Forms, Forms, Forms

Part of tonight’s form class was spent in search of kick counters.  Which forms have kick counters?  Where are they?

Part of the point of this was, of course, to connect forms to the theme of the week.  Another function was to simply see if the students knew what they were doing in their forms.  The trouble with forms is that it is very easy to simply go through the motions, to memorize a particular sequence of moves and repeat it over and over.  There is probably some benefit to this practice but the real benefit to be gained from doing forms is the visualization of seeing the action unfold before you.  If you can’t visualize your opponent and what your move is doing, then it is very difficult to take the next step of seeing how you can better execute the move… and if you can’t do that then is forms practice helping your martial arts practice?

Visualize.  See the move.  Improve the move.