5 Steps to Perfect Practice

There is nothing more frustrating than putting in a lot of time and practice into your Taekwon-Do without seeing any results.

I’m going to show you a simple way to up-level your Taekwon-Do practice without using any special equipment.

All you need is the time, motivation and consistency to make it work for you.

The problems most people are having in getting the best use out of their practice time are:

Trying to do too many things

Instead of focusing on a few key techniques or exercises in their training session, they try to cover everything at once. The result of trying to do everything is to not get very good at anything.

Drilling poor technique

Repeating poor technique only helps you continue to do it poorly. The wrong technique becomes embedded deeper into your brain, making it harder to “undo” in the future.

Lack of consistency

The results come slowly or don’t eventuate because there is no habit formed for regular practice.

Too much practice

Taekwon-Do has many dedicated students, and overtraining can be a real problem.

Not enough variation

A student will plateau if there is not enough variation in their training.

When you spend a lot of your time and energy on trying to master a skill, you should absolutely reap the rewards.

You can get “unstuck” and move forward

Doing what you’ve always done will keep getting you what you’re currently getting.

If you have hit a plateau and you’re not progressing any further, try the Greasing the Groove framework.

Greasing the Groove

“Greasing the Groove” is a practice framework that originates from a Russian named Pavel Tsatsouline. Pavel was a former trainer for the Soviet Special Forces, and he came up with a simple equation:

Specificity + Frequent Practice = Success

In the equation:

Frequent practice of the correct technique is necessary for success.

This means you are strengthening the right neural pathways so your brain is learning what you want it to repeat in the future.

Although Pavel used this mainly for strength and conditioning gains, I have applied it successful to improving Taekwon-Do technique.

The basic idea is that:

To get better at a specific technique you have to practice it over and over and over again.

Sounds obvious – but how may of us actually do it?

So now we have a frequent and specific repetition of the correct technique.

The 5 “F”’s

To “grease the groove”, your practice needs to be:

1. Focused (work on only 1 technique at a time)
2. Flawless (practice must be perfect – train using correct technique)
3. Frequent (do several sets throughout the day, take one day off per week)
4. Fresh (do no more than half your maximum reps each time – you should feel stronger after the training)
5. Fluctuating (keeping changing things up slightly by doing variations of the same exercise)

Try working on each of these aspects to shift your practice into the next level.

Example workout

So here is an example: Side piercing kick (slow motion practice for strength)

• Do 5 kicks each leg holding for 10 seconds. (less or more depending on your current strength)
• Only kick to the height you can perform with correct technique
• Do this as many times throughout the day as you can manage
• Add variations such as circling or raising the leg up and down slightly
• Video yourself on your first attempt then again after a week then two weeks. Enjoy watching how much you have improved.

Good luck!