Training Tip 1
One big problem with training for excellence is that people tend to feel that once they have done something right ONCE then that is training done. The problem is that training doesn't work like this. Real training doesn't end at this point at all. While an important step, it is very much an early one. After doing it right once, you have to learn to do it right every time, reflexively, under pressure, until it becomes a habit. But missing out that step, of getting it right first, wastes time and encourages bad habits and bad reflexes.
There are essentially 4 'levels' of training something - arbitrarily structured by me. Actually, a lot of this is done simultaneously, but when you are working on different parts, it is a good idea to know what .you should be working on and how to work on it most efficiently.
The first level is emulation, where you copy the moves. This is best done slowly, and carefully, to engrave the technique in your nervous system. However, most people train hard and fast at this point, due to enthusiasm. This first level has several phases. Phase one, where you observe carefully, and try to learn about it. Study it. Engrave a perfect copy in your mind. This has to come first. Phase two, go through it slowly fixing errors each time until it looks ok.. Phase 3 Now keep going with that until you get it feeling comfortable. Phase 4 Get it corrected. This is essentially going back to Phase 1 and learn more, fix it better, repeat until satisfied. This whole level is mostly done with form work, or with moves taken out of the forms and practiced individually. Basically, this level is about the shape of the technique.
Level 2 is where you start to get the movement correct. It, too, is procedural. Start incrementing the speed up slowly, but pay attention to the manner of movement. Not everything is flat out. Some things are timing, some are acceleration, some are simply fast. Short range power is done with acceleration, not speed, so the way you move is important. Moving quite slowly enables you to see the way the moves are being done. Start the movement slowly, and try to increase the velocity at a constant rate so it reaches maximum at the end, at contact range. This Level is also done with form work, but increasingly with isolated techniques. If anything is wrong, go back a step or two, or even to the beginning, and cover it again until you can do it.
Level 3 is about getting it to work on something - pads, people, etc. Make the structures good under impact. If anything is wrong, go back a step or two, or to the beginning, and go over it again until it works. Drills have function here, both solo and partner drills. This is about as far as it gets for beginners, and
Level 4 is about making it reflexive and putting it into sequences. This is done largely through chi sau, although drills have their place too. Chi sau is a marvelous training tool to enable people to flow into correct techniques spontaneously under pressure.
Somewhere along the lines you also need to practice it full force sometimes, and should practice things until you are exhausted occasionally, but this is best done when you can do the technique well., and not in blind enthusiasm when you barely know the way it works.
Training the above way reduces time wasted, and more importantly, reduces the risk of bad habits becoming embedded.
This is the real kung fu.
