Thousands of repetition and miracles...

[Himokiri Karate]

I mentioned about a Tang Soo Do book and the author/master claimed to be very clumsy with zero coordination and what took his skills to the next level was endless amount of repetition. He mentioned that he would practice throwing one thousand kicks everyday until it became second nature.

I was talking to my boxing coach and he mentioned that he has been in boxing for many years and he has seen the most unathletic human beings on the planet win fights in dominating fashion because they had the obsessive drive to throw insane amount of punches which led to them throwing punches non stop in fights and despite lack of slick technique they would overwhelm their opponents in a war of attrition due to volume punching.

What I want to ask is, do you guys play the numbers game like throwing a certain kick or a punch as almost like a ritual? Sort of like a certain move or move set that you consider to be your primarily signature?

[singularity6]

I got really good at blocking with my face!

[sensei8]

It's not about quantity, it's about quality!!

Sure, quantity can achieve, but at what cost?! How high is the percentages of achievement?! I prefer to subscribe to quality over quantity because there's something to Ikken Hissatsu; the sooner the better.

The quantity MUST warrant through quality. If not, then it's a errant way. I believe in repetitious training because practice makes perfect IF executed properly each time; proper muscle memory.

WARNING: Bruce Lee quote...

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times" ~ Bruce Lee

[Wastelander]

Repetition is necessary to refine movement and build skills, but personally, I feel that there is a tipping point where repetition is no longer helpful. Generally, that is when you are no longer able to repeat a technique properly.

[JazzKicker]

The training purpose of repetition is twofold. One is simply conditioning exercise. The other is to ingrain technique into your subconscious, so you can do it without thinking. But you have to learn good form, or you'll be instilling bad habits.

In the boxing example, sure, throwing a lot of punches could work, partly because boxing is scored by how many you land! But if you don't learn to keep your hands up between punches, you'll get knocked out. And if you don't learn to move efficiently, you'll get tired from that strategy, too.

[sensei8]

Repetition is necessary to refine movement and build skills, but personally, I feel that there is a tipping point where repetition is no longer helpful. Generally, that is when you are no longer able to repeat a technique properly.

Solid post!!

You respect Shu Ha Ri still?!?

I believe that repetitions take a total different meaning because what was is no longer as one evolves across the board after so many quality years. my movements aren't as broad as they once were through those many untold years I've been on the floor.

Repeatedly or that exact way?!? Only perfect people can repeat anything exactly the same way each and every time. Professional musician will be the first ones to tell us that they don't always perform said piece of music exactly the same way every time.

Seeing that I don't execute techniques the same exacting way each and every time, it doesn't mean that the technique isn't effective...to own the target...is my goal.

[bushido_man96]

I find a couple of things to take away from this thread:

Repetition is necessary to refine movement and build skills, but personally, I feel that there is a tipping point where repetition is no longer helpful. Generally, that is when you are no longer able to repeat a technique properly.

You're basically talking about reaching the point of diminishing returns. We see skill sets and abilities increase quickly in beginners, and as they become more establish in their activity, its more and more difficult to see significant gains. Strength training works the same way. The flip side to it is that once you've worked so hard to get to that point, its necessary to keep working at it to maintain what you've got. But at the same time, at some point it might be better to look into developing a different skill set that is much weaker or inferior.

Something else I take away is something that I believe Napoleon said: "quantity has a quality all its own," or something to that affect. Now, he was probably speaking about bulk troop numbers and the like, but I think its still applicable across the board. The will to put in a high volume of work to become good at something has its merits, too.

Myself, personally, I don't really have any particular technique or combination that I practice like that anymore, and I have trouble remembering if I did that in my early days.

[MatsuShinshii]

Repetition for the sake of repetition is useless and achieves nothing but bad habits.

I'll explain...

Its common to practice something until you get it right but all to often people get complacent and comfortable and let correct technique slide. When that happens the repetition is counter productive because the repetition is ingraining the incorrect way to execute a technique.

I have seen this all too often and I'm sure you have too. A Shodan or Nidan that looks like a beginner due to technique. At some point the technique was correct because it was practiced that way but... in steps complacency, and you're looking at a Yudansa that executes techniques like a Mudansha.

Repetition is good as long as you're executing the techniques correctly. It would be better to just practice in class under the supervision of your instructor than execute a 1000 wrong techniques.

[Himokiri Karate]

Guys I think there was a misunderstanding on my part. In the OP I stated that boxers win fights without slick technique. I did not meant they had bad techniques but the term " slick" in boxing means that punches and footwork are done very efficiently. Non slick boxing doesn't have to mean it's incorrect but not as efficient as possible.

Anyways I do agree that a one minded approach is no good. I was boxing 5 days a week and going hard repetition wise until I was getting worse. Days off + switching to different activity helped. That and work was overwhelming so I was overtrained I guess.