How long before you started "getting it"?

[Koshou911]

I know that we are constantly learning and as my senseis say always "adding to our tool box of techniques" but there comes a time in everything we do when things become easier.


In the last month or so, I have found that I am understanding the tehcniques a lot better through the mechanics and physics (ie why your hands cross here, why your leg needs to be in that position in a throw technique etc). I am seeing the versitility of simple moves like the figure 4 armlock and how I can use it standing, lying on my side, lying on my back, standing above my opponent etc etc I am seeing how at any time I can turn the tables as long as I dont panic.


I used to consider myself a slow learner (which is fine with me, as I knew there would be a time when a light will go off I would start to get it) and I had a hard time keeping up with techniques because they didnt seem to work for me. But after just over a year of training with 2 different schools and averaging at least 6 hours a week of training, I am starting to see great inprovements in myself.

I still have a lifetime of learning a head of me but I think I have tackled one milestone in my learning, I have proved that with time you WILL "get it" as I am starting to now.

[elder999]

, I have proved that with time you WILL "get it" as I am starting to now.

Hell, I dunno. I've been training almost 40 years, and sometimes-lotsa time, maybe- I still don't "get it".....:lfao:

[Nolerama]

What are the teaching methods used in your jiu jitsu?

Good stuff. There's always another step after "getting it." Keep your skills sharp and don't get too comfortable.

Lots of people don't "get it" and get frustrated and quit. But then again, that's not a MA-specific thing.

[Steve]

There are common plateaus in BJJ. For me, the first was right around 4 months. Up to this point, any improvement I might notice was somewhat obscured by the fact that everyone else was also improving. At right around 4 months, some new guys came in who had never trained before and I wasn't just controlling them. I was controlling them with ease.

It was at that point that I really began trusting the training and the techniques.

[morph4me]

Hell, I dunno. I've been training almost 40 years, and sometimes-lotsa time, maybe- I still don't "get it".....:lfao:


:rolleyes:Oh Great, just when I was hoping that the second 20 years were going to get easier :lfao:

[Koshou911]

What are the teaching methods used in your jiu jitsu?

Good stuff. There's always another step after "getting it." Keep your skills sharp and don't get too comfortable.

Lots of people don't "get it" and get frustrated and quit. But then again, that's not a MA-specific thing.



repetition! I guess my road to this milestone was just a lot of training.



It just felt really good realizing today that 1) I am no longer a weak student and 2) I finally get all the basics and can build on them from here and 3) the next time something becomes hard, all I have to do is keep doing it over and over again and I will finally get it.

There was a time where an Osoto Gari was the hardest thing in the world to me. My sensei made me do it about 2000 times and I am starting to execute it somewhat well now lol


I think a lot of credit goes to my senseis who make it lots of fun and keep me motivated.

[Koshou911]

Hell, I dunno. I've been training almost 40 years, and sometimes-lotsa time, maybe- I still don't "get it".....:lfao:



LOL!

I know I will never completely "get it" in this life time

[jks9199]

"Repitition is the mother of learning."

Too many students get bogged down in understanding too many whys before they've practiced things enough. When you practice enough, things will start to come together.

[Zyaga]

I consider the "getting it", just a phase.

I will be struggling with something and then suddenly just "get it", but after a while I begin working on some other "feature" and the process begins all over again.

I consider myself my own personal work in progress.

I don't think I'll ever finish it. ;)

However, there is usually a point one hits that makes him realize he has a good chance at protecting himself if need be. Everybody hits that point at a different time in their life.

[Drac]

Hell, I dunno. I've been training almost 40 years, and sometimes-lotsa time, maybe- I still don't "get it".....:lfao:

You aint alone....


:rolleyes:Oh Great, just when I was hoping that the second 20 years were going to get easier :lfao:

You mean it doesn't????? :wah:

[terryl965]

Hell, I dunno. I've been training almost 40 years, and sometimes-lotsa time, maybe- I still don't "get it".....:lfao:

I have to agree with elder here sometimes it is like I know nothing.

[just2kicku]

Don't think I'll ever get it. Something will always be more work for one person than another. But one day whatever your having a problem with will just be there and everything will come together and you'll think "Oh, I get it now!" But until then you just keep practicing and practicing till that happens. In the long run I think someone that has to work at something harder than someone who is a natural will be a better martial artist in the long haul.
You work from white belt to get your black belt and once there, guess what, you're starting all over again. My Grandmaster has said that your black belt is the beginning of your training.

[chrispillertkd]

Throughout training there have been several times when, as my instructor has said, "a little light goes on" and I begin to see the other three corners from the one I'm standing in. I'd say the first time was around 3rd or 2nd gup. I had been training nearly 3 years then and was starting to come into a more technical understanding of Taekwon-Do. Did some good progressing then through I dan. At II dan I felt like I learned a lot mainly because I did as we had a ton of new techniques to learn and because I started teaching at my own small club. Teaching from II to III dan really helped clarify a lot about the body mechanics used in Taekwon-Do. Throughout my time as a IV dan I really spent a lot of time studying the minutiae of a lot of techniques on my own, by pestering my instructors during class and private lessons and by taking several seminars with ITF higher-ups. You're eyes really open at this rank, I think (at least for me they did).

Now that I'm a V dan I feel like I know next to nothing. (Go figure!) Objectively I know more now then I did when I was a IV dan. But when I get instruction from my Master Instructor (who is a VII dan) or train with Master Parm Rai, Master Robert Wheatley, or Grand Master Choi, Jun Hwa (to say nothing of the other instructors with stratospheric rank I have trained with) I realize how little I actually do know. Which is great, because it also means I have an excellent opportunity to rectify that situation!

Pax,

Chris

[searcher]

It depends on how many shots to the head I've had in the preceding 2 weeks. There are times when I think I have it and then something comes out of nowhere and I have to take a step back to re-evaluate things. I have only been at it for 30 years now, so maybe someon with more experience can tell you. I still consider myself an intermediate.

[bluekey88]

We're supposed to ge it? :D

Seriously, anytime i think I've got it...that's a big RED FLAG that I don't got it and that I need to work on things some more.

Peace,
Erik

[K-man]

When you think you've got it ... fantastic. Celibrate! It means you're now 10th dan in half a dozen martial arts. For the rest of us, keep learning, keep training, keep reading and keep watching what others are doing. I don't think I even started learning until I started teaching. To understand how you are progressing, see how your skills, understanding and knowledge match up to those starting after you. By this I don't mean your ability to beat them up, but can you confidently handle their attacks? Gradings are not always an indication of knowledge or ability. There are many other ways you can measure your progress.

But to answer the original question, probably at least 10 years to begin to understand. The thing is, none of us know what we don't know! That's what keeps us training.

[Hand Sword]

I think "getting it" is something that never happens. Why? It's all part of your evolutionary process that goes on through your whole life. You always seem to know it, then one day, you realize something else. Even our founders continued to change throughout their years.

[Cirdan]

It took me a year and a lot of reflection to realize the basic structure of the arts regarding principles, technique, movement and power.

It took me three years to really realize how little I knew and that I had mostly just been bouncing about like a frog.

It took me four and a half years to become aware of "blind spots" in how I controlled my body and begin to fill them in.

The last one is a very strange experience.. it feels like I have several dead areas in my body, especially around some of the major joints. By relaxing more I can wake them up and improve both control, power and flexibility.

The path of MA is an endless repetition of (1)"I am starting to get this now, with a little more training I will really rock" and (2)"Wow I did not realize there were so much more! I got to work on this. A lot!"

[morph4me]

Usually, by the time you think you've "got it" you begin to realize that you don't even know what "it" is yet.

[seasoned]

When you finally get it, you’re to old to do it. :rofl:

[JadecloudAlchemist]

For me at this point practicing the internal arts I find less is more and more is less paradox. I am finding the forms are not the core practice but the often neglected stillness in just standing preperation(wuji)

[kidswarrior]

I don't really see this as getting it vs. not getting it (yet). As I think back, there were times when the Aha! light bulb went on...After about six months, then at five years, and again at 12 years.

I think of this as an upward spiral, where, after going 360 degrees -- or completely around -- I reached a new end/starting point. Of course, the new beginning after five years wasn't starting from the same place as the first day, and the journey from 5-12 was similar to, but spiraling upward from, the first stage. And of course, same for the end point/new starting point after 12 years.

So I *got it* in the lower/mid color belt range, and again at 1st black, then again at 2nd/3rd black. Won't know when the next spiral might be completed until after the fact.

[Koshou911]

well I guess when I say "getting it" it could mean a lot of things.


for me it was very very frustrating at the beginning and being out of shape (still am) really added to the difficultly of doing many of the techniques.

So I just started taking more and more classes, almost always walking out of class sore.


But now when I say I am starting to get it (key word being "starting") I have learned that repetition is key and I know have the mind set that one day I will "get it"....ok maybe not but I definately feel I am on the right path.

[Ninebird8]

After 20 years in Chinese kung fu, I thought I was getting it, I was invincible, my teachers were in trouble.....then, I started doing Yang tai chi with my kung fu....now 12 years later, what just happened?!!!! Now, where are the gaps, why is the jing going that way, wow my waist hurts, how come my three masters still laugh at me, and after 32 years and not getting younger, do I surrender to the fact I am just now really getting it, and then I am told to relax more!!! Jeez, that makes me tense!! Then, my three teachers tell me after all these years, there is yet another way of breathing....oh, great!!! Then, am I becoming more internal, or are those just the shakes........can somebody help me????? After 32 years, I have decided my masters are still better, smarter, and laughing at me even more!! The bastards....with respect!!!

[Koshou911]

I think a lot of people are misunderstanding what I am trying to say. Its my fault as I dont know how to express what I mean in any other way.

I am by no means saying that I am ready for my black belt. For me everything was very difficult, very frustrating and going to class only made me feel like more of a slow learner. Even the most basic techniques took me at least twice as long (some times much longer) to learn. One thing I did have going for me is that my will power was strong enough to keep me going to classes, then taking up more classes a week to try to improve.

Now that I am a year in, I feel that I can see more of the mechanics and things come to me much quicker than before.

When you learn to play golf and your instructor drills into you the importance of keeping your arm straight and letting the wrist break naturally, after a while you get this concept, but it doesnt mean that you are going after Tiger at a tournament.....


All I was trying to say is that after a year I am starting to get the concepts and why we do things the way we do. Some people get that far in the first week, for me it was a year and to me that was a milestone....

[ChingChuan]

Am I the only one who thinks she's got it? I'm not saying that I'm 'a master of my art' - certainly not! I''ve only been training for two-and-a-half year.

It took me about half a year before I 'got it'. At first, I was a true 'beginner'. I just imitated the movements and I could do some practical applications, but everything was too new, too strange for me to really 'understand'. I needed time to get used to the stances, the movements - to me, the art wasn't really 'logical' or something.

But the more I trained, the more I started to see the logic. When my instructor pointed out such things, it was like an 'aha erlebnis' instead of 'well, if he says it, it must be true'. You start to see that some techniques really fit into each other, you start to see more opportunities.

However, the fact that I sometimes see it, doesn't mean that I can do it - I could perform a technique like my instructor does, that requires more experience and more insight.

But now I've got this general idea of what I'm doing. It doesn't feel 'strange' anymore to do a pasang or a jurus and I can now put more intent into my movements. When I learn a new technique, I can sort of 'fit' it into the things I already know - it isn't completely new, because it all belongs together.

Of course, afterwards you realize that you still didn't get it for another few months - but I think it's like that with every learning process. When I studied biology in highschool, I didn't know that there was so much more to know, because you can only handle one thing at a time. Still, I thought I was getting it, I thought I sort of understood what it was about. (I didn't think I knew everything - I thought I knew the essentials).
Now I'm studying medicine, I realised how little I actually knew back then. There is so much more to learn about the body than just those few snippets they teach in high school! But that doesn't mean that I didn't know anything - the things I learnt then, the fundementals that I was taught, are the foundation for the things I'm going to learn in the next years. Without this knowledge, this 'getting it', I wouldn't be studying medicine now...

So, even if there are still loads of things to learn about your art, I think you shouldn't dismiss the things you already know. Many of the people posting in this thread are practising their arts longer than me, sometimes even longer than I've lived - do you really expect me to believe that you still don't get it?

[SFC JeffJ]

It wasn't until I got my ikkyu when what I thought of as the big light bulb went off.

Now that I'm a Nidan I realize how full of **** I was then. It's been said before, but bears repeating, the more I learn it becomes evident how little I know.

[jks9199]

There are different stages and levels of "getting it" at different points in training. (Others have said this, as well.)

After several months, things start to come together and suddenly you "get" how some things work. You actually evade or block, or put a combination together. Then, further along, you see the connections in a form... and then you can apply them in fighting. And still further, you recognize a few common points across your system... and so on.

Some of these light bulb moments are predictable, based on how much you train. Some are not, and they simply happen when the combination of circumstances, your training, and everything else comes together the right way. Remembering these moments (or anticipating them) is what keeps you training when you don't "get it."

[Koshou911]

There are different stages and levels of "getting it" at different points in training. (Others have said this, as well.)

After several months, things start to come together and suddenly you "get" how some things work. You actually evade or block, or put a combination together. Then, further along, you see the connections in a form... and then you can apply them in fighting. And still further, you recognize a few common points across your system... and so on.

Some of these light bulb moments are predictable, based on how much you train. Some are not, and they simply happen when the combination of circumstances, your training, and everything else comes together the right way. Remembering these moments (or anticipating them) is what keeps you training when you don't "get it."


trust me I will remember this moment the next time I get frustrated and dont get it.

[kidswarrior]

I think a lot of people are misunderstanding what I am trying to say. Its my fault as I dont know how to express what I mean in any other way.

I am by no means saying that I am ready for my black belt. For me everything was very difficult, very frustrating and going to class only made me feel like more of a slow learner. Even the most basic techniques took me at least twice as long (some times much longer) to learn. One thing I did have going for me is that my will power was strong enough to keep me going to classes, then taking up more classes a week to try to improve.

Now that I am a year in, I feel that I can see more of the mechanics and things come to me much quicker than before.

When you learn to play golf and your instructor drills into you the importance of keeping your arm straight and letting the wrist break naturally, after a while you get this concept, but it doesnt mean that you are going after Tiger at a tournament.....


All I was trying to say is that after a year I am starting to get the concepts and why we do things the way we do. Some people get that far in the first week, for me it was a year and to me that was a milestone....

As I reread the thread, don't really see anyone's response as dismissing your accomplishment(s) or experience. You might have felt that way, but don't think anyone intended it.

For my part, was just trying to say that: Yes, it sounds like you did reach a point where some things came together. A great feeling, and I can recall my own such times vividly. But ime the second time was even better, involving a deeper and broader understanding. And the third time, better yet. So I was trying to be encouraging, not discouraging. :)

[Fuzzy Foot]

Let me respond simply as I can on this. It is a given that everyone learns at a different rate and sees and absorbs things differently according to individual physical ability and intelligence. How much time you spend practicing is of course part of the equation as is thinking about and visualizing what you are doing and trying to accomplish. That said, the mechanics of technique may be learned IMO quite rapidly, compared to what I think of, when you say "getting it". In my years of teaching (37 now) "getting it" means having a FEEL or INSTINCT for correct technique, concepts, and applications which begins to come after many years of diligent practice and intellectual study. You'll know it because the light bulb turns on about something your teacher told you but you just took their word for until now, even though you performed the mechanics (usually)thousands of times. You now "get it". Many do not stay with MA long enough to ever get to this point. If I had to put a time on it, I'd say generally this STARTS to happen around the 8-10 year mark. But again it varies.