…

July 22nd, 2011

“CHANGE!” It has come to the martial sport of Taekwondo. Under the direction of Choue Chung-won, president of the World Taekwondo Federation, our international sport governing body, there are some very interesting changes coming down the pike, and a few rule differences from even a few years ago that are worth mentioning.

Poomse (form) competitors will wear new, specially designed uniforms. They are similar to a conventional dobok (they refer to as a “gyorugi” / sparring uniform), but have colored pants (blue or red) and more elaborate colors and feel for masters and grand masters – 7-9th Dan wear a gold top. They look cool. Here’s a link to some photos:

http://www.jcalicu.com/index.files/Page381.htm

Sparring… in the days of the cart and horse (I stopped competition in 1986) rings were 12×12 meters and all techniques were good for one point only. Too much space made linear action the name of the game. Not so in the days of the 8×8 meter ring. One combination and you’re out of the ring – re-energizing later al motion and fast-action fighting.

Current scoring systems allow for up to 4 point techniques, attacking the entire head area, and more aggressive targeting of the trunk area as well. Conceptually what I like most about the targeting areas is it makes the sparring more like fighting and adds that element of excitement for the spectator.

Of other great interest to me is the expansion of Hanmadang – literally translated “big field” – which is a diverse group of competition areas (teams too) – pairs forms, creative forms, weapons, seven types of breaking, and self-defense demonstrations. Hanmadang is the true growth opportunity for Taekwondo – it is very inclusive and offers an opportunity for all competitors to showcase their talents – not just the tiny percentile of fighting competitors.

A great source for information on Hanmadang is:

Kukkiwon on the Hanmadang

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EYES!

March 10th, 2011

It has been said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. I fear that in western society we are simply never coached in using them – subtle and important, these are lessons that need to be mastered in the dojang, and used in the outside world as well. The use of your eyes will tell much about you, and will send a message to the world at large – good or bad.  So, with that said here are my top four “do’s and don’ts”:

DO:

  1. Have intense eyes while training. Try it. No single thing will improve your speed, power, focus and overall performance than this.  Watch those superior students – they have fire in their eyes.
  2. Stare at the horizon with unwavering eyes while at attention. Control the urge to let them wander.
  3. Make eye contact with the instructor that is talking to you; with ONE EXCEPTION (see number 1 below!)
  4. Look in the direction you are moving. Sounds simple, but this is elusive.

 

DON’T:

  1. DON’T make steady eye contact with the Instructor if you are being reprimanded. This is confrontational. Also do not maintain staring, steady eye contact with someone outside of the dojang unless you are trying to get their attention – if you are “wide eyed” you are threatening.
  2. DON’T let your eyes wander away from someone who is talking to you, with the exception of lowering them if you are being reprimanded.
  3. DON’T ignore or avoid eye contact with ANYONE. In a dangerous situation, make eye contact briefly and then look away (NOT DOWN) – letting the potentially hostile force know that YOU KNOW he is there. Move the eyes to the side after monetary contact – NOT UP OR DOWN – try it and you will know why.
  4. DON’T stare at someone who is injured or angry. One is impolite; the other will most likely make you the target of the hostility.

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Comienza cada clase como si fueras o tuvieras un cinturón blanco, y termina en tu rango actual .. (El fallecido Maestro Ricardo Galcerán)

October 20th, 2010

Este es el primer blog que he hecho en español, pero me pareció oportuno hacerlo, ya que conozco una gran cantidad de practicantes de artes marciales sudamericanos que tienen amor y respeto por el autor de esta cita. Durante los últimos 33 años he tenido la oportunidad de conocer a mucha gente maravillosa, sorprendente y sabia. Ciertamente me hubiera encantado tomar una taza de café con el Maestro Galcerán – que claramente era una de estas personas.

Como maestro y persona que verdaderamente ama el Taekwondo, rutinariamente veo a los estudiantes constantemente enfocarse en el “siguiente paso” – la  nueva forma, una técnica nueva de pelea, la proximal llave de hapkido, y así sucesivamente. Como animales humanos, todos luchamos con nuestra necesidad innata en busca de variedad, no sólo en el Taekwondo, pero en la vida en general. Muchas de las cosas que pagan los mayores dividendos en la vida son las prácticas básicas como en el “cinturón blanco”; cosas como ahorrar en vez de gastar, la alimentación sana, el trabajo antes del juego, y el mantenimiento de un ciclo de sueño saludable.

En Taekwondo mi interpretación de esta cita se refiere a las actividades que también pagan los mayores dividendos. Cosas simples como patadas básicas, extensión de los músculos, y prácticas repetitivas que forjaran lo que verdaderamente seremos en el transcurso de los años.  Muchos de mis colegas debido a la obligación de la enseñanza, pasan muy poco tiempo practicando sus propias técnicas y no  mantienen su propio nivel de condición física – ocasionalmente desarrollando lo que todos conocemos como “panza maestral” – una condición donde un cinturón de tamaño normal toma el aspecto visual de una corbatilla que esta debajo de la barriga. 

Claramente no siempre las actividades básicas son las más agradables, pero trabajar en lo básico es siempre una gran idea. Yo personalmente cuando entreno me enfoco 80 por ciento de mi tiempo en dos  cosas: la salud cardiovascular y la flexibilidad. Esto da buenos resultados no sólo para mí en el dojang, pero también en la vida cotidiana. Realmente no es nada viable o fácil en las coyunturas el hacer ejercicios con patadas y puñetazos seis días a la semana, así que para mí el bloquear tiempo fuera de clase para trabajar agresivamente en estas dos cosas es muy importante.  Aunque de vez en cuando estas actividades aparenten rudimentarias y punitivas, yo me siento de maravilla y el cinturón todavía me queda bien.

Para terminar, me dirijo a todos ustedes en especial a los estudiantes de alto rango que se comprometan a mantener constantemente las actividades básicas como si fueran o tuvieran un cinturón blanco – dentro y fuera del dojang.  Aprendan estas actividades para su propio beneficio y véanlas como  necesarias.

Descase en paz Maestro Galcerán, usted ha inspirado a muchos – incluyendo algunos de nosotros que no lo conocieron.

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Thoughts from Kukkiwon Foreign Instructor Training Course

July 23rd, 2010

 

 

Well, it’s Saturday morning here in Seoul, and I slept in until 8AM, which was a wild change of pace from the 5AM exercises I have been doing all week to prepare for the days activities. As I sit in the Club Lounge I will do my best to describe not just the training and activities but also the surroundings, the people and the overall vibe.

 

After Delta lost both my bags I found myself showing up for orientation in jeans and a blazer, which was actually a bit overdressed. The orientation was mildly challenging because we were all told to just sit and didn’t really understand what to do – but within 90 minutes I was handed a textbook (which is not for sale individually), a program schedule, a nice white Polo shirt, and ordered to return to Classroom #1 by 8:30AM the next day.

 

I took the next hour to wander around the main gym. It is smaller than most field houses on university campuses, and the actual training area is about the size of the regulation basketball court, with no heating or AC – just big open windows. Totally unattended and vacant, I wandered around the second level and then on the main floor – thinking of Park Chung Ho, our team trainer in College, and his world championship win in 1975 on that very same spot.

 

That was the last of the quiet, introspectful times for the week. We started with a roll call the next day with instructions that tardiness will not be permitted, and if you miss a day for any reason you fail. Period. A second program schedule was handed out which detailed mornings in the classroom, and afternoons in the gym. It was a formal environment, when a teacher or director entered the room everyone stood and came to attention.

 

Each day we did mornings in the classroom, with lunch at the KKW Cantina – buffet style, 5000 Won (about 4 bucks) and actually pretty decent food. The information is far to voluminous to even attempt to disseminate here, but I will do a few of my personal highpoints.

 

The first lecture was a Kukkiwon update and respect and traditions lecture by Park, Jong-Bum . It was done in Korean and translated by a young man who is fluent in English and Korean – with decent Chinese skills too. He covered current updates on Kukkiwon and loads of culture things – including handshake procedures.

 

Our other lecturers included “CT” Son – who was a lively, hysterical entertaining speaker – who discussed behavioral conditioning and teaching method, Lee Hyung-Sun who discussed promotion regulations, Jun, Ik-Pil who discussed competition rule changes, Kim Jung-Won who discussed prehospital management, Kwak Taek-Yong (star who knocked out the big guy on “Human Weapon”) covered demonstration training,  and lastly Ha, Woong-Young who covered Taekwondo history.

 

Random things I learned from the lecturers:

 

* Connection between Okinawan culture and Korean culture – this was insightful.

* How to effectively “slap-away” a handshake.  ;-)

* The entire head including the back of the head is now a legal competition target.

* How to get posthumous rank advancement.

* How to teach running triple kicks and cool demonstration training ideas.

* There (as of April 2010)  are 7,657,651 Dan Holders worldwide (218,000 in the US).

* There are 35,299 certified instructors, only 1375 non-Korean.

* There are 204 nations that currently practice Taekwondo

* The (03) in front of the Kukkiwon number means that there isn’t a national body

    that is required to apply for your promotions – that a “requestor” (i.e. Master)

    can promote you. Some nations (Korea) require the NGB to do the promotion

    applications.

 

The physical training was very intense. I am glad I brought a fresh uniform for each day since each night they looked like I jumped in a swimming pool, and were about as dirty as imaginable. It was both physically as well as mentally challenging, although the feeling of being just one in the crowd of 50 (I was in group one due to rank) doing intense training was very enjoyable.

 

I made numerous contacts, and loads of friends. There were only four USA participants, and the other three lived in Korea. Among them Craig Rueter, an English Professor at Kyung Hee University and Dan Miles, who works for the DOD. I also made loads of international friends – too numerous to list here.

 

From an organizational prospective the main thing I walked away with was that although we have all had some sketchy dealings with Korean Master Instructors in the past, I can assure you that the top level of the organization is sincere and wants the best for all students. They are hard-core focused on spreading the art for the betterment of the student.

 

Now we will see if I can get re-adjusted to the time change! Good day.. or good night as it may be.

 

 

Kukkiwon, WTA and WTF officials

Kukkiwon, WTA and WTF officials

 

 

 

 

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Reminiscing on behavior, outcome, and Buddy Baker..

July 1st, 2010

 

 

Excellence is not an act.. but a habit.. Aristotle

..a terrific quote.. one instilled on me in college by my legendary trombone professor, Mr. Edwin “Buddy” Baker. (he once told me even his mother didn’t know who “Edwin” was!) The topic was the pure enjoyment, in a Zen sense, of practice for its own sake.

So many martial art students dread and avoid the practice aspect of their craft. They are focused on the next belt, the big tournament, or worse yet the story they tell their family and co-workers. I always notice with some curiosity the overall training avoidance people have in the summer – and the myriad of BS excuses – like “I have family in town” – used to justify personal laziness and the need to self-pleasure through food and drink.

Too often we are solely “outcome focused” – the classic example is “I want to earn my black belt” – when the correct mode of producing unreal long-term results is to be “behavior focused.” It is the training that created the skill that is important – more important than the belt, and even more important than the skill itself.

At a party I listened in horror as the parents of a young girl, who has been training for 3 years and working toward her 1st Poom stated “we just can’t wait for her to get her black belt so she can quit.” My response, “why not just quit now? if that is the goal then just do it – you’re going to flush all her work anyway.” Classic example: OUTCOME FOCUSED (WRONG) versus BEHAVIOR FOCUSED (RIGHT).

So then, how does one motivate a student (or yourself for that matter) to continue the desired behavior-oriented mindset? The answer lies in values – your core beliefs about who you are, what you do, how you conduct yourself. One needs internal values and self-identity that values the behavior that produces the results.  

So, my challenge to you is to find that behavior you are missing and make it a part of WHO YOU ARE… hold yourself to a standard.

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A new twist on the Tenets of Taekwondo

January 13th, 2010

As is customary, we routinely hear students bark out the tenets – courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit. They are very good core fundamental values, and are primarily interpreted from the personal prospective, i.e. I should be courteous in my dealings, but in the new Master Instructor Course I am working on, the strategy is from another angle.

The twist is simply this: you should be treated with and expect courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit, and look for it in people you surround yourself with. The first two, no doubt, are easier to come by in friends and associates than indomitable spirit, which is an elusive term – in life there are times when you SHOULD back down or give in.

A solid example is courtesy. People around you (staff, friends, associates, vendors) should treat you with courtesy, and if they do not, replace them or get rid of them.

Integrity? Need I say more? Students should be treated with the utmost integrity by their instructors – it is a relationship that rivals a parent relationship (all business aspects aside) – and playing on the Korean custom, here are a few of my favorites:

An instructor has the obligation to:

                Assistant and help a student with a new business venture.

                Not date students or pursue any personal relationship that may dishonor either party.

                Be fair in all business dealings with the student.

Old school here: If the instructor is responsible for making the student lose his/her job then the instructor is obligated to pay the student their customary salary and find them another job.

So, the next time you recite the tenets, remember that they work both directions..

 

R

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Thoughts on “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell

December 8th, 2009

 

Another casualty in my continued use of my audible.com account, “Outliers”, was highly insightful to yours truly and applicable to any student of the Martial Arts. An outlier, as defined by Wikipedia:

In statistics, an outlier[1] is an observation that is numerically distant from the rest of the data. Grubbs (Grubbs, F. E.: 1969, Procedures for detecting outlying observations in samples. Technometrics 11, 1–21. ) defined an outlier as:

An outlying observation, or outlier, is one that appears to deviate markedly from other members of the sample in which it occurs

Who is an outlier? Someone with exceptional and outstanding differences from the crowd, to put it simply, is an outlier. In this thought-provoking work, Gladwell analyzes some great successes – Bill Gates, Mozart, champion Canadian hockey players etc.

He discusses the 10,000 hour effect – to put simply, that any outlier and solid achiever never truly gets their best results until after 10,000 hours of practice or training in any study. Try that on for size – it is a daunting number – with obsessive practice (20 hours a week)you can achieve that level in 10 years. One 2 hour class 2x a month will take you 208 years.

The good news in this work though is that the seemingly unreal people are just like you – average people, they simply worked harder than everyone else did. Tiger Woods is a great golfer, but played constantly since he was 3 years old! As Jon Gruden says “it doesn’t take talent, it takes effort”.

So, my question to you is this: Will YOU be the one who puts in the extra work to be the best YOU can be?

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The Contract Factor

November 23rd, 2009

As my students know, we operate our classes completely free of contracts for tuition. My thought is that if you are not motivated to train I don’t want you in class. This has some advantages – flexibility for the students, for one, but has one distinct drawback: commitment.


Frankly, most people operate in a sort of mental haze – moving from one distraction to another and need inspiration to undertake anything remotely as challenging (on several fronts) as Taekwondo. Paraphrasing Randy Snow, inspiration is no good because it does not last – MOTIVATION is key because it comes from inside.

Contracts usually represent a solid financial commitment. As one student told me years ago, “I’m already paying for this I might as well go to class” – without the constant payments the urge to foster the innate slothy behavior that permeates our culture would surely have taken over.


Does this mean my long-standing policy is about to change. No. We all need to make contracts and agreements with ourselves to achieve what we want out of life, and our Martial Art is no exception.

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Behind Chuck Norris’ beard IS ANOTHER FIRST!

August 15th, 2009

I just finished reading “Black Belt Patriotism”, and contained within it is Chuck Norris’ exercise program.  I found this interesting:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday:

  1. Total Gym – he does a routine that takes him exactly 15 minutes.
  2. Fast Walk – walk a fast two miles or use an elliptical machine for 30 minutes
  3. Crunches – ten minutes of crunches. (he should get a fitbal huh?)
  4. Stretching – a couple minutes with cool down

Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday:

  1. Martial Arts – stretching then on to isolated kicks in slow motion, followed by hand and foot combinations on the heavy bag. If he has a partner he does jujitsu
  2. Pool Exercise – finishes up by doing some kicks in the pool

I found this interesting because it’s not particularly daunting – run this up against what a Michael Phelps does or any professional hockey player. The message is be consistent and you will produce healthy results.

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