I was demonstrating a move to my students today and I had a slightly difficult time executing it. The move was basically an armbar to a backwards throw, changing the opponents momentum from one direction to another. At first I thought that perhaps it was the size of my students who are larger and stronger than others I have worked with. But then again, I’ve worked with a wide range of shapes and sizes in my own training and haven’t had problems with this technique. After watching a few of my student try to execute the technique as well as some trial and error, I came to the conclusion that this had worked in the past because I wasn’t teaching it, I was practicing it. The subtle difference being that when showing the technique to students, one generally tends to be gentler and slower than when practicing the same technique. Since this technique really depended on an opponent’s reaction to the armbar and their tendency to want to go the opposite way as a reaction to it, there was a need to make the armbar slightly painful. This elicited the right reaction to make the technique flow and make it effective. At some point in the future I’ll write about the need for realism in practice through sparring and senario evaluation, but even outside of these types of training, executing a technique to a level of discomfort is not only crucial to you learning how the technique will execute in more realistic circumstances, but also make you more adept at executing the techniques. While I think it is important for students to go slowly at first with a cooperative partners, there are benefits to a slightly opposing partner and execution of technique with controlled speed and power.