Ideas for visualisations

Lori O'Connell recently blogged on the value of visualization in martial arts training:

In one of the most well-known studies on creative visualization in sports, Russian scientists compared four groups of Olympic athletes in terms of their training schedules (as described in Karate Of Okinawa: Building Warrior Spirit by Robert Scaglione):

Group 1 = 100% physical training;
Group 2 - 75% physical training with 25% mental training;
Group 3 - 50% physical training with 50% mental training;
Group 4 - 25% physical training with 75% mental training.

Group 4, with 75% of their time devoted to mental training, performed the best.

Personally, I find mental practice more challenging than physical training: the mind wanders ... So here are my top suggestions for mental training:

1. Go to class!  Training in the martial arts develops the mind and body from the get-go.   Once a technique is familiar, don't go on auto-pilot:
1. Observe: Notice fine details.
2. Experiment: Explore variations.
3. Reflect: Make notes, start a journal or a blog.
2. Practice with an imaginary partner.  [Your movement is real; your partner is visualised.]
1. Practice individual techniques.  Visualise fine details, but also practice the flow of the technique.
2. Alternate between regular (migi) and opposite-side (hidari) versions of a technique.  I quite like to do one rep migi, two reps hidari, three reps migi, etc. rather than one for one repetition.
3. Practice combinations of techniques: you attack, visualise your imaginary partner evading, you do a suitable follow-up.
4. Practice counters to techniques: your imaginary partner attacks, you evade and counter-attack.
3. Pure visualisation: exercises as per the imaginary partner.

At first the aim is to reinforce what you learn in class and achieve basic competency.  With regular imaginary practice deeper observations will arise: these can and should be validated in class.  Increased fluency is another benefit, again testable with real partners.

There's a saying that "perfect practice makes perfect".   Conversely there is a danger that poor practice can lock in bad habits.  For this reason it's important not to eschew regular training for pure visualisation: rather start slowly and go gently.

I should also mention that for the more advanced practitioners teaching, judging contests and assessing candidates are all great forms of mental training that have the bonus of helping out others.

Promotions - December 2012

Congratulations to everyone on your hard work for the year, and for those who graded, well-deserved promotions:

Combined Monash Caulfield and Clayton recipients at Presentation Day

Well done to everyone at both Monash clubs, and at the Honbu.

Personally, I plan to enjoy the Summer holidays (including some training at the Honbu), and really looking forward to training in 2013.

Evolutionary movement

Here's the first of an elegant three-part series in which the presenter, Simon Thakur, starts with small perturbations of the spine and expands into a swathe of whole-body movements:

Well worth a look, especially if you are interested in improving your overall body awareness and quality of movement.

A jiu-jitsu demos from the 1980s

John Coles of the Kojutsukan blog has posted a set of 3 videos of his instructor -- the late Greg Palmer -- delivering his impressive second dan jujutsu grading (under the late Jan de Jong) in 1985*.  They feature lecture-style explanation and 'quick action' demonstration from Sensei Palmer and his students, including a young John.

Each part is just over 10 minutes.  The links are to John's blog, which give additional commentary and historical information:

1. Part I
2. Part II
3. Part III

*Technically, these are "take two", done for the camera.

Bartitsu: Sherlock Holmes's martial art

In Arthur Conan Doyle's story The Empty House, Sherlock Holmes -- previously missing, presumed dead in The Final Problem -- explains to Watson how he was able to evade his nemesis's clutches on the edge of Reichenbach Falls, before disappearing for a bit of a breather from detective work:

I had little doubt that I had come to the end of my career when I perceived the somewhat sinister figure of the late Professor Moriarty standing upon the narrow pathway which led to safety. I read an inexorable purpose in his grey eyes. I exchanged some remarks with him, therefore, and obtained his courteous permission to write the short note which you afterwards received. I left it with my cigarette-box and my stick and I walked along the pathway, Moriarty still at my heels. When I reached the end I stood at bay. He drew no weapon, but he rushed at me and threw his long arms around me. He knew that his own game was up, and was only anxious to revenge himself upon me. We tottered together upon the brink of the fall. I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me. I slipped through his grip, and he with a horrible scream kicked madly for a few seconds and clawed the air with both his hands. But for all his efforts he could not get his balance, and over he went. With my face over the brink I saw him fall for a long way. Then he struck a rock, bounded off, and splashed into the water. [my emphasis]

Holmes and Moriarty grapple on the precipice

It turns out that the mysterious art of "baritsu", was a probable mis-remembering of an actual composite martial art of circa-1900: bartitsu, a mix of jiu-jitsu, judo, savate and boxing, popularized by Edward Barton-Wright.



Although there is (too the best of my knowledge) no surviving film footage from the era, here is a reconstruction from cinematograph images in a 1905 book:



Hmmm: looks familiar!