Cool stuff I learned this week

[DarthPenguin]

It may not seem so, but I think it's probably a good thing that the CI called out Zach. I wouldn't say it's being harsh, but it is being direct. There comes a point when the younger students need to understand that they are very much the one's responsible for their training, and how important it is to take it seriously. They need to take ownership of it. They either do so, or they eventually fall out of it.

It's encouraging that he took note of the CI's words, and has been hitting those make-up classes. Good for him. Hopefully, he runs with it, understanding that he can set an good example for other students going forward.

Only thing i would say to that is that sometimes the calling out can be better done privately / in person with the individual. Some people respond very negatively to being called out in public - though the CI obviously knows Zach so i assume that this was factored in.

I do totally agree though that it is good for the CI to bring it up and let him know he needs to sort it! Reminds me of the other thread on here about the planned failure. This is a much much more productive way of dealing with things - don't put them out there to fail them, let them know they won't even get out there until they reach the standard expected

[sensei8]

Ken,

Your knowledge and experience are growing some very strong roots across the board. Your dedication to training as well as your class and teaching time are slowly becoming more than capable of many a thing.

With anything on the floor, time is an alley, and the floor has no mercy in revealing both strengths and weaknesses equally. Accepting what the floor reveals takes much more MA maturity than one might except.

You're doing just fine on your MA path and journey. Train hard and train well, my friend.

Edited January 28, 2023 by sensei8

[aurik]

It may not seem so, but I think it's probably a good thing that the CI called out Zach. I wouldn't say it's being harsh, but it is being direct. There comes a point when the younger students need to understand that they are very much the one's responsible for their training, and how important it is to take it seriously. They need to take ownership of it. They either do so, or they eventually fall out of it.

It's encouraging that he took note of the CI's words, and has been hitting those make-up classes. Good for him. Hopefully, he runs with it, understanding that he can set an good example for other students going forward.

Only thing i would say to that is that sometimes the calling out can be better done privately / in person with the individual. Some people respond very negatively to being called out in public - though the CI obviously knows Zach so i assume that this was factored in.

I do totally agree though that it is good for the CI to bring it up and let him know he needs to sort it! Reminds me of the other thread on here about the planned failure. This is a much much more productive way of dealing with things - don't put them out there to fail them, let them know they won't even get out there until they reach the standard expected

I've had a number of private conversations with Zach about this, and I know Zach has had private conversations with our CI about this as well. A couple of weeks ago, he had a fair bit of 1:1 time with the CI working on his two-person drills. I'm pretty sure this got brought up at some point. My perspective is that the CI has been teaching for 20+ years, and he's known Zach for about 4.5 years. He's sometimes hard on his advanced students because he has high expectations of them. He will from time to time tell them why he is hard on them - because he expects a lot out of them, and he wants to see them learn resilience in the dojo where it is a safe place, than to have to learn it somewhere where there are real consequences.

I mean, I'm a LITTLE hard on the advanced students, because they are advanced students. If I see them giving half efforts, or training in a way that doesn't help their partner, I'll call them out on it. Usually I'll get up in front of the class and talk about something I observed, without naming any names, and how they need to improve on it. For brown belts, I'll tell them about what they'll need to show and do in their test prep cycle and black belt tests, and to start getting into those habits now. That test prep cycle was a rude awakening for some of the kids.

I have to say that Zach has really taken this well -- he is actively asking me when he can make it to class so he can get his make-ups in, and getting him ready for class is now just "Zach, it's XXX time. Please get ready". And he goes off and does it without any complaining or "can I go a later day this week". So it definitely had its desired effect.

[bushido_man96]

It may not seem so, but I think it's probably a good thing that the CI called out Zach. I wouldn't say it's being harsh, but it is being direct. There comes a point when the younger students need to understand that they are very much the one's responsible for their training, and how important it is to take it seriously. They need to take ownership of it. They either do so, or they eventually fall out of it.

It's encouraging that he took note of the CI's words, and has been hitting those make-up classes. Good for him. Hopefully, he runs with it, understanding that he can set an good example for other students going forward.

Only thing i would say to that is that sometimes the calling out can be better done privately / in person with the individual. Some people respond very negatively to being called out in public - though the CI obviously knows Zach so i assume that this was factored in.

I do totally agree though that it is good for the CI to bring it up and let him know he needs to sort it! Reminds me of the other thread on here about the planned failure. This is a much much more productive way of dealing with things - don't put them out there to fail them, let them know they won't even get out there until they reach the standard expected

I agree that there are times when handling something like this in private is a more comfortable approach, especially for the person being called out. But at times, doing in class is necessary, as well. It becomes a lesson for everyone in the room, and not just the person being called out.

Now, I'm not saying it should be an act of degradation towards the student; that would be very wrong. But simply stating the facts out loud, and the consequences for missing classes, is fairly appropriate. And anyone looking to venture off the beaten path learns from another's mistakes.

[aurik]

So there hasn't been any training going on for the past 2.5 weeks. A couple weeks ago I started having shooting pain and weakness in my left thigh. Walking, standing, and sitting became very painful. I have been seeing a chiropractor for the last 2 years due to back pains, but at this point I decided that this was way beyond what I would trust to just a chiropractor and sought out an appointment with a spine specialist / neurologist. He did an evaluation and determined the weakness is limited to the left quadriceps - the hamstrings and right quad seem to be okay (at least for now). I had an MRI last night and they found a herniated disc in my lumbar spine. I have a followup with the neurologist on Monday morning so we'll see what he says.

I actually had a similar problem 11 years ago that required spinal surgery, so this is not a new issue. I hope it doesn't require surgery, but if that's what is required to get me back to normal again, I'll take it.

[sensei8]

Now that sure doesn't seem fun at all. Good that you're seeing the various doctors to get to the bottom of this all. Meanwhile, please follow the doctors' instructions to the letter so that you can be up on your feet once again. Here's to you getting better soon.

Hang in there!! You're in my prayers!!

[bushido_man96]

Hopefully you get to feeling better soon! Those setbacks always suck.

[DarthPenguin]

Ouch! At least it has been identified though so you can get it fixed. Health always comes first so hopefully it all gets sorted soon!

[aurik]

Well, it's been awhile since I posted in here, but the updates are pretty good. I decided to get a steroid injection at L2/L3 and L3/L4 -- this provided quite a bit of immediate relief, and I have been doing physical therapy twice a week since the injection. The first day of physical therapy I could barely bend over at the waist, and my waist was very limited in the movements I could do.

Each session I've been trying to push myself a little further than the previous time. If she had me do a set of an exercise with 30 pounds, I'll ask her to bump it up to 35. She has had me working mainly core strength and mobility. Some of the exercises have gone really well, some of them I tried once and just said "nuh-uh". Not because I didn't like them, but because my back/leg told me it was a PATENTLY horrible idea. And she'd see the look on my face and say, "Yeah, let's not do that one". But the good news is that at my last evaluation 2 weeks ago, I've regained almost full range of motion on the back, and the leg, while still a bit weak, is getting better week by week.

I've improved enough that I decided to try out the saturday all-ages class last week. I knew that I'd need to take things easy (and I did), but the important thing was that I was able to get through the entire class and other than being tired (from not trainign much for 2 months), I felt pretty good afterwards. So this week I'll be trying more than just the one class. I'll play things by ear of course, but I definitely want to get back into the swing of things.

Other good news -- Zach got the news that this coming Friday he will be testing for ikkyu. I'm really excited for him. He did last Thursday/Friday/Saturday classes and has been putting forth the effort he needs to, so I'm hoping he'll pass with flying colors.

[bushido_man96]

Its good to hear you are feeling better and getting back to class, aurik. And good luck to Zach and his testing!