Originally Posted by
newtmonkey
At first I was just telling myself to keep going and it will sink in, but like I said I am seeing guys who started after me (with no experience) shooting way past me, so there is definitely something wrong. I am simply not learning anything, I don't feel that I am getting better, which is why I am looking around for advice. I know people react to instruction in different ways (for example, in learning Japanese rote memorization/repetition did not work at all for me, so I had to try a bunch of different methods until I found one that worked). So that is why I am trying to gather info from sources other than my class.
Just watching and copying does not work for me, it never has. You can get up there and show me a technique 5 times and if you then have me try to do it I won't even know where to start. I've always been like that, I can't just copy stuff very well. I need to understand the reason you do a certain movement, what you should be feeling when you do so-and-so, etc etc. I guess I'm a hands on learner. I know 3 months is no time at all, but I have been "practicing and copying what the teacher does" for that time and I am no more proficient at Judo than I was 3 months ago, so this is not going to work. I know the difference between a learning plateau and a brick wall.
This is all IMO, so take it with a grain of salt and for what it's worth. "Visual learning", like doing voice impressions, is indeed an innate ability. Some people just have the knack for doing impressions and voices, and some people just have a knack for looking at what a teacher does and being able to imitate it.
However, it is also a learned skill. If you throw in the towel now and say, "Well, I'm not a visual learner, I just can't learn that way", then you'll never develop that skill. And it's an important skill to learn, because once you get past the basics, there's no one who can tell you what to do to reach the higher levels. You've got to be able to look at others who are better than you, glean from their judo something that will improve your own.
This skill is also similar to, but distinct from that innate ability to mimic movement. The former is conscious, while the latter is often very much unconscious, so even the guys with the knack have to develop this to suss out the subtleties.
I think that the easiest way, in the beginning, to develop this skill is through the use of conscious comparison. If you have just one teacher that you're trying to watch and learn from, you've got no standard with which to judge his movements. So, one thing to do is compare how the sensei moves compared to high level students. But also compare it with students around your own level of skill and experience. Often a high level practitioner's movements can be too subtle for the student to pick up, but those of someone much closer in level to yourself can be easier to see. When you watch, watch for specific things. Focus on the feet for a while, then look at what the hips are doing for a while. Another time, take note of what the head/shoulders are doing. Eventually, you'll be able to see the more of the whole, to view several things at once, but at first break it up into bite-size chunks.
And finally, always, always try to tie in what they are doing with your own body. I think the biggest misconception about the "Japanese style" of "watch and learn" is that it's passive, the student just watching and mindlessly copying. In fact, the student should be constantly evaluating what they see, experimenting in their actual practice, rather than just trying to mimic, asking themselves questions and seeking the answers within themselves. The upside is that doing this provides a method of learning that is lifelong. This skill that you develop now as a beginner will be there for you when you're an old man, with more juniors and students than seniors and teachers.
Josh Reyer
Swa sceal man don, žonne he ęt guše gengan ženceš longsumne lof, na ymb his lif cearaš. - The Beowulf Poet