Neuroscience and martial Arts Training

Recent neuroscience research into the brain function of elite athletes, detailed in the January 14, 2012 issue of Science News, validates traditional martial arts teaching methods and gives hope to novices aiming to improve.

Taekwondo and other martial arts require constant and continued practice of the basic kicks and blocks which combine into forms and sparring techniques. Several researchers are clarifying why that practice makes things work.

Using functional MRI scans on athletes’ brains has allowed John Milton, a neuroscientist at the Claremont Colleges in California, to identify the areas of the brain utilized while performing or planning specific actions, like a golf swing. Professional golfers show far more localized activity, beginners show dispersed activity.

To reach this more subconscious control of a complex movement, Milton explains athletes must rehearse, train repeatedly and develop the nerve connections needed for precise motor control. Sounds a lot like Dr. Stevens saying “Practice, practice, practice” doesn’t it?

These studies also support the claim that practice of forms improves focus, since Milton sees the less dispersed brain activity as indicating that the experts don’t get bogged down by extraneous information, as ‘in the zone’ they ignore the rest and focus.

There’s an additional factor at work in the benefit of training repetition, according to Daniel Wolpert of the University of Cambridge, England. He describes the nervous system interaction with the musculoskeletal system as flawed with transmission errors along the way causing sensory ‘static’ varying in degree by genetic inheritance.

The good news? Wolpert says anyone can “train muscles and refine a way of moving that reduces the bad consequences of the noise that already there.” So with persistence and indomitable spirit, anyone can improve performance.

Another element of martial arts training has traditionally been watching others perform both basics, forms and sparring. Even when the body is still, the brains of observers show neural activity similar to actually effecting the motions. Salvatore Aglioti of Sapienza University (Rome) says this mirror neural activity is the brains’ way of simulating the motion, “a system for matching what you do with what you see others doing.”

So to the speed up that kick, perfect that form or improve sparring, those traditional training methods are just what all these doctors would order. Practice and continue to practice, watch and try to focus on both doing and seeing. Those taekwondo masters know how to teach!

Schedule Reminder:

Sunday, February 12-- 1 pm belt promotion testing at Stevens Point YMCA
--no classes February 14 & 16
February 21 -- first class of new session

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