That's a fun replay.
My process usually goes like, "I want to do ___", and I think about how I would do it in real life. I get an approximate motion going, and then I go back and refine it. Maybe clean up the swing of a limb here, coordinate for more power there, but you don't want to go overboard. A lot of the time, the most efficient movements are the ones that happen naturally. It's your job at that point to just stay out of the way. I could have kept making adjustments to my shoulder joint or something, to pinpoint strike a particular spot, but each time I change direction, I'm taking potential power out of the strike, and slowing it down. So most of the time, I spend a bunch of time fine tuning the set up, but then I let the strike happen largely on its own, using the momentum I developed earlier on. With that sort of methodology, you end up looking a lot less like a robot (it also helps if you don't keep your elbows and knees extended all the time), and a little more like a person. And as in real life, your hips lead your kicks, and your torso leads your punches. Big movements to small.
Also, I've been playing since the middle of last year.