There are many great ways to learn a martial art.  There are different styles, instructors, and locations from which to choose.  Once you settle on a style, though, the rest is up to you.  To make the most of your practice, there are a few pitfalls to avoid if you desire success.  These common mistakes could be what stand between you and your black belt.

Mistake #1:  Not giving 100%

When you walk through the dojo door, you better be prepared to learn.  You only have an hour or two a few times a week to learn techniques and skills, work out with a partner, and focus on your martial art.  Showing up for class without direction or appreciation or effort is not acceptable.  No karate skill can be learned without your full attention and your desire to learn.  Without giving your all, only half of what you learn will skim the surface of your brain.

In order to give 100% when learning and practicing, you must let the outside world go.  Forget your worries, your burdens, and the responsibilities that are waiting for you at home.  You are not a parent or a co-worker or a volunteer, a coach, or a best friend when you are in the dojo.  You are 100% you.

Mistake #2:  Wanting to advance too quickly

Moving through the ranks is fun and exciting!  It’s a big accomplishment to get a crisp, new belt.  Even more exciting is being asked to test.  That means that your instructor has not only given you a greenlight, he has watched and assessed you and personally witnessed your progress.

Like any good feeling, it’s natural to want to move along at a rapid pace.  In the early belt stages that can happen.  From basic to intermediate skills, you can pick up the pace as you go, almost like a rollercoaster gaining momentum up a hill and traveling a great distance thanks to that momentum.

If you give 100%, and focus on your training, you need not worry about progressing.  Instead, concentrate on being the best you can be.  You will not always advance as fast as others; or, maybe you move along more quickly than they do.  The important thing is not to rush.  The martial arts journey is as important as the achievement.

Listen to any black belt and he will tell you that the events and practices that happened before receiving his black belt were truly the times when the most learning took place.  The culmination of the hard work is the belt, but the “getting there” is the part that makes your mark as a martial artist.

Mistake #3:  Disrespectful ego

No matter where you are in your karate journey, there is no place to boast ego.

You may think that your breaking of a stack of boards or some concrete blocks is impressive.  You may win an awesome fight and pound on your chest in caveman celebration.  You may revel in the fact that your kata performance far exceeded any other.

While all of these achievements are worthy of celebration, it is important to not celebrate at the expense or respect of others.  Winning is awesome, but poor sportsmanship stems from a desire to make others see you as superior.  In martial arts, there really is no place for it.  You should be considerate of barriers created by ego.

Even as my young karate students spar in class, their classmates are allowed to cheer, but at the end of the fight, the fighters must quietly bow to each other.  They can be happy that they won, but they should not exhibit an egotistical over-the-top reaction or get in their opponents face about it.

I’m sure there are circumstances where some personal celebration is warranted or when a personal obstacle is overcome in the presence of an audience.  When a reaction is simply pure and not contrived and not meant to be a reflection of superiority, then it does not fit in the ego category.

Ego control is not easy, but believe me, controlling it in life and in the dojo is important.

Mistake #4:  Avoiding a particular skill

Do you remember when you were in school and you didn’t want to answer a question?  As the teacher gazed across the room you avoided eye contact.  It is easy to relate to the feeling of not being ready to answer a question.

In martial arts class, there are some things you will just have to try, even if you think you can’t do them, or if you think you might get hurt, or if you think that you don’t need to know them.  A bunch of excuses rise to the surface, until you are chosen by your Sensei to try it and excuses no longer work.

Friends, it’s easier than you think.  Don’t avoid a skill.  Don’t worry about it.  You are correct in believing that you will not be excellent at everything you try.  None of us is.  Your biggest personal growth comes not when you are practicing a comfortable, well-known technique, but when you are called out to try something outside of your comfort zone.

I see this frequently with board breaks.  There are many students who enjoy the feeling of their fist or foot cracking a board wide open; but, others shy away from it.  Also, many are afraid to perform a forward roll until they try it a few times. Some skills seem difficult, but like everything, when they are broken down step by step, they become a little easier and more manageable.

When the shy student is encouraged and he succeeds, he reaches a new level of personal martial artistry; and it’s unlikely he will shy away from what scares him in the future.

Don’t shy away from challenge, but embrace it and see what you can really do.

Mistake #5:  Talking instead of doing

It’s great to chat with friends, catch up, and get acquainted.  I enjoy the social aspect of my karate program as much as the program itself.  The chance to connect with others and share thoughts and sentiments about karate and life is a true reward.

When it comes down to learning, though, you must simply “do.” It is common for students to have questions when a new technique is initiated in class, so I’m not discouraging questions that are related to the specific activity at hand.  When too much time is spent talking and not doing, however, precious hands-on learning time is lost.

Some are only able to attend classes once a week (and I fell in this category way back when).  That’s not enough, is it?  Back in my early learning years, I had an instructor who was  very knowledgeable, but he just talked too much.  He liked to explain why techniques worked a certain way, when to use them and why they were important and from where they came.  This information was valuable and relevent, except by the time we applied the actual technique, there was not a lot of time left in class to practice it.

If you are a student, try to limit your questions.  There are times when all your answers will be naturally answered in the midst of your learning and practice.  Save your valuable class time for as much experiential learning as possible. And, instructors, try to limit what you say. The hand-on exercises are how the best learning takes place.

Mistake #6:  Not allowing an injury to heal

Whether you twisted your ankle sparring or you fell at the ice skating rink, your injuries should be allowed to heal before you fully participate in class again.  I know it’s difficult, especially when you like to give 100%, but in this case you need to limit what you do until your injuries have sufficient time to get better. If you continually re-injure, you may be looking at a lifetime of pain and inconvenience.  One injury that continually flares up over and over is not worth it, when a little extra bit of time and care up front can get it back under control for the long haul.

I don’t like injuries either.  I like pain even less.  So, if you are like me and wish to limit long-term pain, make sure you care sufficiently for the short-term injuries before heading back to the dojo.

Mistake #7:  Not practicing

Going to class is not enough.  It is the place to learn new skill sets with the help of your instructors and where you can practice with partners.  You must practice on your own in between classes.  That is not always easy, but nothing worth doing ever is.

When you practice, you work your body and your mind.  Part of the learning is remembering what you were taught in the dojo.  You have to rub the dust and cobwebs off your brain and concentrate on what you were shown.  Working the memory muscles and brain power helps your karate.  Play those memory strings in order to get the most out of your martial art.

There is something not so spiritual about practicing in the living room, or the hallway.  It is during this practice time, in a place outside the dojo, when you learn to internalize time and place.  Your karate can be done anywhere and once you realize this, your physical location will have less meaning then your mental state of being.

If you don’t practice, you will show up to the next class with little improvement.  You’ll have to start over in a sense, try it again, and hope to excel. When I started learning, I wrote everything down.  I still have notes that are more than twenty years old.  After class, I would head home, and in a tidy little notebook I would write down a handful of lessons I had learned.  If I could not remember the specific technique, I would write down the idea:  for a back neck grab, raise one arm straight up and then reach back, turn slightly, and wrap it around the opponent’s two arms to hold him, then punch him in the face!  It was not a perfect description but it was enough for ME to remember what to do.  Someone else reading it would have no clue.  They might chuckle, “Is that even a real technique?”  It didn’t matter because I was the one who remembered it at class the next week and didn’t have to re-learn it like some others did.

Mistakes Can Work in Your Favor

There are many, many mistakes that can hinder your capabilities and your experiences in martial arts, just as there are in life.  Similarly, there are times when mistakes will end up working in your favor.  Let’s take a look at how turning your mistakes around will make you better in the long run.

Mistake:  You don’t get asked to test because you have not practiced enough.

Lesson learned:  You start practicing at home and really find out what martial arts means to you.  You are asked to test because your practicing shows.

Mistake:  You get in someone’s face after beating them in a sparring match.

Lesson learned:  You are not allowed to spar again until you recognize that respect is as important as the match itself and you end up becoming the biggest proponent of having a respectful atmosphere in the dojo.

Mistake:  You insist your ankle is strong enough after a severe sprain to practice a jump kick board break.

Lesson learned: You re-injure the ankle and are forced to take several weeks off from classes.  From then on you always completely care for an injury if at all possible before risking being hurt again because a few weeks off is better than a year of pain.

Not all is lost if you make one of the common mistakes I’ve identified.  In fact, if you learn from your errors, you will become an excellent martial artist.  The martial art is only part of the picture; the other part is all about how you handle yourself, deal with others, and bounce back from some of the mistakes you are bound to make.

There is no such thing as perfection; not in you and not in me.  You will make mistakes, and plenty of them.  Winning has to do with giving 100%, practicing, focusing, diffusing ego, and allowing your imperfections to help you make meaningful and worthwhile changes.

These are NOT lessons just for martial artists.  They are lessons for all.

They are NOT just for winning in the dojo, but more importantly, for winning in life.

Andrea