Is training once a week enough to get better?

Is training once a week enough to get better?

A question we often encounter from prospective members when they attend our academy for an initial induction and free private lesson is, “Is training once a week enough to get better?”.

It’s been my experience that most people who ask such questions tend to be classic commitment phobes, eagerly looking for an excuse to walk out the door and quit before they even begin ; ) I’m sure some of them expectantly hope for me to say they’d be wasting their time and shouldn’t even bother starting up. Needless to say I’m always pleasantly surprised by their reactions when we sit down in my office and I offer my standard reply.

I ask them, “have you ever played another sport?.....or musical instrument?.......learnt a second language?......cooked a new recipe?.......built something from scratch?”.

Then I follow with, “Were you better at it (pick one of the above!) after doing it the first time or the 50th time?”.

Most people roll their eyes and answer as you’d imagine. Of course they were much better after 50!!!

“Then imagine how much better at martial arts you’ll be sitting here in a years time if you take the plunge and get started training once a week today”. As their eyebrows raise then lower I add, “and think how good you could be after 100 sessions if you juggled your time to commit to a second session a week?”.

If you want to get proficient at anything you need 3 basic things. Attributes (keep an eye out for a future blog on this), world class coaching and deliberate practice.

Any commitment is better than none, but you’ll never get anywhere just thinking about it. So as Jocko Willink says you just need to “get after it”. So what are you waiting for?