Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

There is an ancient Shaolin saying, "I do not fear your 10,000 kicks that you have practiced once. I fear your one kick that you have practiced 10,000 times." The most important key to learning martial arts and also the greatest challenge to learning martial arts is REPITION! Interestingly enough this is also true about learning anything else in life.


Our bodies and minds learn through repetitive actions. By repeating an action over and over we are telling our muscles and our brains that this particular action is important and needs to be remembered. Lack of repetition sends the exact opposite message to our muscles and brains, "this action is unimportant, no need to remember it."

Unfortunately, most students are unwilling to put in the repetition that is required to truly learn skills and techniques. They become bored and want to move on to the next "new" thing before mastering the current technique or skill. This creates mediocre martial artists. General Choi understood this part of training. He addresses repetition and boredom in his Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do:

"There is a common tendency among beginners to tire of repeating the same techniques over and over. Boredom will usually set in between the third and sixth month for the beginning student. This is the period when a student is building his Taekwon-Do foundation by learning fundamental technique and building power. The best way to combat boredom is to attend class regularly and resolve to attain a specified goal. Too often the students sacrifice thoroughness in the learning process, because they tend to lose patience and insist on progressing to a higher technique before mastering the previous one. Students should realize that it is extremely important for them to know thoroughly one single technique until it becomes reflexive before advancing to the next." -Condensed Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do by General Choi Hong Hi, pages 40-41

I would like to add that often I Dan Black Belts fall into this trap. Since they have reached what they consider an advanced level they become bored and quit because they feel there is nothing more to learn that is of any worth.

Therefore, boredom sets in because students repeat skills and techniques without purpose. In order to avoid this obstacle a student must learn repetition with purpose. Every time a student practices a Kick, a Pattern, Step Sparring, Self Defense, Free Sparring or Breaking, they should stop and fix a goal in mind, what aspect will they work on in order to refine, polish and master the skill or technique. There are so many things to work on such as; power, speed, balance, proper facing/posture, correct intermediate hand position, correct stances, focus, accuracy and so on. Since none of us are perfect, repetition provides us with unlimited opportunities to improve.

Boredom is simply the result of mental laziness. So the next time you are in class, I challenge everyone of my students to be both physically and mentally engaged. You should leave the class better than you started it, even if it is just one little thing. That is the difference between a class that is worthwhile and a class that is a waste of time.