# Training partner advice



## Supra Vijai (Nov 11, 2010)

Hi all,

I am just wondering what the general recommended approach is to someone who clearly is a bad training partner for your particular personality (not saying they are a bad martial artist! Just not for me personally).

I'll put this into context. I recently trained with someone who is not my regular training partner. I met up with them at their place recently as my usual training partner was unwell and they wanted to do "some drills". First 20 minutes was spent with them waving a bokken through the air in zorro style slashes as opposed to controlled cuts. Then when I asked if we could actually do some training they picked a technique and we drilled it 3 times. Twice with them as Tori, getting the fundamentals wrong and once with them as Uke when they kept trying to "teach" me what I was doing incorrectly - even though I was following the steps I had written down in my notes after we'd trained that in class. They then proceeded to do some basic ukemi for all of 5 minutes before saying "well that was a great training session! we should do it again soon" and calling it a day :S 

How do you tell someone that you don't want to train with them anymore as you find it counter productive (and a complete waste of time)?  More so, how do you tell someone who is convinced they are God's gift to MA that they are full of it and you really don't think they should be "teaching" when their own technique is off so badly?


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## Chris Parker (Nov 11, 2010)

Firmly but politely tell them that unless they want to get serious, you won't be training with them. Oh, and in your case, send them to me. PM me if you want.


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## jks9199 (Nov 11, 2010)

Chris Parker said:


> Firmly but politely tell them that unless they want to get serious, you won't be training with them. Oh, and in your case, send them to me. PM me if you want.


And make a personal note not to waste time training with that person outside of class again.

You should have a sense of a fellow student's overall attitude and approach from training with them in class.  Even in the most disciplined class, things like that will show through their training.  They won't do any better in class regarding technique, they'll try to teach when they're simply supposed to be practicing, and so on.


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## Burnse (Nov 12, 2010)

So what would be an acceptable approach to prevent them from teaching you incorrect information in class?


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## jks9199 (Nov 12, 2010)

"Y'know -- I'm just going to keep trying to do it the way sensei showed us."

Or "Sensei, we're having trouble over here; you can you help me understand what I'm supposed to be doing?" (or another similar question.)


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## Supra Vijai (Nov 12, 2010)

jks9199 said:


> And make a personal note not to waste time training with that person outside of class again.



I've trained with them a couple of times only in the past out of the dojo and both times we actually had a productive session - at least a lot more productive than this last one was! I guess that's what threw me so much this time. I will definitely be taking that advice on board though and sticking to the two people I normally like to train with outside of class as we are at the same level in terms of maturity and interest towards the art. 



Chris Parker said:


> Firmly but politely tell them that unless they want to get serious, you won't be training with them. Oh, and in your case, send them to me. PM me if you want.



Will do with regards to the training Sensei. Also, will be emailing shortly about a couple of different things.


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## jks9199 (Nov 12, 2010)

Supra Vijai said:


> I've trained with them a couple of times only in the past out of the dojo and both times we actually had a productive session - at least a lot more productive than this last one was! I guess that's what threw me so much this time. I will definitely be taking that advice on board though and sticking to the two people I normally like to train with outside of class as we are at the same level in terms of maturity and interest towards the art.
> 
> 
> 
> Will do with regards to the training Sensei. Also, will be emailing shortly about a couple of different things.


If it was different behavior than they ordinarily show, it might also just have been a case of being in a weird or silly mood, or just plain not wanting to train at that moment.  That happens sometimes...  You might talk to them, and let them know that you don't want to set up time to train, and have that time wasted.  They might have a reason you'll at least be able to sympathize with.


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## xfighter88 (Dec 7, 2010)

You could be a wuss and just not call them back


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## Supra Vijai (Dec 7, 2010)

Are you stalking my posts xfighter? 

Haha nah just haven't trained with them outside the dojo again and don't let them know of any plans to train that I make with others


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## xfighter88 (Dec 7, 2010)

Stalking ..... maybe. I guess your post are interesting enough to respond to. 

Happy hunting


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## Supra Vijai (Dec 8, 2010)

xfighter88 said:


> Stalking ..... maybe. I guess your post are interesting enough to respond to.
> 
> Happy hunting



Well I'm glad you used the word interesting  I'm trying to post in threads I have some sort of basic understanding of and try pick up information as I go along, so far so good on the latter


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## Tez3 (Dec 8, 2010)

Chris Parker said:


> Firmly but politely tell them that unless they want to get serious, you won't be training with them. *Oh, and in your case, send them to me*. PM me if you want.


 
And you have to video it for us.


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## Supra Vijai (Dec 8, 2010)

Tez3 said:


> And you have to video it for us.


 
Oh please send me a copy if you get a video???


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