00;00;00;01 - 00;00;17;02
Unknown
I've been teaching aikido for over 30 years now, and I've watched hundreds of students hit the same wall at roughly the same point in their training. The ones who got through it almost always did one specific thing differently, and it wasn't more classes.
00;00;17;04 - 00;00;45;11
Unknown
So going into this topic, I'm reminded of a student that I had who he went into a period during his training. I think he was like maybe second kyu or first kyu, and he went into a period of his training where one day he didn't want to take my suggestions. So and that was very, very unlike him. And I saw him from across the room and I saw him struggling with something.
00;00;45;11 - 00;00;56;02
Unknown
I knew the solution I would just lose your shoulder or whatever it was, fix your posture, whatever. And so I gave him the suggestion and
00;00;56;06 - 00;01;10;05
Unknown
he made some excuse. Well, I can't do that because of whatever. And and these excuses, as we all know that. I mean, sometimes there are legitimate reasons I shouldn't say excuse, but it was kind of an excuse.
00;01;10;06 - 00;01;40;01
Unknown
And I thought, well, that's really unusual. He usually takes all my suggestions. There's usually just like a nod and then a change that I see. So this was unlike him. Anyway, this went on and on and on again, very much out of his nature. And finally I realized, you know, I think something's wrong and he doesn't want it, but he was still showing up to every class.
00;01;40;01 - 00;01;45;20
Unknown
He was getting there early. He was like the first on the mat, the last off the mat, and.
00;01;45;21 - 00;02;23;03
Unknown
Reasonable and polite and getting along with everybody. So something told me not to ask him. Something told me there was something personal going on, and I found out later, like six months later, that there was indeed something personal going on. And I was glad that I hadn't pushed and asked. But the interesting thing was that I sensed that my effort was falling on deaf ears, infertile ground, and so I just stopped.
00;02;23;10 - 00;02;48;03
Unknown
I thought, okay, there's these other students over here who want my suggestions, so I'll leave him be, come back to him later. And and finally, after quite some time, he kind of looked to me for like, how do I deal with this partner? I can't get this guy to fall down. Finally I started giving him suggestions again. But anyway, the point is that he didn't take time off.
00;02;48;03 - 00;03;11;20
Unknown
He was stuck for about six months on this plateau and I could see it and he knew it. And yet maybe there was something in him that like, no, I got to do this myself. I don't want her to help me out of this. Whatever it was, he was stuck for about six months and then he was back.
00;03;11;23 - 00;03;16;07
Unknown
So. So the one thing is that
00;03;16;07 - 00;03;50;10
Unknown
he stuck around long enough to then ride the post plateau wave. So a plateau isn't a lack of progress. It's progress that isn't visible yet. So you're trying to come into a new stage, or your body and your nervous system are ready to move on to a new stage. And so it feels weird, you know, when you move to a new apartment or a new house, new home, everything is like chaotic at first, right?
00;03;50;12 - 00;04;12;26
Unknown
Let's say that you upgrade, you move to the apartment that you're oh, wow. I've always wanted to live in this apartment building. Right? You get a nicer apartment. It's got all these new features that your old apartment didn't have. But at first, there's going to be boxes all over the place. And you're going to put this stuff over here, and then two weeks later, like, you know what?
00;04;12;27 - 00;04;37;20
Unknown
That stuff doesn't work over there should be over there. So it's really uncomfortable, isn't it? But then finally, once everything settles in, it's like, oh, here I am in my new home. This is what I've wanted for so long. So it's the same in your Aikido progress. When you move into a new area, new stage, it's going to feel weird and wrong
00;04;37;25 - 00;04;42;28
Unknown
The real danger when you feel like you're on a plateau is
00;04;42;28 - 00;05;07;01
Unknown
if you decide that you're just going to go backward and you want to continue doing things that are comfortable for you, instead, what you need to do to get through that plateau is to work on the stuff that feels uncomfortable. Keep going. Keep moving forward. Lean into the discomfort or the uncomfortableness, right?
00;05;07;03 - 00;05;10;23
Unknown
If you just retreat
00;05;10;26 - 00;05;18;05
Unknown
and stay in a comfortable place, go backwards a little bit. When you do progress again,
00;05;18;06 - 00;05;27;09
Unknown
it's going to be waiting for you again. That uncomfortable space is going to be right there waiting for you. So lean into it.
00;05;27;09 - 00;05;33;24
Unknown
This might be impossible, but try to celebrate the discomfort. Go wow, I sure do feel uncomfortable.
00;05;33;24 - 00;05;35;16
Unknown
Maybe I'm getting somewhere.
00;05;35;16 - 00;05;43;27
Unknown
Our work on the mat must keep reintroducing discomfort or the training stops working.
00;05;43;29 - 00;06;09;07
Unknown
What I can tell you is that there are some specific things that separate those who come through a plateau successfully, and those who get stuck there forever and ever, or just quit Aikido and go do something else. The difference is the people who come through the plateau more successfully lean into the discomfort. They train what's broken, not just what works.
00;06;09;09 - 00;06;16;14
Unknown
They go to a new place, even if it means that their partner doesn't fall over yet. This time,
00;06;16;15 - 00;06;33;05
Unknown
and even when it's discouraging or frustrating or scary to go to that uncomfortable place and try and technique a new way or a different way, they still go. They make themselves go. They don't skip class, by the way, either. That's a given.
00;06;33;07 - 00;06;46;00
Unknown
So if you want to get through the plateau, you got to keep showing up. I've heard people say, oh, I decided to take time off because I thought that if I came back fresh that that would help.
00;06;46;01 - 00;07;02;01
Unknown
I haven't really known that to help you come back fresh. Good. And then you start working again. And then again. It's it's there whether it takes a week to get back to that, that struggle for a month or six months.
00;07;02;01 - 00;07;07;05
Unknown
It's there waiting for you. It's a lesson that you have to go through.
00;07;07;05 - 00;07;26;29
Unknown
Another thing that some students do to successfully come through these plateaus is they measure the quality or the sensation during training. They don't measure their progress by whether the partner fell down or not. They measure by the quality.
00;07;27;02 - 00;07;40;24
Unknown
And when the quality of the contact is good, then your partner is more likely to cooperate. If they're not meaning consciously to to resist.
00;07;40;24 - 00;08;01;09
Unknown
another thing that they do is they take all the corrections, even the ones that they might hate. Right? Oh, she's told me a million times to bend my knees. Or what difference does it make if I expand my chest or not? I'm sick of hearing that they take it all again and again and again for the hundredth time.
00;08;01;09 - 00;08;03;25
Unknown
The 300th time. The 400th time.
00;08;03;26 - 00;08;33;12
Unknown
So the next question is, what do we do? How do we apply all of this during a regular class? So first of all, try to notice the technique that you hate the most and that you avoid the most, or the partner that you try to avoid and don't avoid anymore the technique that you hate. Try it more. And okay, maybe your teacher doesn't teach that technique and you're not in a position where you're teaching yet, but find a way.
00;08;33;13 - 00;08;56;24
Unknown
Maybe after class you can do that technique more and more and more. Don't analyze while you're doing it, and don't stop after one execution. And analyze or talk about it, or discuss even five seconds. Keep doing it. Do ten reps, do ten reps, and then go say to your part. If you really want to talk with your partner, go, how did that feel and what did you?
00;08;56;25 - 00;09;26;00
Unknown
I'm not a big believer in that. I'm I'm a believer in people taking ukemi heavy enough that you get your answers because they don't move, and then you change something and they do move. What's to discuss? You just got your answer. Immediate feedback. But some people are going to be like, well, I want to discuss, okay. If you want to discuss, okay, go ahead and get the verbal feedback from your partner.
00;09;26;00 - 00;09;31;29
Unknown
But please do it after 8 or 10 reps, okay? Don't do it after every single throw.
00;09;32;01 - 00;09;34;13
Unknown
Because when you do 8 or 10 reps,
00;09;34;13 - 00;09;44;04
Unknown
that gets you more out of your head and into your body. So that's one thing that you can do. Either find a partner that you really don't like training with,
00;09;44;04 - 00;09;53;01
Unknown
and preferably the reason you don't like training with them is that you're intimidated by them, or you're scared of them, or they're really hard to throw.
00;09;53;03 - 00;10;10;27
Unknown
When I say pick a partner that you hate training with, maybe there's somebody who's like, really lazy and you don't like training with them. Well, okay, you don't need to pick that partner if you can, but I mean, train with anybody who comes to you. Of course, never turn somebody away. That's so insulting.
00;10;11;01 - 00;10;18;23
Unknown
another thing that you can do is if something starts to feel easy, that could be a signal.
00;10;18;29 - 00;10;26;22
Unknown
It could be a signal to to not relax, but to go deeper, loosen up more.
00;10;26;22 - 00;10;30;05
Unknown
Yeah. I don't like this word relax, actually,
00;10;30;05 - 00;10;42;28
Unknown
because many people think it means take it easy. Stop working hard. No, keep working hard as you loosen your muscles. So when things start to feel really easy, find a way to go deeper.
00;10;42;28 - 00;10;56;10
Unknown
And another thing that you can do. Look at all your sempai and figure out one sempai that you don't really understand their training very well, or their ukemi, or both.
00;10;56;13 - 00;11;04;13
Unknown
preferably it's somebody that you that you don't understand their training and you would love to be at their level.
00;11;04;13 - 00;11;08;10
Unknown
You would love to have their kind of movement.
00;11;08;12 - 00;11;13;16
Unknown
Then pay attention to that person and train with that person every chance you get.
00;11;13;17 - 00;11;20;29
Unknown
And by the way, if you'd like more advice and more tips, I've got a free weekly video training newsletter
00;11;20;29 - 00;11;26;26
Unknown
you can sign up for that in the description below. There's a link there. But getting back to our topic.
00;11;26;26 - 00;11;52;23
Unknown
If you have a sempai in your dojo who also has a similar body type, then you're really in luck. If they've got a similar body type to you and there is better than yours. If there's something about their Aikido that you aspire to. Oh my gosh, you are so in luck. Because if it's a similar body type then you've got it right there for you.
00;11;52;23 - 00;11;55;03
Unknown
It's like a it's like having a manual
00;11;55;06 - 00;12;22;05
Unknown
how to do Aikido with my body. Oh there's a similar body. Okay. Do it like this. Do it like that. Right. So if my hero, if my I kiddo hero is six foot six and I'm five foot four, then I'm going to have to to watch that person. But make some adjustments, adjustments for myself.
00;12;22;09 - 00;12;45;27
Unknown
So for example there there there go to technique might be Iriminage. They might love that. A lot of times tall people do and short people. You know what's coming. A lot of times the shorter people love Shihonage. Tall people. Not many tall people love Shiho Nagi because they have to bend their knees more than I do.
00;12;46;01 - 00;12;53;21
Unknown
So anyway, look around for sempai, who has a similar body type to you and
00;12;53;21 - 00;13;00;06
Unknown
has Aikido that you aspire to and go to seminars to where you can find people like that.
00;13;00;06 - 00;13;26;11
Unknown
Speaking of seminars, I will be teaching in Heidelberg, Germany very soon. Next week. Actually, it'll be the 14th and 15th in the evening, and then Wednesday and Thursday the 16th and 17th. I'll be teaching a Yudansha seminar in Bonn, Germany, followed by a mixed level seminar Friday through Sunday the 18th through the 20th. So I hope you join me.
00;13;26;11 - 00;13;49;06
Unknown
And then I'll be in Dusseldorf the week after that, and then up north to Sehnde on the 25th through the 27th. If you want more information and details about those seminars, just click on the link below and you'll get all the details that you need. You can join all the seminars or you can join just one of them.
00;13;49;08 - 00;13;52;02
Unknown
Feel free to join me. Hope to see you there.
00;13;52;05 - 00;14;13;23
Unknown
Back to the topic. If you're at a seminar, you've got tons of people to choose from. You have a limited time to spend with them. Only three days or two days or five days or whatever it is. But still, when you go to a seminar, take a look first of all, at whose aikido you really love or who ukemi you really love.
00;14;13;24 - 00;14;29;25
Unknown
Usually they're one and the same, and maybe you come up with like three people. Wow, they're Aikido not so good. Or five people or two people, whatever. Then from that group, figure out which one has the closest body, the most similar body type to me,
00;14;29;25 - 00;14;37;04
Unknown
and then chase them down. Train with them every moment you get and make some training opportunities.
00;14;37;05 - 00;14;44;14
Unknown
Don't just wait. Oh, they're not coming over to me. You go to them. Don't be shy. Anyway, thank you so much for tuning in.
00;14;44;14 - 00;15;11;17
Unknown
In conclusion, the plateau is not the problem. It's actually a gift. Training through the plateau. Training around the plateau. These are really struggles. They're really difficult. But go back to what's hard. Don't run away from what's hard and stay there. Stay in the uncomfortable zone for as long as it takes. Don't run back to the comfort zone.
00;15;11;18 - 00;15;14;23
Unknown
Thanks so much for tuning in. See you next time. Bye bye.
