Beyond Tradition: Unleashing the Power of Forms with Modern Coaching Methods in Martial Arts
Artistry, Athleticism and Programming: Mastering Forms with Innovative Coaching Techniques for Martial Artists of All Levels
This article is for both dedicated athletes and hobbyists, training/competing in forms/kata/taolu, who have a passion for martial arts and want to enhance their skills and enjoyment through effective training methods.
It seems that a big portion of the traditional martial arts population totally ignores any knowledge of sports training or modern coaching methods. I do not say to change the way how you kick. But there are certain ways how to train the kicking, right? This is not about the technique or the content, that’s where you are the expert or your coaches are. This is about the way how to prepare for the best performance, whether as an athlete or just training for yourself.
I have been competing in forms for most of my life, at big stages, including European and World Championships, where I placed on the podium. Talking from my experience in traditional martial arts, there is an issue that has been driving me crazy.
The elephant in the room
A big mistake I have seen people doing is just training the form from the beginning to the end.
A form is a sequence of movements, lasting anything between 30 seconds to 35 minutes. On the high level of performance, and “performance” I do not mean a show, but executing a skill on some level, five minutes is not a feasible time for keeping the level up. Such time is for endurance training, health, breath, work, etc. We will focus more on forms or parts of the forms maybe around 2 minutes long, which is usually the competition duration as well.
In 2 minutes, there will be many movements that you show, but you want each punch to come crispy and explosive. That means you need to train explosiveness. You need to train for a 400m run or a sprint, not a marathon. You see the problem is that if you keep training a form from the beginning to the end, you put 0% focus on explosiveness and on the quality of each of the techniques, anyway. Because let’s say there are 5 kicks in your form, how much time will you spend on those kicks in total?
Programming is a must
Also, it is very important to look into tapering and programming your training. It doesn’t matter now, if you are preparing for a competition or if you just want to become better. In both cases, you need to program your training. This will bring you lots of joy because you will feel the difference and the improvement of your skill no matter the purpose of your training, high-level competition, or just a hobby.
It may be surprising, but I do not spend much time on the forms in their full length. I focus on isolated movements or sequences and links depending on the time of the preparation. For example, at a different point in time, I will focus on single techniques and work the explosiveness and power, speed, footwork, transitions, etc. Or, I will focus on a sequence of 5 to 10 movements. The volume and intensity will vary.
You don’t need to be an athlete
You can see that this is a very different approach from just running the form from the beginning to the end. And let me highlight this again, you don’t need to be an athlete.
The difference is not athlete vs hobbyist who just come to train.
The difference is someone who wants to improve no matter for what reason (own satisfaction, competition) in the most effective way vs someone who just comes to train and gives away any power over their own progress.
An example from my preparation for a World Championship
When you are tired, your movements are getting sloppy till the end of the form. Your stances are getting goofy. Your punches are slower. There is nothing wrong with endurance training — there is an important place for it in your training. But not 100% of the time!
This is what my programming looked like:
8 weeks out (from the competition or a point of time which I set for myself) I focus on 1/8 of the form and single techniques. I make sure the mechanics are correct. The training is of a high volume but lower intensity. Meaning, it can be lots of repetitions, but not 100% power and speed.
The volume starts to decrease as I move onto 1/4 of the forms. More transitions and power generation is worked. If I am competing on a big stage, I start visualizations, walk-ins, etc.
For a very short period of time, which is a few training sessions only, I practice half of the form. This is high volume and quite high intensity, too. This is the most draining and hated part of the program. Keeping the quality level that I built up in the past weeks while extending the length!
Finally, volume goes down and intensity remains high as I return to short pieces, 1/4 and 1/8 all the way till the competition. Before the event, there is a tapering stage when I keep very short training sessions of high intensity and low volume and focus on recovery and mental prep.
Part of this is also my favorite “jam”. This is when you compete at a big stage event and test the carpet/surface. Usually, national teams would be allocated times when they are allowed to test, together with other countries. This would result in a group of several nationalities cheering on each other and laughing while getting some light training. Love it!
If this was helpful, please leave a note! I am considering doing more of these as well as looking again into my online courses. Hope this type of training will bring you joy!
