Whats the Point

[unknownstyle]

i agree, but in order to see your art the way that the master did you should train the way they did. i also agree about the air conditioning, i have students that whine about how hot it is. apparently they have never trained in the middle of the summer outside in texas wearing full gi, no fun but it never hurt me so i dont see why we shouldnt

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

yea, it's in the 90s in mass today...i have a class to teach in an hour, and its an air conditioned facility but i guarantee the kids are still going to whine, even though my uniform is three times thicker than theres and the effort kids tend to exert is minimal

and i agree, and think you are right, i think you should understand all sides of the argument. train like those before you did, and train in the now. it's up to you what kind of training you want, and how far it will take you.

[Rateh]

I don't think we should stick to old training methods because they are "tradition". Just because they are traditional doesn't mean that they are any good. And just because a training method is new doesn't mean it is any good. I think as an instructor you should be actively aware of many training methods (meaning continuous learning) and choose the ones that best work for what you are trying to accomplish. A mix of old and new is best I think, but I don't think you should do any method just because its old.

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

I never expressed that i would do something just because it is 'old' or 'tradition'...that's just foolish. A mix of old and new is the best way to go. But i think the attitiude that most people hold is that the old ways are too mean or inhumane or whatever.

The point is, the so-called 'old way' had many good methods. I am not by any means saying it's the only way. Some new methods are good as well.

Being an instuctor is an art, and you should be learning as you teach. Learning new methods, ideas, and drills all the time.

Doing any method just because it's old is not good...it's like listening to an old person religiously just because they're old and been around. It could be good, yes, but sometimes they could be telling you to jump off a bridge!

Simply stated, instructors need to cater to their students, if you see bored faces, get em moving. If it's hot and they're exhausted, it's time for theory or philosophy. You should always be striving to improve your teaching abilities and methods...new or old.

[DWx]

I never expressed that i would do something just because it is 'old' or 'tradition'...that's just foolish. A mix of old and new is the best way to go. But i think the attitiude that most people hold is that the old ways are too mean or inhumane or whatever.

The point is, the so-called 'old way' had many good methods. I am not by any means saying it's the only way. Some new methods are good as well.

Being an instuctor is an art, and you should be learning as you teach. Learning new methods, ideas, and drills all the time.

Doing any method just because it's old is not good...it's like listening to an old person religiously just because they're old and been around. It could be good, yes, but sometimes they could be telling you to jump off a bridge!

Simply stated, instructors need to cater to their students, if you see bored faces, get em moving. If it's hot and they're exhausted, it's time for theory or philosophy. You should always be striving to improve your teaching abilities and methods...new or old.

Nicely put.

In some cases I think from a fiscal point of view you have to abandon some of the "old" practices. A consumer wont initially want to do 100 push-ups in the stifling heat no matter how character building it is or how strong it builds their body. If a school is lacking in students so much that you are considering watering down your content then you need to think about how to get students through your door and retain them by not scaring them away with SAS type drills. Of course once the students get serious then you can work them as hard as you like.

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

Thank you, and nicely put yourself.

Yes 'old methods' often scare people and are viewed as 'bad business.'

It is just prevalent now because a lot of the kids. The kids of this age are what i like to call the era of instant gratification. A lot of people don't want the work but would love to have a Black Belt. Sad thing is, the two don't go hand in hand.

It's not necessarily the kids fault, it's just the age they were born it, just look at the ridiculously amazing and miraculous technologies we have. We wouldn't me posting if we didn't have it

[Rateh]

Personally IMHO I think the whole non-airconditioned work out isn't something we should be wanting for our students. To me that's the same as making your kids us an outhouse when a toilet is available, because people used to do that and toilets are too cushy. Air conditioning just makes sence, how will it benifit the students to not use something so basic as an ac? This is one of the old school things that IMHO should be dropped. I'm not trying to cause trouble here or anything, but this is just my opinion.

Edited June 11, 2008 by Rateh

[bushido_man96]

How many of us tell our students to go to the mountains, and do thousands of knuckle push-ups a day on rocks, and then punch a tree a thousand times, and then front kick a tree a thousand times, for years at a time? I am willing to be none of us. However, this was an "old school" method used by Mas Oyama, and it did work very well for him. And again, I don't know how many of his own students did this as well.

[ninjanurse]

Airconditioning? Airconditioning? We don't need no stinkin' airconditioning!!!

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

Yea, i mean having no airconditioning is just character building, understand how your elders came up, and understand how lucky most kids are to be training in some of the facilities i've seen these days. Simply stated, it's a luxury.

Many of these luxuries are now making some qualities in people weaker, and again it's apart of the whole i want it, wait no, i NEED it, and i need it NOW attitude.

Nobody here is saying you have to train in these old methods, no one. But you can't just throw things out because they're old and because we've advanced. We've advanced to speaking with each other on computers, it doesn't mean im going to stop verbally speaking to people.