Adam Mitchell [00:00:00]:
But when the student is called out of the crowd at random, and they come up and they do a slow strike, and you respond and then, boom, you explode on them and whip them and throw them or smack their arm really hard or come in and block, and then come in and smash them with a strike. And then you look at everybody. You watch this. The instructor looks around. They're looking for approval from the audience. Hey there, everyone. Adam here from Shugio, and I want to welcome you back to this episode. I'd like to talk today with you about the topic of training and how I'm just really exhausted of over 30 years of watching people get hurt.
Adam Mitchell [00:00:47]:
And I'm going to talk a little bit about the principle of sundome, which is a really important principle in traditional Japanese budo, where it's not being applied in the collective kobudo that I study and what we can do about it. But first, I'd like to share a story about an old student of mine and one of the sort of. One of the saddest parts of my own personal teaching experience as an instructor and running a school. I had a student who was exceptional in skill, travel to Japan very frequently, studied with my teacher. I just couldn't speak more highly of someone who had a degree of commitment like his, who had the. Really embodied the mindset of the budo, of the. Of the martial arts. I could always count on this student for anything.
Adam Mitchell [00:01:42]:
Helping with the class, demonstrating a technique, preparing someone for their next rank, testing. The one issue that I continuously encountered with him was that his attitude towards training left very like a really small margin for mistakes for someone that he was training with. And this level of seriousness, while respectable in one sense, it became damaging to my dojo. It became damaging to my teacher's art in the long term. But worst of all, it became damaging to students, especially young students who came to the art to train. And I'd like to unpack this a little bit, and I would like to share with you that over the course of 30 years, I have been witness to watching so many incredibly talented, incredibly skilled martial arts instructors who would throw all of that respect I had away from the. For them, in the moment when they would do a technique, they would call up an uke or someone to come up and demonstrate the technique in front of the crowd or in front of their students. They would do the technique, the opponent would attack them slow and smooth so that people watching could see what was going on, and the instructor would respond slowly, but then halfway through the technique, for whatever reason, it May be to prove something.
Adam Mitchell [00:03:20]:
Maybe they're insecure, maybe they want to show off. They would immediately speed up. And this is exactly the area that I want to talk about today, because this is precisely where people get hurt. This is where so many people in my history I've seen leave the martial art. It's where emotions elevate and breakdown. You know, breakdown happens. It doesn't begin here, but it happens here. And we have to ask ourselves, is this poor leadership? Is it poor instruction? Is it poor learning? Is it a poor martial art? Or is it a poor attitude of the person who's demonstrating? Or could it be all.
Adam Mitchell [00:04:02]:
Or a combination of some. Regardless of what it is, I want to put a message out there that in order for the art to continue to flow, in order for it to continue to grow forward, there needs to be stop gaps and safety measures in place to prevent this from happening. When you're doing a technique, and regardless of. Really regardless of what art it is, you need to step into the training and step into the experience of executing a technique and not doing so with overburdening the opponent, but also not being too compliant to the technique and just sort of, you know, being a cadaver or as, you know, if someone. If you ask someone to come in and, you know, do come at you with a haymaker, come at you with a front kick, come at you with a lunge punch. Whatever the technique may be, being overly compliant doesn't necessarily accomplish anything. However, being too forceful as the demonstrator doesn't teach anything. In fact, it sort of creates a degree of insecurity and definitely a degree of separation between the students and you.
Adam Mitchell [00:05:16]:
I'd like you to take some time after listening to this or watching this video and go on YouTube and look at your martial art and look at some of the instructors and notice those moments where a student, maybe a green belt or even a black belt, like whatever that means in your art, comes at the instructor, and they come in at a good pace, maybe maybe somewhat slow, maybe medium pace, maybe even fast pace. And when the instructor blocks or receives or whatever they do, and then they immediately punch it, this demonstrates to me an extreme lack of security, an immense misunderstanding of. Of fighting, and the proper way to actually learn how to. How to study the art that you're doing. You just cannot learn like that. First of all, a visual learner can't imprint that the audio learner has no clue what's going on. And the kinetic learner, well, they're just not going to get that. And they're going to end up making a mistake.
Adam Mitchell [00:06:18]:
They're going to replicate the technique that they see on the person when they're told to go off. And now, okay, do this on your own, they're going to try to replicate that, and they're going to end up injuring someone. So the whole body of this complaint that I have, the whole body of this error in traditional martial arts training, it has a lot of tentacles. It has a lot of negative outcomes that I'd like, you know, at least for the community of listeners, of watchers, of students, of instructors that know I resonate with or if you're listening to this, I'd like you to consider this in your own training. I'd like you to watch this in your own art. And if you're someone who does this, I'd like you to stop. I've spent 30 years watching people get hurt. I spent 30 years watching arrogant instructors in different martial arts.
Adam Mitchell [00:07:08]:
And I'm. I'm going to call it as it is. You know, predominantly in the Bujinkan. So many people will have someone come up to this very extended elongated lunge punch. They'll move around slowly, almost like they're ordering a cup of coffee around a fist coming at them, and then out of nowhere, they'll come with this violent technique at as fast as they can go. And it's ridiculous, it's hurtful, it proves nothing, it shows nothing. And actually, it makes the art collectively go in reverse. For those people who are may.
Adam Mitchell [00:07:40]:
May be interested in what it is that we collectively study, and they have a desire to learn more. That recklessness and that display of arrogance really does nothing but injure all the work that we're doing. And it shows that. I mean, it shows that you suck. It shows that you don't know what you're doing. It shows nothing to me about your leadership. And if you're doing that, you're not doing anything helpful to the students, you're not doing anything helpful to the preservation of the art. And I really.
Adam Mitchell [00:08:13]:
I've just been witness to this too long, and I'd like it to stop. The impetus for me having this conversation here with you today was watching, you know, other martial artists in my dojo coming from other schools, and not really understanding, sort of how we train and how our flow is. And we go hard, we go very hard. We spar almost every class. And in conversation with one of my students, I was saying, you know, a lot of the classes we finish, people are on their backs gasping for air. Some people have to Step out, because it's really intense. Some people walk out of the dojo exhausted, but nobody's walking out of the dojo feeling as though they were not taken care of, feeling as though the instructor wasn't looking after them, feeling as though they didn't learn anything, feeling as though they're unsafe around someone. And that was really what was challenging for me with this one student I had many years ago who was incredible.
Adam Mitchell [00:09:25]:
It's that anytime in the rotation, a student came around, they were scared. And when you're scared, you can't learn. You. You can't progress. And I understand that there's thresholds of fear that people have to be exposed to in order to kind of excel forward, in order to be able to expand. Of course, I understand. However, in that container, it's not safe. And that comes down to proper leadership.
Adam Mitchell [00:09:48]:
It comes down to the proper understanding of teaching. It comes down to understanding functional movement and being able to recognize what. When someone is in a place of fear and their body's doing certain responses, you as an instructor have to acknowledge this person isn't going to learn anything right now because they're responding completely in defense mode right now. Even though the person that they're with may be going slowly, they're in a place of fear. So you need to step in and you need to resolve that. If you're an instructor, if you're a student, it is okay. It is okay if you are a student, if you're wearing a green belt, a white belt, any whatever color you use, if you're a black belt, or even if you have no belts. If you're a student and you feel as though the person that you're training with or the instructor is going too far in their role, if they're being abusive, if they're taking advantage of you, then you have every right and you have a responsibility towards those students that don't have the courage or even the willingness to step forward and say, hold on a second, this isn't right.
Adam Mitchell [00:10:57]:
I've made this mistake as an instructor. I recently made this mistake because I wasn't paying attention when it happened in my own dojo. And for that, I'm really sorry. I will always be sorry to the students who, under my watch, I allowed someone to go fast, go hard, beyond the point of control, to a place where someone gets hurt. That hurt may not be physical. That hurt may be in a place of distrust or safety or not feeling comfortable. And that creates more and more distance from them. Gaining the benefits of the budo the benefits of the martial art that they came to learn.
Adam Mitchell [00:11:36]:
And if you're an instructor and you're not aware of this, you're not cognizant of this happening on your watch, then I'm going to invite you to take a couple steps back and, and really understand what it is that we're trying to teach and how you have taken on the mantle of responsibility to get the students there. Now, if you're a student and you're listening to this, I want you to make sure that when you see, going forward, when you see an instructor do a technique and then they accelerate really fast just to. Just to show something, you need to at that moment, take inventory of what's going on and acknowledge that there is a huge lack of responsibility and that that person is okay with putting their training partner at risk. And that's not cool. If you're going fast and your opponent is coming at you with a certain degree of intensity and that degree is matched, you can bring it down a little bit or you can go over it a little bit, so long as it's within those same sort of guardrails and it's understood contextually what's going on, and the instructor has the skill, the verbal skill, the physical skill to demonstrate it correctly and they're able to really convey the message of that technique, then that's great. However, when it's done to show off and the person walks around in a little duck walk circle and they're looking around for the approval of the crowd, nope, that's your signal to get up, respectfully, bow off the mat, walk away, and go find a different instructor. That will continue until the point that someone gets hurt. And that person most likely won't say anything because they don't want to embarrass themselves because maybe they're a guy and they don't want to show, hey, you hurt me.
Adam Mitchell [00:13:20]:
Or maybe they're scared or what, there's a whole bunch of reasons why they'll just sort of disappear and never come back. I've seen this happen so many times, and I'm encouraging you. When you see this, call it for what it is. It's insecurity. It's a lack of leadership. It's an inability to understand the art that they're teaching. And all they're using is a forceful mind and a forceful heart to do damage. And that's not cool.
Adam Mitchell [00:13:50]:
Please consider in your study of martial arts, when you're working with someone at an equal or maybe above the skill level of you work slow Work in what I like to. I like the acronym. It was taught to me many years ago, Fast form. And I've talked about this quite a bit. So if you've heard this from me, you're going to hear it again. Sorry, but if you haven't, take notes here and I'd love to hear how you approach this. But to really understand a martial art that can inflict damage on someone, let's say judo, true judo, if you're doing a one arm shoulder throw on someone, you could really hurt that person by collapsing your legs and they land head first. Or if they don't know how to do the proper ukemi, there's a lot of reasons, right? But in order to execute this technique or any form, you need to begin with form.
Adam Mitchell [00:14:45]:
What is the movement? Slow, fluid. Proper placement of hips, knees tracking over feet, hips down. Position of the arm inside their, you know, securing the tricep and the crook of your elbow to getting, getting the proper lift so both of their feet come off the ground. There's so many different ingredients to a proper form of a one arm shoulder throw. Like a beginner, it's sort of like a month six technique in traditional judo, okay? Once your form is established, then the accuracy of the throw comes in. So you're able to do that throw the form slow and fluid. Everything is placed correctly. Then you graduate onto the accuracy of the technique.
Adam Mitchell [00:15:26]:
This is like the uchikomi, or this is like techniques where you're leaping in and your hips are hitting. Now every time correctly, your body position is accurate each time you enter. If it's a sword technique or a weapon technique, you're on target, your form is in place. The body position, the place of the elbow, the turn of the hand, everything is form correct. Now you're going for accuracy. And once you're able to get a sort of statistical relevance, meaning you're able to get to a place where at about 200 repetitions, you're hitting at north of 80% of the time. Then you're able to then move on to, but not until that point, speed. Now here's where it gets interesting.
Adam Mitchell [00:16:07]:
Form, accuracy, speed. Speed. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. You've moved to this point. You've naturally progressed through form and through accuracy training, you will naturally begin to progress in speed. Now you're not involving yourself yet with an opponent and you're not applying this to fighting. So it's in this area, it's in these margins that you should not be beating the crap out of anybody with your new skill. Or your old skill.
Adam Mitchell [00:16:33]:
And if you are, then you're doing it wrong. And go back and listen or watch everything that I've said up to this point. Form 100 repetition and you get it correct. Move on to accuracy. Get yourself consistent, statistically consistent with the accuracy of that one form. Then you will naturally develop and establish a speed and you'll be able to move with crisp movement and accurate. Now you start to become proficient in that technique. This is where another, where a training partner comes into place.
Adam Mitchell [00:17:06]:
Because we move into timing, someone of different skills, some of the different body types, body sizes, strength level, speeds, different levels of dexterity, different exposures to the art are going to give you different variables of feedback on that technique. You'll be able to pressure test it. Not just pressure test it because someone's trying to grapple with you and move you around, but because this person's taller or this person's shorter. This person has a lower center of gravity, this person has a higher one, this person's much lighter. It's completely different dynamic than when you're going up against someone who is alignment for the New York jets. So we're working in different variables. This is going to affect our timing, it's going to affect how we're moving. And now we start having all of those different people move side to side, front and back.
Adam Mitchell [00:17:52]:
And now we're trying to capture that kuzushi or that balance break. And now we're starting to establish the proper timing so. So that we can enter and execute on the technique. Okay, if you're not following something similar to this and your instructor is getting up there showboating, doing a technique, showing all the different worlds of variations that you can, you can also do this and you can do this and you can do this and you can do that and this and that and this and that. Okay, go play, have fun. You're not learning a martial art. So I really don't want to feel as though I'm on a soapbox and preaching here. But what I am is I'm tired of watching people get hurt.
Adam Mitchell [00:18:30]:
I'm tired of watching people instructors who people come to and look up to. I'm tired of seeing that all over YouTube, at seminars, listening to these showboats laugh and like, look, you'll see this everywhere where someone does a technique. They're not even dropping their hips, they're not even moving their body. They have no real understanding of what's going on. Everything lives in a hank up because they haven't done the work to learn the True form. And they do some technique. A person comes at them slow or grabs them slow because they're like a green belt. And they don't want to, like, accidentally punch their sensei.
Adam Mitchell [00:19:09]:
No, hit the guy or girl. That's what they're there for. That doesn't mean be forceful, but come at them at the proper speed. Make sure that that's determined beforehand. Make sure that you're framing up your uke or your training partners with how you want to demonstrate. Because we're working with this specific skill, skill set. That's responsible demonstration. That's responsible teaching.
Adam Mitchell [00:19:31]:
But when the student is called out of the crowd at random and they come up and they do a slow strike and you respond and then, boom, you explode on them and whip them and throw them or smack their arm really hard, or come in and block, and then come in and smash them with a strike. And then you look at everybody. You watch this. The instructor looks around. They're looking for approval from the audience. And when people are like, ha, ha, ha ha. That is. Ask anybody who understands body language, and they're able to understand, like, facial dynamics and, like, how someone's communicating through body language, through their face, they'll tell you that all those people are unsure.
Adam Mitchell [00:20:10]:
All those people are kind of scared, but they're going along with social proofing, and they're like, yeah, yeah, that was good. This is terrible. This is terrible. And anybody who understands proper martial arts, like people who understand kobudo, people who understand leadership, they can look at this stuff and they see right through it. You're not doing anybody any favors if you're one of them. So please, if you're an instructor, slow down. Learn how to teach. Understand your martial art.
Adam Mitchell [00:20:40]:
Always have that spirit of shoshin, of going back and looking through it, through the mind and the eye of a beginner, not just for humility's sake, but for leadership's sake, understand the path that the new student is on so that you can meet them there, and then you're able to preserve the technique, then you're able to grow students, then you're able to build strong and powerful martial artists. And if you're a fellow student out there, maybe someone who has just started their path, then please be watchful. Be on the lookout for this behavior, because it is everywhere. It is everywhere. And I'm telling you, call it for what it is, and do not be afraid, because the end of that path is suffering. The end of that path is someone getting hurt. The end of that path is the continuity of Someone who is insecure, who's trying to sit on a throne with their black belts, with all their stripes, and they're trying to get recognition and they're trying to just live in their imposter syndrome. It's not a safe place for you, and I'm encouraging you to step away from it.
Adam Mitchell [00:21:47]:
If this is inspiring to you, if you're nodding and you're like, yeah, I have seen that, I understand, Adam. Then I want to encourage all of us collectively to move forward in this martial art. Learning how to teach, learning how to train, training hard, training correct, using form, then accuracy, developing good speed, getting crisp timing, becoming a powerful and effective martial art in what it is that we do. And if you're looking just to fist fight, that's great, that's easy. Those people are a dime a dozen and that's not a problem. However, this, a dojo is not a place for that. And I would encourage you, if you're looking to, I don't know, prove something, or if you're looking to become a good fighter, then a dojo is not a place for you. A dojo is not going to help you with that.
Adam Mitchell [00:22:36]:
Will it help you to become proficient in skills that involve hand to hand fighting? Yes. That depends on the instructor. It also depends on what your goals are. People badmouth aikido all the time. This isn't an effective street martial art. Yeah, no kidding. It never was meant to be. So it's like you're saying, well, you know, how come this, how come this cucumber doesn't taste like an apple? It's not supposed to.
Adam Mitchell [00:23:00]:
You don't understand aikido, but yet you're making a judgment about it. I would encourage you not to do that. If you're looking to fight, if you're looking to gain the skills for that, please look elsewhere. Or if you would like to enjoy traditional martial arts, you'd like to get the value and the benefits from it, great. But when you enter a dojo, understand soon domin understand it's important, it's critical to stop the moment before, to not go past the point of your own self control and inflict pain and injury on other people because you haven't one been trained to do otherwise or don't have the intention to stop and you want to hurt someone. There's no place for you at my dojo. And I think I speak on the behalf of many other people who are committed to the preservation of traditional Japanese martial arts or those arts that they have a heritage from that we only want to continue the preservation and we have no interest in people being hurt. I hope this message has helped.
Adam Mitchell [00:23:57]:
I hope it's inspired you to maybe think a little bit. I would love to hear your comments. I'd like to hear what you think about what it is that I'm saying here. I have so much more to say about it, but there are times when I feel like I'm getting a little preachy and I'm not comfortable with that. However, I do want our art to continue strong and with students who are happy, students who are sweating, students that are learning and getting stronger and that they're using the Budo to overcome the areas of their life that they need help in. That you're using the Budo to enrich their life to become, as my sensei says, better people. Thank you so much for sharing your time with me on this episode of Shugyo. I look forward to seeing you on the next episode.
