So, private lessons have slowly ramped up in the last couple of weeks. None of my clients have trained in 6 months. One said, “I haven’t picked up my stick since December.” From the get-go, their rustiness has been apparent. As a result, I have taken to calling the first few workouts “WD-40 sessions.” That gets a few chuckles.

One sure sign of their rustiness is their lack of control over their sticks. In the last two weeks, my private clients have accidentally hit me more than in the previous 13 years of private lessons combined. That’s what six months of inactivity can do to anybody.

This means that, in the short term, I will emphasize fundamentals and previous material instead of introducing new material. This is not a reflection of my private clients. Virtually everybody will be rusty after six months of inactivity. That said, my clients will work hard to eliminate rustiness. I will encourage them to do homework between private lessons, like this workout below. I often employ the blitz method to ascertain their rusty areas, whereby I quickly go through the material and ascertain what they need to work on. In other words, it’s the WD-40 approach to ridding them of their rust!

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In all fairness, it’s not just my students who are rusty. I’m feeling it as well. My perception and reaction speed seem a bit off. I ain’t running on all cylinders like I was in December. But let’s be honest about it. Six months of zero live training with partners will result in regression. That’s just the reality for ANYONE. However, consistent training over time should eliminate the rust. Perhaps I should add WD-40 to my morning coffee?

More important than the issue of rust is the opportunity to see all of them for the first time since December. While we all love training and working on our skill sets, social interaction and relationships are the most rewarding aspects of martial training.

If there’s one takeaway from this pandemic, friendship and social connections are important. I do not doubt that my clients and many others more than ever appreciate this aspect of life. For example, one of my private clients is a school-age child, and he has had a tough time with online classes. Not seeing his friends in person has been tough for the kid. However, his father told me the kid looks forward to our private lessons. So, I try to make it as fun and challenging for the kid as possible. For example, I pushed him to show me his stick speed yesterday while doing semi-free tapi tapi. He had a blast doing that.

As an instructor, I feel responsible for teaching more than just martial arts, especially in these extraordinary times. Life lessons, social connections, and good conversation are part of the package, as are stick and knife techniques. Would you agree with that?

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