Performance vs Learning
If you’re an instructor, take a moment and imagine your most average student attending their next class. If you’re a student, you probably know who represents that person, so go ahead and think of whoever that is for you. You know you’re going to do something in class that isn’t new for them. At all. They’ve done it “a million times.” How’s it likely to look to you?
Let’s get specific. I know if you’re reading this chances are very high you’re part of one of the “Takamatsu-Den” lineages, and probably have familiarity (or fluency) with the first techniques in the first scroll of Gyokko Ryu, so we’ll start there, with the kata KoKu.
And this most-average student starts off in the role of attacker. That means if he follows the known pattern handed down since the 1500s, he’s at least going to throw one punch and one kick. Really take a moment and imagine the quality of his movement. How’s his balance? Where are his knees and toes pointing? His front elbow? His rear hand?
A quick reminder: this is not your best student / training partner. Give yourself a realistic expectation of the person you label is most-average. If you’re impressed, and wish everybody moved like that, or even that you moved more like that, congratulations. You can read the rest of this for fun. But most of the instructors I know have the same complaint - “It just doesn’t ‘stick’ with this person, no matter how many times I correct them.”
Why is that? There are a couple of things. Let’s get into the weeds a bit:
These posts are here to help you dive generally into the topic, with a specific focus on the skills, kata, lineages that you value as a member of this niche community. I’ll be giving some specific tools below, but this is your chance to get the most current research on skill acquisition aimed directly at the lineages of the Bujinkan, Jinenkan, Genbukan, so you don’t have to translate all the academic research papers. And, if you want to go full-geek (like we do) there will be links here and throughout the education-focused posts here for lots of background reading.
Focusing on the wrong timeline?
Define your outcome
First let’s make sure we’re using the right words.
I can nearly guarantee that when you tell this student (or hear the instructor tell this student) do keep their hips down, point their lead foot at their training partner, kept their back straighter, and use their rear hand to guard in the lineage-appropriate Kamae, etc … that person does do those things. And if they’ve been around for a while, they probably look like they’re re-remembering those hints, and they get them right. And it looks really good.
At that moment, despite how long they’ve been training, they’re in the “Acquisition Phase” of their skill journey. We might be able to nickname it a “re-acquisition phase” but that’s just us adding some flavor to an established idea.
Ideally, only a brand-new person is in the “acquisition phase” the very first time they do this.
But this isn’t a new student! They should have kept, or retained, some of those movements. The person who has been exposed to this stuff before and is trying to recall it and move the way they believe they should, is in the “Retention Phase.”
Now, they ARE moving better than a brand-new person. Your trained eye can see they are standing more or less like a Kamae from Gyokko Ryu, for example. So, they are “retaining” some of what they’ve heard and practiced in class.
Learning is “relatively permanent”
But what have they “learned” in class?
What you’re seeing in class as they adjust to those reminders and hints - that’s “motor performance.” If they have the individual capacity to do what you’re asking, they can “perform” that movement more or less that way at that moment.
But that’s not what you want. And it’s not why they’re there!
What’s more important is “motor learning.” And while there are some variants across different disciplines in academia, one phrase you’ll find consistently describing “learning,” and this is critical, is: “a relatively permanent change.”
I have tough news for you here, too. Here you are, studying how to teach martial arts as well as you possibly can. And one of the most celebrated movement teachers of all time, the basketball coach from academic powerhouse UCLA, was John Wooden, who famously said, “You haven’t taught until they’ve learned.”
That means: your average student is your best measure of your teaching skills.
According to one of the most respected teachers, in his book on how to better coach athletes, Doug Lemov said:
“Performance is what you know or can do while being taught; Learning is what you know or can do later on.”
Using some of our terminology to deliver that news:
Until that person has a desirable “relatively permanent change” and thereby exhibits “motor learning” in their “retention phase” without your coaching cues to fix what they’re doing, according to one of the best coaches of all time, you haven’t taught them adequately. Yet.
Let’s fix that now.
They’re Probably Too Close to the Elephant
You probably know the story of the blind men and the elephant. If so, skip the description in the next paragraph. If you have no idea what I’m referencing, for goodness sake, please read this next paragraph so this makes sense. This reference will come up fairly often in some of our writing, so it helps to know it.
There’s a widely circulated parable about a group of blind men who encounter an elephant, but they’re all standing in different areas. The elephant is so big, they can all touch just one section, and think they have the whole understanding. But of course, an elephant’s tail, belly, leg, trunk, ears, and tusks are all so very different that these men come to very different conclusions about what an elephant is. Make sense? Now you can make the same reference and impress some folks. Also, here’s a link to a more literarily astute version.
And, here’s why that matters at all.
It’s very likely your student is focused on the thing right in front of them, and missing the big picture. The big spoiler here is that the instructor is likely to blame, but the last section in this article is about how to fix that and avoid it in the future. You can skip to there if you want, of course, but the background information is part of what makes you a better instructor. And, if you want the “cheat codes” to all of this, it’s available in our free download.
Your student may not have the understanding of the context for showing the kata in the first place. In another how-to article, we talk about how to overcome this common teaching mistake. The class might be all about trying to recreate the movements of Gyokko Ryu, but you could also want to showcase environmental awareness, or of maintaining access to hidden weapons, or the strategies taught within the kata or the scroll overall. There are a huge list of ways you might focus the class. Those differences could and very much should influence the way your student thinks and moves.
Another more immediate problem is their focus on their movement. I know that sounds like an odd argument at first. But it’s probably the easiest area in which you can have the most significant impact. This is a dichotomy: we want them to “internalize the coach” to be successful on their own, but we also don’t want them “stuck in their own head” so much that their movement becomes awkward. So, how can their “inner voice” be corrective of their outward expression?
This next segment is where the magic happens.
2. The External Cue is a Cheat Code
When it comes to overall curriculum design, we learned from sports psychologists back in the 70s that “Block Practice” has an immediate effect on improving athletic skills, but degrades when the focus shifts to other topics.
That taught us to consider “Random Practice” that included a wider array of topics per class/session. Athletes made slightly slower progress in each area, but retained that longer, for a bigger overall effect over time.
If you want to learn more about those two, and why neither is quite considered the correct path now, here’s an article on that aspect of curriculum design.
By changing language intentionally, you can apply the same lesson to every repetition of a skill.
When your student focuses on their leg, or their hip, or the toes, etc. they ARE listening to you, and they CAN make improvements then and there. You’ll feel good about it. They’ll feel good about it. And they WILL degrade that skill quickly.
Change that pattern now!
If they focus on their opponent, the effect they have on them, the tools they’re holding, etc that are still listening. They can still get better then and there. But the important part: They will KEEP THAT SKILL LONGER.
This means the next time you have them in class, you can layer that skill up and up. THEY’LL GET BETTER FASTER and THEY’LL LOVE YOUR CLASS MORE for getting them there.
Here’s an Example:
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Here are some examples you might consider when coaching a student to improve their punching. What differences exist if you tell your student to focus on:
extending your hips
driving off the ground
extending your legs
driving towards the opponent
There is more technical intricacy in the cues to “extend” a hip or leg. They can control it more directly. But, then they’re focused on their own body, with no points of reference. Those two are internally focused.
Did you catch the subtle difference on the “driving” cues?
Driving off the ground is easier to feel. It bridges that gap between the student’s own body and the world around them. It’s focused externally, but only so far as the ground on which they’re standing. This is a top choice for instructing newer students.
Finally, we have “driving” towards the opponent. You might even have them drive toward “the opponent’s center line” or “suigetsu” or some other target. That is not only an External Focus. It’s also a more distant focus away from the student’s body. It’s a powerful cue they can use to direct their own body with immediate meaning. It does assume a little bit of familiarity, so might not be the very first thing you’d say, though.
Remember that elephant?
If the student is focused internally, thinking about their hips or their legs, one piece of the theoretical elephant. They’re ignoring the big picture.
A slight shift to the ground brings their focus a little more to the world around them. Maybe now the elephant is becoming aparent.
And the last cue gives them awareness of their own body, the ground between them, and their opponent in the distance. That’s the whole elephant, and a little about the space between them.
Those are subtle differences!
But your students will be getting the best possible outcomes, and sing your praises as the best possible coach (or training partner). That will keep them making faster progress, maintaining that progress through their Retention Phase, and excited to keep coming back. That’s how your dedication to making better students gives them (and you) a more successful dojo.
Want to learn to make your own? Here’s a clear formula to create your own External Focus cues. Having them ready for the different segments of class before you get there will make it much easier.
Want a genius-level bonus? There is a special version of external cueing that uses specific encoding analogies designed to target structure and action. It is a deep topic, and more difficult to jump into than what you have here.
So first, here’s your one-week challenge:
Start with changing your instruction to an External Focus.
Watch your students get better and STAY better.
Then come back and learn the next pattern - analogies.
For the culture geeks:
Another whole series of articles covers the cultural and historical sources that convey this idea, mostly in the context of Buddhism. It’s not just modern Ivy League schools and sports psychologists publishing new papers on this topic. Check out that version of “study something old to learn something new” in that series of articles.
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Resources (All open in new windows):
Hatsumi, Masaaki (2008) Unarmed Fighting Techniques of the Samurai. Kodansha International.
Lemov, Doug (2020) The Coach’s Guide to Teaching. John Catt Educational.
Saxe, John Godfrey. Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant
Wulf study: Enhancing the Learning of Sports Skills Through External-Focus Feedback