What did you experience when you returned to training after a long break?

[Kittan Bachika]

Awhile back, a friend of mine had to stop training for almost a year and a half due to personal reasons. When he got back into it, it took him about 9 months of hard work to get back into shape and return to his level of black belt.

He told that going back to the training floor was more frustrating than when he first started martial arts. First of all he had gained about 40 lbs and his body was not what it used to be. All of his flexibility, coordination, reflexes and endurance disappeared. The first month was the hardest because he realized how far he away he was from his former self.

Although he forgot a lot of what he learned, a lot it of began coming back after the first month. But still kept making mistakes.

His teacher noticed that he seemed to be in a rush to get back in shape and had to constantly remind him that he needed to slow down and focus on proper technique and conditioning his body. He warned him if did not take his time, he was just going to injure himself and then he would have to take more time off to recover.

Once the first month past, that is when his body began to respond and he began to see progress. And now he is back to his old self.

For those you who went back to training after a hiatus what was the experience like?

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Fortunately I have never had to experience this. Though I have witnessed it played out several times. These martial skills are perishable. Meaning that in order for you to have them you must constantly practice! To much time off and you have immediate diminishing results. So if you plan on being in the Martial Sciences and being effective with them then you have to practice constantly! Every time I have watched this play out it has been difficult for the person returning.

 

[Kittan Bachika]

Fortunately I have never had to experience this. Though I have witnessed it played out several times. These martial skills are perishable. Meaning that in order for you to have them you must constantly practice! To much time off and you have immediate diminishing results. So if you plan on being in the Martial Sciences and being effective with them then you have to practice constantly! Every time I have watched this play out it has been difficult for the person returning.

In your experience, do they stay or do they just give up?

 

[K-man]

I stopped training for a few years, then was tempted to try a new style. Turned out to be McDojo but eased me back into it enough to return to my original style at my original level. If you have good basics before you stop you will pick up almost where you left off. :asian:

 

[Aiki Lee]

Awhile back, a friend of mine had to stop training for almost a year and a half due to personal reasons. When he got back into it, it took him about 9 months of hard work to get back into shape and return to his level of black belt.

He told that going back to the training floor was more frustrating than when he first started martial arts. First of all he had gained about 40 lbs and his body was not what it used to be. All of his flexibility, coordination, reflexes and endurance disappeared. The first month was the hardest because he realized how far he away he was from his former self.

Although he forgot a lot of what he learned, a lot it of began coming back after the first month. But still kept making mistakes.

His teacher noticed that he seemed to be in a rush to get back in shape and had to constantly remind him that he needed to slow down and focus on proper technique and conditioning his body. He warned him if did not take his time, he was just going to injure himself and then he would have to take more time off to recover.

Once the first month past, that is when his body began to respond and he began to see progress. And now he is back to his old self.

For those you who went back to training after a hiatus what was the experience like?

Tho I've never experienced this personally I've witnessed it first hand and this seems pretty normal. I think the length of time it takes a person to get back in the swing of things deprends on how much they have internalized. Its one thing to leave after just learning a new technique or skill and another thing to leave after being able to pull it off under stressful conditions without problems.

When people come back after a long hiatus it does take several months usually to get back in the groove. And people will stay if they love training. They will leave if they don't.

 

[Ken Morgan]

Sounds like your friend had as much of an issue, if not more, with gaining 40#. That's a great deal of weight to add to your frame in 18 months. Had he stayed at his normal weight, he would have had an easier/shorter time to get back to where he was.

Over the years I've taken a few months off a couple of times. Generally a month of serious practice gets me back to where i was.

 

[Kittan Bachika]

Sounds like your friend had as much of an issue, if not more, with gaining 40#. That's a great deal of weight to add to your frame in 18 months. Had he stayed at his normal weight, he would have had an easier/shorter time to get back to where he was.

Over the years I've taken a few months off a couple of times. Generally a month of serious practice gets me back to where i was.

The weight definitely made a difference. But he quickly lost it with hard training and cutting out crap from his diet. The hardest parts were getting back his flexibility and the other skills that pretty much disappeared after a long period of inactivity. That took a lot longer to get back.

 

[bushidomartialarts]

It depends on your reasons for taking a break. Sometimes, the factors are present for a brief time and then go away. When that happened to me, I found coming back wonderful. My body remembered most of what my mind didn't, and getting back in shape simply felt good.

On the other hand, if you're trying to get back into training while the time-eating factors are still present - that's just plain frustrating. You end up falling out of balance and never have the time to do your training to the extent that you want.

 

[Bruno@MT]

Exhileration. And a feeling like coming home after having been away for far too long.
Quitting when I was 20 or 21 was the right call for me at that time in my life. If I'm honest I have to admit that.

But starting back again felt so good and I know for sure that it is the right thing for me to do. When I decided it was time to start again, things all fell into place. I found the perfect dojo and perfect sensei (for me) and the dojo just opened so I was able to grow with it and find my place there.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Awhile back, a friend of mine had to stop training for almost a year and a half due to personal reasons. When he got back into it, it took him about 9 months of hard work to get back into shape and return to his level of black belt.

He told that going back to the training floor was more frustrating than when he first started martial arts. First of all he had gained about 40 lbs and his body was not what it used to be. All of his flexibility, coordination, reflexes and endurance disappeared. The first month was the hardest because he realized how far he away he was from his former self.

Although he forgot a lot of what he learned, a lot it of began coming back after the first month. But still kept making mistakes.

His teacher noticed that he seemed to be in a rush to get back in shape and had to constantly remind him that he needed to slow down and focus on proper technique and conditioning his body. He warned him if did not take his time, he was just going to injure himself and then he would have to take more time off to recover.

Once the first month past, that is when his body began to respond and he began to see progress. And now he is back to his old self.

For those you who went back to training after a hiatus what was the experience like?

I have not had this for myself, but I have seen it a couple of times and with people who trained with others and took time off and then trained with me.

I saw one Black Belt come back after a long time off, and someone who was a brown belt when he left, worked with him and he felt bad and frustrated for having a former student be better than him.

Another person had trained with another school came in wanted to train with us and keep his rank. We said sure, and after a couple of classes he took his black belt off and put on a white belt.

In your experience, do they stay or do they just give up?

Not if they were a black belt before and ran into an embarassing situation where a colored belt beat them or they felt so out classed by an old student.

Fortunately I have never had to experience this. Though I have witnessed it played out several times. These martial skills are perishable. Meaning that in order for you to have them you must constantly practice! To much time off and you have immediate diminishing results. So if you plan on being in the Martial Sciences and being effective with them then you have to practice constantly! Every time I have watched this play out it has been difficult for the person returning.

Brian,

I break it down into three categories, Talent, Skill, and Knowledge.

People can learn information and that is the Knowledge part

People can have a natural Talent and pick things up easily and have a certain level of natural skill set or talent that makes it look easy. Natural Talent can fade with age or injuries weight change (* Both gain and loss *).

People can spend the time and effort to practice the skill and as you said it requires constant practice to maintain.

Thanks

 

[geezer]

How people react when coming back after a long layoff depends a lot on your expectations. Several years ago, I came back to my core art after a 16 year layoff. I was forty pounds overweight and feeling pretty poor physically. I expected to be really crappy, so I wasn't surprised when I was. Former si-dais (younger kung fu brothers) and even students had passed me in skill. One former si-dai had even made "master" level. But people were really generous to me and with time the weight fell off and the skills started to return. I don't expect that I'll ever be quite as physically capable as I was at my peak some 20 years ago, but I'm learning other things that I didn't know before. Now I am teaching the art again and probably about worthy of my old rank (which they let me keep). It's taken over three years. But that's three good years.