I was talking to a student the other day about techniques I used as a blue belt and not anymore. Why? They stopped working.
When I was at a small school where I was one of the “advanced” students, I used certain techniques successfully. But when I started training with good partners, a lot of those techniques went away. They simply stopped working, or I couldn’t even get started on a path.
Don’t develop a game or strategy that is based on your opponent being less skilled than you. Because if you have a game that works on good partners, it’ll work on the bad ones too.
The only way to do this is to train with good people. If you’re the best student at your school, you have a couple of options:
- Leave for a bigger school. This is tough, and not necessarily the best option. You may be a great cultural fit and have fun1 2 there, so staying makes sense.
- Help your partners get better. If you’re a blue belt with a “signature” move, teach your partners everything about it, including how to counter or defend it.
Don’t try to get by on secret techniques. They’re only secrets temporarily.
The more your help others, the more you help yourself.