If you are reading this article, you are probably an instructor, which means you've heard a number of discussions about the importance of stages in teaching.  The essential idea is to break a lesson up into logical, manageable sections that build the students' understanding of the technique.  Other articles cover the basic approach to this structure, so I won't bore you with a detailed description here.

I do want to talk about (and correct) a specific trend I've seen recently.  After instructors run students through the dry work in stages, the students partner up and usually do the same stages together. So far, so good.

But the training method I object to is this: I don't agree with the method in which one student attacks the other, and the defender must wait for the instructor's command to defend.  I don't like this rigid format in general, and I strongly disagree with it for self defense techniques.

Let's take Choke From the Front from Level 1 as an example. Using the above teaching method, all the attackers puts their hands on all the defender's throats. The defenders must then wait for the instructor's command to defend, then counter, etc.

I strongly disagree with this teaching methodology, for the following reasons.

First, it delays the defender's reactions.  We emphasize immediate and aggressive reactions to violent contact. To have the defender wait, with hands on her throat, for the instructor to say "go," makes no sense.

Second, it occupies the instructor's attention.  Using this structure, you have a room full of people waiting for your command. What happens if you want to talk to an individual student? Either you have to delay that individual comment, or make all the other students wait.

Third, it makes training more rigid, reduces class energy, and slows down the pace. We have been very successful with a free, less-formal style of training.

I would consider a more successful training set up to be this:  after teaching the lesson and going through stages "dry," then put the students together. Specify the portion of technique you want them to execute, regulate the speed and power, and then let them work. This frees you up to walk around and help individuals.

I'm not sure why this is creeping into some of the mock teaching sessions I have watched. However, I think you'll find that if you relax the structure about, the students will have more opportunities for repetition, and you will have more time for individual corrections.