In the Decmber2014 blog, I wrote
about mastering martial arts based on the five concepts written about by George
Leonard in his book “Mastery:
The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment”.
The fifth concept
was The Edge. I wanted to take some time
to explore this concept of The Edge and questions about the Edge in a little
more detail. Some questions you may ask
are:
How do you find
your Edge? How do you know when you
found your Edge? How do you know when
you have gone past your Edge? What is
wrong with going past your Edge?
In martial arts,
there are many aspects of the art form to find your Edge including speed,
force, power, balance, and flexibility.
In finding and exploring your Edge, you may focus on just one these
aspects at a time. If trying to focus on
too many at once, you may or may not know if you have reached your edge. So step one is to focus on one aspect at a
time.
Finding your edge
really is just about pushing yourself For example, going faster to improve speed,
striking or kicking harder to find your limit in force, kicking higher to find
your edge n flexibility, etc. The real
key is to know when you have reached your edge.
And recognize your edge may differ from night to night especially if you
are getting over an injury or illness, so being aware of how your body is
feeling and responding is critical in finding and reaching your edge.
The first easy way
of determining if you have gone past your edge is when you have lost integrity
in the mechanics of the art form. For
example by going past your edge in speed your leg may be no longer straight in
attack stance, you do not lock your leg out in front kick, or you cut short a
punch or block. If you have gone past
your edge in force, you may be overextended in your techniques and no longer
square in your stance.
The second easy way
to determine if you have gone past your edge is if you have stopped breathing
or your breathing is much more labored.
At any time, if you
feel any pain in your joints or your joints are making popping, cracking, grinding, and/or snapping
sounds, you may have gone past your edge and you should back off.
The goal is to find
your edge and then inch past it for as long as you can and then back off until
you are at your edge again.
If you are training
too much beyond your edge you may be creating bad habits (like not locking your
leg in attack stance). Also, training past your edge too often can lead to
injury.
As we enter into 2015, I encourage
you to find at least one aspect of your art form you focus on to find and
explore your edge.
Regards,
Kelly
“If you always put
limit on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your
work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you
must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” ~ Bruce Lee, (1940 –1973)
American-born Chinese Hong Kong martial artist, actor, and founder of Jeet Kune
Do
