Trainers need training
When you have spent years specialising in a single skill set – like all trainers do – it can be hard to remember what it’s like to be a beginner.
It must be said that most trainers are in a constant process of learning. However, when you’ve been training in one specific area for years, those improvements tend to get smaller and smaller. The most striking comparison to be made is between a trainer and a beginner. Beginners make quantum leaps of improvement over a week. Therefore, it is important for the trainers to remember how it feels to be at the bottom of the heap. Especially since there aren’t many skilled people that remember what it feels like to be really bad at something. Luckily, practicing situations in which you’re not very good can be quite easy. Even the simplest things can be extremely difficult with minor adjustments. Let’s take walking in a straight line as an example – walking on the ground doesn’t sound too difficult as anyone reading this could achieve it with great success. But if you try the same task with your eyes closed, then the success rate will decrease. This means we can find ways to make simple things very difficult.
One of the great things about putting yourself in these situations is experiencing the frustration of not being able to get something, not through a lack of effort either. You drill and drill a move, listen to your coaches but still, you don’t get it. Then one day it comes. This helps you understand what it feels like for those new people trying to get that elusive first takedown, submission, or striking combo. They work and work to get that move and you can see their frustration, then eventually, when success is reached, you can see the joy on their faces. As trainers, we can become complacent with these results. As we might get single leg takedowns with a high success rate, we can forget how hard it is to get. So, when someone else gets that move, it’s important to give them praise once in a while.
No matter what the new skill is, upskilling in anything is good for personal development. We can all get complacent doing what we feel comfortable in so going outside that comfort zone isn’t easy. The benefit and the understanding of being a student rather than the teacher is a massive eye opener. Even just experiencing what it’s like to walk into a foreign environment – to feel unsure, to not know anyone and work out the dynamics of the club. This helps you understand what new people feel like when they walk into your club for the first time, which is a very intimidating thing to do. Unlike other sports or clubs, when you walk into a fight gym, you are going to get punched and a lot of the people who train there can look intimidating and be the alpha male type. To most people, that is rather scary as most of us are not that intimidating or alpha males and coming up against people like that in a fight gym environment is things of nightmares for some people.
If you are at the top of your game or feel like your training has stalled a little, then it can be a great idea to step out of that comfort zone and try something new. I do not mean that you stop what you are doing, rather you add something new to your training week. Some people will say that they do not have time. However, if you are honest with yourself, when you say you don’t have time for something, what you are really saying is that you don’t want to do it. As you can always find time for things that you want to do, push the excuses to the side and go learn something new. There are endless new things to try, getting out that comfort zone and remember what it feels like to be a beginner again will give you a new perspective as a trainer. I have tried something new and found the results rather surprising in terms of the cross over as a trainer, so I highly recommend it.
Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor