Self/lone training advice

Hi Ciaran,

I think almost everyone will find themselves having to train without partners or a class at some point. Not ideal, but it’s still possible to train in a beneficial way.

Ciaran wrote:

I am concerned about the degree of ‘skill fade’ as a used to be able to train four times a week.

I’d not worry about it too much as it strikes me that you’re doing more than enough to maintain what you have. In basic terms, I would say that our performance is determined by the following:

Performance = Skill + Physical Condition + Mental Attitude.

Skill fades comparatively slowly and I’m sure we all have experienced doing something (martial related or not) that we have not done for a while and being surprised that we have “still got it”. Training every weekday morning and having a group session once a week should maintain what you have easily enough.

Physical condition can fade quicker; instantly in the case of injury. Again, six sessions a week should be more then enough to maintain and develop physical condition if you structure it cleverly. As well as working on technique from a skill basis, remember to push the intensity and the volume during some of the sessions so your physical condition is improved. A common mistake in martial training in my view is to focus too much on “how long” in training when we are better focusing on “how much”. 30 mins of high quality intensity is way better than 2 hours of moderate mediocrity. Pushing your physical limits a few times in these 30 minute sessions will work wonders. As a quick aside, my training today was just 30 mins of hill running and it had me throwing up 20 mins in. Not one of my better performances but it shows that it’s not time that is the limiting factor but intensity and intent.

The one that can really mess things up in an instant is mental attitude. It can fade in a nanosecond. The biggest problem you could face is believing that “skill fade” is inevitable and you can’t train effectively in your current situation (it’s not and you can). Some visualisation training at other times during the day may help. This podcast has some information on how to make use of visualisation training:

 http://iainabernethy.co.uk/content/visualisation-training-podcast

Ciaran wrote:

I mainly practice kata and kihon/grading combinations and try to work on individual kata sections (changing emphasis eg sometimes tension, stepping et al).  Does anyone have much experience with self training and has any recommendations and advice?  Furthermore, I compete quite regularly in a kumite squad but due to my transport issues can rarely train with others.  Any advice on that point too?

All good things and there are loads of other things you could do too. Shadow sparring for a set number of rounds will help you work on the movement, tactical and technical side of your sparring (if not the timing, reaction, etc side of things) and you should find that will have a positive effect when you spar at your weekly group session.

This podcast may also help give you some thoughts on the kata side of your solo training:

http://iainabernethy.co.uk/content/solo-kata-solo-training-podcast

Circuits involving repetition of techniques / combinations, physical conditioning drills, shadow sparring / fighting are good and you should be able to mix it up a bit and get lots of variety.

I’m sure others will give you loads of suggestions from other members and with a little imagination you can have lots of fun and maintain and develop skill, physical condition and mental attitude through solo training.

I hope that helps.

All the best,

Iain

Hello Ciaran,

I have done a lot of travelling over the past few years and have also moved dojo on a number of ocassions from country to country.  As such, I have often found myself having to train by myself or not being able to train regularly with the same group of people.  In order to maintain my technical level and understanding I have always found it important to plan my training well.  In my case, I set myself informal lesson plans which take into account the amount of time I have to train in a week and all of the skills I want to work on.  I also set myself short-, medium- and long-term objectives, and work these into the plan. 

In some cases, training by yourself can be an advantage in that it gives you an opportunity, as Iain says above, of working on movement and techniques that can be difficult to practice with a partner in a sparring situation, where concentrating on not getting hit  can make experimentation difficult.  When you get back into a class you can then try these techniques out.

I also do a lot of visualisation training when I am travelling on the train or by plane.  This keeps the kata fresh in your mind until you get back into the dojo.

Gents,

Thank you for you highly productive response to my question.  Iain, I found your points on mental training/conditioning as part of a wider physical programme very interesting.  I’ve now starting to weave in some general strength press up variations between kata sequences which I am sure will be valuable.  It will become funny when I bring a skipping rope into school after Easter hols too for the cardio!

Rbartley, I have a follow on question from your visualisation comment.  Do you mean visualize yourself performing the kata?  I assume you mean visualise yourself performing the ‘perfect’ technique mentally to then go to do this physically later?  It’s a very interesting point, could you develop any further and I’m sure the forum in general would benefit. 

On a different rather ironic note, I today found out that I have been called for a PhD interview last minute so its looks like I will miss the KUGB Spring Course in Devon and will be undertaking more self training during Easter.  – LOL.

Oss,

Ciaran