Hey. Ando here from SenseiAndo.com and Happy Life Martial Arts. Back again
with Sifu Matt Ember, my longtime teacher, and Sifu, what the hell was all
that about? <<Well, it's a good question. I was at the driving range many years ago.
I suck at golf. <<Okay. <<Let's just put that out there. <<You say it first.
<<But I saw this guy going through, clearly, a checklist of things his,
whoever had been teaching him, had told him to do. Bend your knees, keep your feet
lined up, adjust the grip, left arm straight, right arm in , chin down, back
straight. And by the time he hit the ball, it was like five minutes, and then he
topped it and it rolled about eight yards. And he said to himself, I heard him say,
"Agh. You're such an idiot." <<Man. So, not the ideal way to approach any
task. <<What was he doing wrong? What was he doing wrong? He was trying to practice
too many things at the same time. How many things can you actually practice at
the same time? One. You can practice one thing at a time. And it's like a golf swing you
have to groove that one thing until it's automatic. And when it's automatic, then
you can practice the next thing. You have to build those skills one thing at a
time, like blocks, to construct your martial artist. <<That's a great tip.
We've heard studies about multitasking, whether it's real or not real, and you're
saying it's better to invest yourself in one aspect. So, if you're golfing, just
think about your feet, don't think about your grip at the same. That's the point?
<<That's basically it. We're not computers. We wish we were because computers can
multitask. They can run four different programs at
the same time without slowing down. <<Right. <<We cannot do that. We can do one
thing at a time really well and if we focus on that one thing, we can make that
one thing better. <<Right. I've heard you use the analogy or the metaphor of a
rut in a road. <<Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's like tire ruts in a dirt road. They're worn
over time, so that by years later when you're going down that road, you
practically can't get out of those ruts. You have to make an effort to steer to
make a turn out of those ruts. But if you just are on automatic pilot, basically,
you will stay in the rut and you will go down that road. And that's what we're
trying to do. We're trying to groove something so much that it's automatic
and you're going down that road, and then you can add another trick, another skill,
another wrinkle. <<Right. So, you have to be patient as a student. You should be
patient with yourself because you should just be working one thing at a time.
Don't keep jumping ahead . "Oh, I want to do that fancy move." All those advanced
moves are built on basics first. You have to have the, if you don't like the word
rut, the groove. I heard you say groove as well. <<Groove. << So, you don't want to be stuck in a rut, unless
it's a good rut, in which case you should call it a groove. <<And then you want to be
stuck in it. <<And you want to be groovy. You want to stay in the groove. <<That's right. <<Stay groovy!
And then as a teacher that, you've been teaching me for all these years, it
works the same way, right? <,Well, apparently you've been studying with a guy who gets
punched in the face. <<It was a pleasure. <<You know, it's the same thing as a
student. As a student, you want to practice one thing at a time, and as a
teacher, you want to think about that and know that you can't give your students
more than one thing at a time to work on. All you're gonna do is
confuse their brains. They can't do it. And then they're gonna feel frustrated
and then they're gonna quit. <<Right. <<So, you give them one thing at a time, let them
get good at it, really good at it, then you give them the next thing. <<Right.
So, patience as a student and patience as a teacher. Because you hear it all the time.
I'm sure I do it myself. "Bend your knees, keep your hands up,
put your chin down, what are you doing? Move to the outside." It's like, how many of those
things do you think I can process? Doesn't matter if they're kids or adults,
your brain just can't handle all of that. <<That's right. <<So, a better teacher would kind of
pick your battles. Find the most important thing in that moment, focus on
that, set it aside, go work on that, get your groove, then come back and add the
next thing. <<Yeah. And as a teacher, you want to have a strategy. What
are you trying to help this student accomplish, so that you're just--
it's strategic in the order in which you teach something. So, you're teaching
footwork because your feet are the closest thing to the floor. And then you kind of
move up. And say, okay, let's talk about your hips a little bit. Okay, great. Let's talk
about the hips till that's automatic. Now let's talk about your shoulders.
Okay, great. And then let's talk about your hands. Let's talk about your,
you know, let's talk about your chin. And you work your way up the body. That's a
strategy towards how to teach. Just one strategy. It doesn't have to be how you
teach it, but it's the way to think about teaching. <<Right. So, if you're a teacher,
be smart about your curriculum and make sure there's a progression that makes
sense, that gets your students eventually where they need to go.
And if you're a student, or you're just training on your own, also be smart about how
you're setting up your training schedule so you're not going into the gym with a
list of 10 things to get better at. Focus on one. Make that a month's project,
or however long, till you feel the improvement. <<Until it's automatic.
Until it's automatic, yeah. <<And you'll know when that is because you won't even be thinking
about it. You'll be doing it right. <<Awesome. Well, I think that's a very
helpful tip. Thank you for taking some punches in the name of education.
<<You're welcome. <<Right on. If you haven't seen Sifu Matt's
other tips about how to handle a larger, stronger opponent, I'll put that
link below. Make sure you check that out, too. Thank you again for sharing some of
your wisdom today. <<You're welcome. <<Very well. If you liked this tip, please share this
with your friends. How about a thumbs up? Subscribe to the channel, that's always nice.
Until next time, keep your eye on the ball, and keep fighting for a happy life.
Sorry!