Does this happen at your academy? I'm noticing more and more guys who skip the warm ups and the technique portion of the class and just wait for the training portion to start.
At first it was the black belts and I thought OK that's cool. Then the browns and purples started doing it very obviously: walk in late, stretch and chat with friends during the instruction part of the class and then train. Now just about any blue belt over six months is doing the same thing. Is this all too casual?
I at least try to do the technique part and pay attention for that. I feel it's kind of rude to the instructor.
Thoughts?
its all good, pay attention, learn new moves, tap them out!
Sounds weird to miss the technique part. I've never met anyone who over drilled technique, I certainly never have.
A half hour of calisthenics seems a bit excessive. I would think many instructors would run a short warmup, as it does prepare you for exertion, and if they didn't, might be regarded as negligent by some, say if someone injured themselves and then tried to sue the instructor, saying it was his fault for not making the student warm up properly.
Warmup lasts about 5 minutes at my teacher's academy.
I would take that as a sign that the instructor may be targeting the instruction to the newbies more than the more experienced folk. It does not hurt more experienced folk to drill the basics again, but I wouldn't want to be doing that every single class.
I've only gone to the warm ups once in about a year and that was by accident. Those are the regular warm ups. I never do the crazy warm ups which are done a couple of times a week: crazy wheel barrels at break neck speed; leap frog; running and spriting and always 100 push ups if you're last; rope climing, dips, pull ups, sprawls, running in place for about 45 minutes. I feel bad for the poor working stiffs who come in and subject themselves to that.
I find this wrong and disrespectful for a lot of reasons. It sends the message that you already "know this stuff" and it is below you. Also, it is very helpful for instructors to have higher ranking students mixed in the class to help out the beginners. What gets me is these people seem to come in extra early, to make sure everyone sees that they are here now and they are not doing class. They walk around, talk, hit the heavy bag and then get on the mat when training starts. Why not just come in for the last 1/2 hour when you know we're rolling? LOL People are stupid.
Please skip this portion of class. Do not improve your technique or conditioning any. Once you have it, you have it. You can go for years without working on it.
Also, please compete in my division in your next tournament. I could use some easy wins. I waste all of my training time on *technique* and *finesse* while improving my *cardio.*
Thanks.
I couldn't even do this if I wanted to. Our classes sometimes have a warmup, sometimes not. Sometimes we do drills instead, some classes no technique whatsoever - just drills and rolling.
It all depends on what the instructor feels is most beneficial depending on the class makeup.
I agree with Tap Me. I find that experienced guys usually drill and train a lot different than new guys. Since most experienced guys already know the basic positions it is the subtle setups and counters that we usually end up working. It's a lot different than going through the 6 basic steps the new guys do.
I used to go to a school where the "warmups" were about an hour of really freakin hard exercise. By the end I was exhausted...
I used to laugh because there were people that would always show up just in time for sparring and would be going full bore. Then they would act like they were badass when they would tap people out and would act all annoyed when people didn;t want to go extra rounds after class...It would be like showing up to a 50 man tournament and stepping into the finals fresh and then bragging about winning.
im with angelo on this....doesnt make the instructor feel good....i hate the i know it all attitude!!! no one does.....and i learn something everytime i train!!
also having the guys who know this stuff in class to work with as a newbie....priceless!!!
that was the good old days.....angelo and dave kickin my butt everyday.....and puff after i was there a bit tho....
I agree with Quinn, I almost always learn something studying what are thought of us as simple techniques. Take the simple X choke from the guard, I always learn something practicing that.
The more advanced I get, the more technique I do.
I think Vito is talking about the instructional part of class, not "calisthenics" either way, we have two types of students in our school. Guys who skip warm-ups and instruction only wanting to roll, and others who leave when its time to roll. Some lack technical knowledge and others can't grapple effectively... Black Bart
Bart makes a good point. They are a bunch of guys who leave as soon as it's time to roll. I guess they're just intimidated. I actually like training the best, but I used to be scared of it when I first started.
When my instructor bitches at me for skipping the warmups and techniques, I just tell him that he has instilled in me such a high level of understanding that I can learn moves from books and video and then try them out during rolling.
Our warm up is rolling, then technique and drilling, from there a whole lot more rolling.
I think the reason everyone shows for the technique and drilling is that my "class" is always question and answer.
When I had a normal "theme" or "curriculum" when my school was open to the public, I think certain people got board or frustrated.
People get that way when they can't fix problems in their game. We are working passing the guard for a month which they don't give a shit about because they are getting caught in gi chokes and armbars.
Then when a student asks an instructor about his problem he's told to do a private. (a common thing from what I've heard)
I really saw the most improvment in my students when I went to the question and answer format. Because we roll for warm-up they remember exactly what they are having trouble with and got caught in. Then at the end of class they want to roll again to see if they can get the technique to work.
I also have the same person that did the move on them do it again so I can see exactly what they were doing to them instead of giving them a generic answer.
I think this also helps attendence because the higher level guys want to make sure they don't miss what I'm showing the lower ranks to stop them, and get caught by surprise by something, they know I hold nothing back :)
This of coarse is nothing new, I got the idea from one of Relson's students on the Underground a year ago. It's like a semi-private. When there is a stupid question (on occasion) then I address it and demonstrate it but don't make everyone drill it. ie a white belt asking "how do I stop so and so(a purple belt)from passing my guard". This we all know would take a couple of years, not one move. But 95% of the time it is very productive.
I think if people would run seminars like this a lot of people would enjoy them more and get more out of them. It may seem like your putting out a lot of brush fires by jumping from position to position but everyone got some personal attention.
It was just an experiment for me, but I saw good jumps in their games, so I've stuck with it. If I see a position or technique that everyone is struggling with I will address it and drill it at the beginning
and then go back to the Q&A format.
Just my observations from my and other clubs, and the way I dealt with it.
The reason people miss the begining of class is because they are lazy or scared. They only miss the warm up so they are fresh at the end of class. I don't care how good you think you are you should always practice the moves even if you have seen them before. And as far as being at class and not participating until the end. sitting around talking or watching, that is totally disrespectful. I can't believe any instuctor would allow that.
I almost always turn up for the full session but I'm not sure it's the right thing to do. My fitness level tends to vary greatly from month to month (work and health) and there are some sessions when I just know the "warm up" (we usually go through 400+ situps) will kill me for the rest of the lesson. I have no guard when my abs are dead. You can say what you will about technique, but when your abs are gone and your hands are shaking (like mine were by the end of last lesson), then sparring becomes a long period of humiliation.
Technique on the other hand... I don't understand people who skip that section. As far as I am concerned no drilling is ever enough. I wish we did more Eddie Bravo army style drilling at my place. It's kind of hard to ask people to stay after class to be your armbar dummy...
BTW, Absolute JJ's method of teaching sounds really cool. Roger Gracie's method of teaching is similar- he starts the lesson with a position (mount, side, half-guard), gets us to try it out for a while, and then teaches a top and a bottom technique. I think this is a more effective method than just sitting down and teaching a random technique (like three guard sweeps).
I've actually seen that at a few places. I've even seen people who just roll a little with other students before class and skip the class entirely.
Jay