Videotaping Training

[Matthew Lawrence]

Hello all,

I’m sure everyone has, at one time or another, had the following experience: 1) You receive a correction from your instructor; 2) You work on the problem and eventually believe that you have made the correction; and 3) You receive the same correction from your instructor, not because you just made a mistake, but because what your mind thinks your body is doing, and what your body is actually doing, are two entirely different things.

In my ongoing quest to suck at a higher level and minimize the frequency of the above-described scenario, I have been giving some thought to videotaping my training. I think the benefits of such an approach are fairly obvious. Also, it seems to be a very common component of performance-enhancement methods in Western sports.

On the other hand, I seem to recall reading a passing remark by some budo author/practitioner that more than occasional, infrequent use of mirrors to assist in making technique correction would decrease a student’s kinesthetic awareness and paradoxically ultimately lead to poorer technique. By extension, I would presume that such analysis would apply to videotape review of training. Further, I am concerned that by I might be short-circuiting the ryu’s historical method for helping its adherents progress--show up, train, repeat for long period of time, maybe you improve, maybe not, train anyway. Seriously though, maybe that’s a lesson that I shouldn’t try to subvert.

Of course, I haven’t even asked my instructor if I can do this yet, so it may be moot. In the meantime, I was curious if anyone had any opinions on/experience with such an approach.

[Jimmy Francoeur]

Hi

In my humble opinion, I think that there is a big difference between mirror and video tape.
With the mirror You've got an immediate feedback, with the video the feedback is made
with a delay. The corrections You will do with the help of a video will not be as
immediate as with the mirror. I think the advantage of the video tape is that it does not
cause distraction and maybe give a more objective view than the mirror.

"infrequent use of mirrors to assist in making technique correction would decrease a
student’s kinesthetic awareness and paradoxically ultimately lead to poorer technique."

I tend to agree on this, but I think, from past experience, that it is the frequent use of
mirror and not the infrequent use that cause a decrease of awareness. I use to train in a
dojo with a lot of mirrors and I was relying more on the use of mirrors than the use of my
awareness.

Anyway, I think video tape used occasionally can be helpful.


Jimmy Francoeur

[charlesl]

Well, yeah, I have done this several times now, in several different ways, and if done right, I think it's great.

Generally, I don't find it to have any negative effects on my practice: I usually forget that I'm taping, and just do what I normally do, and get as much as I do out of the practice as usual.

However, after practice, when I watch the tape, I see a lot of things, both in what I do and what others are doing in the video. I see a lot of mistakes that I and others make. Plus, lots of times somebody will tell me what I'm doing wrong, and I won't understand, then I'll watch the tape and think "oh, yeah, I do suck at that, that's what he meant."

I've done taping in 3 different ways:

1) Did all the video taping myself, holding the camera and going around with it. The only reason I could do this was because at the time I was recovering from knee surgery and couldn't do anything else. The tape quality was pretty good, and I picked up a lot of things. Unfortunately, you can't really train and do this at the same time.

2) Had my wife, who isn't very good with the camera, doesn't know anything about martial arts, and isn't interested at all, do the taping. Uh, worked ok, except it always seemed that as I'm watching the tape and finally getting to the point in my practice that I knew I wasn't getting right, she'd turn and start taping something else.

3) Set the camera up on the dash of my car (my group trains outside). Mixed results. Had to be kind of far away to get a wide enough angle, and then everything and everybody is too small to really get a lot out of it. Plus, ended up taping a lot of junk that could easily have been skipped, and the tape ran out before I got a chance to capture any of the really "good stuff."

Anyway, that's my quick-n-dirty appraisal, probably not work a whole lot.

-Charles Lockhart
Honolulu, HI

[Gil Gillespie]

Robert Burns once wrote "Oh wad gift the Giftie gi'e us/ to see oursel's as others see us." He was a poet. And he was Scottish. And no that's not a contradiction in terms.

Video is a priceless tool. Mirrors defuse or destroy your focus, which is never good and in sword can be real never good. I've learned things watching myself on tape (oh shudder) that I would never have otherwise seen. After a few years of iai katas, I saw right off I was throwing my elbow over the tsuka in noto (oh wince), & without video I would never have noticed how I was sticking my bony left foot behind me to sink into seiza, rather than leaving it in place and lowering my knee to the floor while doing hakama sabaki. You gotta leave your ego at the door.

It's not narcissistic; it's feedback you won't otherwise receive. I knew my sensei's corrections were right. But when I SAW what he was dealing with, oy vey----- the man's a saint.

[Daigoro]

>He was a poet. And he was Scottish. And no that's not a contradiction in terms.<

I am not sure what this means.

Robbie Burns is Scotlands national Poet and its most famous literary talent. His most famous piece is Auld Lang Syne, which is played in just about every corner of the earth every New-Year:
http://www.robertburns.org/works/236.html

Re: Mirrors and Vids

My opinion is that both are useful.... I wish I had a mirror in my dojo, like I had in a previous one. I think there is a way to use the mirror to enhance practise. Video - for me - is only useful when done without me being conscious of it. I have a copy of myself at this years European Kendo Taikai......

- George McCall
Seishinkan Kendo Club, Edinburgh, SCOTLAND
http://www.edinburghkendo.co.uk/

[RBrooks]

Hmmmmm....

Isn't that from the poem, "Ode to a Louse"?




Best--

Roger Brooks