Combination kicks

[pegkerr]

Had karate class last night. It started inauspiciously: I managed to strain a hamstring during the stretches at the very beginning. I was overdoing it because I've missed so many classes due to illness that my maddeningly tight inner groin ligaments and hamstrings were even tighter than usual, and I was trying harder than ever to get them loosened up. (Note the incompatibility of "trying harder" and "loosening up.") It backfired on me, and I was bothered by pain in the left hamstring for the rest of class; in fact, I'm still feeling it today. I don't like the fact that we start class with stretches on cold muscles. Based on my own experience from doing years of aerobics, it would be better if we did something to warm the muscles for five minutes or so and then stretch. Usually I try to do get some kicking in for a few minutes before class starts, but I was working on my bo form before class started instead.

For the first time, we worked on one of the kick combinations that I'll start seeing at exams when I reach the advanced belt level (red belt and above): the hook kick/round kick/side kick combination.

I'm pretty comfortable with mechanics of the side kick now, although of course I still have to work on balance. That will come with practice. I think I have the hang of the proper form necessary (chamber the knee all the way back, pivot the supporting leg, lock it out, etc.). I'm not quite there yet on the round kick because I'm not sure I have the proper knee motion through the center line consistently, and it makes me uneasy because sometimes I manage to wrench my hip joint when doing it, a legacy of my problems with my hip ligaments when I was pregnant with Delia.

But with the hook kick I still feel like I don't get it, somehow. I have no idea why. It's not any more difficult technically, and it starts as if you're doing a side kick: you chamber the knee back against the body, then kick out, just adding a snapping bend of the knee at the end. But every time I do a hook kick, for some odd reason, I have to stop and think about it. I haven't yet built the muscle memory so that I can simply do it. I wonder how long it will take me to feel as if it's automatic.

And this was the first time, as I said, that I'd tried to combine the three. Mr. Dingmann told us to try to especially concentrate on keeping the knee elevated, and putting the kicks together quickly. I found that I was really lurching my body on the second one, the round kick, which meant I was hopelessly falling out of balance when trying to finish up with the sidekick. It was interesting, and I did get better, managing to mostly balance on the last few. It was obvious, however, that I have a long way to go.

Comments

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I agree about warming up before stretching being better, especially as I get older.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

I have a hell of a time with hook kicks. I've seen people who are good at them, but I don't think I could take out a kitten with mine. I have very poor balance on kicks, particularly any kind of spin or pivot kick; just forget spin hooks; I'm lucky if I don't hurt myself.

My sister-in-law who has done a lot of sports and is a physical therapist told me last weekend that it takes 20,000 repetitions of an action to build muscle memory, so get going :-)

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Well, I was practicing slow kicks in the kitchen today, while waiting for my coffee to brew. 19,970 to go!

[swords-and-pens.livejournal.com]

It's interesting how some things seem to "click" right away, while others don't, even if they seem similar on the surface. There are new actions I practice in rapier that slide right into place in my head, and others that seem like they should but don't. This becomes even more pronounced when I switch to an even slightly different sword form. It was the same way when I used to aikido, too.

Some of it is the newness, and some I think comes from your body thinking it knows what to do, but your mind saying, "Uh, no, actually, we need to do this instead..." Not just muscle memory, but also muscle assumption, if you will. Once you learn the bridge from the assumption to the form, the learning curve lessens (at least in my personal experience, YMMV).

The brain-to-muscle ratio is different for everyone. However, I think the fact that you are thinking the kicks through now, rather than later (when you need to "fix" an improper action), will result in tighter form overall.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I think the fact that you are thinking the kicks through now, rather than later (when you need to "fix" an improper action), will result in tighter form overall.

Good point, and rather comforting.