Learning Enhancement Trick
Forgetting is human nature and with how busy we all get, both kids and adults, it is nice to know a few practices that will help retain the new things we learn.
1. Watch GracieUniversity.com videos, but only once or twice to become familiar with the content. Rewatching and rereading material gives the feeling of learning without the actual results of being able to remember in the long term
2. Self-quizzing is the next step after being taught something.
a. In the class room, it means drilling the move you saw in the demo to the best of your ability, even forgetting details. Asking yourself questions while drilling i.e. What grip should I be using? Am I working too hard? Is the bad guy doing the correct indicator (even periodically checking in at different parts of the technique to make sure they didn’t change it)?
b. When picking up your child/children, ask them what position they worked that day. Even if they don’t know the vocabulary of Jiu Jitsu it draws attention to it. Ask them to describe the move. Were they learning to escape, control, or submit someone today. These simple questions and descriptions help recall.
c. At home at the end of the week, it means asking what classes did I attend this week? Without looking at the calendar first, what do I remember? Standing? Which positions on the ground? If you can’t remember right away, then think for a few minutes before referring to the calendar. This can also mean solo drilling at home the parts of the moves you can remember and do. Doing them all twice is more than enough to work as a self-quiz.
d. Attending Reflex Development (RD) classes for adults. This is a great way for white belts with 2 stripes or more and for Master Cycle students to continue to quiz themselves on the Combatives moves. We weekly work on one of the 4 major positions of Combatives. Students have more freedom to see how different moves connect and can ask their training partners to try different ideas to discover the limits of one technique and see how it may lead into another technique.
e. Attending Master Cycle Fundamentals Saturday mornings 6-7am. This is a great way for Master Cycle students to cycle through the 7 positions of Master Cycle and become familiar with new and old moves and how they connect. Similar to RD classes, students have more freedom to test the limits of one technique and see how it may lead into a technique they have already learned, whether from Combatives or Master Cycle.