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Here’s another reason to just shut up and do it.

It’s endemic in training for students to ask too many questions, teachers to over-analyze, and training partners to constantly give too much feedback. We all occasionally(or often) forget that the best way to learn something physical is to just do it, again and again.

I’ve always been of the sort who prefers to do things about 100 times before I can get a first opportunity for my physical learning to catch up with what I’m trying to accomplish, before I can really accept or gain any benefit from feedback or additional refinement.

Here’s an article on some research done about how over-thinking affects physical performance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7859385.stm

This entry was posted on February 1, 2009 at 10:26 am and is filed under Training, General Info. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Here’s another reason to just shut up and do it.”

  1. JessOBrien says:
    February 2, 2009 at 7:28 pm

    Interesting article. I used to be the jackass who had advice for everyone when I was in class, telling them all such helpful things.

    At one point I saw some dumbass older guy criticizing a girl in Aikido simply to satisfy his ego. I realized that I was becoming that person and since then I just shut the hell up.

    I don’t mind it if beginners do things wrong anymore, you just need to do it and over time you’ll improve. Don’t think too much is good advice.

    -Jess O
    out west

  2. jleeger says:
    February 11, 2009 at 3:07 pm

    This is a great article, and great advice. Everyone should read or listen to Malcolm Gladwell’s most recent book “Outliers.” It’s awesome. Check out my blog post on it:

    But also, with regard to Bagua, Gladwell talks about Anders Ericsson’s research which shows that you can only be an “expert” at something after 10,000 hours of practice at it. That’s deliberate, hard practice. Not simply “going through the motions.”

    Break it down. 10,000 hours = 8 hours per day, 7 days a week for 3.42 years. If you’re just going to class every night (about six hours of practice a week), you’ll hit 10,000 hours in about 28 years or so…

    If you want to get really good, you have to devote yourself to it. You have to do it all the time. That’s all. It’s that easy.

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