Sunday, February 1, 2015

Finding Your Edge - - Chief Instructor's Blog February 2015


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