My brain hurts… I just can’t get this drill

I’ve always been interested in how people learn things and how I teach to that. I spent many years in the Army and much of that time was devoted to teaching and learning. From early years on the parade ground teaching drill to later years with officer training and teaching classes of cadets tactics and other skills.

The army approach to instruction is very formulaic; there was a set way to teach a class, lesson, skill etc. and you don’t dare change the approach until you really understand why it’s done that way and what the benefits are. You learned very early on the impact of specific phrases or approaches to presenting material that would be the most effective vehicle for students to consume. There were always exceptions and you had to know the signs that indicated students weren’t learning the material and have some other approaches ready to go.

I recall vividly a class where myself and another instructor were teaching a tactics lesson to a group of officer cadets. At the end of the class we had the students perform a short written test to gauge their assimilation of the material. A large portion of the students got the same questions wrong. This became a great teaching point for the students; later in the day we returned the question sheets to the students and explained the principal that “if one or two students got the answers wrong, they haven’t learned the material, if most students got it wrong, the instructors haven’t taught it properly”. You could see the point hit home with many of them. I was quite pleased with myself over this and the experience has stayed with me since. There were other examples where I got some personal gratification by identifying different and more effective ways to impart knowledge.

So it’s with great frustration that I approach some of the more technical drills in my martial arts training. There are many drills or combinations that involve a long sequence of individual techniques, such as advanced kata, complex drills (“complexes”) and the one that’s currently giving me grief, a long sequence of blocks and returns based on 13 attacks. Teaching and learning these drills follows the usual pattern;

1. learn the sequence, perhaps building chunks of the drill/kata and then putting them together,
2. practice repeatedly until the flow becomes more automatic (without thinking),
3. increase the speed and intensity, and
4. whilst repeating and increasing the speed and intensity, correct the technical aspects.

In theory this blocking sequence should follow the pattern. The attacks are not complicated; a series of punches (straight and hook) and kicks (straight) in a set sequence. The blocks for these attacks are also simple with open hand parries, hook blocks and body blocks, again in a set sequence. The returns from these blocks are also simple, with jab, uppercut & hook punches, and some shin and roundhouse kicks, again in a set sequence. In theory it should be a matter of getting the sequence down pat (i.e. approx 40 techniques for the defender) and increasing the speed and intensity. But it’s just not working. As the individual techniques are simple, instruction is simple (“first strike is a jab punch off the left hand, other person does a double forearm jam, jab off the left and rear-leg shin kick”). There’s not a lot of technical correction as you go, so it should just be a matter of practicing.

But I find myself hitting mental blocks continually as I get halfway through the sequence. Sometimes it’s because we get out of sequence and my brain’s not ready (and this should be solvable with more practice) but other times I just hit a mental roadblock. It’s frustrating as a student, and I expect frustrating from an instructors perspective. I’m sure I’ll get the drill in time, but I also need to understand why I’m not getting it, how to identify that in other students and know how to teach them to get over the mental roadblock. It will be a personal success when I get the drill and figure out the best way to get students over the similar hump.