Coaching/teaching is the death of your personal skills

[Drake]

Dude, take this however you want, but you are coming across as a seriously whiny *****.

It's *****ing and moaning like this that gives MA (any kind) a ****ing terrible name.

[MightyB]

You start teaching and before you know it every time you go to class you are running it. In the past every time you went to class you had a workout and learned something new. Now you have to come up with lesson plans and you have to watch people. You hold the pads, fix posture, show takedowns, etc and then spend the rest of class watching everyone fuk it up.

You hold a stop watch and yell at everyone to keep doing jumping jacks, push ups...and stop doing them on your own. Now you have to teach and find separate days to work out. Then the wife complains that you are doing your Kung foo/mma/boxing every night and ignoring the family. Meanwhile with all this training you are getting fatter. Meanwhile your already fat coach is telling you how much you will learn through teaching. Then I tell him, "Too bad learning new things does not translate into skills".

Anyone here who teaches classes(not private one person at a time) have a different experience than what I described above?

This is more common than people here are letting on. Part of what you're experiencing is a skills gap. Maybe you'll get lucky and have one of the students get up to a reasonable skill level where they can give you some fight... most likely they'll drop out and you'll find that most of your time will be teaching a new set of beginners the same ol' shiite. One danger that you can run into is that you'll start to forget the advanced stuff because of this.

[Nei-Jia-Quan]

Actually Iron Palm is hand conditioning. It's taught as a skill from basic to advanced levels. It's not just advanced. You need a qualified instructor to teach it correctly so you don't accidently injure yourself in training. And of course you need to use Iron Palm Jow to help heal and prevent injury. But most people in good physical condition can start training in it within a few years of studying their chosen style or even sooner. As far as it being used in application any time you hit your opponent it can cause injury. If your training is done correctly when you fight you should be able to use distancing and timing to your advantage and strike a moving target. In a fight all martial artists must be able to hit a moving opponent.

[MightyB]

You start teaching and before you know it every time you go to class you are running it. In the past every time you went to class you had a workout and learned something new. Now you have to come up with lesson plans and you have to watch people. You hold the pads, fix posture, show takedowns, etc and then spend the rest of class watching everyone fuk it up.

You hold a stop watch and yell at everyone to keep doing jumping jacks, push ups...and stop doing them on your own. Now you have to teach and find separate days to work out. Then the wife complains that you are doing your Kung foo/mma/boxing every night and ignoring the family. Meanwhile with all this training you are getting fatter. Meanwhile your already fat coach is telling you how much you will learn through teaching. Then I tell him, "Too bad learning new things does not translate into skills".

Anyone here who teaches classes(not private one person at a time) have a different experience than what I described above?

I'm also going to ad that you bring up a valid point for the younger people here lurking this forum. There's a marked difference in the experience you'll get from teaching as compared to being a student. So it's very important to do a deep soul searching before you accept an assistant or instructor's position.

[David Jamieson]

I do not teach anymore. I have stepped away from the world of tcma. Iron palm is considered advanced training. Hand conditioning is basic. Iron palm is supposed to be something different from hand conditioning or they would just call it hand conditioning. So what if you can break a coconut? You cannot do to someone that is actually moving.

It'll break a jaw. Slap/Pop/down.

That's iron palm for you and it is more than hand conditioning yes.
The focus of many iron skills is conditioning, but also awareness and protection.

When you strike someone with force, you get that force feedback as well. Without understanding the components necessary to maximize damage output while reducing the damage feedback leads many to injuries.

I have had people come into my training space and want to go hit the bag.
Ok, go hit the bag. It's a 90 lb everlast and almost to the last, wrist bends and skin tears are the rule of the day with the over enthusiastic male who deems himself indestructible.

Even boxers take time to condition that in themselves. Your skin doesn't toughen in a couple of days. You don't develop conditioned power in a couple of months and you don't develop real power that you can control and expel in the context of fighting in a short period of time either.

The methods of developing skills and conditioning vary and come under different names, but ultimately we all share the human form and the human mind and the human experience. As fighting is simple and is coming from a simple place, most methods are simple and anyone with a modicum of intelligence can grasp them and use them right away.

But they will take time. It takes time. Nothing is immediate and even naturals have a plateau they reach and then they fall under the person who takes the time to train.

Here's a truth. Humans are weak and useless when it comes to real physical power and force. The strongest man in the world is nothing compared to a chimp when it comes to strength or physical ability to render someone as fugged up. We are soft, we are small, many of us can't handle a friggin bee sting.

sport fighting is fun. martial arts are fun, but lets not kid ourselves when it comes to regarding real violence and how to do it.

train for the sake of it because you like it. Not because you have some deluded ideal about what power a human has, you have practically none compared to every other creature above you.

Your brain is your actual weapon.

[RWilson]

It'll break a jaw. Slap/Pop/down.

That's iron palm for you and it is more than hand conditioning yes.
The focus of many iron skills is conditioning, but also awareness and protection.

When you strike someone with force, you get that force feedback as well. Without understanding the components necessary to maximize damage output while reducing the damage feedback leads many to injuries.

I have had people come into my training space and want to go hit the bag.
Ok, go hit the bag. It's a 90 lb everlast and almost to the last, wrist bends and skin tears are the rule of the day with the over enthusiastic male who deems himself indestructible.

Even boxers take time to condition that in themselves. Your skin doesn't toughen in a couple of days. You don't develop conditioned power in a couple of months and you don't develop real power that you can control and expel in the context of fighting in a short period of time either.

The methods of developing skills and conditioning vary and come under different names, but ultimately we all share the human form and the human mind and the human experience. As fighting is simple and is coming from a simple place, most methods are simple and anyone with a modicum of intelligence can grasp them and use them right away.

But they will take time. It takes time. Nothing is immediate and even naturals have a plateau they reach and then they fall under the person who takes the time to train.

Here's a truth. Humans are weak and useless when it comes to real physical power and force. The strongest man in the world is nothing compared to a chimp when it comes to strength or physical ability to render someone as fugged up. We are soft, we are small, many of us can't handle a friggin bee sting.

sport fighting is fun. martial arts are fun, but lets not kid ourselves when it comes to regarding real violence and how to do it.

train for the sake of it because you like it. Not because you have some deluded ideal about what power a human has, you have practically none compared to every other creature above you.

Your brain is your actual weapon.

Good post, David. I agree especially with the part about the brain being our greatest weapon.

That is why I do not consider iron palm to be advanced. Being able to avoid a lead jab and hit back is advanced. Being able to throw someone who is trying to throw you or strike you is advanced. All require the brain. Iron palm is basically bashing your hand till it gets hard and then assuming you are going to cave someone's face in when conflict arises. Better to train the method that will get you to the part where you can cave his face in.

[RWilson]

I'm also going to ad that you bring up a valid point for the younger people here lurking this forum. There's a marked difference in the experience you'll get from teaching as compared to being a student. So it's very important to do a deep soul searching before you accept an assistant or instructor's position.

Great stuff MightyB.

You do not have business teaching unless you are getting paid. It becomes a drag. And the part about the soul searching is true. You should not become an assistant instructor until you are ready to retire from progessing your skills. When you do not care about training anymore then that might be a good time to start helping out.

[RWilson]

Dude, take this however you want, but you are coming across as a seriously whiny *****.

It's *****ing and moaning like this that gives MA (any kind) a ****ing terrible name.

This coming from the guy who is in Afghanistan getting all his meals provided for him, orders on what to do everyday, etc.

Your life gets run by the army. Whenever you come back to civilian life, hold a civilian job, AND teach classes on top of that we will talk then. Until thy day comes enjoy having army ground beef cooked by someone else and never yourself. It is no wonder we see many of you guys have trouble reintegrating into real life after your service is over.

Oh wait, I forgot. You are not the regular army man. You are part of the super elite army intelligence. You kill warriors with your barehands...and Ben go to the mess hall to get your already cooked meal.

[Dale Dugas]

Anytime you want to see someone who can apply their Iron Palm in fighting, come see me.

I strike, kick, throw as well as use my iron palm.

that you have not been trained well is no ones fault but your own.

[Drake]

This coming from the guy who is in Afghanistan getting all his meals provided for him, orders on what to do everyday, etc.

Your life gets run by the army. Whenever you come back to civilian life, hold a civilian job, AND teach classes on top of that we will talk then. Until thy day comes enjoy having army ground beef cooked by someone else and never yourself. It is no wonder we see many of you guys have trouble reintegrating into real life after your service is over.

Oh wait, I forgot. You are not the regular army man. You are part of the super elite army intelligence. You kill warriors with your barehands...and Ben go to the mess hall to get your already cooked meal.

I won't get into the ridiculousness of the post itself, nor will I note your ignorance on numerous counts, but I do have to wonder. Who the hell is Ben?

[RWilson]

Anytime you want to see someone who can apply their Iron Palm in fighting, come see me.

I strike, kick, throw as well as use my iron palm.

that you have not been trained well is no ones fault but your own.

We have been through this before. Why would I want to see a giant manhandle students that are the size of children compared to himself? That is not skill. Just because I can beat up everyone in the kids class does not mean I am skilled. Fight with people your own size before talking smack. Have guys your size hit you when showing iron body. And while you are at it get some real punchers your size to hit you not guys in pajamas doing hsing I elements.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfVhD...e_gdata_player



That has always been your problem, Dale. You have this false bravado based off of your size and baby sized students but not based on actual fighting experience.

[RWilson]

I won't get into the ridiculousness of the post itself, nor will I note your ignorance on numerous counts, but I do have to wonder. Who the hell is Ben?

You are not the only person who has ever been in the army. I have friends who were in the army. Are they ignorant as well? Lol

[Drake]

You are not the only person who has ever been in the army. I have friends who were in the army. Are they ignorant as well? Lol

Such a whiner.

And yeah, they are pretty ignorant.

Shut up and train, whiner. Bawang would have kicked the ever-loving **** out of you if you were learning from him.

[hskwarrior]

Who the hell is Ben?

lmfao....was thinking the same thing

[TenTigers]

I will say this-teaching had made my hands too polite, and I had to work at getting them back. Luckily, I have my teacher and Si-Hing's to give me help. (ouch)