A question of training methods?

[Life long Student]

I have trained in several arts and have seen many classes of different styles. Often classes chose repetitive drills or calisthenics in their class. My favorite teacher had a little different take on this and I was wondering what every on thinks. He use to take two or three moves and just repeat it all night. Some times fast, soft, hard, it was like he was becoming very intimate with each combination. His thought was why practice mindless kicks or punches why wast the time. He was even against weight training if he was going to work on strength the he would still do a move from a form with dynamic tension. The interesting thing was he was solid as a rock and was pretty big as though he lifted. I guess why train any thing other than moves in the system? Could it also be when teaching large groups his methoud might not keep the interest of the students? This is also asuming you arent so new you need to learn coordination. :)

[WanderingMonk]

It all depends on what you are training.

repeating one techniques hundreds of time stressing on different aspect of the technique will allow you to master the technique.

in case of forms, some forms when practice properly contains misdirection tactics (such as fake high and hit low), footworks, coordination, and proper power generation.

just practicing one technique over and over again will not teach these.

so, it is just trade-off. as long as you know what the trade-offs are, you will be okay.

wm