(Fighting) Training versus Practicing...

 Training versus Practicing...

As a fighter, or really a practitioner of any art, it is important to know the different between what it means to train and what it means to practice.

Unfortunately most fighters really don't consciously know the difference and keep it in mind when trying to better themselves.  There is a time to Train and there is a time to Practice.

First, to Practice is to "do repeated exercises for proficiency" (Merriam Webster Dictionary)  So to practice is to repeat something over and over that you have learned to develop proficiency at it.

To Train is to "form by instruction, discipline or drill." (again from the Merriam Webster Dictionary).  In general, to train is to learn a new skill.

Now, where the problem arises is fighters often begin to substitute practicing for training mentally, or worse, think that they are the same thing.  Simply, training is when you are actively trying to learn something, practice is refining that something.

Training without practicing means that you can "kind of" know about a lot of things, but not really be proficient at them.  Practicing without training new skills mean that you can be very proficient at what little you know.

This happens all the time in the SCA as well as other parts of life.  You get guys who go to practice and do the same thing over and over again expecting to become better fighters.  Some guys spend years doing the same old thing over and over and wonder why they are not actually becoming better fighters.  Frankly, you can practice crap, over and over again and after years you are just really good at doing the same old crap.

Of immense importance is to open you mind and realize that there is a time to practice and a time to train.  The time to practice is after you have trained to learn something.  After you get a concept down through training, be it a strike, a block or some special technique, then it becomes the time to practice it.  Remember, practice is repeating something to gain proficiency at it. 

 ***If you trained yourself to do something wrong, practice will only reinforce that flawed teaching.  If you have learned something correctly then practice will reinforce that proper teaching.***

Approach Training as a methodical process to learn, to grasp each part of a move properly, focusing on intent, form, mechanics and results.  One should try NOT jump into practicing over and over techniques that have not grasped adequately.  Remember, practicing something wrong only makes you good at doing it wrong, sometimes even injuring yourself in the process. 

So Training is the Time to Learn while Practice is the Time to Refine what you have Learned.

Picking up a sword and just swinging it is not going to do a lot of good, and can actually do harm.  Train how to throw a shot and after you have the mechanics and concepts down, then it should be practiced.

Fighters that progress the most are those who go to "practices" with a clear idea of what they are going to train that day and/or what they are going to practice.  If you are learning something new it's training, if you're just working on what you already know it's practice.

Perhaps I am being long winded, but it can make a world of difference in a fighter's learning if they understand that there is a time to focus on Training something and then there is a time to Practice it.

-Brand

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