Drinking From A Fire Hose

[tzrider]

I’ve recently completed my third basic test and began training in the advanced curriculum concurrently with the third basic curriculum. We have an advanced test coming up soon and, with it being only a bit over a month since my last basic test, I’m feeling like I’m not prepared for the advanced test.

Our classes typically cover both review of basic techniques and a few of the techniques in the advanced curriculum we’re in. I train twice a week. What I am noticing now is that with more material behind me, the interval between each instance of reviewing a given technique gets longer and I’m forgetting a lot of stuff. Stikes, inside & outside defenses remain pretty solid, but things that are more involved, even some of the choke defenses are getting shaky.

It is occurring to me that I probably have some gaps in my understanding of a few of these techniques that results in losing my grasp of them. This seems to be spilling over to learning some of the gun defenses. A couple of them are pretty reliable for me, but when it comes to doing any of the long gun defenses full speed, I just plain suck.

I’m not sure what to do to get more up to speed with the material and it’s starting to affect my enthusiasm for training. Have others experienced similar plateaus and if so, how did you break through them? Any other suggestions to help retain this stuff better?

FWIW, I’m pretty highly skilled in other physical activities, but I am not and never have been a martial artist. I’ve been training in KM for about a year and a half. I don’t seem to be alone in my class with this predicament, so there is something we are all experiencing that is producing this effect. I have no frame of reference to know if this is a normal experience outside of my particular school or not.

[jacgue36]

Re: Drinking From A Fire Hose

I believe this is a normal occurrence. It is a lot of information to try to retain.

Ultimately it’s up to you to train, even if it means ‘shadow boxing/training’ and using visualizing attacks. I’m a bit over the top with things, so I created an excel sheet with all the curriculum down the side and 31days across. It allows me to see where I’m lacking in my training over a month.

I also continue to go to our level 1 class, which keeps me fresh with that, though I’m currently working on the level 4 curriculum. When I train with the level 2 students, I’ll do several reps with them in order to stay sharp as well. Lastly, I think it will take lots of sparing type work and/or random attack drills with your eyes closed.

You can always ask the instructor to cover some of your past material as well.

I hope this helps.

Jacob

[tzrider]

Re: Drinking From A Fire Hose

Jacob, I like the idea of the skills matrix. It may be especially helpful for techniques where I can tell myself if I’m doing them correctly. “Self coaching” rarely works out too well when trying to learn new techniques, I’ve found. With some of the rifle disarms, there are some nuances of timing and footwork that I don’t know well enough to identify when I’ve got it wrong, so these are the things I need an instructor’s eye to correct. On the other hand, if I need to review choke from behind, I can reasonably do that on my own if it isn’t being reviewed in class and your matrix would come in handy to help remember to cycle through those things periodically.

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