Learning from bad habits.

[KyleSCSpence]

Hey guys I am training martial arts again after a couple of years absence, I realized that my last martial arts practice had a ton of bad habits which I could learn from and so I wanted to make a thread where we could help each other by sharing our bad habits in order to help improve ourselves and aid each others practices.

So I will just delve straight in.

1.Rapidity comes only after diligence. It is so tempting to rush what you are learning just to get the next belt or to move onto the next maneuver, however I have found that hurrying makes you sloppy and careless and almost a bit reckless in practice. If you want to do something fast and speedy it comes after great practice - that is to say great quality practice, and not just because you want to get it over and done with and move onto the next thing.

2. An atmosphere of comradeship and friendship is better than aggression and violence. What I mean by this is that if you are lucky enough to be training in an environment where everyone is trying to help one another rise to their level instead of belittling each other so that they are below their level, then you should not waste that opportunity and be thankful for it because I (and many others I presume) have trained in gyms and sects where everyone is constantly against one another and trying to stop each other from succeeding, which is really unsubstantial for growth and development. If you cannot find an environment like this, at least produce it of yourself because others will benefit from it.

3. No master is unbeatable. That is to say that just because you can beat someone it doesn't mean that you cannot learn anything from them. The person may have a training that is very beneficial to your practice or a move that may be beneficial to you in times to come. In other words keep open minded and never stop learning. The moment you think you know everything something has gone horribly wrong.


4. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF. This is perhaps one of the most fundamental lessons for me. It was quite easy to delude myself into thinking I was some master after a few training sessions which is obviously not true. I actually think that self honesty is one of the morals that good teachers instill on their students because the more honest you are the easier it is for you to progress. I think mastering one move at a time is beneficial for growth.

5. ^^ that leads me on nicely to good morals. Moral codes give you stability and set up for growth. I actually think that moral codes are something that are degrading slightly in martial arts since the introduction of the ufc but it was something that seems to me to be of great value for self improvement and development.

6. School yourself don't wait for others to school you. the reason I mention this is because you can only learn what you are willing to learn. even if the school is great. if you are not willing to learn then it doesn't matter how good the school is. Even if you are in the greatest school if you are arrogant or lazy then there may as well be no point to you being there.

7. Dont be afraid to do something again and again until you get it right. I was guilty of choosing the lazy option over what was truly the better option simply because I had little perseverance and this attitude gets you no where well.if you have a non quitting attitude for something good then you benefit in innumerable ways.

8. It is not about impressing others. if everything is about showing off and impressing others then you will live only for those moments when you are - ergo, you will not want to practice or train unless there are people watching, this is detrimental to your practice because you end up not enjoying your training and also you train less, moreover, you become 100x (not an exact figure) more likely to develop ''flowery fists and show kicks'', which can fool you into thinking you are better than you are. this is why martial arts for the sake of impressing others is dangerous.

9. You do not protect yourself by becoming a thing that needs protecting from. In other words if you want to defend yourself from bullies, do not become a bully. if you want freedom from hostilities, do not delight in hostility. If you want protection from menaces, do not become a menace. Its very strange to me how some martial artists become the thing they were against in the first place. It comes down I believe to knowing compassion. if you have been bullied you know the value of protecting others from bullying.

10. Regular, good training. Hap-hazardness and lack of discipline are things that practicing martial arts should correct. If you are not enjoying your training then you will be reluctant to do it, making excuses and generally turning away from it. whereas if you truly enjoy your training and practice, then you cannot wait to get up the next day to do it. If your training is not regular and of a high quality you will not be getting much benefit out of it.


These are some of the things that i am learning from through past experience for reference.
If you would, please share that which you find may be beneficial from your own experience, be it bad habits or things that you accidentally did for a long period of time that given the choice now you would not. Thank you.

 

[Orange Lightning]

This is a great idea for a thread.

These are all from my own experiences with error.

Practicing missing. After I spend hours on a heavy bag, I get way to used to putting all my weight in every shot. One miss and I can completely ruin my balance. With elbows, I've nearly faceplanted.

Rapidity comes after diligence. That's a good way to put it. Doing moves, even moves you know how to do, should be done with caution until your body is used to doing them. I once screwed up my knee trying to do a low thai kick with my left leg against the air, when I was used to doing them again a bag primarily with my right leg. I kicked at a weird angle, and since there wasn't anything to stop my leg, my shin just kept going and I hurt my knee. Had to take a break.

Listen to your body. If a part of your body hurts from doing something, take a break from that something. You are not "just that hardcore". It will only delay you're recovery. I once damaged my middle knuckle from hitting the bottom of the heavybag too hard as it was coming at me fast, bare handed. Right cross! (pop!) "Hmm...I wonder what that was." It hurt to punch with anything besides a backfist for months. I would have recovered so much faster if I just put down punching the heavybag for a while.
I also once over trained to the point where my body was saying no, and I was ignoring it. When I started getting side stitches from literally walking 20 steps out the door, my family made me take a hiatus. This was when I first started getting really into exercise, and I took on way more than my body could handle.

Don't make yourself adhere to the same standard that other people have achieved. It will only hurt your confidence. Develop at whatever speed you want to reach whatever goal you want. You will get there. Your ability and capacity for training will grow with time. Don't be yourself up because you aren't Bruce Lee.

 

[KyleSCSpence]

Listen to your body - that is excellent, - I find that often I leave it too long before I release the tension in my body, I end up putting lot of strain on myself. Which inhibits me and often leads to buildups of needless frustration. Therefore resting adequately is essential for practice. knowing how to handle yourself after workout is important, because suddenly stopping the body causes a kind of shock. Thank you by the way I just hope that people carry on this thread.

1. Courage over pressure. Its too easy to try and pressure yourself into doing something instead of having the courage to overcome obstacles such as fear or laziness. Also I find that developing courage leads to a much higher standard of action because if you do something because you are pressured you are always looking for ways not to do it, whereas out of courage the thing you are doing has your full attention.

2. I also found that switching my intentions from harming my opponent to defending myself, lead to a much higher standard of training, I was much more open to new ideas, much more interested in self development and my approach became far less claustrophobic, because I was no longer interested in ''destroying my opponent'' so to speak, so long as I defended what ought to be defended.

3. Knowing the value of not fighting. is it not strange that so many people fight without knowing what they are fighting for? It took me a while to realize the truth that everyone talks about in martial arts - training so that you do not have to fight. Its part of the reason I refrain from calling myself a ''fighter'' because to me a fighter requires a fight and so you are much more inclined to start one, but a martial artist can train indefinitely (including good, high quality sparring so that you know you are not kidding yourself) and never have to fight, if you know what i mean.

4.Not thinking on defensive moves as weak. I was so guilty of this for a long time, it was always learn how to attack and destroy but the truth is if you cannot defend yourself then you attack out of fear in hopes that you destroy. Defensive moves are often times the greatest tactics because they allow you opportunities.

At this point its interesting how this thread is jogging my memory a bit.
I understand what you mean about going at your own pace, I have driven myself off training and practice simply because I did not practice patience.

 

[tshadowchaser]

Just want to say this is a great thread and I am interested to see what others on the forum have to say. So many possibilities to learn from this thread Thanks for starting it

 

[tshadowchaser]

Weapons are unforgiving: but you learn quickly from your mistakes and the bruises will be a constant reminder

 

[Touch Of Death]

Because Karate students are, on the whole, a bunch of nice guys and gals, a bad habit develops about letting people in too close before starting your technique. A great way to beat this is to show them how close is too close. And when they start messing up. show them again.

 

[Buka]

Bad habits - probably not on the endangered species list for us Martial Artists.

Ego. For me and the guys I trained with back in the day, it was ego. We had it in spades. All it did was slow us down.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

When I learned the

- striking art, I liked to put my left side forward because my right punch (such as a cross) is more powerful than my left punch.
- throwing art, I liked to put my right side forward because my right leg is more powerful than my left leg.

When I did my integration, I had to re-adjusted my striking art to fit my throwing art. I wished I could detect that in much earlier stage.