Repetitio Est Mater Studiorum

 by Phillip Starr

It's an old Latin expression that says, “Repetition is the mother of all learning.” Truer words were never spoken. You all know that in order to truly learn any given technique or form, it must be practiced many, many times. It's often rather tedious, and is quite demanding, both physically and mentally...but such practice not only develops “muscle memory”, but a strong spirit as well.

Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition, which has been used simultaneously with motor learning. When a movement is repeated over time, a long-term muscle memory is created for that task, eventually allowing it to be performed without conscious effort. This process decreases the need for attention and creates maximum efficiency within the motor and memory systems. Examples of muscle memory are found in many everyday activities that become automatic and improve with practice, such as riding a bicycle, typing on a keyboard, tying your shoes, entering a PIN, playing a musical instrument, poker, martial arts, or even dancing.

Because it is tedious, some instructors are hesitant to make students undergo such training. What they fear is that students will become bored and discontinue training. I say that such instructors lack imagination! When I ran a full-time school, I used various ploys to get students to (unknowingly) practice a given technique(s) several hundred times in each class!

The neijia (internal martial arts of China – taijiquan, baguazhang, and xingyiquan) speak about “getting the taiji body” and so forth, and this is a very unique skill that can be acquired only through endless (correct) repetitions of the form. But it's equally true for any given style of karate or taekwondo; each is intended to develop its follower's bodies in a certain way and only constant repetition of the form(s) will foster it.

If you could watch senior practitioners of a given style of karate, kung-fu, or taekwondo perform a form using only the footwork and body movements (no hand techniques or kicks), you could still easily identify from what art they come. The body movement(s) of taekwondo are dramatically different from, say, Goju-ryu, baguazhang, or any other style. This holds true for all arts and styles...and it is developed only through thousands of repetitions of their form(s).