{"id":1167,"date":"2022-02-10T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/remoteaikidodojo.com\/?p=1167"},"modified":"2022-02-10T08:09:55","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T08:09:55","slug":"what-makes-a-good-training-session-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/remoteaikidodojo.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/10\/what-makes-a-good-training-session-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"What Makes A Good Training Session? – Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Include A Lot Of Variety<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every once in a while the question, \u201cWhat makes a good sensei?\u201d comes up for discussion. There are many valid answers for this question but this post is going to take a different approach to the standard responses. This month will continue the series<\/a> looking at what makes a good training session. Since the sensei runs the session, a good training session requires a good sensei. The inference being that if you do these things then you will improve as a sensei. This post will be considering that the session should include a lot of variety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Before we get too far into this it\u2019s important to have some background. Studies have been carried out into elite athletes to discover what, precisely, they look for in an effective coach. Rushall (1995, Think And Act Like a Champion) observed that, \u201cThere is a group of overt and covert behaviours that are common to sporting champions\u201d. Of particular interest is that he claimed this list was unchanging. Rushall researched the behaviours of 155 champions and record-holders over a 20 year period. What he discovered was that there were no differences between the old champions and today\u2019s. The basic core values remained the same. Of the items identified by Rushall as being the habits of champions, 10 of them are under the direct control of the coach. The fifth of these is that excellent coaching sessions include a lot of variety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boredom<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Every sensei was at one point a student, and many of us still are. Every student out there knows one thing for certain, doing the same technique for a long time gets super boring. Your brain turns off and you start to phone it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that there are plenty of ways to combat this boredom from setting in. The most obvious is to include a lot of variety. There are some limits on how you can go about introducing that variety and still have a productive training session though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you do not include a lot of variety boredom can set in quickly.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Timing<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Back in the first post of this series<\/a> I noted that I break my training sessions down into 15 minute chunks. 5 minutes to teach the technique (including the ukemi<\/a>), and 10 minutes for them to practice it. That\u2019s a very specific timing and it was chosen for a reason. Neuroscience has revealed some fascinating things about the human brain<\/a>. The first is that we have 10 minute attention spans. Given a topic that isn\u2019t too boring that\u2019s about how long you get before people start clock watching. You can reset that clock by breaking the pattern of what you\u2019re doing. In a presentation you\u2019d need to inject some humour, in an aikido session it\u2019s time to change the technique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a very simple thing, but sticking to that 10 minute practice window keeps students engaged through the entire session. Allowing 5 minutes to teach provides plenty of time to get across all the points you need to make at a range of levels. 5th<\/sup> kyus don\u2019t need to know the same things as 3rd<\/sup> dans, but they all need to know something. If you are teaching the ukemi as well, which you should be, then there\u2019s time to do that too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final benefit of this system is that it makes planning the session much easier. In most dojos sessions run to full hours or half hours. 15 minute chunks divide into this very easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Variety Does Not Mean Random<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When introducing variety into a training session it still needs to be constructive. This is less of a danger if the session is planned in advance, but could still occur. When planning out a session most sensei will want to have an overall theme to it. The teachings and techniques are then chosen and taught in a way to promote that theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Variety can bring a lot of colour to life.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Creating variety does not mean having 10 different themes. It means structuring the lesson to keep it interesting while pursuing a single theme. Consider a class where the theme was shomen uchi ikkyo. There is not a lot of obvious variety there. Most people may think there\u2019s only omote and ura. That may be true but there\u2019s also the strike. Shomen uchi with a bokken, and shomen uchi with an empty hand. If you adopt the 15 minute time frame that\u2019s just filled up an hour long class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might think that having 15 minutes of empty hand shomen uchi striking is not feasible, but it is. Again, you simply have to consider the variety. If it were my class it would look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n