Define serious training/practise

[tallgeese]

Lots of people have made great points.... committed to improvement, some effort at applying it to a fight, being in the moment during training and not just phoning it in. All valid points.

I do think there is a time commitment as well. I'm not an "x years" guy. But hours matter. Someone can train 10 years and train once a week for an hour. That shows a certain level of commitment (not a bad one, just a fact- life happens) but the fighter that trains 4 days a week for the same two hours each session will be better far quicker. That's literally 1:8. If your competing or realistically preparing to deal with an attack that might happen tomorrow, the more hours of reps that one conducts is critical.

Hours on the mat matters when we discuss a "serious" practitioner.

[Spartacus Maximus]

Who of the two is the serious practitioner:

Both A and B belong to the same school and have the same instructor. The school/instructor is available 5 days a week for 2 hours each time. A attends nearly every day, but hardly ever does anything outside on his own time.

B can only manage to attend the school more than once a week but is always asking questions and spends an hour or more practising at home most days. B also spends much of his free time studying any reference material or media for his chosen system from his instructor as well as other sources.

Who is serious? One or both? Why?

[OneKickWonder]

Who of the two is the serious practitioner:

Both A and B belong to the same school and have the same instructor. The school/instructor is available 5 days a week for 2 hours each time. A attends nearly every day, but hardly ever does anything outside on his own time.

B can only manage to attend the school more than once a week but is always asking questions and spends an hour or more practising at home most days. B also spends much of his free time studying any reference material or media for his chosen system from his instructor as well as other sources.

Who is serious? One or both? Why?

B. He (or she) is making best use of his time and initiative to gain the fullest possible understanding and skills level in the time available. He is using his limited class time to get the most he can out of his instructor, and taking that and practicing and cross referencing before returning next week for some refinement and top up.

A is simply learning how to do as someone else tells him, which will count for nothing in a real situation where by the very nature of combat, he's going to have to figure it out for himself. Also if A ever becomes a teacher, he will only ever been able to teach what he believes his instructor taught him. If you only ever try to match someone else, you will never be quite as good, as they will always have the lead. So over time and generations, the art on that lineage degrades.

[sensei8]

Another serious practitioner can spot another serious practitioner; the clues are to striking to ignore. The package isn't mistaken as a possibility, but more of a concrete affirmation.

[Spartacus Maximus]

This keeps getting interesting. For many, the answer is that it takes a serious martial artist to know one. Quite right, as most if not all truly dedicated practitioners have appeared or been called obsessed or fanatical about their training.

Then again one cannot be any other way when the goal is to constantly improve and increase ability in each and every thing about whatever martial art is practised. It is often very difficult for others to comprehend how much effort serious martial artist put into what they do or why they always seem to do more than everyone else.

[Wado Heretic]

Sincerity; are the training habits of the individual consistent with their actual goals.

It is one of those relative things. For example; I have had someone say they wanted to be come a professional kick-boxer, and I offered to put them in touch with some contacts who could help make it happen, but it would mean taking a leap of faith and moving countries. They have turned around and decided against it. However, they were at every training session I put on, and always had solid progress suggesting they worked hard outside of sessions. They were serious on one scale, but talk of being serious on another scale put them off.

The root of Amateur, is to do something for the love of it. The only difference between an Amateur and a Professional is one gets paid for it. I would argue everyone is serious; you do not put time and money into something like martial arts without some degree of seriousness. The main problem I would argue is honesty and self-awareness. Some people are far better at recognising the reach of their abilities, and recognising what they need to do to improve. Others are content to get a little better every day, while others need to see that leap of progress regularly. Some are deluded about what makes fighting ability, and others are very aware of the work needed to be effective at fighting. All are serious, but are they realistic is the question.