Recently, while working to break a bad habit I’d identified in my execution of a very basic technique, I became aware of another stranger, and more subtle, bad habit.
I blink.
And I blink at weird times.
While reviewing a video of myself, I noticed that I was targeting my Choi front kick much too high. I feel like this is a common error; one just feels way more bad-ass the higher one can kick, regardless of how the particulars of the kick and its vectors dictate the reasonable targets. The proper height for a front kick (very similar to a snap-kick in other styles) is somewhere between one’s own crotch and stomach. The kick simply becomes ineffective if one tries to target much higher than that.
The yellow and gold belt patterns feature the front kick and are good places to work on being mindful of the kick’s height. While performing these patterns with the goal of focusing on the height of my front kick, I became aware of a rather peculiar phenomenon in myself; I would throw the kick, immediately replay the kick in my mind, trying to evaluate the height, and I’d realize that strangely, I couldn’t remember the kick. And the reason that I couldn’t remember it was that I hadn’t seen it. This happened a couple of times in a row and I realized that at the moment of impact, had there been an actual target, my eyes had been closed.
As I became conscious of this behavior, I noticed it happening with my strikes as well. I discovered that I have a very strong tendency to blink as my fist reaches the target and that this occurs whether the target is real (i.e. hitting the bag) or imagined (i.e. performing patterns).
A quick search of the internet doesn’t yield much information on this. I found only one reference to blinking while striking (with no treatment of the subject) and plenty of references to blinking while being hit; something which seems completely natural and even protective.
I have no idea how long I’ve had this habit or how it might have developed but, at best, it gets in the way of mindful training and the real-time self-evaluation of technique execution and targeting. At worst, it means that in the final fraction of a second as my kick or strike reaches its target, I give up a certain amount of control.
Strangely, blinking doesn’t seem to be a problem when practicing the targeting of my side and spinning side kicks. I suspect that this is because for months I’ve been working on precise striking with the heel of my foot, as opposed to the arch or worse, the ball. And in order to get full, real-time feedback on the kick, I not only have to think about how the kick felt on the bottom of my foot, but I also have to replay in my mind’s eye the view of my foot hitting the chosen target, the particular letter of “CENTURY” printed down the side of my bag.
And so I’ve started to try to break this blinkin’ habit, though it seems pretty deeply ingrained and I don’t yet have any advice for others that might also suffer from this. Before every workout, I create a page in my training log on which I list the activities and goals for the workout. I now write “EYES OPEN” on every page in an attempt to remind myself to be mindful. To stay fully awake.
And that’s a worthy goal for every other aspect of life as well.
Happy Training.