pros/cons-working with regulars/working with new people

[devante]

basically discussing some of the pros and cons that come w/working w/a set group of people or working w/a revolving door of people. I have done both in grappling/striking; working w/regulars and then meeting people online and traveling to work w/their group or visiting another city or town and working w/guys at their school. So these are some of the things i have come up with.

set group-

1)you really know when your getting better; these guys see you regularly, so your growth or lack thereof is obvious.

2)you find out if your skill level is good or if your a product of your style or your abilities (i.e. physical skillset); no matter how unique or diff your style is, when someone sees it enough they begin to recognize the tells..the holes..the strong points and the situational effectiveness or lack thereof. When you train w/new guys, they are getting their first look at your style and the more difficult it is; because it's a combination of unpopular arts or maybe its your body mechanics or its your mindset (being a def guy or unorthodox), its hard for them to key in on it or even take adv of shortcomings cus they don't have a good grasp of what and why you do what you do. Guys who see you regularly get things down and then it becomes a matter of if your skills are there, if they aren't then the effectiveness or uniqueness of your style begins to lose its shine. Same thing w/athletic ability, as hard as you hit, fast as you move, tough as you are; once people get a good grasp of the extent of your abilities they start to lose their impact on how effective you are, IF the skills aren't there to back it up.

3)you get feedback, guys your comfortable w/are much more apt to open up the books; let you pick their minds, and really help you shore up your game. Your teammates and partners your improvements and success reflect on them and assist them in improving.

cons

1)familiarity, no surprises; even if your improving alot, these guys see it everyday..so your not catching anyone off guard unless your doing work outside of class.

2)lack of intensity, when your around people you know you don't always go as hard or maintain your focus; your pals your friends, you respect each other ability and knowledge. So when someone isn't coming w/it you might be calmer because you know his skills ability and don't feel the need to push all the time.

 

[devante]

new guys-

1)diversity-you get to see things differently, even if they do the same art and train the same way you do; they are diff body type..mindsets and faces.

2)no comfort level, you have no idea of what they know, how good they are, how strong tough fast explosive or hard hitting they are; so you can't get into a groove or be to lackadasical cus you don't have that inner knowledge of these guys. Plus these guys don't know you so you don't get that automatic respect for your power speed toughness tech volume counter or offense or defensive ability; you gotta earn it.

3)amped up environment, the regulars DON'T want the new guy coming in and handling them, whether they "lose" or "win"; noone is letting you walk right through them. They don't know you and don't want you walking aways having gone through the whole crew; UNLESS your a known guy, even then guys are gonna wanna push to see what you got and what they got.

cons-

1)depending on the guys it can be tough to get good feedback, criticism yes; feedback no, some guys have egos and bias.

2)amped up environment-sh*t can get hectic real quick, your just visiting; these guys live and train here, the contact and tech progression can get ramped up very very quickly.

3) can't pick up a whole lot of tech per se; maybe one or two things, mostly you get to see if the things you do or learn stack up against a diff school or a diff style or a diff approach.

 

[eastcounty]

Im stuck in a situation where I don't know if I should leave my gym to go to a bigger gym with more diversity to better my training. I have the same guys day in and day out and they're good, but I just feel like I've hit a plateau. But at the same time, if I go to a bigger gym, I won't know anybody and don't think it will be the same atmosphere. I don't want to do cardio boxing or that crap, and the larger gyms offer that.

 

[slip slip hook]

newbies:
pros:
1.i like to focus on their techinque and try to pick out weaknesses/things i would exploit in a fight
2. you get to see wrinkles in their styles. Slight differences from what your used to seeing

i think these two help for when your going to fight someone you haven't seen of fought before
cons:1. Don't know what to exect attitude wise
2.Don't know their skill level at holding pads

some people i've trained with expect/demand a professional level of pad holding but half ass when its there turn. I've seen people get injured because of this.

Regulars:
cons:
1. You only see the style of your particular partners. When facing someone of a different style it seems even more alien to you

pros:
1. They are familar with what you do well and what you do badly. This makes them better at pointing out mistakes during pad work i.e. your dropping your hands, turn your hips more on kicks, your overlapping your feet
2. Sparring sessions become like one long several day fight. Regs tend to remember what worked against them or against you during previous sparring sessions so both fighters are forced to do a lot of thinking/evaluating during sparring

Overall i rather train with regulars because you know what to expect from their quality of pad holding/partner drills and the endless adjustments you have to make in sparring.It is hard as hell to keep tagging the same person with the same techniques, your forced to adjust and evolve