Over the Plateau

[jjcruiser]

I skimmed a few related threads but they seemed inappropriate to revive.

I feel like I am in the middle of an ever-lengthening plateau and am coming home from class routinely frustrated at my lack of progress. (My wife's like "didn't you have a good class?" and I usually say "it was good to be there and I got great exercise," but honestly I'm thinking my kendo was crap.) This isn't a "why are people who have been doing it four times longer still able to hit me" sort of progress problem, this is a "why am I still making [insert basic mistake I've been told about for years]" sort of progress problem. I realize Kendo is hard -- that's why it's so compelling -- but it also means I feel like it takes significant energy just to remember to do things I feel like I should have internalized by now. Instead, I'm still telling myself to go through at full speed and have good kiai, along with other very basic things I learned the first month I was in bogu. This means I'm not focusing on things I get feedback on from seniors, such as "relax" or "move your feet first" or "come in with more seme" etc. In sum, I feel like my kendo has not only not improved in a the last six months, I actually feel like it's gotten worse.

So....

Anyone have advice for how they pushed through these plateaus? Did you get a couple simple pieces of advice you clung to above all else? Did you stop worrying about improving and just try to have fun? Did you get any particularly useful encouragement?

Thoughts?

[DCPan]

Take a video of yourself.

Sometimes, when you feel like you are experiencing a plateau, or simply have a bad practice, it's amazing how your internal vision of what's happening is very different. The converse is also true. I've seen videos of myself where I thought I was doing fine, but it totally didn't look that way on video.

To me, it's like attention span. When you first begin driving, you can't even have the radio on...now it is jamming to the radio while texting and eating and driving a stick...(I don't do that, just saying).

So, maybe, you feel like you're not progressing because you now have extra "yoyu" to perceive what you could be doing better.

You could also just ask your dojomates for a reality check.

Hang in there!

[JSchmidt]

Anyone have advice for how they pushed through these plateaus? Did you get a couple simple pieces of advice you clung to above all else? Did you stop worrying about improving and just try to have fun? Did you get any particularly useful encouragement?

Thoughts?

Usually, it's a small thing, that you would normally consider completely irrelevant that will change your kendo. It may even be something that you've tried before.

[Bokushingu]

hmmm It could be that you are focusing on how far you have driven instead of the actual act of driving. You have to remember that improvement is perspective...meaning, not only are you improving, but your dojomates & Sensei are improving too! Soooo it may feel like you are standing still; however, you may be improving without realizing it! But mentally you keep telling yourself that you aren't improving so your feeling is "Plateau".

Focus only on you. Don't judge how you are doing against others. When a Sensei corrects you, THIS IS A GREAT THING! View it as, "Hmm they are interested in my kendo! they still believe in me!" And Then become EXCITED about their corrections & think, "Yeah I can fix this! I will fix this!" Because if they give up on you, they will just ignore you & never give you advice or corrections...

We, being Americans, are very use to fast food mentality: we need to see immediate results. Kendo is kind of like a sailboat: sails open -- slow & steady...Hard Constant work!

You have one great thing going for you: you know some of your problems and you focus on them in class.

. Instead, I'm still telling myself to go through at full speed and have good kiai, along with other very basic things I learned the first month I was in bogu.

Fundamentals! The secret to progress is in the Fundamentals! And don't compare yourself to others--it will only frustrate you. ^_^ And always great challenges with excitment...like beating the final guy in a fighting video game. Game On, Bro!

[Toecutter]

Its the light bulb moments that make going easier for me. I'm in the same boat, relax, footwork, less right hand, etc., etc., its like trying to juggle 10 balls at once and when you get into jigeiko it all falls apart even though I'm only trying to work on said things. I've learned to try and focus on the ones that I think are the most important, and once I get the light bulb thing I at least understand why I'm doing it wrong and can start working on trying to do it right, and was said above it might be trying the same thing over and over until it finally clicks. At that point its kind of like pulling on a thread, the more you pull the more you understand and so forth. Thinking in those terms is what keeps me sane, that and lots of beer.

[Halcyon]

Anyone have advice for how they pushed through these plateaus? Did you get a couple simple pieces of advice you clung to above all else? Did you stop worrying about improving and just try to have fun? Did you get any particularly useful encouragement?

I'll approach this from a slightly different angle. We all have technical issues that we have to work on. The questions is, why do some people work them out more easily than others. I guess you can chalk it up to innate athleticism to some extent. But that's not something you can control. I think sometimes you just need the right push -- the right motivation -- whether it's internal or external. One way to get an external push is to participate in shiai. You can learn a lot from shiai, even if you don't win. In fact, you learn more when you don't win.

Also, I don't know how often you practice, but generally speaking, I think you need to practice at least twice a week to get better, especially if you started kendo as an adult. Even better, three times a week. Once a week is just barely maintenance level. You need to develop those neuro-muscular pathways.

[Neil Gendzwill]

You have to remember that improvement is perspective...meaning, not only are you improving, but your dojomates & Sensei are improving too!

Also bear in mind that the better sensei are providing a moving target when you keiko with them - as you get better, they just notch it up a little. So it can feel like you are stuck. I usually tell people who are feeling that way to compare themselves to those behind them not ahead if they are looking for some warm fuzzies. I see you are shodan - how do you feel playing the adult ikkyu?

[b8amack]

I skimmed a few related threads but they seemed inappropriate to revive.

I feel like I am in the middle of an ever-lengthening plateau and am coming home from class routinely frustrated at my lack of progress. (My wife's like "didn't you have a good class?" and I usually say "it was good to be there and I got great exercise," but honestly I'm thinking my kendo was crap.) This isn't a "why are people who have been doing it four times longer still able to hit me" sort of progress problem, this is a "why am I still making [insert basic mistake I've been told about for years]" sort of progress problem. I realize Kendo is hard -- that's why it's so compelling -- but it also means I feel like it takes significant energy just to remember to do things I feel like I should have internalized by now. Instead, I'm still telling myself to go through at full speed and have good kiai, along with other very basic things I learned the first month I was in bogu. This means I'm not focusing on things I get feedback on from seniors, such as "relax" or "move your feet first" or "come in with more seme" etc. In sum, I feel like my kendo has not only not improved in a the last six months, I actually feel like it's gotten worse.

So....

Anyone have advice for how they pushed through these plateaus? Did you get a couple simple pieces of advice you clung to above all else? Did you stop worrying about improving and just try to have fun? Did you get any particularly useful encouragement?

Thoughts?

Usually when I think my kendo is getting worse, it's not a plateau, it's the mist clearing, and seeing how much further I really have to go. Of course that can be disheartening: I thought there'd be sunshine and birds singing up in here, but there's just more mountain to climb. And it's steeper.

[jjcruiser]

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone!

I always appreciate comments from sensei and get nervous when they say nothing. But I've felt a lack of improvement lately in part because I'm still getting the exact same criticisms I did six months ago. That's what I noticed about a month ago and why I think I'm in a plateau right now and have been for several months.

I'll try to take some video. Thanks for that suggestion.

Wish I could go three times a week but for a variety of reasons twice it is. Maybe that's all there is to it. It's hard to improve at anything doing it only a couple times a week, I know.

I see you are shodan - how do you feel playing the adult ikkyu?

Hm. That's a good question. I don't think I can hyperanalyze it, but I guess I feel like it is not too hard to take the center and get ippon, but not necessarily like my form is any better in doing so than in a "too late, too slow, too offline" opportunity with a sensei. Perhaps that's not correct, though, because I find it easier to be relaxed in keiko with people who have been doing kendo a shorter time than me than with sensei.

[Alicia]

I experienced a similar thing of late, and just figuring out how to get over it. Basically it sounds a bit like you, in that my view of my own kendo became quite negative because all I could think of were the things I was doing wrong that people have been telling me about forever. So then every time I did anything, even if some things were improved it still didn't feel great because I noticed all the bad things. It came to a head recently when a non-kendo friend asked me what I was good at at kendo and what I was bad at, and my answers were more overwhelmingly focused on the bad things, even though I know my kendo is ok really .

So of late I am trying to be a lot more positive, and focus on the good aspects of what I'm doing, and then just one or two key points per training of the other things I am trying - and focus on just that point for the whole training. Then if I do something where I did that right (e.g. less right hand, or more explosive footwork) I am aware that I made a bit of progress over the training, which really helps me have a more positive attitude. Rather than trying to fix ten recurring problems at once, and thus making no progress on anything - almost going backwards because I get stressed about it.

Good luck!

[Neil Gendzwill]

I'm still getting the exact same criticisms I did six months ago.

It's a slow process. Some stuff I have fixed over the years, some stuff is a little improved, some stuff falls apart playing more senior people. My posture is never going to make my sensei happy.

I don't think I can hyperanalyze it, but I guess I feel like it is not too hard to take the center and get ippon, but not necessarily like my form is any better in doing so than in a "too late, too slow, too offline" opportunity with a sensei.

So the short of it is, you are somewhat better than people who are a year or two behind you in experience. That says to me you have improved in the last year or two.

[Anime12478]

If you feel that you're in a rut and receiving the same pieces of advice, you could try visiting another dojo if it's possible. It would be even better if you could travel to another part of the country to visit a city you've wanted to go to that just happens to have a Kendo dojo nearby. The change in stimulus from different practice customs can help breathe some life into your Kendo. Of course, you're likely to get the same advice that your sensei are giving you, but they might have a different way of saying it that might make the advice finally click, or it feels just different enough to be refreshing.

[rfoxmich]

>Anyone have advice for how they pushed through these plateaus? Did you get a couple simple pieces of advice you clung to above all else? Did you stop worrying about
>improving and just try to have fun? Did you get any particularly useful encouragement

Kihon. You're going to find there's something wrong with your basics that doesn't allow your kendo to support what you are trying to do.

[Jonathan]

It is really hard to fix everything simultaneously. Divide and conquer.

[Whitefire]

So in my opinion my lightbulb moments normally happen when I realize how the feedback from one Sensei relates to another Sensei, words will have meanings to you and the addition of one word from one sensei frequently illuminates and changes what you think the other Sensei was saying to you.

Some feedback will always be true of some people by degrees, I have stiff shoulders, I am coming to the opinion that I will always have stiff shoulders but I also know that I am a LOT better than when people told me that 5 years ago.

Finally if you can, don't always go through things at full speed (sometimes you have to Sensei tell you to) but I can't correct my motion without slowing down and giving myself thought time. And if I can't do it correctly at normal speed I can't do it at fast speed.