I recently had the chance to attend some “reality based” self defense training with a friend of mine who had never practiced martial arts before. On our second class, my friend had his wrist broken - most likely by an overzealous beginner during a gun takeaway exercise.

What happened?

As with a lot of these classes that I have witnessed over the years, the emphasis is on speed. The issue with the focus on speed is that beginners, when their technique or anatomixcal understanding is lacking they speed up and compansate with force. They also don’t understand have the kinesthetic sense of the limitations of a training partner’s joints.

My sensei Peter Freedman would always have us train slow for learning, medium speed for practice, and reserve fast for combat. Slow training while learning has HUGE advantages:

• It more quickly develops the neural pathpays to do the movements making them more efficient over time
• It allows for corrections that would be missed otherwise
• It allows the body to learn to shift balance appropriately - a key to power generation
• It’s generally safer - especially for beginners
• It allows instructors to notice and correct improper movements.

Slow practice will make you better faster. Freedman Sensei uses the analogy of driving a car. What would happen if, the very first time everybody drove a car they just got in and drove as fast as the car could possibly go?

There’s one additional benefit of slow practice - overcoming the ego. Beginners with self-esteem problems are always the most dangerous people to train with. They tend to go too fast with too much power, afraid to let anybody see their imperfections. It’s good for them to be forced to go slow and highlight their imperfections and correct them. It’s good for training to feel safe to fail.

Here’s a great article.