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Training plateaus are inevitable if you train in the martial arts (or any other field for that matter) for long enough. Training plateaus are like hitting an invisible brick wall that you just can’t seem to climb over no matter how hard you try. Training plateaus are your body and mind’s way of telling you that they have had enough for now; that you have taken on enough information for the time being and they need time to assimilate and regroup. In other wards, you need to take a break of some sort.
Over the course of my training career I have hit my fair share of training plateaus, but the worst one I experienced happened just after I got my black belt in Kempo Ju Jitsu. I had been training quite hard in the run up to the actual grading. It was my black belt grading after all and I wanted to make sure I passed first time so I put everything I had into training for it.
When I passed the grading itself I felt completely elated for a couple of days, as you would expect. I was on a high, flushed with my grading success.
Then the horrible feelings of anti-climax set in and I started to feel like I was on some kind of downward spiral, hurtling towards depression and a complete lack of interest in my training. Suddenly I didn’t feel so elated anymore. I didn’t even feel like training anymore. I still turned up at the dojo but I just couldn’t motivate myself properly, nor was I getting the same enjoyment and satisfaction out of the training that I had gotten before I gained the black belt.
Eventually the worst happened and I just quit training altogether out of a total lack of interest. You also have to remember that I had been training non-stop in one style or another since I was seven years old and when I got the black belt in Kempo Ju Jitsu I was in my early twenties, so I had devoted a large part of my life to the martial arts.
In the end I stayed away from training for nearly two years. Looking back I can see now that I had hit a very serious plateau in my training, one which I probably could have gotten over if I had followed some of the advice I am about to impart to you now. Maybe I didn’t need to take so much time of, but needless to say, by the time I got back to training I was raring to go. It felt like I was starting afresh again.
My story is probably an extreme example of how hitting a training plateau can affect you. Most plateaus are not as serious as this and can be overcome by firstly acknowledging your situation and then by applying some simple measures to the situation that will help you move past it.
Warning Signs
So what are the signs that you have hit a brick wall in your training? Here are some things to look out for:
1. Lack of progress in your training.
2. Constant feelings of frustration and despondency.
3. Lack of enjoyment in your training.
4. Feelings of uselessness
5. Recurring lack of interest.
There may be other symptoms with this problem but certainly these are the main ones. At the very least you will feel like your training has suddenly ground to a halt and no matter how hard you try you just can’t seem to make any further progress. In fact the harder you try to push things forward, the worse the situation seems to get. Such is the nature of the situation.
Climbing the Wall
Now that you have recognised the problem for what it is the next thing to remember is not to take it personally. It happens to everyone at some point, so you’re not the only one who has had to deal with this situation.
Training plateaus are in fact necessary; they are a precursor to progress.
Plateaus represent the phase were your mind is giving itself time to assimilate new information. It is a time when everything you have learned on a conscious level starts to get shifted down into your unconscious mind so that you can then begin to put into practice everything you have learned, but do so without thinking about it.
All techniques and movements learned up to this point then become part of your fibre. Natural reactions are based on this unconscious knowledge. You just have to give it some time so that your conscious mind can empty itself before allowing you to fill it up with new information once more.
So a training plateau is really brought on by your mind being at saturation point. It’s the transition period between conscious competence in your technique to unconscious competence in your technique. The key to going from one to the other is simply to give the process enough time to happen and not to disrupt it by putting yourself under needless pressure to perform.
Recognise what is happening and then back of. The worst thing you can do is to start trying harder in your training in a futile effort to force yourself over the wall. Such action doesn’t work and in fact will only draw the plateau out even longer than is necessary. The best course of action you can take at this point is to back of from training, maybe not altogether, but back enough so that you are not tying yourself up in knots of frustration.
There is no point in trying to learn anything new here because your mind will point blank refuse to take the information in. If you don’t want to take a break from training altogether then just work on some very basic techniques for a while, stuff you don’t have to think about like stances and strikes or do some bag work or even just concentrate on your fitness. Anything that isn’t complicated or doesn’t require you to learn new skills.
Relaxation
The key is to relax as much as possible, which is why you may find meditation to be very good in this situation. Practice it every day and it will speed the progress of your plateau because you are allowing your mind to work unhindered and at its own pace.
Throughout this down time, keep testing the water to see what stage you are at, but don’t force yourself into anything. If you still feel the same, simply back of again.
You will generally know when a plateau has passed. You will feel different, rejuvenated almost and ready for action again. You’ll start to pick things up once more and the constant frustration and despondency you once felt will be gone, replaced by a renewed vigour and eagerness to learn. Your passion will be rekindled once more.
So if you’re sitting uncomfortably on a training plateau at present, don’t worry. Plateaus are a necessary part of the learning curve. Accept this fact and just allow it to happen at it’s own pace. Eventually it will pass and you’ll be all the better for it.
