July 7, 2009
The Desire to be Better
Tonight there were only three of us in class, including the teacher. Allow me to let you in on a little secret. Even when you're a black belt, it's still possible to be the one on the training floor with the least amount of experience. It's still possible to feel like a complete and total beginner.
I had sort of hoped that the promotion would bring with it less self-doubt and that I'd catch on to stuff more quickly but that's definitely not true. Where are the black belts with super powers people? Mine was not pre-loaded! Tonight I had to resist the temptation to tap it and say "Is this thing on?"
We started off with simple moving blocking drills and then, as always on Monday night classes, things got a little more challenging. Soon we were working on off-balancing techniques. Then it was no longer in a straight line and it was free form. One attacker, one person working the techniques.
I found myself getting really frustrated at times. For the most part, I was able to get out of the way of the incoming attacks (besides the overhead strike that landed on my eyebrow and a few others that didn't repel away from me like I had sort of hoped they would. Oh yeah, and minus the time I went skidding across the floor on my butt like some cartoon character), but I was putting myself in such a position where I was eliminating any opportunity for a counter-strike.
Thankfully my teacher, who's been taking martial arts since he was practically in diapers, has super powers. He seems to have the ability to be able to read my thoughts, notice exactly what I'm doing wrong, and simultaneously figure out how to help me fix it.
It happens in baby steps, but at one point I was not moving on the 45 naturally and an hour later, without even realizing I was doing it, I was moving the way I was supposed to be moving. He mentioned that I was doing it right, at which point I probably thought about it and screwed it all back up again; but that's just me and the way I train.
Working drills like these can be so overwhelming. It's impossible to think about your feet, the way you move, your hands, keeping a point of contact with your attacker, figuring out a way to off-balance your attacker, and even just breathing, all at the same time. That's the whole point though. You're not supposed to think about it. You're supposed to feel it and just let things happen (Tell that to a control freak like me). Turning the mind off is perhaps the most difficult thing of all to accomplish.
By the end of the night I was far from perfect, but I was a long way from where I had been only two hours earlier. This is why people continue to train, because you are always learning something new and the desire to be better than you were two hours ago, two weeks ago, two months ago, two years ago, two decades ago, is a constant pull on a martial artist who truly loves the martial arts.
“He mentioned that I was doing it right, at which point I probably thought about it and screwed it all back up again….” hehe that’s my life and the reason why I try not to think about anything
I love free form drills. What I’ll do is after watching someone for a while, I’ll have them repeat their last technique and tell me where they’d seen it before (Kata-wise).
The one I do most often is have 1 attack / other defend but put the defender near a wall so they can’t back away.
We get hit a lot. lol
Thats a good one! I kept getting backed into walls last night and had to figure out how to get back out. Its a good skill to have. Im sure that drill would bring all kinds of new frustrations for me. And now that youve mentioned it here, Im sure well be doing it sometime in the near future. đ
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Well, the general gist of the idea is that I don’t want people backing away because it limits responses. What I try to get people to do is to either: side step/block/jam the attack; Retaliate/strike/unbalance and then then control/lock/incapacitate the attacker.
You have to start slow, though and expect to eat a lot of attacks. đ
The self doubt never really leaves you, I don’t think, no matter how long you’ve been training. It’s fine as long as it doesn’t hold you back from trying things. In one sense it also keeps you grounded and prevents you from thinking that you know it all, which is never the case in martial arts. Sometimes it feels like the longer I go on the more I have to learn. It just piles up!
I also find you catch on quicker to things if you really have a deep interest in what you’re doing. If you don’t have enough interest in whatever you are trying to learn you’ll learn it very slowly or not at all. So the quickest way to learn is to take more of an interest.
I understand the desire to learn and better oneself. But I can’t explain it to people outside the martial arts. I am taking a break from my style and trying a new one. It is frustrating but challenging. The desire to learn and get better is as strong as ever. I might just try another style. I am enjoying feeling like a Ronin.
fontaine – learning from various styles is good, but make sure you dive deeply into a core style. To truly understand how to use a particular martial art takes many many years.
This post is too… exact. I’ve had a good laugh. I had exactly the same sensations when I became a black belt, like knotting it around my vest would give me some kind of super powers. Thanks a lot for your blog đ
Haha. I’m glad to see someone else has the same problem as me! I almost (ALMOST) hate for my Sensei to tell me that I’m doing something right, because it nearly always causes me to lose focus and pl-uck it all up again!
And though its hard for me (thinking to myself: I want to be Sensei [the person/god/idol, not the title] when I grow up!!) to realize that they too are working to get better and have their own problems and are [gasp] Not Perfect.
I always have to resist the urge to smile when my Sensei makes a mistake – because, you know, its wonderful to see him as human, but I can’t quite let on that I’ve realized it. And then he might just kill me. But it is reassuring to realize that yah’ll black belts are struggling as much as the rest of us. Just at a different level and with different things. And to hear that the black-belt does not, actually, have accompanying super-powers. Because that would just be disappointing. I want to say: I WORKED for this, dammit! (You know, after I’m a God. Bahahahahaha!)
I like Ryan C’s comment: “side step/block/jam the attack; Retaliate/strike/unbalance and then then control/lock/incapacitate the attacker.”
I instruct the childrenâs sparring class and the first thing I teach them is âSparring follows the simple rule of your ABC’s….â Always Be Circling. I teach them that when attacked you must decide what you are going to do, but what ever you do, you must either close the distance or increase the distance, while changing the angle of defense from the attacker. You do this to change the role of being the defender to the attacker. ABC- allows you to be in control of the engagement, you determine what your posture is, you determine what combination you are setting up, and you change the angle and take the offensive advantage away from an attacker.
I don’t let then turn their backs or get backed off of the mat or into a corner. I reset them back into the center of the floor until they learn to flow and find their angle- circling, shuffling and only stepping when they have the tactical advantage.
It sounds like your dojo is a very traditional dojo in the sense of the martial way, Karate-Do IS a FULL CONTACT sport! To read of your trials and tribulations defending and attacking is a good reminder to me and others that we study Karate with discipline and patience. Nakazato-Sensei has two quotes which I keep in my mind- 1. “Perseverance is the root of all the conducts. True patience lies in bearing what is unbearable.” 2. “It takes three years to learn a new form, and a lifetime to perfect it.” Very wise words-
As always a great, informative and interesting topic of discussion.
Regards,
Robert
Congratulations. While I’ve been off, you’ve earned your black belt. Congratulations. And of course, a black belt is only the beginning . I’ve had mine for 20 months now and I’m contemplating becoming a candidate for 2nd degree. My son (age 10) and I are both targetting the cycle that culminates in May 2010. For second degree, I work as a “candidate” (ie extra extra hard) starting in September. For him, a potential first degree, it would fire up in December.
When my sensei gave me by black belt, his first words were: “Congratulations, now the hard work begins”.
Even after nearly 2 years as a shodan, I still get every now and then the “Impostor syndrome. But then, I remember that every session should be taken with a beginner’s mind, “Shoshin”, Shodan is only the first level…
Anyway, after a while, you don’t do it for the belt anymore, but for the pure enjoyment of training.
You’ve done brilliantly so far, and I’m sure you’ll continue doing so for a long time.
That is an excellent way to think of it, as Im already suffering from the imposter syndrome. Thanks for that. Ill think of this comment often as I train.
As I sleep very often with a 6th Dan (yes, my boyfriend is also my sempai) I can tell you there are no superpowers for many things, but there are for others.
For example, when a glass if falling from the table, he always catches it if he is in the same room, useful as I always drop things. And we compete to see who can turn on and off the light of the room with our feet.
The nice part is that I always have someone to answer my questions. The not so nice, is that he keeps testing me on my kata and techniques, even when we go on holydays or in weekends…