When explaining the biomechanics of movement, it is important to understand how the body works as a unit with multiple systems within the body working together to execute the movement. This is called the kinetic chain and it has three main systems:
- Nervous system
- Muscular system
- Skeletal system
By inhibiting the nervous system, the kinetic chain is broken and more effort is required to execute a movement. One way to inhibit the nervous system is by closing your eyes. It sounds simple but it makes the move extremely challenging. I’ll give you a quick example, pick your foot up and do a 3 count front kick. Don’t close your eyes and try again. What happened? You did notice that the kick got a lot harder, didn’t you? You can use this very app and completely change your training methods. Also, the katas were laid out in a perfect pattern where you should end the shape exactly where you started. Close your eyes throughout the kata and see if you can end up in the same spot. There are three planes of motion in which the body can move:
- front plane
- Sagittal plane
- transverse plane
Let’s look at the three basic technical kicks and how they fit into these planes of movement to increase the level of difficulty. The front kick is executed in the sagittal plane – The most basic and easiest kick to execute. Most of the movements occur in the sagittal plane, making the front kick the easiest to learn. The second kick is the round kick that is executed in the frontal plane. Since this technical kick occurs on either the left or right side of the body, it would occur in the frontal plane. Finally, the most difficult of the basic kicks is the side kick. There is a rotation that has to occur within the hip joint to place the side kick, which occurs in the transverse plane.
So how does one train in all planes of motion? In Jhoon Rhee Tae Kwon Do, a student must be able to correctly execute what we call a 9-beat kick. The nine-count kick includes the front kick, round kick, side kick, and hook kick. All basic kicks must be executed without supporting the foot. Front/Round/Side/Hook Kick.
When training the body, there are multiple training variables that can be manipulated to move a movement forward or backward. Once a student reaches a black belt, it’s important to understand that, yes, there is a more challenging curriculum from first through second grade, but it’s also about honing the basics. How is the body challenged? Here are some different training variables that can be used:
- range of motion
- Speed
- Frequency
- Duration
- Stability
- movement planes
This article will focus on increasing the difficulty by understanding core stability. The easiest way to explain the principle of stability is by using what we call a base of support. When you stand up, both feet touch the ground, giving you a wide base of support. As soon as a student lifts one leg off the ground, it shortens its base, making it difficult to balance. Therefore, by decreasing your stability you can make a basic movement more challenging. So how can someone decrease stability while standing on one leg? This is where training tools would come into the picture. Let’s use a dyna-disk for example. Below is a picture of a dyna drive. The dyna-disc allows movement in all planes of motion as well as being on an unstable surface. Try doing a front kick on the dyna-disc. What happens? The front kick now becomes extremely difficult.