Following on from the earlier article about the different types of movement I thought it might be interesting to look at how we pass from type one to type three, some of the pitfalls that may be encountered, and some strategies for helping others overcome those pitfalls.

The first thing we need to know as instructors, or even simply as martial artists, is how type three, or instinctive movements occur. On a superficial level it is extremely simple. If you repeat a movement time and time again then your subconscious mind remembers it and eventually allows you to perform it without the need for conscious thought.

Take stairs for example. I am going to assume that everyone reading this blog has at some stage in their life learnt how to walk both up and down stairs. I am in the fortunate position of having a toddler in the house who is currently learning to do exactly that amongst other things and so I am watching her develop these gross motor pathways in real time. It is fascinating. Anyway I digress. If you run up a set of steps you don’t think about things like foot placement, leg lift height and balance control. It simply happens. But it only happens because you, like my youngest daughter, spent countless long hours staring at where your foot should go and then trying to put it there. Movements like this one become so internalised that suddenly introducing conscious movement can cause all sorts of problems. I suspect that you, like me, have on at least one occasion thought about what your feet are doing in the middle of running up, or down, a flight of stairs. The end result is rarely pretty. As soon as your conscious mind gets involved it rapidly becomes clear that what you are doing is in fact a highly complex and difficult combination of movements that you don’t stand a chance of replicating consciously at that speed.

So how is this relevant?

It is relevant because we are trying to learn how to do exactly that. To suddenly, and rapidly perform a series of movements faster than it is possible to do consciously. Even more tricky, as an instructor we are trying to enable our students to do so.

The first thing we need is to understand exactly what it is we are trying to do. We need to be able to break it down into its component parts and look at them in sequence. These component parts need to be small enough that they are possible to do consciously, yet big enough that they seem to have a purpose to the student, because, and this is the big thing, when trying to make someone’s brain do something, they have to believe you. If they do not believe they can do it, then whatever you try and get them to do it will not work. You will not internalise movements you do not commit to, both physically and mentally.

So, you have your technique, it is broken down into manageable chunks and you have your students. Get them to do the first section. This is where your judgement comes in, because you need to add in the second chunk just as the first one is beginning to sink in. If you leave it too long then the first chunk becomes a discrete movement in its own right and the resulting complete action is jerky and disconnected, too quickly and it doesn’t begin to become internalised at all. Once you have hit this magical target you can add the next stage and progressively build the movement until it is complete. The more you run through the completed movement the more internalised it will become. However your subconsious mind also has both short and long term memory. If you stop now you run the risk of the movement being held in short term memory, and then discarded as it has not be re-used. So run through something else, and then after 10 minutes or so go back and do it again a few times. Do this as often as your students will let you. In the end they’ll thank you for it even if they do think you’re running out of ideas.

If only it were really that simple.

The problem is that students all learn at different rates, and all react differently to instruction. You can’t even always predict which ones will learn an action quickly. Sometimes people assimilate new actions quickly, sometimes they have more trouble than anyone would expect. It is all down to how well your set of movements fit with what they already have internalised.

You will almost certainly find that there is no one point at which everyone is ready to move onto the next chunk of movement. Those who picked it up quickly will be champing at the bit, and those who have had trouble will be showing signs of frustration.

It is that frustration that we, as instructors, have to deal with. There are a number of ways in which we can do that.

Firstly – Ignore it.

The simplest strategy. Ignore the frustration and simply get the student to carry on repeating the simple actions knowing that eventually they will sink in and the movement will “click”. Obviously there are problems with this approach. The more frustrated a student becomes the less liekly they are to get it. The more likely they are to simply give up. I suspect that we've all hit a plateau in our training in the past. A point at which we simply don't seem to be able to make any progress. That is when most people quit. The late Sensei Enoeda always used to say that when you get to this point, go back to the basics and it will pass. That leads us nicely to the next strategy.

Secondly – Go back to the beginning.

If a student of yours is not able to grasp what you are trying to teach it is your fault. Perhaps you made the movements too complex? So go back to the beginning, go back to a point that they have already mastered and start again. Only this time break it down into simpler, smaller steps. Sometimes it is the smaller steps that enable people to grasp it. Sometimes it is simply going back to something they already understand and have already internalised that enables them to put aside the frustration that was stopping them progressing.

Thirdly – Try a different tack

You really need to understand the action you are trying to teach for this to work. It is simply you showing them a different drill, or approach that uses the same skills. It takes some skill to be able to come up with something on the spur of the moment but that's ok. You wouldn't be the instructor if you weren't fantastically skilled right?

Fourthly – Forget the steps.

I have often found that when people are frustrated by something I am trying to teach it is because the simply don't get why they have to do the smaller steps. When I forget my lovingly created lesson plan and show them the goal the get it straight away. Their frustration was not born out of an inability to do what I asked, but out of being held back by exercises and drills that they did not understand when they already had the action sorted.

Fifthly – Treat the symptoms.

This isn't really a separate approach, more something that can be done in conjuntion with any of the others. To remove the frustration you can take one of three approaches. Either give massive amounts of positive feedback “That's fantastic”, “Perfect!” and so on to let them know that you can see the progression they can't (even if it is a lie), simply tell them to man up and get on with it, or lighten the mood with jokes and gentle (self?) mockery. The approach has to be targeted to the individual if you expect it to work, just like everything else you do.

In conclusion you need to remember that all of your students are different and need different things from you in order to learn efficiently, it is your job to provide that for them. The other thing you need to remember is that if a student is not able to learn from your first attempt at teaching them a skill it is not their fault, it is yours. Deal with it, change your approach and their skill swill improve and so will yours. I'll finish with a quote from George Silver, the founder of the underlying system of English Martial Arts from his second book (circa 1600)

“the more skillful he is in this noble science, the more humble, modest and virtuous he should show himself both in speech and action, no liar, no vaunter nor quarreller, for these are the causes of wounds, dishonor and death.”

With humility you will not only be a better Instructor, but you will be a better person.