I was recently admonishing my collegiate beginning Taekwondo class about their lack of attention to detail in technique: your chamber for this block is over your arm, not under; you aren’t looking to the side soon enough, etc. I could see the smirks, and I am pretty sure I heard the eye roll of one kid in particular. It is pretty clear he disagrees with a lot of aspects of the class, including the concept that physical exertion and effort are also necessary. Technically, he seems to think the finer points of most all techniques are really just guidelines. But hey, he should know, because he has done martial arts before. I mean, he has been a below average white belt in at least two other courses.
Does it matter whether the chamber for your block comes from under your arm or over? Well, Yes. And no. In the grand scheme of things, as long as you block the punch, do such aesthetics really matter? Occasionally there are some higher level applications (karate would call bunkai) where those nuances matter, but otherwise, probably not. I often finish our FAST classes and my college courses with the discussion on how spirit and mindset often trump technique. So why do we freak out over bent back legs in long stances or bad hand positions on joint locks?
Because those details have a purpose. Now, there are many ways to do things, but in each case, rarely is any of the variation arbitrary. In BJJ just about every hand position or movement has a purpose, either to assist with the move or to serve a defensive purpose. But there are many different moves to achieve the same purpose, or even variations of the same move. Likewise in Hapkido, there are many different ways to defend against certain attacks, and there are many different ways the same technique is taught. There are usually pros and cons to each, and the instructor has to settle on the best one for him and for his students (which may not be the same). But there is still a right way—and more importantly, many wrong ways– to do each variation. Sometimes it is enough to make even advanced practitioners despair, let alone beginners. I have asked Tai Chi instructors when to inhale and exhale on certain movements to be told this way, but by the way you can do it the opposite way too. It doesn’t matter.
But it does matter. For the sake of practice, on the quest of mastery, it absolutely matters to get it right. As I told that Taekwondo class….there is a lot of nuance in technique that I can’t really teach you but you have to feel for yourself. Subtle matters of timing and structure in your own body that you have to pay attention to.
If you can’t remember to do these very obvious and overt external things correctly, even as I constantly remind you to, then you have no chance of being self-aware enough to learn those other things for yourself and truly be good. The particular version may not matter, what matters is you commit to doing it with excellence.
Once you have mastered the principles, then it may be the case that it can be “right” all the time, regardless of how you do it. As Bruce Lee said, “Before I learned the art, a punch was just a punch, and a kick, just a kick. After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick, no longer a kick. Now that I understand the art, a punch is just a punch and a kick is just a kick.” The part that most people miss in that is understand. Or more bluntly, lazy people confuse basic familiarity with mastery and then use this quote to justify their lack of excellence. As we like to say, the enemy of great is good. And if you settle for good enough, you become your own worst enemy.
And this, as with many aspects of martial arts, extends beyond the mats. What matters most in your training is that you commit to a standard of excellence in what you do in life. Judging from his effort level and attitude in class, my guess is that my aforementioned TKD student isn’t concerned about excellence in any endeavor or aspect of his life. If we had a conversation about his life, I very well might sound like his dad. I bet they are estranged. Whatever you do—work, school, etc—there is a right way to do it. It may not be the only way to live, but the way you live will be done right. The willingness to do that chamber, joint lock, or guard pass correctly matters a lot more than its actual application. It says a lot about you as a person. We hope we inspire our students to have an attitude of black belt excellence in many aspects of life. –BLS
Gentry Martial Arts--the rants of a martial arts eccentric 