Blog Post: Disguising the Repetition
By CPMAstudio In Insight
If you ask a nine-year-old to kick a pad as many times as they can, most kids will kick about 50 times and then look at you and say “I’m done.” A few will kick 100 times, and the occasional child will kick that pad hundreds of times. However, a martial arts student has to execute each fundamental martial arts technique about 10,000 times (correctly) before it is a reliable skill. So, my team and I spend a lot of time “disguising repetition” to get kids to do the basics enough times to become proficient. They jump over things and punch, they kick pads and spin, they practice different kata (martial arts choreography); they flip and punch, spin and block, and on and on.
If we do our jobs correctly, a beginner will execute between 500 and 700 basic techniques per class and have enough fun doing it that they will want to come back again. In four years the average child student will execute 200,000 to 300,000 basic techniques even if they don’t start doing extra classes, or any type of advanced work, or practice on their own. There are only about 20-25 fundamental skills. So, while real mastery truly is the work of a lifetime, that typical nine-year-old can develop some pretty impressive skills well before they graduate high school. If we can inspire that child to take charge of their own training and work out by themselves the results can be truly transformational.
Despite my reliance on disguised repetition when I teach, I realized recently that I was not putting this powerful tool to work in my own life. I was going to the gym and hitting the weights the way I had since college. I was doing my martial arts training the same way I have for decades, same stretches, same kata, same…same…same. My work habits were the same. I was telling the same dad jokes to my daughter, the same husband jokes to my wife. So boring.
I decided to change.
My fundamentals are the same. I just changed my approach. Sometimes I enacted change by drawing on other people’s knowledge. Right now I have a fitness coach who is showing me a completely new way to approach weight lifting and over all fitness. It’s working. I have a business coach who is helping Hester and I build a working set of values to apply to every aspect of our business, from how we hire to how and when we answer emails. That’s working also. As for my family, I have chosen to just be more present for them, and it’s breathed new life into my relationship with my wife and my daughter. My daughter is particularly relieved that I am taking a break with the cute nicknames. As for my own martial arts training…more on that some other time.
A lot of very smart, very accomplished people in the martial arts “industry” suggest that a good way to market your school and yourself is to position yourself as a teaching and parenting expert, as an accomplished resource for your community. For whatever reason, I tend to shy away from calling myself an expert at anything, knowing so many people who truly are. I also tend to shy away from giving advice, having plenty of work to do in my own life. However, if you are feeling stuck in a rut, even if it is a “good” rut (hard work, time with your family, regular exercise), you may want to consider “disguising the repetition” in your own life, and reinvigorate your own fundamentals by approaching them in a different way. See you next time.