2nd DAN BB Essay - Something that has helped me with my technique and development as a Martial Artist

[Kenny Richards]

Something which has helped with my technique and development as a Martial Artist, and especially with my ability to learn new techniques is the concept of 'going slowing'. I do not know where I heard the phrase originally, but it seems to apply all the time in Taekwondo; “Sometimes you have to go slow, to go fast”. I have taken it to mean that being sure you learn each step, to understand each process, is the key to really mastering something. That path will often mean going very slow initially, to ensure you learn each phase/step well. Then the whole process can be sped up, often times it happens all on its own, almost magically.

 

I can still remember when this became so obvious to me. It was during a very early board breaking class and I was attempting to break a black board with a round house kick for the first time. I was worried about being able to hit it hard enough and in the right way to not hurt my foot. I was very carefully lining up the board with the holder and making sure the height and distance was right. I did my first practice kick very slowly, making sure my form was right and I ended up breaking the board with almost no effort or force at all. I wasn’t going fast, I didn’t have any ‘power’ behind the kick, but I did have good form (or what equated to good form for me at the time) and hit the board exactly in the right spot, breaking it easily. I didn’t need speed or power, I needed really good form and execution. I had to go slow, so I could go fast.

 

Now when learning a new technique or form, I want to break it down and slowly walk through it. Often times I will even do this in my head before class, because it helps me slow everything down and think through what needs to happen.  When you can slowly walk through something correctly, speeding it up just naturally happens with repetition.