My training is stagnant....I have reached a plateau

Feeling stagnant in your training is normal.  There is always a moment where one feels

• "Why am I not testing?"
• "Am I testing too fast?"
•  "Why can’t I get someone in a certain position?"
• " Why is that person learning it faster than me?"
• And so much more...

The joy of Martial Arts is that we are learning as a team and as an individual.  Your team consists of the various partners that help you train each day.  However, they are not your competition, you are your own competition. 

Your lineage of Grand Masters, Master, and Instructors and the curricula behind their training is very important to your understanding and growth in the Martial Arts.   When you feel stagnant, it is your Instructor and the knowledge of the curricula that helps you “climb the mountain” so to speak. 

When you feel stagnant, do not compare yourself to others.   Do better than your personal achievements from today, tomorrow.  Today you did 10 push-ups tomorrow you will do 15.  Today you maintained the top position for 10 seconds tomorrow it will be 30 seconds.  Today John got you in a choke, tomorrow he will not.  Today you kicked waist level, tomorrow you will kick an inch higher.  Set realistic small goals for yourself and seek to achieve them in realistic time frames.  Recognize those milestones in yourself.  Your teammates become your cheering crew!

You have a team and you have your personal growth.   

Lastly, the most important thing to remember when you feel your training is stagnant:

 Believe in yourself and in your training.  If you lose that, you will feel incompetence in the effectiveness of what is taught.  When you believe in yourself 100% and what you have been taught, then stagnation will improve.

Remember learning is an ongoing process.  It never ends.  A Black Belt is not when training stops.  Those who do stop learning at Black Belt do not understand that the growth/the evolving begins at Black Belt and therefore cannot help you evolve for they have not evolved.  Remember, Martial Arts is as much a mental growth as it is a physical growth.

Keep moving forward.  Keep believing in you.  Keep growing.

Black Belt-Where The Learning Begins