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:

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....

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?

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: