Watching yourself

[ESA-Shotokan]

Have many people on here actually watched themselves perform kihon, kata or kumite? You are your own worse judge of such things and it is a good idea to video tape yourself and play it back.

 

You may find performing a particular technique hard, so if you can see yourself from another person's view point, it is invaluable. I remember I found mawashi-geri very hard to do from basic zenkutsu-dachi stance.

 

Then I would visualise my instructor doing it and I would copy him, in my mind, over and over again. It is a good idea to do this with your eyes closed and just see them doing the technique correctly.

 

When I taped me doing this kick and with my eyes closed, I actually started to do the kick about 40% better within 10 minutes.

 

Not all things work for other people but it may help some.

 

But using a vcr is great and you don't realise how poor some of your kata moves are until you play it back!

 

[TangSooGuy]

I've only had the opportunity to do this a few times, but it's actually a great tool.

 

It's also good to go over the tape with an instructor, so you really can see what areas you need to work on.

 

The only draw back is that you'll often think your technique felt much better when you were doing it that it looks on the tape...but in the end it will just make you that much better.

[Sho-ju]

I have taped myself before, doing kata, kihon, sparring and bag work. It really opens your eyes to the holes in your game.

[ialwaysgethit]

taping is a excellent way of self analysis. some times want so shoot my self though when it looks really bad, it also shows improvements in your self.

 

keep all videos, there may be kata's or combinations you will need in the future which you can look back at, also a good teaching aid for other students.

 

BECAREFUL videoing children now, make sure you get consent of their parents/guardians, due to new laws coming in (UK), regarding things like that, dont think i need to say what do i.

 

mirrors are good as well.

 

also friends wathching or even lower grades wathching and asking questions.

 

all great fun.

 

[aefibird]

We have mirrors up on one wall in my dojo, so you can watch yourself while training. I hate it, though, but that's because I hate looking at myself in the mirror anyway!

 

I've been videoed a couple of times during a competition and I have to agree that watching yourself on video really does help you to see what you need to work on.

 

We also pair up regualrly in my dojo and watch each other's kata and point out good things and things that need to be worked on. Sometimes a person may think they're doing a technique OK even though they're not but when someone points it out to them then they can (hopefully!) make it better.

[Uechi Kid]

I hate watching myself on tape. I never really look the way I feel. But video is a great tool to help you improve.

[Midnight_kitty]

We have mirrors around all the walls in our dojo so we can see ourselves. My one friend also brought in a camera to tape sparring matches and see where we went wrong. She also videotaped kata. I never realize how well my kata are until I watch them. Then its just like oh wow I really can perform that kata well.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

I had a commercial school for 3 years and when I got a student tested for their first colored belt, I opened a new video tape and made a big productuion of putting their name on it. That tape was used to video all of their belt tests. or it worked OK until my camcorder blew up anyway! lol

 

Some people had as many as 7-8 tests on their tapes when I gave them to them to keep.

[tommarker]

That sounds like a really neat thing to do for students!

[aefibird]

That's a great idea and something that would really help students to see their progress.

 

Cool idea Shorinryu Sensei!