Training is not very consistent. It's not as if you train for 1 year and make clear gains, and then train for another 1 year and make equally clear gains. Certainly there are so many variables. What is the teacher working on the whole year? How much energy can you divert to training that year? How healthy are you? What are you working on and what is your teacher working you on? Most importantly how can you even measure your gains and do you even know what a gain is? Managing all of these variables and expecting a predictable outcome is difficult. You can't therefore expect a linear progression.
It's funny because sometimes you can be on a roll for one class or maybe many classes, all the techniques are clear and you can do quite well at most of them. But then there are times when you just aren't able to see what your doing and all the techniques feel wrong, again this could be one class or many. It's very tough at times, but it is all a part of training. The important thing is to Keep Going!
When I look at someone really good these days, I try to think of what they went through to get there. It's a much more humbling experience than to simply hope one day to be as good or better. It puts my own training in its small perspective.
