Sometimes during target practice a student will repeatedly miss the striking pad. It can be incredibly frustrating when a beautifully executed kick becomes useless through a lack of accuracy. But how does someone improve their accuracy? When a skill is
Q. What’s the point of practising hyung (forms)?
Forms are a sequence of techniques, a pattern, practised repeatedly; they usually occur towards the start of a class. At Chang’s Hapkido Academy, each new level requires the student to memorize a new form which is then practised under the watchful eye of the
Will warming up for 10 minutes on the treadmill help me in Hapkido class?
Warming up on the treadmill definitely won’t hurt your training (unless you’re operating at maximum intensity and getting too fatigued) but it’s also not the most ideal way to warm up for a class – or for anything other than
Skills, skills, and more skills (part three)
After spending the past few months arguing for (part one) and against (part two) the importance of learning more skills, I’d like to question the relevance of either argument. So why does focusing on more or less skills actually miss
Skills, skills and more skills (part two)
Last month I spoke about how knowing a variety of martial arts skills can be beneficial to your practice (part one). Today I’d like to play devil’s advocate and argue the contrary. So why are more skills a bad thing?
Skills, skills, and more skills (part one)
By the time you’ve reached black belt in Hapkido, you’ve accumulated hundreds of Hapkido techniques: from the basic punch to the more complex self-defence skills and the multitude of variations. In this three part article I’d like to talk about
Kibon dong ja (Basic movement)
As a white belt we learn basic stances (front, back and horse riding) and spend hours simply walking up and down the mat. I remember it being the part of the class I always hated; but now as an instructor
Don’t neglect the kihap!
Recently a few of my newer students have been asking why we are ‘grunting’ or ‘shouting’ during techniques. What they are referring to is the ‘ki-hap’: literally, Ki means inner power, and Hap means coordination. So the shout is an
Boredom vs. concentration in sparring.
Recently, a lower belt student told me that when he spars with more junior belts he is often afraid of hitting them. He also disclosed that he gets bored sparring with the junior or less ‘able’ students. My response to
Tension vs. power in Hapkido training.
I find that many new students need to first spend time understanding the difference between tension, strength and power. In the English language, if we want to improve at something, we often say that we must knuckle down, train hard orgrit our