Last week we talked about making a habit out of practice, but often times, especially when you get to the higher levels of a system, you end up with practice paralysis, not to be confused with analysis paralysis. What happens is that you go to practice, but you aren’t sure what to work on. Most instructors would simply say, well, practice everything you know. If you’ve only scheduled in ten minutes, then that is going to be a problem. One thing you could do instead is to break down what you are going to practice each day. For instance, on Mondays you could practice your blocks, punches and kicks. On Wednesday, you would do forms. On Friday, self-defense.
Another school of thought is to pick about ten things to work on, say 3-5 basic techniques, a form and 2-3 self-defense techniques before you practice. That way, you know exactly what you are going to do. Do each ten times and you are done for the day. Choosing which ones to work on can be difficult. Some would say to work on the ones that are more difficult. On the other hand, some would also say you shouldn’t neglect the ones that seem easy. As always in kung fu, there is a balance. You will be able to feel the ones you need to work on. Even if some of them seem easy, it is possible that you may be missing a key detail and you won’t know that until you find it through practice or your sifu does when you are in class. Something to consider.
One more idea, and something I’ve been toying with in my head for a bit, is to create a randomizer. Put in all your techniques, forms, exercises, etc., and have it choose a few to repeat about ten times each. I would make sure to weight it to keep it balanced as to what to choose from, but that may go above what we’re trying to accomplish here.
Speaking of, something else we have been considering that may help you is to create an app of our own, similar to those workout apps that practically everyone seems to have. In this case, it will build your exercise and practice sessions for you, depending on your level. It is currently vaporware (only in our heads) at the moment, but it could be a reality in the near future. Until then, remember to not be so hard on yourself. Science tells us that even if we skip a couple of days between doing certain techniques, it is actually better for us in the long run. Our bodies remember better if given time to process. A study done on retaining verbal language said memory tests on new materials should be done 2 days, 7 days and then 30 days later. It is something to think about. Until next time, remember to train hard, but don’t over complicate things.
Head Instructor Shawn Morris