Yesterday I wrote that we will look today at a few methods to greatly improve your partner training, if within your class or naturally also, when you get together to train outside of regular classes. - work slow and WITH your partner until you experience every millimeter of your movement
- find out when and how which joint** moves, how do muscle groups throughout the body create a non-stop wave (flow) of movement that lets you seemingly effortless produce an enormous amount of power and control at any given time
** example punch: while you punch feel which part of the job is done by your shoulder, elbow, wrist; check your body movement: ankles, knees, hips, spine, become aware of the linkage between movements, the development of power, the fluidity of motion, the maintenance of balance, the timing of your actions, the distance to your partner, etc. Get the idea? Yes, once again it's about the CoreConcepts, using them like a check-list to improve.
- COMMUNICATE with each other to help each other to achieve the goal of the exercise
- define for yourself the goal, the intention of the exercise, ask your partner for feedback, ask your trainer/instructor/sifu
- create reliable skills, that work under pressure, within a stressful scenario, as opposed to 'just' repeating techniques, help each other by increasing intensity, speed, power involved, talk and plan and train
- enable yourself to deal eventually even with the strongest and fastest attacks with a MINIMUM of effort, "test-drive" your skills
- example, show your partner no pressure and he/she naturally gets through, now use YOUR pressure and control any attack, the result? The ideal result should be, that your partner doesn't feel any difference between 'no pressure' and just 'enough pressure', which requires a lot of training.
- also, let your partner attack you without any warning, control, and in the end even more important, attack instantly and/or continue to control this and any follow-up attacks. How (relatively) long can you go without 'losing' it?
- one figures out over time that there are truly no secrets in Wing Tsun, sometimes it's almost disappointing, ... yes, you have to know the forms, Chi-Sau, Lat-Sau, the details that make or brake the performance, but only following the previous points, and showing an understanding can turn you over time into what would be considered a master
Once again, this is where the CoreConcepts come in (as mentioned on Sept 5th), that let you perform regardless of technique. Similar concepts could of course also be found in western boxing. It is in the end a great explanatory tool, a learning and teaching tool, to eventually simplify the training and help you to see a systematical approach throughout the Wing Tsun system, a connection from form to form, from form to exercises to application.
The CoreConcepts build a interconnected framework that puts the right focus into your training, many drills "just" being practical applications of these CoreConcepts, so to say practical 'explanations' of this theoretical frame.
