Way too much, way too soon

Hello everyone,

I wanted to speak on something that I think about often, and this is especially for those beginning their martial arts journey. This is even applicable for the people who are thinking about beginning in a martial art. I have been watching a lot of instructional videos created by expert martial artists, and legitimate champions. And I thought, "Wow, there really is a lot of information out there" Right after that, I thought about how much trouble that can get people into. One of the most common questions I get from kids, is " when do I get my next belt?" My answer is usually along the lines of, " when you can perform the techniques of your belt at a high level." Then there is usually some variety of " If you are focusing on the next belt, you are focusing on the wrong thing"

That is usually something that kids are not prepared to hear. Today, the kids are so used to immediate gratification, that they struggle with waiting or being patient. See, beginners and complete novices have access to the moves of the some the most elite competitors in the world. They see the cool new moves, and think that they should learn those moves as well. I literally had a kid ask me when he was going to learn the spinning back kick and he literally could BARELY perform an adequate front kick.

This is dangerous thinking. See, behind all of those flashy moves, is a sound grasp of the basics. 95% of people cannot skip the most basic moves, and move to the more advanced ones in the beginning. The ones that can, have almost always had some experience in other physical activities or sports that allow them to do so. Martial arts training is a funny thing. A newbie is dying to learn the cool, spinning moves. An expert realizes that the value of martial arts is in the basics they learned the first year. Being a champion is not about the coolest moves. It is about who can perfectly execute the basics.

I remember as a kid thinking" I know the 4 basic kicks, and I cant wait to learn how to throw a spinning hook kick." Then I learned how to do it. THEN I learned that it is quite difficult to pull off against a skilled opponent so it is not as useful as I thought that it would be. I realized that it is a LOT faster and a lot simpler to use the things that I learned first, because I have had a LOT more practice using those basics.

That is the basic thing that I want to share with you all. Learn the basics. NOT just until you learn how to do them correctly. Practice until you cannot make a mistake using those techniques. THAT is the real meaning of technique mastery.