Stalled

I am very self-critical about my performance in Martial Arts.

My many years of Karate training were great, but I never fooled myself into thinking I was anything other than mediocre. Eventually, my old knees induced me to stop training.

I am also a student of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, and although I am not brilliant at it, I would rate myself as above average. I just seem to be better able to do what is required than I ever could at Karate.

None of that is really what this blog entry is about. The topic today is a phenomenon that people usually call "a plateau."

What this refers to is a period of time where progress seems to stall, regardless of effort and hours of training. Some people actually report feeling a loss of ability. Almost everybody has experienced this situation, and typically have found it very demoralizing.

In 5 years of Jiu-Jitsu, and 30 years of Karate, I have never experienced a plateau.

Perhaps it is that I always expect progress to come at a glacial rate even at the best of times. When it goes better than that, I am pleasantly surprised and excited, and when it remains ploddingly slow, I am where I expect to be.

I am firmly convinced that plateaus are not really a lack of progress at all.

My friend, Tobias, felt he had stalled recently. He was wrong.

He is one of the guys I measure my skill against. Sometimes he is better, and sometimes it's me, but it has always close.

I am a better Jiu-Jitsu-ka than I was a year ago, and better then that I was the year before. It has been that way though each of my 5 years of training. The current version of me could easily defeat any version of myself from the past. All along, Tobias has been right there beside me.

This has changed in the last couple of months. Tobias has been taking private lessons with an excellent Black Belt instructor in Vancouver. I noticed the differences in him immediately. Now, although our rolls are exciting, and entertaining, Tobias is clearly better than me.

How could it be that I am better than ever, with Tobias now a superior mat monkey than me, and for his plateau to be real?

Another fine example is Colin's return to the mat. He's been gone for well over three years. He is a Blue Belt, as I was at that time. Although he feels rusty, he has retained a remarkable amount of his skills. He can still do all of the things that we used to know how to do. However, in those missed years, we have moved on. We have gotten better; a lot better.

There's clear evidence in Colin's return that we've all kept growing. When Colin left, Tobias was far junior to him, and likely easy for Colin to defeat. Now, I can control Colin easily, and Tobias even more easily that can I.

What I think happens is that a person can see just how much there is to improve upon. Any invested effort makes such a small impression on the huge momentum of this mass that it seems like nothing is happening.

If this happens, it would help to focus on a single, discrete unit of material, and focus just on that. Let's say it's a single guard pass. Do it a hundred times, until it starts to seem really slick, and then switch and do a hundred more with the other leg. Work on executing the movement explosively, and without warning. Do this for several training sessions. The next step is to get yourself caught up in your opponent's guard when sparring. Give your new move a full-speed try. Keep drilling it, and keep using it. You will have improved, but not a little bit spread out over everything, but rather in a small, spearpoint of focused progress.

There ain't no plateaus...