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if teacher or the student aren't available and the pace of the class doesn't allow for questions (and your partner doesn't want to listen to you) - just do the drill the best you can (if there are no safety concerns); consider this to be one more challenge; later (after the class) ask sensei what to do if this happens again.

Yes. If you are in a kata-based art, practice your least-favorite kata until you start noticing it pop up in your daily life (opening doors a certain way, stepping to dodge someone in a crowded area just like in the kata). You pick your least-favorite because it is most likely to move you out of your comfort zone. Don't force it though. As you practice, ...

Since footwork more or less determines reach, drills related to that will give good guidance. Further, while analysis works well during training, is too slow at speed. People jerk away or move too slowly because they react to artifacts of the mind. Such a drill has to address that. There's a fun drill where you only use footwork to step and evade incoming ...

From a street fighter. I'm right-handed, 6'1, and 160 lbs. Like the others I have no scientific facts to support my claims other than experience. In real fights, you are typically (if not the aggressor) in the position of defense; if you survive you win. If you are on the offense, total submission is required to call it victory. It has been my experience ...

In the context you've given I would do the following, based on my rank and experience relative to my partner. I'm setting aside safety issues and presuming nothing I'm suggesting here leads to danger. If the other person clearly outranks me, (or has much more experience if ranking isn't a big thing in your art): This person is definitely my superior and I ...

As far as turns overlapping, it doesn't matter as much. The drill eventually gets to a free-flow, but the goal is to move slower than your opponent to force yourself to move (and think) more efficiently. In other words you can wait until after the opponent lands before initiating your movement. Does that happen when someone tries to hit you? Yep, ...

With empty-hand, I usually do the following exercises to get people used to distancing differences. I simplify it and do just "one" range - which should map pretty well to your situation. The student stands still, and I do the striking. Every strike is preceded with a question like "Can I hit you from here?". Variations on the question will become obvious ...

I have completed the following drills before sparring. I can say that they work very well to put you in a more creative mode of thought. Repeat these drills before sparring. Take a partner and a tennis ball (or anything you can throw to the other person). Face each other at a distance of about 1 metre. The first person throws the ball and calls "left" or ...

I was at Rory Miller's seminar. Here is a short video of this exercise. This is a group version of the drill, but we spent hours doing the couples versions. I found this drill to be amazing. I'm a (novice) student of Ninjutsu, and I've never being able to apply locks in a Randori. Moreover, I've never seen locks applied by anyone else - The Randori always ...

Century Martial Arts advertises their smallest bamboo toothpick starting at 12 oz. That would be the 50" (4' 2") variety. The lightest fiberglass I could find in a non-exhaustive search was still 1 lb. 5 oz. If that's too heavy, the student should train so it is not too heavy. Lifting weights with proper form and properly trained supervision can be a safe ...

The thing is, until you have gained some understanding, you really cannot tell which is wrong. This is why in some dojos the etiquette dictate that noone under 1st dan is allowed to give explanations (which just follows the principle that in any japanese art, not only the martial ones, 1st dan means you're able to teach below your rank). One sempai recently ...

Assuming I am working with a superior/senior/sempai: When I am uke, and am getting it wrong, it is helpful if nage stops me, indicates that I should attack him/her, and then goes through the technique slowly and deliberately. Usually that helps a lot. When I am nage, it's also very helpful when uke takes exaggerated ukemi (e.g. puts him/herself in place ...

Fixation is a natural part of the way we train new techniques and new forms. When you practice, you say, "Okay, I'm going to work on XYZ kata." or "I'm going to train ABC technique now." We then proceed to drill the technique repeatedly. This is good training at a very low level, but it's something that needs to be abandoned at a point. In my estimation, ...

I'd like to think that I fall in the category 'established martial artists' as a former two-time world heavyweight champion Tae Kwon Do. As I started practicing TKD I found it easy to pick up on techniques with my dominant side and it was very tempting to practice only that side or at least favor it in training. But after a few small successes in sparring I ...

I practiced osotogari on the right side (my dominant) for years. I practiced the form, I drilled, I went for it in sparring. While it got smoother, and over time I was able to catch novice players with it, I never got the kind of return on investment that I got from practicing other techniques. When I started prioritizing left-side osotogari in my drilling, ...

My #1 strategy when I was sparring with people with far better striking ability than me was to take a southpaw stance, even though I'm right handed. The stance confused them, so they ended up just doing single punches, which was a lot easier for me to deal with than combinations. If you only train one side, it means your training partners all stand with ...