Over the last 30 years I have coached thousands of people in karate. Although coaching style changes according to the age and ability of the student, one thing is undeniable – like many complex skills, learning karate requires a huge amount of time, dedication and … repetition!

As a coach I believe in the importance of taking a break from the action to talk about what we are doing and more importantly, why. I’ve written this blog to help students understand why there will be a lot of repetition in their classes, why it’s important and how to get the best results from it.

Looking back to my early days as a student I remember being keen, always wanting to go faster, learn new things and compare my progress against that of my peers. My focus was always on achieving the next belt or winning the next competition. All the students in class would perform the same techniques over and over, lesson after lesson with the phrase ‘one more time’, or ‘moichido’ in Japanese, ringing in our ears. Never has such a repetitive lie been told, it was NEVER just one more!

I always wanted to push to learn the next, more advanced technique, kata or combination and lots of repetition on something I felt I could already do made me frustrated. It took me a long time to realise that the technique didn’t need to change, rather the way I performed it. That was such a pivotal moment for me in my training and made me more mindful of what I was doing in the present and less focused on rushing to the next thing. In turn, this mindful approach brought a much deeper insight into how much scope for learning there was, even within a relatively small syllabus framework.

I understand that repetition can become dull, even to the most dedicated student. Most students, as I did, crave the ‘one, two skip a few, ninety nine, one hundred’ method to learning. It can be difficult to comprehend, if you feel you can already do a technique, kata or drill, why you should do it 100, 1,000 or even 10,000 times more, but it is important to remember that each repetition is an opportunity for improvement.

In order to learn a physical movement you copy someone’s example, however, simply imitating what someone else is doing is not enough to develop past a basic level. In order to advance, you need to understand what you are doing and why, be able to control every nuance of the movement and feel the connection between mind and body. You need to be able to perform accurately under pressure, with appropriate speed and power and be able to adapt to different scenarios. These skills are developed and honed through repeated practice.

Here’s my tips on how to get the most from your training:

1. Be mindful of every movement. Think about which parts of your body are being used and how. Make micro changes according to how things look, feel and the feedback you get from your coach/peers and your own body. If we are not mindful we are merely imitating what we see others do and will not fully understand or utilise the internal systems involved in creating the movement. Without this mental connection we cannot change what we do, or in turn, the results.
2. Variety keeps things interesting.  This can be through changing the way you practise, for example, using pads or training with a partner, but also by varying your focus. Give mind to your breathing, muscle tension/relaxation, timing, distance or power.
3. Listen to your body. If you’re tired, take a break or slow things down. Whilst it’s good to challenge and push to develop physical fitness, being tired can degrade the quality of movement so try to take a balanced approach to training, sometimes fast and hard, other times slow and controlled.
4. Take regular videos of yourself whilst training. It’s easy to lose sight of how much progress you make when learning a physical skill, so videos can be a nice reminder of your development. They are also a very useful feedback tool as they can aid you in seeing things you can improve upon.
5. Keep your expectations realistic. Understand and accept that achieving a high standard in karate takes a lot of time, effort, dedication and of course repetition! There will be periods of great progress, likewise it is entirely normal to go through more difficult times where you not only feel like you’re not progressing, but can feel like you’re getting worse! Enthusiasm and motivation come easy when you feel things are going well, but success comes from training through the times when you feel defeated or unmotivated.

I have trained in karate for decades. That’s not something you do if you don’t love it but it hasn’t always been easy! There’s a common saying in karate “the only difference between a white belt and a black belt student is the black belt didn’t quit“, but believe me, there were times when they wanted to! However, by staying the course and having the determination to push through when you feel challenged, you develop not only the physical skill but also the mindset to truly earn a black belt.