The Stages of Learning a Form

By Master Allison Meador

             If I had a penny for every time a student approached me to complain about his or her form (also called "poomse" in Taekwondo or "kata" in Karate), I'd have a few truckloads full of pocket change!  

Generally, students experience a certain amount of agony when learning their forms because they do not understand the complex psychological phases that they are experiencing.  This misunderstanding often results in a wide range of consequences for students, ranging from completely losing their self-confidence to dramatically inflating it.  Therefore, it is very important for students to know the psychological stages of learning a form.  

There are a few things to note about these stages.  First of all, there is no "average time" for completing each stage.  Every student has a unique mix of intellectual and athletic learning styles and will spend different amounts of time at each stage in the process.  

Secondly, students can occasionally experience two or more stages simultaneously (or even out of order).  For example, they may be experiencing stages 2 and 4 at the same time, even though they haven't started stage 3 yet.   

Lastly, these stages are not concrete laws -- they merely reflect my observations gathered from 14 years of training and teaching.  I don't claim to "know everything", but I feel that students can benefit from understanding the psychological processes involved in Taekwondo training.  

Without further ado, here are the stages of learning a form:  

  1. Developing mental memory of the form.
    1. This is where students learn the overall pattern of the movements in the form.  They will occasionally hesitate while trying to remember the next movement.
  2. Developing muscle memory of the movements.
    1. In this stage, students are able to remember the form, but it still feels awkward for them.  They will still occasionally hesitate when they feel that their bodies will not cooperate with their minds.  In other words, they know the movements intellectually, but their muscles are not accustomed to performing them yet.
  3. Combining mental memory and muscle memory through concentration.
    1. Here, students learn to execute the form confidently, without hesitation or awkwardness.  They successfully combine their intellectual knowledge of a form with the physical ability to execute it.
    2. Unfortunately, most students (especially children) are tempted to stop improving their performances when they reach this stage.  This happens because the increase in confidence combined with the decrease in discomfort tricks students into believing that they have achieved mastery of the form.
  4. Developing intensity and power.
    1. Students develop intensity and power by increasing their muscular strength and flexibility, while also learning proper tension, relaxation, timing, and breathing techniques.
    2. Again, most students will be tempted to stop their improvement here.
  5. Refining the movements and transitions.
    1. This is a never-ending process.  It begins when students realize that they are not perfect, and it ends when they feel satisfied with their level of performance.
  6. Mastery.
    1. Mastery is not an actual stage of learning a form.  It earned its place on this list due to the common misconception that students have concerning its attainability.  Mastery is an unachievable idealistic concept, akin to perfection.  It is a mere aspiration -- not a state of being.  Although I have earned the title of Master, I consider it as a title, not a description.  I am not "a Master".  I am "a student" with the title of Master.  I have not, nor will I ever, "master" anything.  In fact, the more I practice Taekwondo, the more I realize my own ineptitude.  But I will keep trying to learn and improve while trying to help others do the same.

I hope that understanding these stages will help you in your training!  Remember that training is about improving who you were yesterday -- not about becoming Bruce Lee tomorrow!  Take it one step at a time, and you will be successful.  Good luck!

 

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