Royal Dragon
01-03-2007, 10:06 PM
So, I have been thinking about all the lessons I have learned from my daughters gymnastics coach over the years (She has been really good about letting me pick her brain) and I had a thought.
Since the Romanian model seems so efficient, would we be better with our Kung Fu, if we taught the Chinese skills, with the Romanain model?
I am comparing things like daily training vs the Romanian's training 4-5 days a week to allow plenty of rest time, and how warmups were defined, vs what we typically seen in martial arts schools and various other things. Also, how skills are taught and developed is different in the Romanian model
For example, the Romanian modle does not teach standarised competition forms. Instead from very early on, it teaches individual gymnastic skills, and then the individual athlete is given a choice of skills inwhich to build thier routine with. For example, each routine may be required to have 3 level a, b and c graded movements. The Gymnast has 8-9 movements of each grade, and therfore can pick and choose thier best skills to perform. The coach does not tell them what to do, or choose.
Most American gyms seem to have a dedicated routine for each level all the way up untill you reach the upper most levels where original choreograhpy is the name of the game. They basically force every gymnast in thier clubs to conform to the standard routine reguardless of individual skills, and talent.
Over the years, I noticed that the gyms that have Romanian coaches or follow the Romanain modle seem to allways be on top. I think it is because the gymanst can put *Thier* individual strengths forward, and are not forced to comply to movement even if they have no natural talent in the specific skill.
This thought led me to notice that MMA gyms who are not useing forms seem to genrally be much more versed at fighting in the early phases of the training. I also noticed that to some extent they are unintentionlly following the same training model as the Romanain gymnastics method, IE given skill choices, and letting the fighters gravitate to what works best for them naturally.
There is more to the Romanian method, such as how warmups are done, and clasified, how skill training, and body structure/mechanics are trained etc...
A lot of it is where the focus is, more so than the excercises themselves. The Romanian modle is almost obsessed with basics, basics, basics. They may look at a level 8 gymnast who can do all sorts of fancy tricks, and to them they don't even see what skill is being performed. They are looking at the body alignemnt, the position of the toes, the mechanics of motion and all. A typical american gym is *Aware* of these things, but tends to see the techniques, and the ability to perform fancy difficult movements as a sign of skill, rather than the level of precision being displayed BY said skill.
Looking at it, to me, it makes the most sense to do things the Romanian way, but then I look around, and so few people even understand the difference between a warmup, and conditioning (Pushups, are NOT warm up excercises, they are CONDITIONING!), that I wonder if I was just lucky that I had the oppertunity to pick the brains of one of the top coaches in US gymnastics all these years.
Am I am observing from a more elightened perspective? And if I am in such a situation, should I apply that thinking to Kung Fu when i teach it, or just teach it like most Kung Fu schools would?
I am just rambling here, but what are everyone's thoughts?
Since the Romanian model seems so efficient, would we be better with our Kung Fu, if we taught the Chinese skills, with the Romanain model?
I am comparing things like daily training vs the Romanian's training 4-5 days a week to allow plenty of rest time, and how warmups were defined, vs what we typically seen in martial arts schools and various other things. Also, how skills are taught and developed is different in the Romanian model
For example, the Romanian modle does not teach standarised competition forms. Instead from very early on, it teaches individual gymnastic skills, and then the individual athlete is given a choice of skills inwhich to build thier routine with. For example, each routine may be required to have 3 level a, b and c graded movements. The Gymnast has 8-9 movements of each grade, and therfore can pick and choose thier best skills to perform. The coach does not tell them what to do, or choose.
Most American gyms seem to have a dedicated routine for each level all the way up untill you reach the upper most levels where original choreograhpy is the name of the game. They basically force every gymnast in thier clubs to conform to the standard routine reguardless of individual skills, and talent.
Over the years, I noticed that the gyms that have Romanian coaches or follow the Romanain modle seem to allways be on top. I think it is because the gymanst can put *Thier* individual strengths forward, and are not forced to comply to movement even if they have no natural talent in the specific skill.
This thought led me to notice that MMA gyms who are not useing forms seem to genrally be much more versed at fighting in the early phases of the training. I also noticed that to some extent they are unintentionlly following the same training model as the Romanain gymnastics method, IE given skill choices, and letting the fighters gravitate to what works best for them naturally.
There is more to the Romanian method, such as how warmups are done, and clasified, how skill training, and body structure/mechanics are trained etc...
A lot of it is where the focus is, more so than the excercises themselves. The Romanian modle is almost obsessed with basics, basics, basics. They may look at a level 8 gymnast who can do all sorts of fancy tricks, and to them they don't even see what skill is being performed. They are looking at the body alignemnt, the position of the toes, the mechanics of motion and all. A typical american gym is *Aware* of these things, but tends to see the techniques, and the ability to perform fancy difficult movements as a sign of skill, rather than the level of precision being displayed BY said skill.
Looking at it, to me, it makes the most sense to do things the Romanian way, but then I look around, and so few people even understand the difference between a warmup, and conditioning (Pushups, are NOT warm up excercises, they are CONDITIONING!), that I wonder if I was just lucky that I had the oppertunity to pick the brains of one of the top coaches in US gymnastics all these years.
Am I am observing from a more elightened perspective? And if I am in such a situation, should I apply that thinking to Kung Fu when i teach it, or just teach it like most Kung Fu schools would?
I am just rambling here, but what are everyone's thoughts?