As anyone who has ever talked to me about martial arts and kobudo will know my mantra is always the same; flow like water, be sensitive, feel more and work with the forces around you for best results. That’s all very well but is that really how we progress in any discipline? Do we just sit down, meditate, use feeling and the whole training process will happen by itself? Of course not!

Not Plain Sailing

Let’s get something straight. There is no such thing as plain sailing in the pursuit of excellence, regardless of the discipline. Hard work is always necessary. For example, I was trawling the internet recently for snack foods that would make me feel full without putting the pounds on. The first article I came across declared that while some foods are better than others, we need to accept that if we are serious about changing our eating habits to lose weight we have to accept some feelings of hunger will be necessary. I’m not a food expert so I am not getting into a debate about how accurate that particular author’s point of view is – but it is certainly true with most things that ‘you get out what you put in’. Hard work and effort bring the best results.

Work Hard But Smart

Once you have accepted that hard work is necessary, that doesn’t have to mean resigning yourself to spending all day every day learning nunchaku or whatever it is you are into. There are express routes; such as training drills. Drills take effort and determination by definition. Standing there repeating a movement over and over again is not for people who can’t be bothered….BUT what you choose to practice as drill movements will make all the difference. By determining smart, time saving drills you can pick up new skills and techniques more efficiently and easily.

What’s a Smart Drill

When you are consciously aware of the performance you are looking for, you can usually identify the processes involved in achieving results. For example, if you are practicing a new routine or combination of moves, it is easy to see and feel where the tricky bits are. If you can’t see the obstruction easily, get someone else to watch, preferably an instructor or even check yourself out in a mirror or on video. Once you know the movement that needs to be improved you can create targeted drills that will make you more effective at executing that part of the performance or manoeuvre.

Rest and Play – Rewards

All rest and no play does make Jack a dull boy but then again, a lack of focus and discipline will mean the result of your training is mediocrity. Too much focus on drill training could kill your creative edge…..so where is the middle ground? Set yourself goals or SMART targets – Specific, Measurable, Attainable or Achievable, Realistic (or Relevant) and Timely. That might mean that you practice a set movement until you can do it flawlessly 10 times initially. If at any stage you make an error, you have to start again with the drill.

Once you have completed the drill, you earn a rest; with nunchaku training that may mean just giving your arms a rest or it could mean sticking some music on and playing for a while, looking to practice or create the more unrealistic crazy moves that are dying to burst out of you. Next time you may repeat the same drill but increase the demand – make it faster, or increase the number of repetitions to 50 for example.

All Worth It

So instead of repeating the same routines over and over, sometimes erring with this more, other times with that move, and perhaps feeling a little beaten if things don’t go your way, increase your speed of learning dramatically: break down the routine to component parts, identify the weak component, create set moves or drills that will iron out those weaknesses, and carry out those drills according to smart targets. It’s all worth it in the end.

If you want help achieving your martial arts goals, get in touch with Chan School of Nunchaku.

 

 

Thai boxer image courtesy of Naypong / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Press up image courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net