The Missing Ingredient in your training: Dedication.

 

Posted by ADAM CARTER on NOV 03, 2024

The Missing Ingredient in your training: Dedication.

(Approx 1 minute 40 second read)

I often get asked, “How can I improve my karate?” The answer is very simple: ‘Practice’.

It never ceases to amaze me how some people will boldly say, “I’ve forgotten what you taught me.” This is not a failure of memory but of discipline. Improvement in karate – or in anything worthwhile – demands diligent and regular practice.

Early on in my training, anything my instructor taught me that I found was valuable. I would write it down immediately. Reflect on it during the car ride home, and review it as soon as I got in. I practiced from my notes, visualizing each detail in my mind before physically repeating the moves. This wasn’t just for my own development; it was out of respect for my instructor, who dedicated time and energy to teaching me.

Today, people often ask how I manage to write so many articles. My answer? I have notes going back decades, a record of not just techniques but also thoughts, insights, and reflections on practice and philosophy.

If you want to progress, you must reinforce what is taught in class by practicing on your own. I also found it useful to spend a few minutes each day reading about martial arts history or philosophy, and visualizing techniques, or reviewing my notes.

Regularly practicing, even for a short time each day, solidifies the concepts taught in the dojo and also ensures you’re prepared for the next class.

We often hear the saying, “Once learned, never forgotten”. But this only holds true if you put in the effort to make it so.

Growth, learning and knowledge in karate, or anything really, is a continuous, self-driven process, and students and some instructors too, must put in the work to achieve it.

As teachers we try to encourage and inspire our students to achieve more than us, to be better than they were yesterday. And it’s all about dedicating yourself, to work hard, to not give up when things are difficult or you’re injured.

The martial arts requires commitment, sacrifice and dedication. It’s not something you can do on a whim. There is so much to learn. Think of these things when you question yourself why you are not progressing or you’re forgetting things.

The key to mastery lies not in the lesson itself, but in the hours of practice that follow.

Written by Adam Carter – Shuri Dojo.

 Photo Credit: Steve McQueen