One of the training tools that I've been experimenting with since sometime in May (and holding kind of close to my chest) is what I would call a "what and why" training journal. I'm not as good at keeping it as I should be, but that's partially because I have a tendency to become a little o.c.d. with journaling my training. Still, I think it is a very valuable tool to increase ability in an art that requires a large amount of attention to detail.
The point of the training journal is simple and explained clearly by its name: "what and why." Essentially, I try to write down what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. The basic ideas on the what and why are twofold, though. First, I keep tabs on what training I'm actually doing, sometimes writing it down before I do it to give myself a commitment to fulfill. Secondly, I keep tabs on what I'm doing when I'm training so I can pay attention to the requirements of the techniques along with He Jinbao's suggestion that we "should never train the same thing in the same way twice." In other words, I try to make things more palpable for myself in terms of what I'm doing and how I'm doing it so that I can refine my training more efficiently. Particularly I might make short notes about what kinds of things seemed to work and what kinds didn't.
The why part of the journal is also self-explanatory: I'm answering the question "why am I doing this?" There are two sides to that, though. First, there is what training goals or needs it is satisfying. For instance, for a while I felt very weak in my shocking strikes (and even wrote about it on here, I think). I gave them a low grade, so to speak, in terms of where I felt like I was with them versus where I thought I should be with them. Thus, part of the why for my shocking strike improvement effort was "to improve the quality of my shocking strikes, primarily in terms of output of power consistent with what I know about the shocking force." The other part of why is equally important: applications. These moves are martial. Why am I doing them? Obviously to improve my fighting skill, and so part of my why journaling is detailing what in uses I know or imagine these techniques could be employed. I believe this aspect is very important to coming up with useful drills, combinations, etc., as well as developing the technique appropriately. Even if all I care about is health development in my martial arts training, the inherent health development is wrapped up in the proper execution of the martial arts techniques. Thus, if I don't know how to use them, I probably cannot do them to full effectiveness and thus miss some of that health development. If I want to learn to fight, then focusing on this aspect of training is of obviously high importance, so I find this to be one of the most valuable aspects of the journaling process.
Another thing that journaling does to really enhance your training is it teaches you to think about things in terms of how you would write them down: in other words, you have to critically analyze and carefully pay attention to what you're doing in order to get everything you want out of them.
Maybe this won't work for everyone, but a "what and why" training journal has really helped me deepen my practice. I'm glad I shared.
No comments:
Post a Comment