Why Am I Not Improving? - - Chief Instructor's Blog June 2018

Do you feel like you are not improving or improving as fast as you would like?  This is not uncommon.  Many of us have experienced a time or times in our training where we felt we were not improving.  There may be several reasons this may be the case.

 

 If you feel you are not improving because you have reached a plateau I have described possible ways to work through that in my March 2015 blog “How To Get Through The Plateaus “.  If you feel you are not improving because of flexibility or strength limitations, I discussed ways to improve through targeting specific muscles in my June 2015 blog “Improving Your Technique Through Targeted Muscles Training."

 

Other reasons you may not be improving may be the frequency of your training, where you are at on the learning curve, and even your inner critic.

Frequency of Training

 

 According to Tony Gummerson in his book, “Teaching Martial Arts” [1]:

• One practice session a week maintains existing skill level.
• Two practice sessions a week bring about a moderate improvement in performance
• Three practice sessions a week have a measurable positive effect on performance

Therefore, to continue to improve you must be able to spend at least two sessions a week (in or out of class) practicing.  This is especially true when you are first learning a new technique, since it can take 3-4 training sessions to reach a 50-60% accuracy in reproducing the techniques [1].

 

Learning Curve

 

According to Tony Gummerson in his book, “Teaching Martial Arts” [1], “The 70-80% level of technical excellence can be achieved relatively quickly; however, to attain the remaining 30% or 20% requires a disproportionate amount of time and effort.”  He goes on to state ”After a given point on the learning curve, the amount of time required to bring about a moderate improvement becomes greater and greater and disproportionate to the increase in skill level.”  A graph in the book shows one can reach a 60% technical effectiveness in 3 training days but take up to 50 days to reach an 80% technical effectiveness.”

 

 So, in some cases, it maybe where you are on the learning curve for a technique or form, and it will just take more training days to refine and reach a higher technical effectiveness. 

Inner Critic

 

While instructors are very influential in the progression of your training, one of the biggest influences is your Inner Critic.  The Inner Critic…we all have it right?  That inner voice that tells us what we are doing wrong, we can never be able to do that technique, certain students will always defeat us in sparring, we will never be able to be good enough to earn a black belt, etc.

 

The Inner Critic can have a place in training if the inner voice is correcting you constructively and encouraging, but it can be your worst enemy if it is judging, discouraging, and /or negative. 

 

So, listen to what your inner critic is telling you and, if it is not being encouraging, you need to learn to ignore it or train your inner critic to provide more positive, encouraging words or just simple words, like “go” and “yes.” 

 

Regards,

Kelly

 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ~ Teddy Roosevelt(1858 – 1919), American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist 26th President of the United States (1901 to 1909), 25th Vice President of the United States from March to September 1901, 33rd Governor of New York from 1899 to 1900 Excerpt from the speech “Citizenship In A Republic” delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910, 26^th President of the United States, third degree brown belt in Judo.

 

 

References

1.      Teaching Martial Arts by Tony Gummerson