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Thread: What Are "Advanced Techniques?"

  1. #1
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    Default What Are "Advanced Techniques?"

    I had the chance to get together with some friends a couple of weekends ago, all of whom are quite experienced and skilled martial artists. You would think we would play around with really advanced stuff with that sort of crowd. Instead we did the most basic of techniques. The weekend emphasized something I've thought for years, that there is no such thing as an advanced technique. There is only the basics done really, really well. I wrote this blog post about it.

    http://budobum.blogspot.se/2014/04/t...echniques.html

    What do you think? Are there advanced techniques that I'm just completely clueless about?
    Last edited by Anders Pettersson; 15th April 2014 at 21:47. Reason: Fixed the link
    Peter Boylan
    Mugendo Budogu LLC
    Fine Budo Books, Videos, Clothes and Equipment Direct from Japan
    http://www.budogu.com

    Find my Budo Blog at http://budobum.blogspot.com/

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  3. #2
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    Peter

    "only the basics done really, really well"

    Important concept, short and to the point phrase. IMO very well said.
    Chris Thomas

    "While people are entitled to their illusions, they are not entitled to a limitless enjoyment of them and they are not entitled to impose them upon others."

    "Team Cynicism" MVP 2005-2006
    Currently on "Injured/Reserve" list due to a scathing Sarcasm pile-up.

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    Sure there are advanced techniques. For example, in kendo, kiri-otoshi is more difficult than a straight men. I would not expect a beginner or even an intermediate player to be able to execute it. The fact that excellent fundamentals are what drives the ability to perform that technique supports your argument, but I would still regard it as advanced relative to a straight men.

    Also advanced are what kendo sensei refer to broadly as "mental things". Seme, tame, etc. Again, without strong fundamentals they don't work, but OTOH you can have a strong technician that doesn't have that advanced mental technique. You see them failing the yondan exam by the bucketload.
    Neil Gendzwill
    Saskatoon Kendo Club

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    Were you fully aware of what your aikido friend and teacher was doing and did you try to replicate it? Could you clearly perceive the differences between the way he was doing it and what you were doing before?
    Peter Goldsbury,
    Forum Administrator,
    Hiroshima, Japan

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    Neil,
    I guess the semantic bush we are dancing around is that I am trying to argue that what makes techniques such as you are talking about possible is an advanced understanding of the fundamentals. I'm saying that the technique itself is not advanced but that to do it well requires a high degree of mastery of the basics. Ultimately it may not be a sustainable argument, but I'm trying to push people back to focusing on the basics.

    My personal experience has been that I can do the "advanced techniques" without practicing or studying them very much, if I back off and focus on the fundamentals that underlie the technique. Once I get those under my skin, the "advanced technique" comes quite quickly. For me, every experience drives me back to do the basics.
    Peter Boylan
    Mugendo Budogu LLC
    Fine Budo Books, Videos, Clothes and Equipment Direct from Japan
    http://www.budogu.com

    Find my Budo Blog at http://budobum.blogspot.com/

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    Quote Originally Posted by P Goldsbury View Post
    Were you fully aware of what your aikido friend and teacher was doing and did you try to replicate it? Could you clearly perceive the differences between the way he was doing it and what you were doing before?
    Peter, I am quite sure that I was NOT fully aware of what Jim was doing, nor could I clearly perceive all of the differences. However, I was aware enough of much of what he does and and the differences to give me a really good start on modifying my own practice and technique. Does that make sense?
    Peter Boylan
    Mugendo Budogu LLC
    Fine Budo Books, Videos, Clothes and Equipment Direct from Japan
    http://www.budogu.com

    Find my Budo Blog at http://budobum.blogspot.com/

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    One of my instructors had a different way of expressing the same sentiment.
    He would say, “there are no advanced techniques, just basic techniques done at an advanced level”.
    To me to do something at an advanced level goes beyond doing something “really, really well.”
    One can practice chudan uke until it is “text book” perfect in its execution both during kata and partner work. But to perform the technique at an “advanced level” would mean having a deeper understanding of timing, distance, anatomy and other factors that can take a “middle block” and transform it into a technique that can end a confrontation.
    This video from One Minute Bunkai is a good example of taking chudan uke to an “advanced level”.


    He also has another saying that I like, and to me it goes hand in hand with this topic:
    "Black belt and white belt are the same, white belt is the beginning of technique, black belt is the beginning of understanding. Both are beginner belts."
    Joe Stitz

    "Black belt and white belt are the same, white belt is the beginning of technique. Black belt is the beginning of understanding. Both are beginner belts."
    - Doug Perry -Hanshi, KuDan -Shorin Ryu ShorinKan

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    What are advanced techniques? Simple: it's those that I'm not yet ready to attempt, and would do poorly at if I tried.

    The list is rather long. ;-)
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

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