FIRST 20 HOURS - How do I learn a martial art? by JoshKaufman published on 2013-06-13T23:40:17Z Vo asks: "Wing Chun (a martial art) has so many forms it's difficult to indentify the most critical sub-skills. How do you know which parts are most important?" http://first20hours.com --- SpeakerText Transcript of the Track: Bo says, Wing Chun, which is a martial art, has so many forms it's difficult to identify the most critical sub skills. How do you know which parts are the most important? This is actually a really good question and I would highly recommend talking to an instructor, somebody who's been practising for a long time, and working with them to identify what are the types of movements. So, not necessarily the forms, but what are the types of movements that you do over and over and over again. Sometimes you can get an idea of doing this through books. So you look at different compilations of the forms that exist and try to find common elements that you need to practice. So, for example, one thing that I have passing familiarity with is Aikido. And one of the things that you learn very quickly or very early on in Aikido is how to fall. How to practice with somebody else in a safe way, and if somebody else throws you, how to fall in a way that doesn't hurt you. So, there are probably, not familiar with Wing Chun as a martial art or an art form. But there are likely to be a couple of different movement patterns it may be striking, it may be kicking, it may be falling. Try to find the common movement patterns and practice those first. And If you're working with an instructor that is really experienced, sometimes it's very difficult for them to isolate these things. on their own, because they've been practising for such a long time and everything is important, so they say everything is important. By working with an instructor and a lot of questions about what other type of movements that we use most often, you can work with the instructor to help them narrow down the skill for you so you can practice in smart way. Hope that helps. <a href="http://speakertext.com/videos/4277765">Review Transcript and Additional Download Options</a> <a href="http://attachments.soundcloud.com/attachment-28693-tracks-96792699-1374522422-0?5ffe3cd">Right-click and choose 'Save As...' to download HTML for CaptionBox</a> Genre Books & Spoken Comment by bobbd2000 I can vouch for this as well from my experience learning TaeKwonDo. While kids seem to assimilate the moves, adults think moves through until they become muscle memory. The trick is that you can only think about one move at a time. Deconstruction is the key. Break the move down into its component parts. For example, a basic block in TaeKwonDo is to step back into a solid stance, sweep one hand down to block a kick and pull the other hand back ready to counter. I found it very frustrating trying to do all three together until I broke it down. I practiced the step back until it was automatic, then I added the hand sweep, and then the hand pulling back. I was able to apply this deconstruction approach all through my training. Deconstruction works. 2013-06-19T08:06:16Z Comment by fabiopsousa True. The common movement patterns are key to properly learn martial arts. 2013-06-14T06:51:47Z