The bulk of my training happened in the ‘80s and maybe surprisingly NOT in a dojo. The majority of my training was always outside. And yes, “the dojo” is wherever you are . True. But what I am getting at here is that if you are - for the majority of your time - training inside, you need to change that and get out there!
You need to experience the not so perfect conditions of being out in the elements. What are we talking about? Well, for starters: the weather. Do you know how you perform in hot, humid sticky heat? How about bone chilling, numbing cold? Have you ever fought someone in a rain storm? These factors all change the way you have to approach being attacked.
Then we have terrain. Wet grass is awful. Might as well be ice. Speaking of, if you trample on snow enough, it compacts and does become ice. Ever fight on a hillside? Or standing in a shallow river bed? How about on the cliffs of a rock quarry? Or in a large oak tree? The beach? These are all areas that I had to learn in when I was training. My first class with my private instructor was outside, of course, in his backyard which was a sloping hillside filled with walnuts. Not easy to stand. Horrible to fall on. Lots of lessons to be learned.
TIP: the more you can experience operating in an environment that is not conducive to your well being, the better you become at handling adverse situations. An attacker, is not going to wait for ideal weather or conditions to go after you. It’s most likely going to happen in the worst possible location and at the worst possible time. You have to be prepared.