Who Succeeds in the Martial Arts?

Martial arts instructors have noticed that the most talented students often don't stay very long. If a person comes in who can do a reasonable imitation of all the basic kicks and punches in one class, learns Pinan Shodan in the next class, and goes and wins their first sparring match in the next class, most instructors figure they'll be gone before blue belt.

This seems backwards, right? Generally people that are good at something enjoy it, and shouldn't less effort mean more enjoyment?

My take on it is that most of these very talented individuals don't value what they are learning. It's the difficulty of the process that makes the rest of us so attached to our practice.

But if it's not the most talented students that usually stick around, who is it?

In my opinion, the majority of successful martial arts students have three traits:

1) Persistence -- they don't quit because they don't like to quit. When they aren't able to do something the first time, they practice it again and again and again and . . .

2) Emphasis on 'the right way' -- they believe that there is a right and a wrong way to do things, or at least that doing things the right way is easier and more efficient

3) Comfort with a social hierarchy -- they enjoy or are at least comfortable with the belt structure being a visible indicator of who is in charge of whom

Each of these traits give people who have them huge advantages in the first 3 - 5 years of martial arts training. But after that (which you might notice is generally after black belt status is achieved) they can become limiting.

Persistence becomes stubbornness and can prevent us from understanding new methods for training. Emphasis on the right way turns into 'the way I was taught must be right.' Comfort with the hierarchy becomes "I'm a big man on campus in my black belt" and leads to sloppy training.

It can be hard to see when behaviors that used to be very helpful to ourselves become roadblocks. And it can be even harder for an instructor 'pointing the way' for others to remember that behaviors that aren't good for the instructor might still be good for the less experienced martial artist.

A Karate Solution to a JiuJitsu Problem

A couple of weeks ago I learned a new takedown. The closest video example I've found is Chris Wells showing it as a 'spiral takedown' on youtube -- check it out.

At any rate, this sort of takedown is a whole new category for me. I've never practiced working from the collar tie position and I've never practiced reaching down to 'tap' a leg. It's pretty exciting to learn something so new. Of course, being completely new, it's something I'm no good at doing.

So now I've got a problem -- I want to be good at it, because it's an easy way to put some on their back with very little exposure to being thrown myself. And I'll probably see it in class again in, say, two years.

So how do I get better at it? How can I even remember how do it?

I hope everyone reading this is shouting "Practice it on your own!" at their computer screens. Because that's what it takes. But it's a throw and I learned it with a partner. And I don't have a convenient training partner. So one option, and it's a good one, is to find a training partner. If I could still train at Broad Ripple Martial Arts, I'd be able to rustle up some partners and some mat space. But where I'm training now, I still need to build those relationships. So in the meantime I need another option.

Fortunately, this is not a new problem. The teachers of the Chinese-Okinawan-Japanese arts solved this problem a long time ago. If I want to practice a partner technique without a partner I can use kata.

We learn kata as set routines. That's because we use kata to transmit the basic (and not so basic) techniques of Shorei Goju Ryu from teacher to student. But we can also use the concept of kata to practice any technique we want. Really, when you practice basic techniques like seiken-tsuki or han uchi ken you are doing a (very) short kata.

And that's how I'm going to practice my new takedown: In the air, without a partner. It'll probably look like goofy dancing to most people. But since I'll know what it means, I'll know it's making me better at tossing people onto the floor.

There are advantages and disadvantages to practicing this way, and understanding those can help you understand how to make your kata more effective training.

But that's for another post.

Want to Get Better Faster?

Here's a tip that helped me make my greatest gains in skill:

Practice every day!

Your first thought might have been "I wish I had the time." Maybe you thought "That's not easy at all."

But think about this -- how long does it take to throw all of your basic kicks? How much time do you need to practice moving your hand first when you throw a reverse punch?

Most of us don't have the time or the inclination to train for several hours every day. But everyone can spend five or ten minutes a day refining a technique, visualizing the form they learned the night before, or doing some light shadow boxing in front of the television.

Practicing everyday lets you focus on what you need to work on. By making a small commitment each and every day you will deepen your practice and speed your skill progression.

Here's what I'm currently practicing every day:

Thai style roundhouse kick

Lead hook (focusing on properly covering with the rear hand)

Sometimes I get carried away and work on the new throw I learned last week . . . and then I've spent 6 minutes on all three techniques.

What's your current practice? Start with one phrase from a kata or one basic technique, and let us know how it goes.