How do you learn best?

[Erik]

I am wondering which kind of training has made the most sense to you as you learn MAs?

Most of us probably learn best from a combination of methods, but which one makes you say, "Ah ha! I get it!" most often?

[moogong]

Non-cooperative Partner Practice works best for me. Full resistance is good but only after I learn the basic principles and get a feel for the technique. Otherwise it's a complete struggle. Once I get a basic understanding for the technique, going against full resistance works well for me to make it my own.

Good question, Erik. :)

[TonyU]

All of them, in progression except for competition. I don't care for it. Keep in mind for me I have nothing against competition, it's just it doesn't do it for me anymore.
The progression I like to use is a follows;
1. Watching ( Probably being demonstrated by the instructor)
2. Single Person Form/Kata ( especially so if it's a techniques from a kata.)
3. Multiple Person Kata ( may be in conjunction with #2)
4. Cooperative Partner Practice
5. Non-cooperative Partner Practice (sparring)
6. Non-Resistance Drills
7. Full-Resistance Drills
I've realized throughout the years that I'm a visual learner. I can see and remember techniques with clarity.

[David Beckwith]

Watch the technique demonstrated a few times.
Practice with a cooperative partner.
Recieve correction if needed.
Practice some more.
Practice some more.
Practice some more.

As we become comfortable with the technique we slowly add resistence, But to learn, I find repettion with a partner the best way to "get it".

[Mandeigh Wells]

I am wondering which kind of training has made the most sense to you as you learn MAs? form, form form...all the way, understanding the mechanics of why the body is lined up this way and why it doesn't work that way.....and how the essences are the form and egtting that complete understanding.

[Patrick Hayes]

For me, it depends on whether I'm training in jujutsu, kenjutsu, or iaido. For jujutsu and kenjutsu, I like to watch first, do a little cooperative partner practice, and then go to non-cooperative partner practice to see how I can best incorporate the new stuff into my repertoire. For iaido, I like to watch first, then do single person kata (I guess it pretty much goes without saying, since so much of iaido is single person kata anyway).
Non-cooperative partner practice has been most prominent in my kenjutsu training. There's nothing like getting two willing people together with the sole purpose of bashing the crap out of each other with bokken to work off some steam, not to mention learning how to block and counterattack real quick.

[DragonMind]

Most of us probably learn best from a combination of methods, but which one makes you say, "Ah ha! I get it!" most often?
Teaching. I have to have a better grasp on something to teach it to someone else than to do it.

[Erik]

Yeah, no kidding, Barry. I forgot about that.

My wrestling improved significantly after coaching for a season.

Same with computer science while I was a grad student. Taught me heaps and heaps.

Good point.

[Martin]

I'd probably say sparring or rolling. As long as I can watch the techniques performed and maybe perform them on a cooperative partner once or twice, I'm ready to try to work it in to my overall 'game'. (or lack thereof)

This makes it an interesting interplay with some of my friends when they know the only things I can pull are a naked choke, armbar or wristlock one day and then the next I've added a different armlock, then another sweep, new choke etc.

Performing techniques in sparring is how I really learn the 'feel' and timing of the technique.

[Cliff Hargrave]

You left out the option of watching tapes/DVDs while laying on a couch and eating cheetos.

[J4d3]

i think non resistance is what forges the blade and resistance is what sharpens it.
edit:also just learning any given technique i try to work on one detail on it specifically each time.like say a technique involving a wrist lock i'd focus on going to the lock first,then focus on applying the lock once i'm comfortable going to the lock,and so forth.

[Jeff Burger]

I like to watch listen ask questions then go home and practice.
I like to practice in privacy.

I think Im actually kind of a bad class student that way. I dont think I practice something new well in class when I first learn it.

I dont think its a matter of worrying about looking bad. Its more like busy class environment is just not the place where I can pay attention and feel things out.

I do like video. Its like seminar I can attend again and again and rewind to look for details.
However most videos suck.
Even with good videos there are problems.
Recently I was watching video, Im trying to pay attention to the guys footwork but they keep doing close ups. Why show there faces? What was I supposed to learn? That they were both ugly?

Jeff

[Gene Williams]

Any physical activity is only learned by doing it. Form follows function, and function requires activity. Tapes are fun, books are interesting, but get out there and do the stuff. :toast:

[Jeff Burger]

I have been playing with video. Im just never happy with what comes out.
It certainly wont be great... but I want it to be useful.

The best video so far was one someone else took of me doing a seminar.
They sent me a copy and the best part (for me) was video of some of their students using some of the things I taught in sparring (class and tournament).
Its a very cool feeling to know you helped someone grow.

I will have some video avaialble before the years end.

Jeff

[DragonMind]

You left out the option of watching tapes/DVDs while laying on a couch and eating cheetos.
And don't forget the Ashida Kim direct mind transfer...

[DragonMind]

I have been playing with video. Im just never happy with what comes out.
It certainly wont be great... but I want it to be useful.

The best video so far was one someone else took of me doing a seminar.
They sent me a copy and the best part (for me) was video of some of their students using some of the things I taught in sparring (class and tournament).
Its a very cool feeling to know you helped someone grow.

I will have some video avaialble before the years end.

Jeff
Hands down the best example of video I've seen is the Legacy series from www.comdo.com. These are the ITF TKD videos made by Gen. Choi before he died. Production costs had to have been high, but it shows.

[Jeff Burger]

"And don't forget the Ashida Kim direct mind transfer..."

Or Matt Furey getting coached from Karl Gotch from beyond the grave.

Jeff

[uki]

watch. understand. learn.

[PhoenixMateria]

If I see a technique executed extremely fast as two people are practicing/sparring/fighting, I'd understand it at 90%. Otherwise, I don't miss a thing. I guess it's because I focus on reaction first, and breaking the opponent's tactics second. Everything else is tertiary. That and I have a knack for assimilating stuff pretty fast.

If there was a third option of being caught in the thing without notice or almost, that would be my pick. You get more of a feel for the technique that way.

After one or the other, do the movement once or twice.

It might not be perfect, but it's a skill that comes in handy when presented with a whole new array of techniques, especially if your opponent is from another style.

Later, if I want to truly add the movement to my répertoire, it's all about practice.

[Iron Dove]

i dont take the 'you do this when he does this approch", therefore i generally "get it" once i have sufficiently studied, practiced and applied it.

[Good advisor]

ITs ahrd to say, if I was going to sparr a guy, I will looked at his padwork, and him sparring against others and looked for his weankess and apply them when doing it with him. :p :p

[Budoka34]

I'm a see it, do it, teach it, kind of guy.
I have to see it performed step by step. Then do it step by step, then apply it. Once I understand the underlying principles of a technique I can teach them.

[Nin]

I learned better in real fights during trainings. Each mistake resullts into pain, and pain make you remember next time not to mess up. That's how I like it.

Competition is great as well, because you learn more and you can actually test what you learned in a Dojo. I think too much "non-realistic" combats result into a useless period of training. Lot of people are good under "controlled" combats, but in real life not all are able to manage the pressure of being in an hostile non controlled situation.

[garrett]

i seem to learn best by non-cooperative partner practice, like it was said earlier if you mess up, your gonna pay for it

[TKDGirl18]

I learn best by free style sparring against my upper ranked students even my master. I am a full contact kind of gal who loves to go to extreams to learn what techniques work the best against who and what will work on my opponents in tournements.

[Street Warrior]

find it - ie someone shows you, you see it happen, you read about it etc
have a go of it
understand it - the dynamics of it
simplify it - to your needs
replay it in your mind when not physically training
use it - sparring etc

[Ninja in training]

I learn the most by being uke(which I am 90% of the time).

[duophonic]

form, form form...all the way, understanding the mechanics of why the body is lined up this way and why it doesn't work that way.....and how the essences are the form and egtting that complete understanding.


I'm exactly the same, i have to know the mechanics in detail before it makes sense to my brain, once thats understood my body will naturally follow..........form all the way for me :)

[Digi]

I learn best by free style sparring against my upper ranked students even my master. I am a full contact kind of gal who loves to go to extreams to learn what techniques work the best against who and what will work on my opponents in tournements.

I don't think that's extreme at all. That experience will help you in later competitions :bandit:

[Musubi Dojo]

From a stand up jujutsu perspective;

I would say watching to begin, then solo movement (Kata or just short body movements), The co-operative partner practice so you can feel the technique applied and recieved, then non co-operative partner practice so you can see; a) What it's like to apply the technique against strength. b) What part of you is left open to attack while applying the technigue in motion. (ie thinking about the other guys hand and feet when going for kote gaeshi)

I went through peroids where I got more from one method than another put the non co-operative partner practice was always the eye opener/ reality check in the end (also getting the living #$%^ pounded out of me when I was younger, crazier and drunker...)

Cheers
c

[Sue]

I'm a visual learner if I can see/ picture it in my mind I learn twice as fast, maybe because I'm left handed who knows!

Sue

[Digi]

That's a very good way not only to understand your technique, but it's effectiveness.


I learn best by free style sparring against my upper ranked students even my master. I am a full contact kind of gal who loves to go to extreams to learn what techniques work the best against who and what will work on my opponents in tournements.

[Rich]

As a judoka I find cooperative partner practice in various forms is best. Those forms are uchikomi (both static and moving) and randori. The key is to get a knowledgeable partner who can correct you during uchikomi, then you can learn and improve remarkably quickly.

Richard

[baralaba]

For pure fighting ability, nothing beats full contact sparring. That is because u learn to discard what doesn't work and keep what does. but out side the dojo it is much more complicated. The complexiity of human interaction comes into play and is very important. there is much more to martial arts than fighting. I know it is difficult to learn but it is the most important lesson of all. As bruce lee once said, I practise the art of fighting withought fighting. Not so long ago I met a gang of kids who I saw a mile off were problem children. they asked me for a smoke and I gave them one. And I chatted for a while and one offered me to sip his bottle of rum which I took. They took me as a friend and yet I am certain that if another had acted differently they would have bashed him sensless. there is much more to martials arts than physical fighting. Does that make sense. I hope so. It is important.

[Jared Sutton]

I learn best by first seeing the technique, then having it used on me.

[Shinken]

Well, if we're talking about training for fighting, then point sparring certainly does not do it for me. Just started to work on deprogramming all the bad ideas I got from that.

But it seems obvious to me, as I'm sure it does to most of you, that a combination of a lot of techniques is important. But I think the principle really comes down to the closer your training matches the that which you are training for, the better.

Obvious example, the closer your techniques come to what your martial art considers a perfect example of said technique, the better. For example, the side kick in Tae Kwon Do. Obviously, your technique has to be good before you do anything else.

Then you learn such things as when you should throw a side kick, in which a lot of strategy and set up and whatever is involved. Obviously, the better you get at strategy, the better.

Then, eventually, after lots of time, maybe you get to where you're ready to get better at sparring, and to do that, well, you spar. Or you want to get better at fighting, and to do that, you get as close to possibly fighting with your partner as possible.

Stands to reason. The closer your training matches your target, the better. If you play guitar long enough, you get good at playing guitar, once you know how to read music and all those other skills that get you to that point. The closer your training comes to a knockdown, drag-out fight, chances are the better you get at surviving that kind of fight (I say chances are since I've never been in that type of fight, really).

Of course, this isn't entirely my idea, a friend's told me quite a bit of his thoughts on it. But it certainly seems to stand to reason.

[Kat]

hmm, good question !!! in every sport ive (tried) to learn so far I started off with doing what my coach told me and get the feeling for things AND find out what is easy for me to do and where my problems are. then when I had the basics, just trying things out eg. sparring and see what problems occur and then watch someone good, like my coach. I think watching is really helpful, but only if you know what to look out for. The thing Ive learnt the most from so far was sparring with my coach!!! So great and you learn so much: it combines watching someone good in action and sparring and trying it yourself! Especially when he stops now and then and immediately tells you what you do wrong.

[Redcat]

I haven't been doing this long enough to know exactly what's going to work best, ultimately, but it seems a combination of methods. Watching, first; going through the physical motions; repetition. I usually learn the moves of a kata pretty quickly, then mess them up, blend them with other kata, make corrections, forget them promptly, etc. The techniques get reinforced with practising with a partner, and then the kata makes more sense, and then the sparring makes more sense, etc. The lightbulb moments seem to go back and forth. My pure technique seems to improve most when I practise on my own & then bring it back to class.

[Ninjalord]

Well, the poll would only let me pick one, so i picked my favorite thing to do. But on the whole, i understand the techniques better when they are applied to me under real conditions. Then once i have done a the technique couple of times, it like cheese you can listen to outside.

[Si Xing]

in training you should understand the technique, and master it, and sparr with others to understand it in a real life situation.

[Gundamstrike]

Hmmm,

I think I must be the only person here who'll rate learning from a book tops.
But learning from a book isn't one of the options in the poll.

I'm a rather slow learner and often when a technique is shown, I won't able to understand even after the lesson is over.

I often have to check out books and spend some time analysing the technique and practising it on my own, before going back to the dojo and seeing if I got it right.

[aplonis]

All the above forms of learning are important. But without non-cooperative partner (sparing) practice it just stays theoretical. I'd never really know what best to employ in a real self-defense situation. Never having tried things out at full speed...catching a wrist, for instance...I would be (even more) falsely confident.

Gan Uesli Starling
http://wmtkd.us
Western Michigan Tae Kwon Do

[TEA]

All of them, in progression except for competition. I don't care for it. Keep in mind for me I have nothing against competition, it's just it doesn't do it for me anymore.
The progression I like to use is a follows;
1. Watching ( Probably being demonstrated by the instructor)
2. Single Person Form/Kata ( especially so if it's a techniques from a kata.)
3. Multiple Person Kata ( may be in conjunction with #2)
4. Cooperative Partner Practice
5. Non-cooperative Partner Practice (sparring)
6. Non-Resistance Drills
7. Full-Resistance Drills
I've realized throughout the years that I'm a visual learner. I can see and remember techniques with clarity.

What Tony said. However, I think competition has a limited role. I encourage all of my students to try at least once. I think its a good way to guage your skills against people from outside the school without having to go pick a fight at a bar and it helps teach people to control their anxiety and fear a bit more, since competition hightens anxiety/fear levels quite a bit. I don't emphasize it a lot, though, since I think that there are a lot of downsides to focusing training towards competition.

Since there wasn't an option for "all of the above" or "other," I voted for "sparring" since that provides a venue for applying what one learns from the other components.

[Chunkstyle]

in training you should understand the technique, and master it, and sparr with others to understand it in a real life situation.


I have to agree with Cory on this one. For me, I need to run through the technique a bunch of times before I'm confident in using it during sparring. Even then, I need to use it much more in that situation before it will be used in real life.

[Lawrence]

Hi there.

Personally I learn best by recieving techniques, that way I gain an understanding of what it feels like. After all, it is the feeling that matters.

Take care,

Lawrence Fisher.

[mjd]

a B/slap and a good kick in the butt......
If I'm not challanged then I fade also if the class/instructor is poor in spirit then I get angery.

[Brian Dugger]

Well, the way the poll is arranged limits me to one choice. There's something you have in mind, so I'd rather not skew the statistics. My choice is all of them. At any given time, there are some methodologies of learning/teaching that are more appropriate than others. The point of training in any martial art is knowing or discerning WHEN? I believe limiting oneself to only one method can be risky and debilitating.

[dojo]

I learn the best from sparring. I don't enter competitions anymore (don't have the time to train as I used to), but the main "tricks" I learnt were from sparring.

[BlueDragon]

I picked cooperative partner practise. You can learn accuracy first and timing later through non-cooperative partner practise. I am a kinetic learner, I need to 'do' for things to sink in.

In my experience sparring has been useful to show my progress but not so useful as a learning tool itself.

For a while in sparring I was hopeless. I only sparred against people in my class, and as a 5'2" 50kg girl training with all men, mostly a foot taller and twice my weight, I found I kept walking straight into their strikes trying to get my range.
Sparring taught me that I was doing something wrong, but couldn't teach me what to change.
By slowing things down with some cooperative partner training I worked out the problem was my footwork! I worked on my footwork by watching others and practising drills on my own, so these two methods also played a vital role in my learning. But in my next sparring match the improvent was huge.

In conclusion: I prefer Cooperative Partner Practise as a learning method and I use Non-cooperative Partner Practise as a testing method. Watching and drills are also important.

[ChingChuan]

I think I learn best from cooperative partner practise, but only when I already know the technique a little bit.

Usually, the teacher teaches us something new by eh... (how do you call that in English) well, doing it, and then everyone has to repeat it on their own (not with a partner yet) and when all the movements have sunk in a little, everyone seeks a partner and then perfects the technique.

And I think that works best for me, because I have only one working eye, and it's much more difficult for me to see where exactly I have to strike or grab someone - when I practise with a cooperative partner, I can see the distances etc. better than practising alone or something.

[JiuJitsuRabbit]

I like the standard high school wrestling teaching.

Watch it.

Drill it(totally cooperatively)

Spar it full resistance

I don't consider any technique learned untill I can consistantly use it successfully during sparring and teach it clearly to another student.

There are many throws that I can drill flawlessly, but I totally suck with in randori.

[Jon_Bahey]

This is one of my favorite quotes from confucius

:bow: "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.":bow:

cooperative Partner Practice

[lefuet]

cooperative Partner Practice is where I learn the most, too.

It doesn't mean though, that the partner is offering no resistance. Depending on my progress with the technic, he/she also adds resistance to make sure, that I get everything right. ...