So, how about you guys, what do you think when you have a really bad session and everybody pummels and subs you six ways to sunday? Happened to me in two previous session and its a special ****off because before that I did okay, subbing about 3 out of 4 guys I sparred. Suddenly I seem to have become worse in grappling, my tricks and techniques dont work and training partners basicly did what they wanted. Depressing as hell. I joked with my friend that maybe I should take up a hobby that better suited my talents, such as needlework. Not seriously ofcourse. But, do you get depressed after a really bad session, do you analyze it and try to think what went wrong?
I don't get depressed and I don't take up needlework. If it's competition then it's important to review the footage over and over to find the errors that are putting you in the firing line. It's surprising how many people never view video footage of themselves fighting. It's a must if you plan to improve. Often times it's not you who's going to suss out where the mistakes are being made. It's pretty hard to... you're the one with the bad habits that make those mistakes. It's most likely someone who can stand outside and look in... that means your trainer needs to look at the tapes and show you where you need to be changing.
Not needlework but machine embroidery is nice and creative,. i get bored easily so need lots of different distractions, so i simply change and focus my attention elsewhere then dcome back to the problem.
Well, I kinda know where the problem lies; I need to go back to the very basics and not work on those only. Not improvising or trying too fancy tricks. Oh, maybe I will bring a needle with me to the class... I bet I can dismount my partner with that.
Yes, and absolutely! If there was a particularly bad session, not stopping to examine what went wrong means that the bad session was a waste. If you examine it, you get a clue into the holes in your current game, because a bad night only means that holes that were already there just became more obvious to you. Was your guard getting passed too easily? If so, was it because they were countering your attacks with passes? If so, you need to work on your attack details and see what you're doing wrong. Was it because you couldn't break their posture? If so, work on breaking their grips and securing good grips of your own. Work on head control. Were you getting reversed or caught back in guard from top? If so, were they taking advantage of attacks? Maybe you need to work on minimizing space and maximizing pressure as you move. If so, were you just unable to keep them from bumping or elbow escaping? You get the picture - I actually have a little checklist in my training journal that looks like a longer version of the above and I always note the mistakes I made before I even note what I made work. I tend to forget the mistakes a lot faster than the successes if I don't! Just remember, it's never a bad night unless you weren't paying enough attention to see what went wrong.
Dude, I know what you mean. From time to time (now being one of those times), I feel like I've hit a plateau where I'm making the same mistakes over and over. On a very general level, I try to approach this as a sign that I need to take a more active role in my training. I'm a lazy person by nature, and I can slip into a passive training role where I work only on what our Coach shows us and focus only on what I've already learned. When I slip like this, I tend to stagnate. It's only when I go out and LOOK for the details do I really make progress... going into class with a specific agenda. Athereal, good points! I'm going to make it a point to note what I did wrong before what I did right from now on. Thanks for the tip!
Atharel, thanks also, I think I will make my own checklist and start going the session trough in my mind. The really really annoying thing is, that some of those guys had been training way less than me... It doesn't bother me to get subbed if the other guy has been training considerably more but considerably less... ouch.
This is a perfectly natural stage in martial development. The fact is the learning curve is a lot more like a step pyramid than a curve. What will happen to everybody all through out their MA career is that at certain stages you will start looking at what you are doing a different way and your breaking down and analyzing what you are doing. Most of it is subconscious. During this period practically everyone starts to think that their technique sucks and find they'er not as focused as they where before but this is perfectly natural and it is just a stage on the journey. Keep training and not only will you get your umph back but you’ll be better than before. Then sooner or later you will start breaking down what you are doing into even finer detail and you’ll feel like your getting worse, then you’ll get your umph back – repeat.
i think you're extremely lucky to have a situation that you can rise above. Did you "learn" from the losses? i learn from EVERY loss.
Imagine if you owned everyone every session. The only way that could happen is if you were huge and engaged in the Mat Spaz technique. You'd never learn anything, would you? Getting a beating is one of the best ways to learn, and it will teach you genuine humility if you allow it (that's GENUINE humility, as opposed to passive-aggressiveness disguised as humility as displayed by martial LARPists).
Simply not tapping everyone out or not having a stellar workout every day shouldn't be depressing. Like everyone else will chime in with, losing isn't always a bad thing. And you can learn from it. Figure out what it is that everyone is using against you and work on defending it. Or, as some mentioned earlier, work with your basics. We're talking training here. Practicing to be better. I have always found it more motivating when I get sub'd in class. You definitely shouldn't get depressed over it. Or angry. Those guys are even worse. Besides, you will probably find the techniques of needlework even more frustrating and difficult to learn.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I know bad workouts happen sometimes, I am not exactly slashing my wrists open It was semi-humurous also, because it went so bad that it became kinda funny. Anyways, today is another session, just gotta do better today. Cheers!
I wouldn't say I get depressed. I keep a training diary (actually I keep 3 ), one of this is for technique and sparring/rolling. If I get truely pimped, the next day I try to get some quiet time to think what I need to work on. I then write this down in my diary in BIG BLOCK letters. I then try to concentrate on these points when rolling.
