The Worst Martial Arts Mistake You Can Make

The punch came in straight and true.

Footwork shifted me outside of the attack.

Capture the arm and step across for a wrist lock.

Arm captured, elbow extended, the lock stopping the movement of the hips.

And then a mistake in the footwork.

The lock released.

What happens next?

One of the learning models in the dojo is where the students watch the teacher demonstrate a technique and then pair up and practice back and forth working on the technique.

Observe and repeat.

Back and forth.

But what happens when something goes wrong?

When a mistake is made half-way through the practice, or the technique does not quite work?

This is a fatal mistake that you do not want to make in your martial arts practice: always finish out the technique as best as you can.

Stopping and starting over is fatal.

Don’t switch the technique to something else, or add something else in, finish it out as best as you can.

Establishing a body pattern.

In that moment there is only movement, no time to think, analyze or debate. You are going to move according to the flow of how you practice. Stopping a technique mid-way through to get another try, or start over is establishing the very body pattern that you don’t want.

Stopping and not moving mid-stream.

Always finishing it out, no matter how bad, established the correct body pattern.

Always keep moving.

From there work on getting the technique correct.