Reviewing what I know

[kenc.sdq]

I haven't been to my FMA dojo for 4 months after training there for nine months due to my work schedule. I managed to learn skills up to the yellow belt, or at least the white belt level (even though I didn't earn a belt). Would devoting at least 15 minutes daily going through the workout would be helpful and reinforce what I learned? And would it come as second nature if I encounter a situation?

 

[drop bear]

Too many variables.

Was your school any good?

were you any good?

Who are you planning on fighting?

 

[kenc.sdq]

The school is good imho, I was alright even though I had done some boxing and BJJ. I'm not planning on fighting anyone, which is a good quesiton btw..when I was 16 y/o, I made a inncoent comment in front of my brother, and he just threw a haymaker at me. And he's twice my size. So I want to start up again and use that as a reason to learn self-defense.

 

[Headhunter]

I haven't been to my FMA dojo for 4 months after training there for nine months due to my work schedule. I managed to learn skills up to the yellow belt, or at least the white belt level (even though I didn't earn a belt). Would devoting at least 15 minutes daily going through the workout would be helpful and reinforce what I learned? And would it come as second nature if I encounter a situation?

It's better than doing nothing so yes do it but for something to come second nature you have to do it hundreds and hundreds of times

 

[Gerry Seymour]

If you practice it enough, it will become a ingrained response. There are two caveats to that:

1. If you practice an ineffective response (or practice doing an effective one improperly enough to make it ineffective), you'll get an ingrained response that doesn't help you.
2. It will only be ingrained to what you've practiced it for, with some level of generalization (psychological term, referring to the response being applied to "similar" situations). If you practice it without a partner, you're probably not developing a response to something like someone punching you, since your brain isn't responding to a punch.

 

[skribs]

One of the things I tell my higher level students is that if they don't work on the details of their techniques, and only practice it the same way they practiced it as a white belt, then they will get faster and stronger at the white belt technique, but it will still be a white belt technique.

In Taekwondo, with a single reverse punch, there may be dozens of details I'm looking at for an advanced student, but only a few details I'm looking at for a white belt. If I throw every single piece of information at a student at once it will overwhelm them and they won't know what to focus on (I've done this before and I've gotten several lectures from my Master on this), so we teach only what is needed to learn the basic motion of the technique and then improve it over time.

So if you practice 15 minutes a day, you will maintain the memory of what you've learned, but it won't help you improve your technique. For that, you need actual feedback from an instructor.

 

[cborde]

My work schedule / location limits my training as well. I work on a boat, so not much room to train, but I improvise and work fundamentals. I'll hold a horse stance for extended periods or place my shoes in front of me to practice my positioning on a throw. It's little things, but it keeps the rust off.

 

[Flying Crane]

Practicing what you have learned, to the best of your ability, with as much time as you have available, while not in class, is always worthwhile. In my opinion, you cannot make real progress without doing so. You must practice outside of class. Training only while in class will limit your growth.

 

[jobo]

I haven't been to my FMA dojo for 4 months after training there for nine months due to my work schedule. I managed to learn skills up to the yellow belt, or at least the white belt level (even though I didn't earn a belt). Would devoting at least 15 minutes daily going through the workout would be helpful and reinforce what I learned? And would it come as second nature if I encounter a situation?

Probably is the answer,, if you've spent months on those techniques then they should be ingrained, rusty perhaps but ingrained, you won't as others have pointed out make progress on refining the skills, but the skills you have should be more than capable of being useful in a " situation" if you scrape the rust off.

In one of my long lay offs from ma, some came running at me with murder in their eye, I smashed the heel of my hand under their chin and they literally flew backwards and landed prone on the floor, I didn't even know I remembered how to do that. But there it was a decade later just waiting for a " situation" to arise