Advice for Beginning StudentsFiled Under: Interviews, Rantings
I have been thinking about what would help novice student become well-rooted in martial arts. My students up at the U of U have taught me a great deal, and I have a few things that could be of use to them and all beginning students.
Relax
Relax, relax, relax. There is a tendency to substitute strength for technique – especially since at the beginning of your training career you have very little of it. When sparring, the lack of experience and control tenses up your body and often makes guys go ape crazy. Breathe, have positive self talk, use mantra’s ,do visualizations before class. Whatever it takes.
A tight fist can hold nothing; a relaxed hand can accept.
Safety
Safety is a no brainer – if you plan to train in martial arts for any significant length of time, you are at continual risk of injury and disease. The healthier and safer you remain, the more fruitful and long lived your training.
Take your personal safety, and that of your training partners dead serious. When you get injured, you stop training. You get sick? Training stops. You hurt your team members? People will shy away from practicing with you.
So how do you stay safe? For starters, see above. Relax. Second, take care of yourself. Get to bed on time, eat your veggies, don’t push yourself beyond your limits. Third? Pay attention to the safety pointers your Sensei brings up.
Ask Questions
Instructors love it when you ask questions, even more so when they are thoughtful questions. Don’t just ask to see a technique again – go deeper. Ask about the fundamental principles at work. Ask why the move works.
Also, the instructor cannot read your mind – if you have difficulty with something, bring it up. At the same time, be respectfully curious – think about your questions before hand. When you are practicing at home, ponder what would be a good question. People say that there are no dumb questions, but this is because “they” are idiots. Of course there are dumb questions – questions that are usually blurted out with no thought. Don’t let this discourage you though – “they” and “we” were all idiots at one time. Nice people will forgive you and help you in spite of it. Still, use your brain; craft good questions and imagine someone else asking you the same thing. What would you say to them?
Record
Invest in a notebook dedicated to your martial art study. Write down what you learn, draw stick figures and diagrams. Write down questions about techniques and make a list of the top three things you are developing.
You can re-live the class with good notes. Your memory will become sharper. You will be cultivating martial intelligence. In an interview, my jujitsu instructor, Sensei Edmunds, has talked about a notebook as one of the most important training tools in your arsenal. It’s one of the best kept secrets in martial arts today, hidden in the place people will look last – right out in the open. I’m sure you’ve heard it before and disregarded it … but I can tell you from personal experience that it is worth.
K.I.S.S.
At the beginning, you are a kid at a candy store. So many awesome, sweet things to learn and do. Knife-fighting defense, rubber guard, advanced sweeps, five point palm exploding heart technique. So much!
The aphorism, “Keep it simple stupid” is a great frame of mind. A master of the basic, fundamental moves and ideas of his or her martial art is a true master. When ever you can, focus on the core concepts and basics.
The most common question I have heard while training is, “Well, what if the guy does this?” “Or this?” Such queries are well-intentioned, but often take an instructor so off topic that it becomes difficult to remember the move you were once learning and the new move that answers the question. There are thousands of things an opponent might do, and there are thousands of techniques to deal with each of them.
I know its tough, but be satisfied in learning one move and learning it well. Save variations on a theme for later. As I have been told numerous times, better to have five techniques you can really fight with than to have five hundred techniques that fight you. Don’t be a collector of techniques. Become a student of the essence of a move.
Practice the basics, over and over again. Advanced stuff is typically just an expression of a well-honed fundamental.
Keep it simple, and keep going.
Share
I love martial arts. I love love it. Chances are, you’re getting pretty found of it too. Talk about it with your friends, practice with them. Invite your friends to class (if its okay with your instructor). A large part of the pleasure of training will come from the relationships you develop in the gym and the relationships you bring into the gym. If you train with a buddy, you can motivate each other and build each other up. When you are tired or lazy, your true friends will coax you into training anyway.
No need to force it on anyone, of course, but if you like it why wouldn’t you want to experience it with the people you love?
“Hey, I just learned an awesome move. Can I practice it with you for two minutes? I’m just a novice at it, so I need to go really slow.”
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- 21 Jan 2010 4:23 PM
- Comments (28)
January 21st, 2010 at 6:05 pm
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January 22nd, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Nice ariticle. Just one thing, you spelled “Jiu-jitsu” with “jujitsu”
January 23rd, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Yeah… I’ve kinda looked into it and there is a healthy debate on how to spell it.
Due to the fact that one language is not a translation of another, there are a few “correct” romanizations of Japanese and Chinese words.
I’d refer you to
http://www.alljujitsu.com/jujutsu.html
for more on the subject.
January 24th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Bart, amazing article. I agree with all of your points. You’ve done a really nice job of pulling so many key messages that a beginner really needs to hear into one concise post. Really great.
January 25th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
I think you missed what I find to be a fairly large chunk of issues when rolling with n00bs. First, be a good rolling partner. Don’t resist during training, but don’t flop around like a dead fish either. Second, don’t tap until the submission is actually there. If you’re tapping when the guy has one hand in the collar, then you and your partner are never going to show any progress whatsoever.
January 26th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
I think that this article outlines some pretty important basics for people deciding to get into a martial art, and it outlines some good pointers;
Relaxing is a hard thing to do. Especially in the beginning of your training there is a tendency to be overly anxious, which has a plethora of negative physiologic effects and can be deletorious to training in several areas, namely the muscle tension makes you slow (I remember seeing Ajarn Chai Sirisute light people up on the pads who’d literally petrify themselves with worry), and the stress itself actually works against learning new information…which is good to know as a student of any endeavor.
Saftey goes without saying, but I also believe that there is a time where people need to drop the security blanket and get out of your comfort zone. I’m not advocating carelessness or being reckless, I’m simply stating that you can only learn so much by practicing things in theory…actually strapping on the gloves and trying something out offers a great deal of perspective. The martial arts are martial, they are rooted in violence, violence carries a certain amount of inherent risk that can be modified along a spectrum depending on how far you and the people you work with are willing to carry it. So does occasionally being creative and goofy. Some of the most fun I’ve had training is getting tagged and sometimes pulling off fun stuff being a little wild. I think a better alternative to “safety” (as an ill defined construct) would be “rapport”. If you and the people you’re playing with know each other and respect/trust each other enough to play around with more risk…awesome stuff can come of it.
Look at the progression of “full contact Karate” in the 60’s and 70’s and the start up of MMA more recently, and perhaps the best example, the Dog Brothers, who push the envelope and pioneer what works by testing things with more realism.
Naturally, this isn’t for all people, but I think every martial artist owes it to themselves to find out what works for them against whatever they can muster up the courage to do (eventually).
Asking questions is important…I would always suggest questioning everything in all matters in life. Questions lead to knowledge, even if it’s why the answer may be transcient (few things, especially in the martial arts, have definitive answers). The real questions should be ones posed to the self about what they find to work, why isn’t something working, or am I capable of doing this psychologically to another person, what are the ramifications for me of using this technique (or force in general) in real life?
Recording things is important. There is no reason for martial arts to be different from any other area of academic study.
I’ve heard the KISS mantra before, along with the idea of being a jack of all trades and a master of none. I tend to disagree. I think of it much more as adding tools to your tool box and then compartmentalizing them into what does what job at what range. Things will come out naturally when you need them if you train them. Eventually, after trying on enough stuff, you’ll find a nice, tailored fit and you can toss out what doesn’t work for you…but you owe everything a chance. Many things are 100% true, just not 100% of the time, or for 100% of people.
All in all, good advice. I would go one further step and pose the question to the beginning student as to their interest in the martial arts, as students with different interests should be channeled into different programs or arts based on whether they are looking for competition, self defense, or focus and discipline.
January 31st, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Many times, when people think of martial arts, they think strictly of fighting. This is a genuine first impression, but your article shows that there is much more to it. It is an art and a skill that has more value than just being able to win a fight on the street. The first fundamental of relaxation strikes me personally as a very important one because, as a beginner, I feel like when I am practicing moves in class, I oftentimes feel nervous that I am not doing the move correctly which causes me to tense up. However, each move flows with the body in its own way, and tense muscles will detract from this flow. Next time I’m in class, I will definitely keep in mind that if I want to improve, I need to relax and let each move flow with my body.
February 3rd, 2010 at 3:19 am
Sweet Post Bro!
Just joshing! I believe your article brings up a goodly number of important points for the inexperienced! Something that really strikes me is just what an ART the martial arts truly are. They’re beautiful and sinister, complicated and simple in turns. Karate especially seems to have such a beautiful flow, an organic tempo as important to its core as it would be to any dance or ballet.
And learning Karate or any martial art I suspect goes so far beyond the tools you can add to your repertoire. It builds an inner strength, a courage and a confidence that grows within the practitioner. Every movement contributes to a deep inner consciousness of life, living and learning. It inspires the student, while simultaneously putting them in a tranquil state.
I love the martial arts more and more every day for reasons just like these.
OMG it’s 2:00AM, I gotta GTFO!!!
P.S.
We’re learning the five point palm exploding heart technique on Thursday right?
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:12 pm
First, I know I’m one of those who always asks: “What if he does this” and sorry about that.
The one thing I seem to notice with beginners is that they already know everything. Watching fights is a great way to apply what you have learned but even if you’ve watched every UFC 3 times you’re not going to know everything about fighting.
How can you fill your cup if it is already full?
And the cardinal rule of fighting. Don’t be a butthole. Just because you’re more advanced at a move than your current partner doesn’t mean you can treat them like dirt. There is always somebody better than you. Your purple belt skills may choke me out but his brown belt skills will choke you out. And who knows, maybe I just let you get the move so you could feel good about yourself. Check yourself and your ego.
February 4th, 2010 at 7:10 am
Great discussion! And I liked that relax was at the top of the list. I agree that there is more “strength” in being relaxed; and this has been an important lesson for me that I’m still working on. In fact, I agree with your entire discussion about advice for beginning students. I will comment on another important point that you’d made because my academic focus is on learning theory: the need to keep it simple, and practice, practice, practice! It seems boring for many and often difficult to do, but practicing old moves is a vital practice, rather than trying to always learn (or teach) new ones to satisfy the curious and impatient. (Bart, you’d said something similar in the discussion. And Garland, based on your comment, I’m not sure if you’re saying the same thing … would the mantra, “Keep it simple, stupid, until you can repeat it without thinking” make a difference?)
February 10th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Im a beginner and the main problem I have is flexibility, and was wondering if there is a stretch I can do or a workout of some-sorts that would make me more flexible? Also I’ve been struggling with breaking the guard, are there any pointers you, the reader, might have to help me out with this problem?
February 16th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Thanks for the great tips, although I must confess I’m not sure I understand how “eating your veggies” is going to keep me or my partners safe. Maybe proper vitamin intake may lead to increased attention and reduce stress levels or something? (Or am I detecting a Del Monte sponsorship) Anyways, I think you are definitely hitting on some good points and I tend to agree with most of them. Regarding practicing the basics, as an (ex-) gymnastics teacher, I understand new student’s eagerness and impatience very well. How they want to rush through the basics and move on to the more advanced and exciting stuff. But I don’t think that this is necessarily a tendency that needs to be discouraged. It is quite ironic, but it has been my experience that the importance of basics is not fully understood until you’ve become a more advanced student. Let me illustrate my point with an example. A while ago I took a kung-fu class and one of the standard warm-up exercises was to stand in a horse-stance. At the time I thought this was a completely pointless exercise, because I could not imagine anybody fighting from this stance. Since this pose was hard for me, I developed a tendency to slack. But then one day I had to learn one of the more advanced forms and I learned rather quickly that I did not have the leg strength to perform the form well. It was not until then that I truly understood the importance of the horse-stance. Needless to stay, I stopped slacking and tried to push myself through the pain. Now I can’t help but wonder, if my teacher had made me try (and fail) this advanced form sooner, I might have understood the importance of the basic poses better and make a bigger effort. In other words, I might have progressed quicker.
Coming back to my point, yes, the basics are important, but I would not discourage beginning students from trying some more advanced stuff too. We all learn by making mistakes, and there is no better way of learning your limits by figuring out what you can’t do yet. Off course, as a disclaimer, I am not suggesting to novices that they try reckless moves that are obviously outside their skill range. Be responsible too, but don’t be afraid to try something new. After all, that’s why we sign waivers, right?
February 16th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Steve –
In reference to the veggies, I just saying that a balanced diet and good nutrition keeps your immune system up to speed – even when you’re not showing symptoms you could be transmitting sickness.
For me, getting ill is a big concern since I come in contact with so many people each day.
Ergo, veggies = safety from illness.
February 19th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Interesting article. I tend to be the one to tense up. It seems that mistakes happen more often when that happen. The human body has a fight and flight reaction. From what I noticed, letting the body defend itself seems more natural and likely to actually work then panicing.
February 20th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
i think this is really good advice for beginners, myself being one. At first, I really struggled with relaxing. When someone starts to role with you, submit you, choke you, its only natural to want to get him or her off right away but if you just relax and think about what you can do then you will do a lot better.
I can also relate with the remark of focusing on the basics. We all watch those cool martial arts movies and we just want to be able to do what they can do. That can be good motivation do learn martial arts, but we need to realize that they guys in the movies have masterd the basics (if they are really doing the moves) and can now do the complicaged moves. So keep it up, learn the basics, and you will learn better.
February 24th, 2010 at 3:13 am
I appreciate the part on staying safe. My partner that I train with is very careful not to injure me as I am with her. This is especially good for me because I am a dance major and to dance I need my body and I can’t have it in pieces. I was wondering though about tournaments and when you know your ready or not. I am very interested in competing in the upcoming tournament but I am worried because I am not sure how to compete in a tournament and what they are looking for and if you get points deducted if you do something not Judo. I have competed dance before but that is a completely different ballgame.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
I am probably one of those students who ask “dumb” questions so I apologize, but I will continue to ask questions because for some reason this class does not come naturally to me; as you probably have figured out by now. I really like the part about relaxing. You were very right when you said beginners are tense. I also liked the part about keeping it simple. I find myself over thinking a move, when in reality it is quite simple.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
My favorite thing about this article is the K.I.S.S. paragraph. This has been a way of thinking I have done for all of my life. It’s great that it works in MMA. Also, the thing that will help me out the most is the Record paragraph. This is definitely a novel way of looking at MMA in a different point of view. I’ll take this concept to mind.
February 25th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Thanks guys for sharing your thoughts. I want to add some clarification about asking questions.
For the record, I love questions and don’t dislike questions of the “What if he does X?” variety — or even the “dumb” ones.
As you already know, I love to talk.
My concern is that students ask questions externally to me before they ask themselves the same question.
By consistently looking outside themselves for solutions, students are in danger of putting themselves on brain-welfare. I’d prefer that students begin inside their brains, work on the problem – even if only for a few seconds, and then ask.
The capacity to think critically is paramount at any level of martial arts.
Of course we need teachers, people who know more. However, I think many students would surprise themselves by what they can learn when they ask themselves first.
I just feel like some students are shortchanging themselves by not thinking before they speak.
One last example/simile.
Answers to questions can be like post-workout protein shakes. If you haven’t worked out your muscles, the protein isn’t going to do much good in terms of building your muscle.
Does this make more sense now that I’ve put it in this context?
February 26th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
There is a great article located at http://www.badmartialarts.com/myths/relaxation.php about the positive effects of mental and physical relaxation for anyone training in martial arts. From this article, I was able to expand on what Bart said about relaxing.
The most common emotion a beginning student feels during training is frustration. It is important to remember however that being able to relax (mentally and physically) could very well determine how a fight situation ends. A relaxed mind feels emotion but does not act on it. A relaxed mind decided what it wants to do with all of the information available. Tense muscles require a lot of energy. This is a waste of useful energy. You can tighten muscles, but not excessively. If you strike, you will use every ounce of power you have, but only for an instant. You are much slower when you’re excessively tense, because opposing muscles (such as biceps vs. triceps) will work against the opposite of the pair. Without resisting your own movements, you can be naturally quicker without needing any extra muscle or practice. A relaxed body is also better able to take punishment.
February 27th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
I agree that relaxing is huge, and so is respect — for yourself and your practice buddy. When you relax, you can find the natural strength points of the techniques that compensate for your own lack of strength, and then you can throw someone who’s double your own weight. Respect creates trust, and then you can work out the correct way to do the move with your training buddy so no one gets injured and everyone’s happy.
February 28th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
The article certainly provides a rich amount of advice. There are several points made in the text that are more easily understood during instruction and below are thoughts of how I think the class organization has helped me as a beginner. We all have a sensei, a teacher, someone who guides us. Therefore, for me the student approach to the teacher and the attitude during instruction will yield motivation, energy, and productivity in the class. A semi-structured class for me both energizes and facilitates progression.
Early warm-ups with an increase in heart-rate wake everyone up. Then, often the sensei has focused on a single or group of movements theme to each class. During this time students should ask about the basics and fundamentals with the emphasis on the movement rather than application variation. It is the role of the instructor to encourage students to both question (like you say) but also in a manner consistent with focusing on the movement under study. It is the responsibility of each student to understand this approach and respect the process. Still, as many may admit, one of the motivational aspects of study is submission and application. Therefore, it is also essential for students to gain experience with grappling and sparing, which integrates the new movement. More importantly, grappling demonstrates how we must transform strength and rigidness to plasticity, yielding, and softness. The combination of individual instruction and grappling is essential. Build your knowledge base with the individual movement and be receptive to what your body is lacking, not just specifics such as “from the back”, half guard, etc., but also the disconnect between mind and body. The main aspect of my previous martial arts experience I practiced some years ago was body unity with ankles, knees, shoulders, elbows, all connected but still yielding and malleable. A student should always seek the larger muscle group involved which the sensei repeatedly reminds us such as turning of the hips, breathing from the stomach, twisting, and yielding with the opponent’s force. Practice with others both in class and outside should also focus on this transfer, for example I think that two-person pushing hands is a wonderful exercise for this concept.
I was very impressed with your emphasis on safety not just in the article but also during the class. During the class, the instructor reserves the right to completely stop practice if the students are practicing unsafe. It was almost a rude awakening when following poor form grappling was stopped. Beginners should take this very seriously. The art has great power and one can get carried away using it unwisely and unchecked.
As a personal opinion therefore, the beginner’s attitude and approach in the class are paramount to a successful experience. An emphasis on learning in increments that is slowly incorporated into the whole will serve both as motivation and excitement in the art as well as a sense of progression.
March 1st, 2010 at 10:52 am
Thanks for taking the time to type this all out for us, Coach. It’s all good advice, but my favorite is the “A tight fist can hold nothing; a relaxed hand can accept.” Really shows us newbies how to think about training.
It also helped put training into perspective when you said that it’s better to know five moves you can actually use than to vaguely have 500 in store. In a real fight, you should be able to disable your opponent or take an opportunity to run away before even a beginner exhausts his spectrum of techniques (usually one or two hits), therefore it is much better to fully know how to utilize five than know 500 in theory.
Finally, the “write everything down” idea is one of the best I’ve ever heard. If you have to stop training for a period of time (like I do as I only signed up for the half-semester class), you can review the techniques you’ve already learned in your spare time, then you are ready to start right back where you left off when you’re able to train once more.
Thanks, Coach!
March 1st, 2010 at 10:48 pm
I’m glad that I had the chance to read this article. I feel like I really need to do a few of the things on this list, including relax. I have found the class to be pretty intense and I may need to focus more on technique rather than the exercise. I have been sharing my techniques with friends and I’ve actually convinced one of my friends to join. The safety paragraph was also revealing, and I will make a greater effort to keep my body focused and in shape.
March 1st, 2010 at 10:50 pm
How are you doing Bart? Taking this course was one of the best decisions I have ever made. The martial art I am most familiar with is Shotokan. This mainly deals with striking. One of the main reason’s I enjoyed this class was that it introduced me to multiple grapple, and submission techniques. One of the main topics you express in your blog was to stay healthy, and relax. I can recall time during your session where you had to repeatedly remind us of that. Sometimes being overly aggressive, too soon, can lead you to getting submission kicker. Staying calm was one of the key component to learning and being successful. Asking question was very important as well. I asked at least five questions a class. I wanted to make sure I perfected the little stuff, before we learned things more difficult. This course was more about defending then actually attacking. Overall, I thought the class was great and I look forward to continuing it in the future.
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:09 pm
I love this class at the University of Utah. I am just a beginner and I like these tidbites. After reading this I have started practicing with my roomates. I am trying to go over all of the moves i have been learning with them. However, there are some times i dont get how to position my body to get into a full mount or half mount. I have to keep trying different things with them to try to get to understanding it. This is kind of hard though because they don’t really want me to try these moves on them. HA! I also like how the class is based for the topics above. Some of the guys i practiced with in the class (SORRY GUYS!) really want get into the more difficult stuff too fast. When they don’t even have it down they have a tendency to think “If i use more strength then i can do it better” and will use strngth over understanding. Dont get me wrong a lot of them get the move down fast and then want to try it in real life. I also dont understand that these guy (and some girls) think that they can start hardcore MMA with only a couple of months when it takes professionals years. Everyone seems to be in a rush but I really want to understand the basics. I don’t know about any martial arts or even any boxing so even holding my hands up to my face is new while fighting is new (yeah i know that wierd). I think a lot of the guys that have been doing MMA for a while asume their partners know it. I will say though that after I tell them to relax and go slow so i can understand it, they help instruct or (more often then not) roll there eyes while instructing me. RELAX guys! I love this class and i will be continuing classes like it in the future. I also am going to use the acronym K.I.S.S. for other times. I like it! SEE YOU IN CLASS
March 5th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Good read. I think the relaxing part is something I need to work on. Like Karli said above some people (myself included) in class try to use strength over understanding which is just a terrible idea. In addition, the concept of writing what I learn down is a great one, and something I never thought of. It will be something I do from now on though. Overall, this was great advice and has been a great class.
March 5th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Your comments regarding relaxation and tensing up are spot on with regards to my reactions. I find as I tense up then I make another mistake, I try and use brute force to fix my problem. From what I see these two things go together, especially when you find yourself on the defensive. The article that Catie posted from badmartialarts.com was extremely helpful for me conceptualizing what happens to lessen my effectivenes while fighting.