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Wax On, Wax Off

661 statements
126 feature instances
127 referencing feature instances

Wax On, Wax Off	type	FeatureClass
Wax On, Wax Off	label	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off	page	WaxOnWaxOff
Wax On, Wax Off	comment	An odd form of training passed off by an unorthodox master on a skeptical student. Sometimes comes disguised as a set of chores, but just as often is a general exercise that promotes a valuable physical or mental attribute in a strange way. Always dismissed as a waste of time early on, but appreciated later. Often, this also serves as a lesson to the skeptical student to trust the master and do all the crazy things the master asks without questioning, by demonstrating that the master really knows what he's doing and is in fact effectively teaching the student. May be time-compressed in a Training Montage or Hard-Work Montage. This is an integral part of Improvised Training, due to the low cost involved. It's commonly subverted or parodied when a mildly Genre Savvy hero initially assumes he is receiving valuable training, only to realize that he is just being made to do his sensei's chores. Double Subverted if the sensei tells him that this realization is the valuable lesson. Realistically, all forms of training require repetition, persistence and discipline, so this is decidedly Truth in Television. The functionality has limitations though, as situational instincts applicable to the actual goals matter just as much as the physical conditioning. So while this can be an effective training method regarding strength and muscle memory, it's no substitute for the practical training which will inevitably follow. The trope is named for its most famous example, Mr. Miyagi training Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid by, among other things, waxing a small fleet of cars, sanding the walkways of his garden, and painting his house. Subsequent uses of the trope might reference this phrase or scene. Compare Training from Hell, Taught by Experience, I Know Mortal Kombat, Chekhov's Skill. May also double as a form of Physical Fitness Punishment. When the mundane task comes at the end of training, it's When You Snatch the Pebble, and often Look What I Can Do Now!. The teacher is often a Magical Asian or an Old Master. Compare to Fence Painting and contrast with Mooching Master, where the teacher is more concerned with getting free labor out of disciples rather than training them. Sometimes combined with Imposed Handicap Training. Properly executed, it always ends up being Worth It. Not to be confused with Martial Arts for Mundane Purposes, when a skilled martial artist uses their skills for something other than fighting. Examples
Wax On, Wax Off	fetched	2024-03-09T09:16:59Z
Wax On, Wax Off	parsed	2024-03-09T09:16:59Z
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Wax On, Wax Off	isPartOf	DBTropes
Wax On, Wax Off / int_107ce086	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_107ce086	comment	By The Next Karate Kid, Julie calls Miyagi on his bullshit and refuses to wax anything. Undaunted, he achieves the same result by having her babysit kids who constantly fire toys at her, forcing her to practice her reflexes and blocking motions.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_11d152d0	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_11d152d0	comment	In David Eddings' Belgariad universe, the arch-wizard Belgarath learned the Functional Magic of "The Will and The Word" from the reclusive Physical God Aldur in this way. Aldur kept setting his young apprentice to various menial, pointless, and increasingly strenuous tasks, culminating in him ordering the young Belgarath to move a boulder out of his way since he couldn't be bothered to step around it. Inspired by this, Belgarath did the same thing to Garion, who tried lifting the boulder. Newtonian physics still worked, apparently, and Garion found himself in a rather deep hole.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_136342f1	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_136342f1	comment	Parodied in Mort when the hero, as Death's apprentice, is told that if he wants to understand the secrets of space and time, he must muck out the stables. After considering various reasons why this might be part of his training, he comes to the conclusion that it's because Death was "knee-deep in horseshit". A Double Subversion, though, as Death insists that, by realising this, Mort has learned something: always see things for what they are.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_136e43a2	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_136e43a2	comment	Parodied in the series finale of Zoey 101. Micheal needs somebody to teach him how to drive stick so he can take his father's car to prom. Micheal ends up finding a gardener on campus named Mr. Takato, who has him stirring tuna salad and squashing grapes with his feet. Takato's instructions work, but the ending takes goes into Mind Screw territory as nobody on campus has ever heard of Takato, and Takato even tells Micheal that he doesn't exist before vanishing.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_16fc4335	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_16fc4335	comment	In By the Sword, Kero's training with Tarma begins with a whole lot of chopping wood. She doesn't seem to resent it, but she does eventually get curious when Tarma starts having her chop wood that's been set up in oddly specific configurations, at which point Tarma finally gets around to explaining the specific purpose of the exercise: to develop the specific muscle groups that she'll be using to swing a sword.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_1b386512	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_1b386512	comment	Ranma's training in Ranma Â½ started here and escalated to lunatic levels of difficulty and danger. Ranma's rival Ryoga also undergoes this type of training, getting boulders thrown at him to learn the rock-crushing Bakusai Tenketsu technique. As it turns out, Bakusai Tenketsu only works against rigid objects like rocks, but getting hit repeatedly by swinging boulders eventually makes the fighter Nigh Invulnerable. And it was all a Batman Gambit from Cologne to freak Ranma out enough so that he would train on his own and become a better suitor for her granddaughter. In filler, Happosai trains Kuno by having him get the ingredients for his "speed of light elixir" from some strange places (like the girl's locker room), which would require him to get faster and tougher. It works, but the formula was so bad (being made from the dirt under Happosai's nails) that it undoes the training. Kuno also tried training by going to Watermelon Island, standing under a waterfall, and dicing watermelons as they came down from upstream. He got really good at it, chopping watermelons to tiny cubes entirely by reflex, and getting stronger and tougher than Ranma himself! But it's subverted because the entire point of the training was to impress girls by Smashing Watermelons.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_1bb6d4b5	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_1bb6d4b5	comment	When the heroes of Get Backers want to learn to use Divine Design, they get a witch friend to help them learn the basics of magic. The first task? Stacking eggs.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_1beda93b	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_1beda93b	comment	In Sluggy Freelance, this comes into play not with physical training, but with Mad Science. Irving Schlock has one of his subordinates work on various, overtly pointless projects until Dr. Shankraft confronts him about it. His final project entails both the massive amounts of power and the accounting for size differentials that his previous works required. There's also a Secret Test of Character in the shape of a fire-breathing duck.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_1d43953c	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_1d43953c	comment	In Usagi Yojimbo: Usagi's training as a kitten had his old master Katusuichi, pretending to be a Mooching Master, making Usagi do all manner of chores for over a year before he even let Usagi touch a bokken. Turns out he was actually testing Usagi's patience and resolve to become a swordsman. Katusuichi also started hitting Usagi with a bamboo stick at random times, day and night. Although the rabbit kitten feared his teacher had gone mad, he only later noticed that it helped develop the lifesaving habit of being constantly alert for danger.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_1f8bdad6	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_1f8bdad6	comment	The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Guo Jing's slow acquisition of martial skills is the despair of his shifus until he meets a traveling Taoist priest, Ma Yu, who doesn't agree to become his master, but offers to teach him some "breathing exercises" to help him focus and sleep better. Guo Jing takes up the exercises, and suddenly he's picking up kung-fu techniques in days that would previously have taken him the better part of a year to acquire. Turns out that what Ma Yu has been teaching him were the basic neigong techniques of his Taoist sect, without their names.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_22147342	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_22147342	comment	In Arrow, one of the flashbacks to the island where Oliver was stranded shows a similar training. In order to strengthen him enough to draw back the string of a bow, he is forced to keep slapping water in a bowl. Later, in the present day, he uses the same training technique on Roy Harper. However, at this point Roy has Super-Strength, so the training is more about learning precise control than gaining muscle.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_223c2a48	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_223c2a48	comment	Everything about the Old Man in the opening of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an example of this as he teaches both the player and character of Link, who is an Amnesiac Hero at the beginning, most of the basics of the game while appearing to do mundane day-to-day and leaving clues. These range from wood cutting, which you can do to make improvised bridges, to gathering materials and cooking food, which can make meals that keep Link warm in naturally cold areas. Once you find out that you have to leave the area, which is on a high-up plateau, the Old Man then gives you a goal of beating seemingly random shrines and promising reward of the item that will help you leave, but even that is a teaching Link and the player about Spirit Orbs and obtaining utility abilities for the Sheikah Slate. Only after all that is completed, it's revealed that the Old Man is the spirit of the former King of Hyrule, King Rhoam, and he was testing you/Link to see if you would re-adopt the mantle of hero. You're then left to complete the game in which ever way you see fit, but even the most direct ways can involve several of the techniques learned from the Old Man strung together.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_24a6dfde	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_24a6dfde	comment	Spencer's training of the gang in lonelygirl15 includes bizarre methods like hopping like a kangaroo, wandering around blindfolded, and playing '80s video games whilst eating candy. Jonas in particular is sceptical, but the methods are surprisingly effective. Well, except for the idea of plunging knives into a wall and pulling oneself up with them; that really was just an extremely dumb idea.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_25dadb20	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_25dadb20	comment	Hotel Transylvania: The Series: In "FangceaÃ±era", all chores Aunt Lydia told Mavis to do were useful as training for the tasks.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_27c708b3	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_27c708b3	comment	In Rosario + Vampire, Moka nabbed a magic-cancelling whip so Inner Moka could come out and play, and they both took Tsukune out on a shopping trip around Preternatural Street, which led to attacks from the rest of the Harem. Tsukune figures out how to remotely sense demonic energy as a matter of survival, which everyone concludes was her motive. No, it turns out she just wanted to do some shopping as her True Self and snuck a lesson into the shopping trip. When the actual training begins, Tsukune's concerns that it was going to be Training from Hell were proven well-founded. Ironically, this lesson gets specific use more often than the strength training does.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_2dc6b507	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_2dc6b507	comment	Ayane's High Kick: When Ayane accepts Kunimitsu's offer for training, he declares that the first step is for her to build the training ring, to help build her physical strength and stamina.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_318b09a0	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_318b09a0	comment	In The Inheritance Cycle, this is supposedly the way that Dragon Riders were taught to be aware of their magic. They were given incredibly arduous tasks to do (such as filling barrels using buckets — using only their feet) so that they would eventually get so frustrated that they'd spontaneously do something magical.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_32c541e6	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_32c541e6	comment	In Fullmetal Alchemist, Izumi's Training from Hell for alchemy is preceded by a month of survival in the wilderness with just a knife, the purpose being to find the meaning of "all is one, one is all". By undergoing a Near-Death Experience, trainees learn that they're part of an endless cycle of life that could easily move on without them, and that alchemy is just a miniature replication of that cycle within one's own body. She herself learned this from her own teacher, who according to one gaiden volume did it because he thought she wanted hand-to-hand combat training. She really wanted her trainer's brother to train her, but in the end, she learned enough to curb-stomp him anyway.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_37400b11	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_37400b11	comment	Parodied in Mystery Men, where the Sphinx trains the eponymous squad with a series of bizarre physical feats justified by odd wordplay:
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_37b7264c	comment	Takumi from Initial D, or so he thinks, starts out driving at 4:00 AM as fast as possible while delivering his dad's tofu to the peak of Mount Akina and drifting to prevent the tofu from rolling around, in order to return home ASAP and catch a little snooze before going to school.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_39e3b5ff	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_39e3b5ff	comment	Kill Bill has a more realistic portrayal of how martial arts schools used to do this, showing the Bride carrying buckets of water up a large set of stairs as part of her training.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_3a9cf1cc	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_3a9cf1cc	comment	This is used a few times in the Shenmue series. For example, in the second game, a teacher considers Ryo far too hotheaded and revenge-obsessed to teach and tells him that he can't meet the master he's looking for until he clears his mind...by taking the books out of the library so that they can be aired out (this builds strength, patience, and balance, as he is expected to carry tall stacks of narrow books). Once he actually argues that this is a ridiculous requirement (which takes several days), he is then told by the teacher (who is, of course, the master he's looking for) that he remains too impulsive, and he needs the grace and clarity of mind to catch a falling leaf. For several days. Inverted with the Tai Chi man in the second game. Ryo watches the man go through the slow, careful motions of Tai Chi, then punch a thick tree hard enough to shake it. He realizes that Tai Chi is, in fact, a martial art, and asks the man to teach him to punch that hard. The old man tries to teach Ryo the fluid motions of Tai Chi (which, when sped up, are in fact deadly motions), and Ryo instead spends some time punching the tree really hard.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_3aeb1c75	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_3aeb1c75	comment	The Dragon Ball franchise was fond of this trope; the hero Goku is often given a mundane but laborious task to retrieve an item that would increase his power, only to find that it was the task itself that made him stronger. By Dragon Ball Z, he's wised up to this sort of thing — or so he thinks, because nobody really trains him the same way twice. Dragon Ball: Master Roshi goes to comedic excess when he forces Goku and Krillin to work long hours delivering milk on foot, sowing fields with their bare hands, and doing chores at construction sites, all while wearing weighted turtle shells. It really does build them up fast, but Roshi is more excited by the few bucks he makes off it. Goku's training with Korin involving climbing up his tower to meet him, and then snatch the bottle of his Sacred Water, said to increase one's strength. It doubled as a Secret Test of Character when Goku had an opportunity to steal it from an apparently sleeping Korin; Goku decided against it, much to Korin's surprise. Its effectiveness was shown part-way when Korin tossed Goku's Four Star Ball off the tower; it took Goku only an hour or two to go back down and up the tower again, when his first climb up took an entire day. When Goku finally got the water, he found that it was only ordinary tap water. The point was the workout of chasing Korin around and also learning to read one's opponent and predict his movements. When Tao Pai Pai makes his way up the tower to claim its power, Korin quickly realizes he's a bad guy and just gives him the water; he also gives Tao a black flying cloud to ride back down so he won't get any stronger from the climb.note And on top of that, Korin makes the cloud disappear near the bottom, insulting Tao as well. Dragon Ball Z: After training with Kami, Goku frequently trained solely by using weighted clothing, and after King Kai by using special gravity rooms, something Vegeta would later pick up. Discarding the weighted clothing would often be used when fights got serious. King Kai admitted this was going on from the start. The gravity on his planet is ten times that of Earth (the same as that of planet Vegeta, home of his next opponents), so when Goku arrived there he could barely move. King Kai told him that when he could catch Bubbles the monkey (and in the anime, hit Gregory the cricket on the head with a mallet), he was ready to learn King Kai's special techniques. Gohan's training with the Z Sword. The extremely heavy blade is supposed to be the only weapon capable of defeating Majin Buu but shatters when actually put to the test. Gohan then notes that swinging the sword around has made him much stronger and faster, which may have been the point all along. Subverted immediately when Goku says that the power increase is negligible. Breaking the sword releases the Elder Kai, whose abilities turn out to be the real prize. In Dragon Ball GT, Old Kai has Goku unlock his hidden power by making him operate a giant coffee grinder, which somehow starts to regrow Goku's tail. The training is quickly abandoned for the faster solution of simply forcing the tail out with a pair of pliers. Dragon Ball Super By Super, Goku is very used to this trope and assumes that he and Vegeta having to change the God of Destruction Beerus' bedsheets while he's sleeping — a surprisingly dangerous task — is another example of the trope. Vegeta says no, this is just ordinary housework that has nothing to do with their training. Before he shows up to train with Whis, Goku challenges Piccolo to a one-on-one contest- harvesting all his crops as quickly as possible. While initially irritated for being called to do field work and skeptical that it could ever be considered training, the Namekian very quickly realizes its effectiveness in keeping his arms and legs moving, while keeping his mind focused.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_40151435	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_40151435	comment	In the anime adaptation of Run with the Wind, Kakeru notices that Prince's running form (which is hilariously disastrous) already looks a little better when he's reading manga on the treadmill (his back straighter and he faces forward to read instead of downward like he usually does in races). Kakeru thus uses manga to help hone Prince's running, by holding the manga up for him to read while he runs and making him hold the books in his hands while running (mimicking running to his room to read them) to fix his arm positioning. Although more needs to be done to whip him into shape for Hakone itself, this does help Prince to eventually cut back his official track meet time from 45 minutes to 30 minutes.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_431f7ab9	comment	Played absolutely straight in The Kingkiller Chronicle. The Eccentric Mentor Elodin teaches Kvothe lessons such as the dangers of speaking and acting recklessly from the second half of the first book onwards, but it's not until Kvothe's Character Development and spending some time away from the University that he understands the point of them. Arguably the crowner is probably when, after assigning the class to read several different, random books from the library, he doesn't bother showing up, just writes on the board, "Discuss."note Which teaches them, amongst other things, initiative Later, Kvothe notes that at least he had a much better understanding of how to use the library, thanks to Elodin's random assignment. It takes him a whole book to figure out that this was the whole point of the exercise.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_43b1575d	comment	Earthworm Jim played with this in its animation incarnation. Jim finds an enchanted sword in his vending machine sandwich, which vows to make a hero out of him. In the following scene, Jim drags himself on camera, wearily explaining that he'd performed such tasks as doing the dishes, regrouting the bathroom and cleaning out the stables of the twelve incontinent bulls. He then asks if the tasks were meant to teach him humility. The Large Ham sword mutters, uncharacteristically quietly, "I dunno, they just... needed to be done, I wasn't going to do it."
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_4522fd1	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_4522fd1	comment	Whateley Universe: A common mode of teaching at the titular Superhero School (frequently as part of some Physical Fitness Punishment), and something applied by some of the protagonists at times on their own. Often acts as a Chekhov's Skill; if Chaka is trying her hand at some new type of Martial Arts and Crafts, or Shroud is applying some type of Mundane Utility which is discussed in detail, you can expect the new skills to come up in some fight soon after (though not necessarily immediately).
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_468bebb0	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_468bebb0	comment	Discworld Parodied in Mort when the hero, as Death's apprentice, is told that if he wants to understand the secrets of space and time, he must muck out the stables. After considering various reasons why this might be part of his training, he comes to the conclusion that it's because Death was "knee-deep in horseshit". A Double Subversion, though, as Death insists that, by realising this, Mort has learned something: always see things for what they are. Similarly, in Thief of Time, Lobsang Ludd is being taught by Lu-Tze, an Old Master who is content to be a humble sweeper. After several days of sweeping up the temple, he confronts Lu-Tze: Granny Weatherwax is also a major believer in Wax On Wax Off, not just as training for young witches (such as Eskarina and Tiffany), but as a permanent part of a professional witch's repertoire.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_4737c653	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_4737c653	comment	In an episode of Elementary Sherlock Holmes promises to train Joan Watson as a detective but her first week of training involves simply taken Holmes's laundry to the dry-cleaner (and not just any dry-cleaner, an incredibly low quality and inefficient dry-cleaner). However, as Watson keeps going, she starts to notice slight hints that something is going on below the service and eventually works out that the dry-cleaners is actually a front for a money-laundering operation...exactly what Holmes wanted her to notice.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_482c5063	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_482c5063	comment	All The World's A Stage (NullenVoid): Ondori begins the story as a fairly unremarkable Suna pupeteer; not bad, but nothing noteworthy. Then he invents The Muppets and begins putting on street performances as a hobby between missions. Since that requires him to work multiple puppets at once(where previously he could only manage one in combat) it winds up drastically improving his skills, though he doesn't notice.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_4a743cd5	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_4a743cd5	comment	In Drunken Master, Jackie Chan plays Wong Fei-hung, a young punk who is punished by being put under the brutal training of Su Hai Chi, an alcoholic with a style known as the Eight Drunken Immortals. Su Hai Chi appears to delight in putting Fei-hung through Training from Hell. It starts with being flipped around, tripped over, and knocked down repeatedly. Then it transitions to transferring water between four giant barrels with a bucket, while balancing atop the barrels. Later, it moves to filling one bucket with water from another using only a teacup — while the empty bucket is on the top of a pole, the full bucket is on the bottom of the pole, and you do it by wrapping your legs around the top of the pole, hanging upside down, and doing upside down situps. Last, it's performing katas in time with your instructor, with your hands roped to his, as he slams poles against your wrist running down the length of the cord. So how is all of this supposed to aid in defeating the Big Bad? Well, being forced to flip over builds up your balance by getting used to tumbling around, since much of Drunken Boxing is acrobatic. The barrel exercise builds up balance, back and ankle strength. The teacup exercise builds up the upper leg and abdominal areas. The cord exercise is to help Fei-hong remember the katas, employing his strength from the previous exercises. Having his wrists slammed with the poles is necessary since he'll be doing a lot of blocking and striking using his wrists alone. And crushing walnuts quickly becomes useful for outright lethal strikes, like crushing the throat.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_4ab17360	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_4ab17360	comment	Inuyasha. Parodied in a filler episode. When Inuyasha wanted to get stronger and power up his Infinity +1 Sword, he went to the sword's creator, Toutousai, for training. Toutousai is both The Wonka and an Eccentric Mentor at the best of times. As a result, when his response to Inuyasha's request is an off-hand comment about wanting a bath, Inuyasha — with atypical gusto — starts cutting firewood, hauls water, and works the bellows to heat the fire, believing that Toutousai has put this trope into effect and that it's all part of training. And then he discovers that Toutousai was being serious: he really did want a bath. Cue wrecking ball mode.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_4b434423	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_4b434423	comment	PokÃ©mon Sword and Shield introduces PokÃ© Jobs, allowing your monsters to grow stronger through exercising their Mundane Utility.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_4f9064f5	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_4f9064f5	comment	A specifically inverted example happens in Kung Fu Panda: Po, who eats when he's upset, is taught kung fu by Master Shifu via eating dumplings with chopsticks; largely because Shifu discovers, quite by accident, that when Po is thinking about food, he's capable of feats that, when he's thinking about kung fu, he's not even aware exist.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_530b6b18	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_530b6b18	comment	Parodied in Madam & Eve when Eve teaches Madam the "Maid Aerobics" exercise regimen — it's Eve's household chores disguised as a weight-loss program.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_58be8dc6	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_58be8dc6	comment	In Holes, this is the idea behind Madame Zeroni's deal. Elya is to carry a pig up to a spring at the top of a mountain each day, in order to impress a woman, with its eventual weight as a dowry. However, the true purpose is to have Elya carrying a gradually growing pig; over time, it would develop the muscles that would truly impress the girl. Subverted when the woman turns out to be stupid, and Elya leaves without her.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_5999b1ec	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_5999b1ec	comment	Seen in flashback, in the Xanth novel, Question Quest: When The Gorgon approaches Good Magician Humphrey with her question, he makes her perform the customary year's service (in this case, a year as his maid) before even letting her ask, let alone answering. Humphrey knew that if he answered her question normally, it would be a disaster: The Gorgon approached him not only out of her desperate loneliness, but infatuation with the man who managed to overcome her talent (The main source of said loneliness). The year's service let her get to know the real Humphrey, warts and all. It also gave her an out in case she decided the real him wasn't something she could deal with. So when he allows her to ask her question at the end of the year, he knows she's asking him, and not some heroic ideal version of Good Magician Humphrey she may have had. Her question was "Will you marry me?" His answer was "yes."
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_5c600b17	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_5c600b17	comment	Digimon Adventure: In "The Piximon Cometh", Piximon's training regimen for the Digidestined and their Digimon partners is to have them scrub every floor in his dojo and to refuse to give them anything to eat until they do so.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_5e150650	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_5e150650	comment	Used (of course) in Exalted: One of the Scroll of the Monk books had a comic depicting a martial arts student griping about his sifu making him slap water out of a pan for his special training. Then he slams his hand down on the table in anger and breaks it in half. Taken to almost Trollish extremes in an Ink Monkey's supplement. "Secret Lesson Revelation" allows a Sidereal Sifu to use practically anything in this way, as long as they can make up some reason, however far-fetched, that it is true. Naturally, there is a comic where a Sidereal is abusing this to make a Solar clean his Demigod T-Rex stables.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_60515a97	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_60515a97	comment	Double subverted in Fans!. Master Kana's training of Rumy involves making her do chores around the house. When she finds out she's just being used, she attacks Kana and they start fighting. During the fight, Kana reveals that he was trying to make her angry, so she wouldn't hold back while they fight.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_60e46926	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_60e46926	comment	MAD spoofed this trope by having Mr. Miyagi explain that finishing off enemies is the same as finishing off floors. And if he gets the shit kicked out of him, Daniel-san now has a nice place to recuperate.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_60f02ddb	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_60f02ddb	comment	Parodied in the American Dad! episode "Scents and Sensei-bility", where in an attempt to help Snot, Steve performs various menial tasks for Roger, such as combing wigs and making a martini for him, that will supposedly help him learn to fight. However, when the tournament comes up, Steve is promptly beaten, and when he brings up this trope, Roger admits that he was just making Steve do his chores for him.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_610a694a	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_610a694a	comment	In PokÃ©mon Adventures, the Daycare Lady locks Gold into a cage full of dangerous-looking Pokemon. Gold's Cyndaquil ends up evolving thanks to fighting them, and Gold immediately shouts his thanks. Turns out the old lady was just too lazy to look after the Pokemon herself and was using Gold to give them some exercise.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_62de3b45	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_62de3b45	comment	Genesis of Aquarion loves this trope, and parodies it whenever possible.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_63230cb	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_63230cb	comment	In Dragon Ball Z Abridged, when Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, and Piccolo arrive on King Kai's planet, he sets Tien and Chiaotzu to the same training as Goku, lets Piccolo meditate, and tells Yamcha to wax his car. Yamcha assumes this trope is the case and launches into the task with gusto. Except Kai doesn't give a damn about Yamcha and just wanted to give him some menial chore to keep him busy.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_6505f7f3	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_6505f7f3	comment	Molly of Denali: In "Have Canoe, Will Paddle", Connie tries to train the kids to use canoes by having them do planks, balance water balloons and lift watermelons covered with butter and the kids find it very strange. After realizing that she's actually an accomplished canoer, they begin to understand her methods more. The planking was for upper body strength, the water balloons were for core muscles, and the watermelon game taught them to balance in the canoe.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_67ce5a04	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_67ce5a04	comment	In Fire Emblem Fates, in a support conversation between Kaze and Mozu, Kaze shows off his deft hand at peeling potatoes, and explains to Mozu that cooking, painting fences, polishing armor, and other household chores have a prominent role in Hoshidan martial-arts training.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_6910a104	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_6910a104	comment	In Ballerina, the main character learns ballet through doing housework with various unusual poses and steps. This is largely out of necessity - she and her trainer are both dirt-poor and employed as cleaners, so they don't have access to better equipment and can't afford to neglect their jobs.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_6c1234ed	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_6c1234ed	comment	Pre-training for the military in Dwarf Fortress can easily be this trope, with dwarfs spending days or months driving pumps, mining rock, cutting trees, carving rock, grinding grain, or any of a few different industries. On the other hand, it gets interesting when those same dwarfs build up their skills and expertise by tallying up every single rock in the fortress or ordering the manufacture of several thousand bars of soap.note This was due to an oversight on the developer's part and will probably be corrected at some point. Mining plays it straightest; the unmodded game uses a generic "axe" item for both combat and woodcutting, but using it on trees levels a separate skill from using it in combat. Pickaxes, for some reason, draw upon the "Mining" skill for both. For the Adventurer, knapping develops agility, strength, kinesthetic and spatial Sense, and also produces sharp rocks to throw, developing additional attributes as well as marksmanship. Walking with a crutch trains endurance and willpower, and if your adventurer ever breaks or loses a leg, he or she will be able to grab a crutch and walk at their usual speed.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_6f850294	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_6f850294	comment	In E.W. Hildick's The McGurk Organization series, Jack McGurk (leader of a band of kid detectives) frequently came up with "training exercises" that also got the other kids to do his work for him. For example, raking the yard to match leaves. The point, as McGurk explained, was to look for leaves that didn't match the trees in the yard. Really, he was just getting the others to rake the yard so he didn't have to.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_712d16f3	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_712d16f3	comment	In Juken Sentai Gekiranger, this is the modus operandi of the Fist Saints who act as mentors to the team: Sha-Fu (motto: "Training can be found in daily life") is the group's primary mentor who generally has them perform everyday tasks as a training regimen. The standout example being the usage of the Geki Bazooka: Ran and Retsu learn to charge the weapon in sync by playing the piano together, while Jan is taught the patience needed to distract the Monster of the Week while the charging is happening by being made to wait for a delicious meal. Elehung Kam-Po (motto: "Training can be found in play") teaches Ran the use of the Geki Hammer via fly-fishing. Bat Li (motto: "Training can be found in a trance") teaches Retsu the use of the Geki Fanthrough dancing, specifically that the weapon requires a Don't Think, Feel mindset, which the overly technique focused Retsu found hard to adapt to. Sharkie Chan (motto: "Training can be found in SHARKI~N!") teaches Jan the use of the Geki Saber via canoe racing.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_72262aee	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_72262aee	comment	The Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "Sokka's Master" has Sokka seek sword training with Piandao. In addition to actual training with wooden practice swords, the training involves calligraphy, rock gardening, and landscape painting. Atypically, these are artistic exercises, and Piandao actually explains the purpose of these as he goes along (instead of afterwards), and Sokka performs them in very odd ways (for instance, when instructed to arrange a rock garden, he quickly makes a comfortable seat to lounge in). Piandao then teaches Sokka to use his eccentricities and Take A Level In Badass — by challenging him to a no-holds-barred duel in which Sokka's resourcefulness and creativity enable the beginner to keep stride with the master.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_73549409	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_73549409	comment	In Storm Hawks: One episode has the eponymous characters meeting Arygyn the Skeelur, who trains them to take on their upgraded enemies by taking them to an amusement park. In another episode, Sky-Knight Starling is confused by the team's training, which mostly consists of children's games resembling paintball and keep-away. The group assures her the games are important, and they all come in handy saving a terra (even Finn's guitar playing!).
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_746814ae	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_746814ae	comment	In "Arthur Loses His Marbles" from Arthur, Arthur asks for help from Grandma Thora after learning she was quite skilled at the game in her youth. She sets him a number of "finger exercises," among these, waxing her kitchen floor. When Arthur asks her what she said the exercise was for, she states "extending your reach," though she also mutters to herself that the floor hasn't been waxed in years.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_74f7210c	comment	The Legend of Zelda: Everything about the Old Man in the opening of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an example of this as he teaches both the player and character of Link, who is an Amnesiac Hero at the beginning, most of the basics of the game while appearing to do mundane day-to-day and leaving clues. These range from wood cutting, which you can do to make improvised bridges, to gathering materials and cooking food, which can make meals that keep Link warm in naturally cold areas. Once you find out that you have to leave the area, which is on a high-up plateau, the Old Man then gives you a goal of beating seemingly random shrines and promising reward of the item that will help you leave, but even that is a teaching Link and the player about Spirit Orbs and obtaining utility abilities for the Sheikah Slate. Only after all that is completed, it's revealed that the Old Man is the spirit of the former King of Hyrule, King Rhoam, and he was testing you/Link to see if you would re-adopt the mantle of hero. You're then left to complete the game in which ever way you see fit, but even the most direct ways can involve several of the techniques learned from the Old Man strung together. A self-imposed example from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. King Rhoam fights with wood axes and greatswords in combat. The descriptions of his unique quests reveal that one major reason he can wield them so easily is that he spends time cutting down trees. In fact, the Woodcutter's Lodge on the Great Plateau (where he was seen living in when first met in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) was specifically built for him to stay in while chopping down trees. The opening of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom plays out similarly to its predecessor Breath of the Wild. The introductory quest to complete the Shrines of Light on the Great Sky Island is most explicitly meant to give you access to the Temple of Time. But by traversing the floating landmass and solving the Shrine puzzles with the abilities given by the ghostly Rauru, you end up learning many of the techniques needed on the overarching quest, such as assembling Zonai vehicles that can clamber over difficult terrain, navigating pitch black caves, and many techniques carried over from the previous game. And at the end of this introductory section, Rauru reveals that it was also meant to assess if Link was really as impressive as Zelda had described him as; Link passes with flying colors.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_77be988d	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_77be988d	comment	Similarly, in Thief of Time, Lobsang Ludd is being taught by Lu-Tze, an Old Master who is content to be a humble sweeper. After several days of sweeping up the temple, he confronts Lu-Tze:
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_79ab0b3c	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_79ab0b3c	comment	In the Tortall Universe's The Numair Chronicles Yadeen teaches the young mage Arram focus and control through juggling.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_7c3e0841	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_7c3e0841	comment	El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera: Trying to get out of doing chores, Manny tricked wannabe hero Albino Burrito into doing them thinking it was hero training. Then all he learned during the chores was indeed useful to defeat a rampaging robot built by Puma Loco.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_7d985ff1	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_7d985ff1	comment	Epithet Erased: Subverted. Indus thinks Mera is doing this, but she's really just getting him to do her laundry and file her taxes. Indus is not a bright man.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_82439e64	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_82439e64	comment	In an episode of The Office (US), Michael unveils a movie he had been working on for years. In it, the hero has to learn how to play hockey and his mentor teaches him by having him mop the ice.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_84823809	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_84823809	comment	In the Kaeloo episode "Let's Play Tennis", Mr. Cat tells Kaeloo and Stumpy to do random things like tango dancing which have nothing to do with tennis in order to make them better tennis players. The trope is subverted as they aren't actually able to do anything at the actual game, obviously.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_84986bf9	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_84986bf9	comment	During the "Player-Owned Ports" minigame of RuneScape, the Exile decides that in order to stop a serial killer, she must overcome her pacifism and train with the martial adepts of the Eastern Lands. The adepts assign her mundane chores. After some time, the Exile becomes impatient and demands to know how this will help her battle— at which point the adepts reveal that the true purpose of the chores was to demean her and piss her off, so that she would learn a warrior's mindset.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_86616890	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_86616890	comment	Done with a tutorial in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Talion is tasked during the introduction with sneaking up on his wife Ioreth before pressing a button to playfully give her a surprise hug. Turns out these are the exact same control mechanics used to stealth kill Orcs during the main game. Considering that the forces of Mordor are the ones who killed his family (and the weapon he uses for stealth kills is the broken sword of his dead son Dirhael), there's also a subtle, symbolic And This Is for... weight behind each stealth kill.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_8846e292	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_8846e292	comment	Subverted in Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun. Iruma thinks this is what Bachiko Barbatos is doing by making him act as her servant and dressing her up in frilly outfits. After a few weeks of this, she admits to having forgotten she was supposed to train him at all..
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_8966a34	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_8966a34	comment	Subverted in Medabots, which had a chapter in which Ikki and Metabee did Dr. Aki's housework. Ikki thought it was this trope, but the good doctor later admits that this served no practical purpose. An earlier case involves Ikki and Metabee, after a sound defeat against an aquatic medabot, asking an old fisherman to teach them how to robattle in the water. After much begging, the "training" indeed consists of all sorts of chores for the old man, including a back massage, but eventually Metabee does learn how to retain balance while in the water, just not how to move in it—that was tomorrow's lesson. In the end, despite Ikki and Metabee's victory in the rematch, it's left unclear if the old man was sincere in his training, mooching off his students all along and they were lucky or making it up as he went.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_8aa7c509	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_8aa7c509	comment	In the Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode "Red Belt", Marco receives "training" that really turns out to just be doing his Sensei's chores, but one of the tasks does help him defeat an opponent later.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_8f99cb4c	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_8f99cb4c	comment	Grandpa does it to Jake in American Dragon: Jake Long; all of the chores he forces him to do turn out to have combat applications (except for doing his laundry).
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_8fd3db0b	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_8fd3db0b	comment	In the Star Trek: Lower Decks episode "Empathalogical Fallicies", Boimler is brought to Security and is bored senseless because they're doing slam poetry, charades, puzzles and tarot card readings instead of training and actually doing action stuff. He doesn't see the point in all of those until Captain Freeman hits the red alert and Security springs to action, allowing them to take back the Cerritos from three Betazoid spies with ease. As it turns out, things like this is preparing as it allows them to act without panic or worry, which Boimler was doing when he joined in.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_90a3a7f4	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_90a3a7f4	comment	Kim Possible: In "Oh No! Yono!", Ron's showing Hana the "Flippie Dance" gives her the agility and acrobatic moves needed to beat Yono and Monkey Fist. And little before that, Ron teaching Hana how to flip a page allowed her to deflect an incoming rock by using the same movement. In "Job Unfair", Joe (a supposed janitor who is actually a Canadian master spy) teaches Kim the detailed operation of a vacuum cleaner, which turns out to be a model of the weather machine she'll need to disable during her mission.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_90f42a9b	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_90f42a9b	comment	The Wheel of Time does this to Avhienda in The Gathering Storm. The Wise Ones load her up with useless chores and punishments for seemingly no reason at all. After a few weeks, Avhienda gets fed up and quits. This turns out to be the Secret Test of Character, teaching her that at some point she has to stand up for herself. The Black Tower uses a variant: In order to get new Asha'man proficient with their magic as quickly as possible, trainees are required to use only magic for any chore where this is possible (i.e. they aren't allowed to cook their food manually, either they cook it with magic or eat cold food). The White Tower avoids this practice because it has a high chance of causing novices to burn out their magic from overuse or kill themselves by using magic they don't really understand, but with the Dark One returning the Black Tower prioritizes speed over safety in their training.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_920bdb7c	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_920bdb7c	comment	Kill Six Billion Demons: In Meti's Sword Manual:
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_985ad25d	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_985ad25d	comment	Dragon Ball Super By Super, Goku is very used to this trope and assumes that he and Vegeta having to change the God of Destruction Beerus' bedsheets while he's sleeping — a surprisingly dangerous task — is another example of the trope. Vegeta says no, this is just ordinary housework that has nothing to do with their training. Before he shows up to train with Whis, Goku challenges Piccolo to a one-on-one contest- harvesting all his crops as quickly as possible. While initially irritated for being called to do field work and skeptical that it could ever be considered training, the Namekian very quickly realizes its effectiveness in keeping his arms and legs moving, while keeping his mind focused.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_98dc652b	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_98dc652b	comment	In Dragon Ball GT, Old Kai has Goku unlock his hidden power by making him operate a giant coffee grinder, which somehow starts to regrow Goku's tail. The training is quickly abandoned for the faster solution of simply forcing the tail out with a pair of pliers.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_9a1a8272	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_9a1a8272	comment	"Wax On Wax Odd", from Odd Squad, has Orla training her partners Omar, Opal, and Oswald by teaching them how to do various mundane things (catch falling objects, make pizza, and bounce on a ball, respectively) so they can defeat various oddities that arrive via portals at a remote location. At the end of the episode, she reveals that the reason why she didn't initially defeat the villains that created the oddities was that she wanted all of the Odd Squad Mobile Unit to be involved. It's also revealed that she's been planning to defeat said oddities for 450 years, making her The Anticipator.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_9d9551de	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_9d9551de	comment	In Codename: Sailor V, the manga that Sailor Moon is a spin-off of, Artemis has to resort to this, as Minako is incredibly gifted but doesn't pay him any attention whenever he tries to train normally. Thus he first creates the Sailor V Game as a simulator to take advantage of Minako's ability to learn from the video games she plays (and daring her to play once and insulting her skills when said first attempt fails miserably so she'll get obsessed with it, as she caught up immediately with what he was up to), and when she gets caught up in the Valentine's youma plot and eats enough chocolate to start putting up fat he gives her a "slim-down" training routine that is actually designed to build up her strength (Minako was not amused when she realized it). By the time of the main series, it's implied Minako is training in a more traditional way off-page... But the Sailor V Game is still used as a training tool for the others, as it allows Minako and Artemis to train them without showing up before it's necessary.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_9e2dbb4d	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_9e2dbb4d	comment	Played straight in Regular Show when Pops' Magical Asian sensei teaches him to use his powers by having him do chores around the park, and Mordecai & Rigby predictably accuse him of being a fraud which leads to him proving his legitimacy by beating Rigby into submission.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_9e2f90f4	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_9e2f90f4	comment	A filler episode of One Piece uses a craft variant. A young kid who had only worked as a dishwasher on a Marine ship kitchen accidentally destroys the weekly (and almost legendary) curry lunch for the officers, and the head chef forces him to make a new batch on his own as punishment. With Sanji providing some subtle clues of his own, the kid learns that the observations made as a simple dishwasher have given him the fundamental skills to cook the meal.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_9feb7ff3	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_9feb7ff3	comment	In Power Rangers Jungle Fury, R.J. does this to bring Casey up to speed with the other Rangers, with the minor subversion that one of the tasks really was pointless, even though the other three weren't.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_a12cd9cf	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_a12cd9cf	comment	Big City Greens: Zigzagged in â€œRemboâ€�: When Remy asks Gloria to train him in Tae Kwan Do, Gloria demonstrates the moves he needs to learn as â€œscoop the beansâ€� and â€œsteam the milkâ€�. Cricket immediately accuses her of making Remy do her chores, to which Gloria replies by plainly stating that she is just using common coffee-making tasks as a mnemonic device for learning the proper moves. Tilly, who has been paying better attention, demonstrates the moves she learned through the metaphors perfectly.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_a2c37f38	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_a2c37f38	comment	Mage training with Mebbeth in Planescape: Torment comes in the form of three chores. With a high enough intelligence or wisdom, The Nameless One will even figure out the lessons all on his own.note Retrieving the laundry from a mind-broken man who just washes the laundry until it's unusable teaches that doing things by rote is dangerous and breaks things, and that mages need to be flexible. Growing the seed into a thorny plant that entwines around your arm teaches both that belief shapes reality, and that magic is inherently dangerous and can hurt you After it turns out that The Nameless One knows magic already from a previous life, Mebbeth comments wryly that he just shaved months off his training and that she'd been looking forward to having someone to foist her chores off on. Even funnier when you find out that Mebbeth is really Ravel, the person who helped Nameless achieve immortality in the first place. So if anyone would know he had training as a mage, it was her.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_a3e808aa	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_a3e808aa	comment	In an episode of Santa Clarita Diet, Joel auditions to become a Knight of Serbia, which involve a number of trials of warrior skills. One of them is specifically shoving a pear into a dead chicken as fast as possible, which utterly perplexes Joel, but he still does so. At the end of the episode, he fights a zombie, and quickly shoves a lemon in its mouth, realizing the skill is meant to quickly incapacitate an attacker's ability to bite.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_a71fbfd5	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_a71fbfd5	comment	One Night of Love: Mary is an aspiring opera singer who has moved in with Giulio the vocal coach to train. She spends weeks on end doing various exercises meant to strengthen her diaphragm and increase her lung capacity. Six weeks of calisthenics without singing a single note leads Mary to complain that she wants to be an opera singer, not a boxer.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_abd11c3f	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_abd11c3f	comment	More Than Enemies: Kakashi does this to subtly but surely improve Sakura's stamina, endurance, and speed. What did he make her do? To walk his dog summons whom Sakura describes as demon spawns. Justified as she has to chase them all over Konoha with few if any moments of respite and using chakra to walk on vertical surfaces and jump large distances just so she can keep up with the dogs. First, he asks her to do it as a "thank you" for comforting her after the first test (of the Chunin Exams) flop. Then as an exchange for the brand new genjutsu he's crafting for her. It ends up as an indirect bonding activity between the two. Sakura is delighted to note the effects while running from a very pissed Orochimaru.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_b0cf0ed6	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_b0cf0ed6	comment	In the Danger Mouse episode "Crouching Hamster, Hidden Wagon", Penfold reveals that when he was young, he stayed at his grandmother's farm, where the farm chores turned out to secretly be training in a martial art called Farm Fu. Which only works on farms, for some reason.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_b3672f51	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_b3672f51	comment	In The Crimson Tide, you can spend some years in a monastery. If you try and learn martial arts, you get some added combat skill. If you work in the laundry or the kitchens, you finally discover that you've been training in the Wax On Wax Off style. Using this style later in the book makes fights far easier, and you last longer in hopeless Bad End combat scenes. It's also a prerequisite for getting the Golden Ending.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_b5a2b326	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_b5a2b326	comment	In perhaps one of the darker examples of this trope, there is a book you can read in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind that tells the story of a young orphan sent to live with his uncle on a farm and learn a trade from him. The Uncle gives him three chores to perform: dusting his bookshelves, ringing the bell to call farmhands, and scouring clean all the floors in the house. Each task had to be done perfectly; the bookshelves completely dust-free, the large iron bell rung loudly (and frequently), and the floors spotless. In his eighteenth year, the boy discovers that his uncle means to abandon the now-failing farm, and the boy with it, without teaching him anything. The boy silently picks up a heavy axe, to discover it doesn't weigh any more than the dusting rod he'd used for years. The dusting and bell-ringing gave him the strength and muscle memory to chop his uncle to bits, and cleaning up the mess afterward was so easy that no one could tell there had been a murder. Deciding he had indeed learned a trade after all, the young man eventually goes off to join the Assassin's Guild. Incidentally, the book that contains this story, titled "The Axe Man," is a skill book. What skill does it raise? Axes.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_bc42183b	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_bc42183b	comment	Penny Proud from The Proud Family goes through a spoof of The Karate Kid, including painting the fences. The things she did alongside the Chang triplets are actual training, and although the master is rather a lazy bum, he is actually fluent in combat. The more "advanced" school she longs to follow only teaches how to be cool like a typical martial arts movie without properly teaching actual skills.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_bca5b926	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_bca5b926	comment	Used word for word in The Magicians: during their fourth year, the Brakebills students are divided into separate cells and told to magically hammer a nail into a block of wood under every possible Circumstance. Quentin quickly realizes that they're doing this in order to fully internalize the mechanics behind spellcasting so they can act on it without thinking, and even drops the line "wax on, wax off." After finally completing this exercise, their next task is to perform a spell to extract the nails from the block of wood.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_bd310eaa	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_bd310eaa	comment	Parodied in El Goonish Shive during the Dan in the MUD NP arc.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_be677f0e	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_be677f0e	comment	In A Game of Thrones, Syrio Forel trains Arya Stark for Braavosi-style fencing by having her do things like catch the stray cats roaming the castle at King's Landing (to increase her speed and reaction time) and walking around the castle on her hands (to increase her balance and awareness of the surfaces she's moving on). Subverted in that she understands the purpose of it all and appreciates it. When Jon Snow finishes his Night's Watch training, he is enraged when he learns that Lord Commander Mormont has assigned him to be his personal steward instead of a ranger. Samwell Tarly points out that as the Lord Commander's steward, Jon will be shadowing him for most of the day and be privy to all the processes of running the Watch. Since Mormont has handpicked Snow himself, it means that he is actually grooming Snow to become his successor.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_c3d129cd	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_c3d129cd	comment	When the team go on a training camp early in High School DÃ—D, Issei's training begins on the way there - carrying a large pack of supplies. Even when they do get there, Rias assigns Issei all the most physically demanding jobs, on top of training. And the end of the camp this pays off, and Rias explains point-blank that right now, Boosted Gear can give Issei all the power he needs - the trick is physically conditioning himself so it doesn't tear him apart in the process.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_c4282b71	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_c4282b71	comment	In the pilot of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Princess Celestia employed this trope on her top student Twilight Sparkle; she appears to downplay and gently mock her fears of the imminent arrival of Nightmare Moon, instead telling her to drop her books and make some friends. However, it is later revealed that Twilight making friends was a necessary step to eventually combat Nightmare Moon when she did indeed return.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_c4d11117	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_c4d11117	comment	Mentioned (but not done) in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. While cleaning April's apartment, Mikey, who's cleaning the counters, asks his brothers to watch him.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_c6bbf3f6	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_c6bbf3f6	comment	The Atari Kid by Rooster Teeth Shorts employs this trope on a nerd, with a wise Dungeon Master as his Mr. Miyagi. The nerd is trained through Dance Dance Revolution, quickly plugging and unplugging cords on a computer, and inputting the Konami Code as fast as possible. All of these skills help him take down a purse snatcher.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_ca5cb239	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_ca5cb239	comment	In the Circle of Magic series, ambient mages have to study and learn everything about their affinity, including the tedious chores. One example mentioned a few times is Daja (metal/heat mage) having to do the most tedious thing as a blacksmith; making nails. This is doubly so, as while the swords or sculptures or larger pieces she wants to do or learn will get her recognition (or are just more fun), the nails are the most useful thing she can make.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_cb3f37de	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_cb3f37de	comment	In the film DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, Patches O'Houlihan uses a few exotic methods to improve the Average Joes' dodging skill, including crossing a busy street, and throwing wrenches at them.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_cba1a342	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_cba1a342	comment	In certain times and places, martial arts were banned, and practitioners who wished to maintain training hid it in other practices, such as chores (as in early Karate, as referenced in the The Karate Kid franchise) or dances (as most famously done by Capoeira).
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_ce50887e	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_ce50887e	comment	Dragon Ball: Master Roshi goes to comedic excess when he forces Goku and Krillin to work long hours delivering milk on foot, sowing fields with their bare hands, and doing chores at construction sites, all while wearing weighted turtle shells. It really does build them up fast, but Roshi is more excited by the few bucks he makes off it. Goku's training with Korin involving climbing up his tower to meet him, and then snatch the bottle of his Sacred Water, said to increase one's strength. It doubled as a Secret Test of Character when Goku had an opportunity to steal it from an apparently sleeping Korin; Goku decided against it, much to Korin's surprise. Its effectiveness was shown part-way when Korin tossed Goku's Four Star Ball off the tower; it took Goku only an hour or two to go back down and up the tower again, when his first climb up took an entire day. When Goku finally got the water, he found that it was only ordinary tap water. The point was the workout of chasing Korin around and also learning to read one's opponent and predict his movements. When Tao Pai Pai makes his way up the tower to claim its power, Korin quickly realizes he's a bad guy and just gives him the water; he also gives Tao a black flying cloud to ride back down so he won't get any stronger from the climb.note And on top of that, Korin makes the cloud disappear near the bottom, insulting Tao as well.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_cf2d20a8	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_cf2d20a8	comment	Parodied on an episode of Johnny Bravo, "The Clueless Kid". Johnny's martial arts instructor Master Hama (who didn't like Johnny) set up a series of menial chores that really were just menial chores. When Hama's rival came to town to challenge his dojo, what Johnny learned through the menial tasks (adjusting a TV antenna for evasion, the Sorting-Mail Slap, and a body slam from Hamaâ€™s favorite deli wrapping pastrami) led him to win the match anyway much to Master Hama's disappointment, as he'd bet against Johnny. The rival wasn't too upset about having lost his challenge, as he had actually put his bet on Johnnyâ€”probably to claim victory in some way no matter the result of the match.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_d47715d9	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_d47715d9	comment	A self-imposed example from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. King Rhoam fights with wood axes and greatswords in combat. The descriptions of his unique quests reveal that one major reason he can wield them so easily is that he spends time cutting down trees. In fact, the Woodcutter's Lodge on the Great Plateau (where he was seen living in when first met in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) was specifically built for him to stay in while chopping down trees.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_d5cc132c	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_d5cc132c	comment	Parodied and subverted in Surf's Up, in which Big Z has Cody doing ridiculous training exercises to help him "learn how to surf". Cody finally figured out that Big Z was playing practical jokes on him, and later learned that the real lesson was to relax and just have fun. The winner turns out to be Chicken Joe, who wasn't even aware they were competing and was just having fun.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_d5ddd6c1	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_d5ddd6c1	comment	PokÃ©mon: The Series: Brock and Ash meet Bruno, a member of the Elite 4 who agrees to train them. He gets them to do a ton of chores. Brock assumes this all has a deeper meaning, but Bruno just wanted his chores done. His actual training could be summed up as "Be nice to Pokemon". Or perhaps "You can't get something for nothing." Many seasons later, Kalos gym leader Korrina has difficulty getting her Lucario to listen to her during Mega Evolution, so she journeys to meet Mabel, a family acquaintance with a loyal Mega Mawile. After an initial battle to test her, the training turns out to be over a week's worth of flower arranging. It pays off in the end, as the training needed wasn't physical but rather the need to understand the teammate's differing perspective when battling.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_d8c756b9	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_d8c756b9	comment	Parodied in the Karate Kid rip-off Showdown. The martial arts master is making the hero clean toilets, and the hero is like "I get it, this is like Wax On Wax Off, right?" The response? "No, this is toilet cleaning."
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_dabbedc4	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_dabbedc4	comment	In possibly one of the most hilariously random quests ever, Summon Night: Swordcraft Story has your training under a great Craftlord involve running around collecting food ingredients, so that you can make a ladle, with which to cook some curry for him. Of course, it turns out that this was the first training that he had under your father, so it's half-revenge, half-valuable lesson. And the elemental version of the weapon is the best weapon you can have if you need to break an opponent's weapon.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_db30cf92	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_db30cf92	comment	Bluepaw's training in Warrior Cats. Much of it focuses on boring tasks like gathering moss and cutting into smaller parts, to teach her patience, concentration, and good control of her claws.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_dde972ab	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_dde972ab	comment	In Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream, Mentor Mascots Rabichi and Bearchi have Aira and Rizumu work in a Chinese restaurant to improve their Prism Shows. With Aira on the wait staff, she ends up having better coordination. With Rizumu arranging the food and painting coloring books, she ends up having better fashion sense.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_e05a2543	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_e05a2543	comment	In Hajime no Ippo, the eponymous hero has natural physical attributes that make him perfect for in-boxing; but just as important is how he's spent most of his life in the fishing business, where carrying tremendous weights and working on boats has honed his upper body strength and sense of balance, respectively. As the series progresses, Ippo finds other mundane ways outside of the gym to practice new techniques or train to avoid his upcoming opponent's moves.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_e1a22ec	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_e1a22ec	comment	In Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D., Harry learns to control his powers by sorting a huge pile of rice, practicing coming up with haikus, and taking a whole bunch of Groin Attacks. Not typical.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_e372755d	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_e372755d	comment	The Karate Kid (1984) is the trope namer. When Mr. Miyagi agrees to train Daniel, Daniel thinks he's going to get practical karate training from the get-go. Instead, Miyagi tells him to do various chores — not just waxing cars, but also painting the house, painting the fence, and sanding the deck. Miyagi also shows Daniel the precise way he wants everything done. Daniel nearly quits, thinking Miyagi is just a Mooching Master before Miyagi demonstrates that these chores are to rapidly build up the strength and muscle memory necessary for performing karate blocks (and are also a way to test how much patience he had). Then Miyagi shows Daniel how to punch and kick. As a reward for persevering, Daniel even gets one of the cars. In The Karate Kid Part III, Daniel even adapts Miyagi's teaching technique to show his new love interest, Jessica, how the muscle memory from her work in a pottery studio can be used as a block.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_e372c716	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_e372c716	comment	In The Karate Kid (2010), Mr. Han has Dre continually take off his coat, hang it, drop it, pick it up, and put it on, using Dre's attitude to enforce the strength and posture needed. Dre initially interprets this as punishment for his attitude towards his mother (who had repeatedly scolded him for tossing the jacket on the floor), until the Wax On Wax Off kicks in later. Dre calls out Mr. Han on not knowing Kung Fu, and Mr. Han demands he perform the actions without the jacket, which perfectly defend Mr. Han's attempts to hit Dre thanks to muscle memory. It's also actually explained in this movie why the teacher uses this indirect teaching method: to get Dre to understand that Kung Fu isn't just a way of fighting, it's a way of life:
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_e49abee7	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_e49abee7	comment	Parodied in an episode of Code Monkeys, "The Take Over", in which Dave trains under a Miyagi-esque sensei to prevail over Japanese competitors in a high-stakes eating competition. He assumes that he will be painting a fence, waxing a car, etc., but is instead instructed to eat such items as paint, wax, and sawdust to strengthen his stomach and make him able to eat anything.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_e9e935b0	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_e9e935b0	comment	In one episode of Duck Dynasty, Phil does this to his grandsons under the pretense of training their reflexes and hand-eye coordination. They're initially skeptical, and by the end of the episode, Phil has dropped all pretense and admits he's just getting them to do chores.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_ea1f8e27	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_ea1f8e27	comment	Parodied on Breaker High, where Jimmy is subjected to this kind of training just to learn how to make burritos.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_ea787cd1	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_ea787cd1	comment	In A Matter of Thorns (Realms of Infamy) by James M. Ward, a Knight Errant explains his approach:
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_eb5d7301	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_eb5d7301	comment	In the Amphibia episode "Ivy on the Run", Ivy is tasked by her mother Felicia to fold napkins, pour tea, and set the tables in a very precise manner with specific hand movements. It's later revealed that these hand movements are secretly martial arts moves Felicia repurposed and that she was teaching to Ivy all along to prepare her for life in the outside world.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_ec28245c	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_ec28245c	comment	Dragon Ball Z: After training with Kami, Goku frequently trained solely by using weighted clothing, and after King Kai by using special gravity rooms, something Vegeta would later pick up. Discarding the weighted clothing would often be used when fights got serious. King Kai admitted this was going on from the start. The gravity on his planet is ten times that of Earth (the same as that of planet Vegeta, home of his next opponents), so when Goku arrived there he could barely move. King Kai told him that when he could catch Bubbles the monkey (and in the anime, hit Gregory the cricket on the head with a mallet), he was ready to learn King Kai's special techniques. Gohan's training with the Z Sword. The extremely heavy blade is supposed to be the only weapon capable of defeating Majin Buu but shatters when actually put to the test. Gohan then notes that swinging the sword around has made him much stronger and faster, which may have been the point all along. Subverted immediately when Goku says that the power increase is negligible. Breaking the sword releases the Elder Kai, whose abilities turn out to be the real prize.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_f0017153	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_f0017153	comment	In Warcraft: The Last Guardian, a Warcraft Expanded Universe novel, the first task that our hero faces when attempting to become the wizard Medivh's apprentice is to clean, fix, and sort out his library. This turns out to be a Secret Test of Character, since an apprentice is supposed to know the contents of the library inside and out, have the patience and humility to do some physical work every now and then, and know which books are actively harmful.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_f01bf6e2	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_f01bf6e2	comment	Lux: When Jax first started training as a Reckoner, he expected to be taught things like shooting, explosives, and unarmed combat. Instead, Zeph starts Jax out with apparently pointless exercises like standing balanced on top of a narrow pole for hours without a break, remaining completely still while Zeph throws pebbles at him at random intervals, or completing obstacle courses while carrying a backpack full of canned fruit. Eventually, Jax blows up and demands to know what the point of these exercises is, at which point Zeph explains to him that ninety-nine percent of an assassin's work isn't shooting or blowing things up, but stuff like staying in one place for three days without moving, waiting for the target to walk into your trap and not doing anything to betray your presence.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_f0a86c12	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_f0a86c12	comment	On How I Met Your Mother, a flashback shows Marshall successfully convincing Barney that he could pick up any chick he wanted in less than five seconds by going up to a supposedly "random" woman (actually Lily, whom Barney had not met yet) in a bar and kissing her passionately. While retelling this story:
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_f41a3d5d	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_f41a3d5d	comment	In The Karate Kid Part III, Daniel even adapts Miyagi's teaching technique to show his new love interest, Jessica, how the muscle memory from her work in a pottery studio can be used as a block.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_f4b0cbe2	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_f4b0cbe2	comment	Both played straight and subverted in Ranger's Apprentice. As part of their training, apprentices are made to do various household chores-carrying water, chopping wood, beating the rugs, cleaning out the fireplace, etc. It's played straight in that apprentices gain muscle and discipline, both of which are much needed for a Ranger, but subverted in that the mentors sometimes make their apprentices do the housework for no other reason than that they're lazy.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_f5855286	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_f5855286	comment	The opening of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom plays out similarly to its predecessor Breath of the Wild. The introductory quest to complete the Shrines of Light on the Great Sky Island is most explicitly meant to give you access to the Temple of Time. But by traversing the floating landmass and solving the Shrine puzzles with the abilities given by the ghostly Rauru, you end up learning many of the techniques needed on the overarching quest, such as assembling Zonai vehicles that can clamber over difficult terrain, navigating pitch black caves, and many techniques carried over from the previous game. And at the end of this introductory section, Rauru reveals that it was also meant to assess if Link was really as impressive as Zelda had described him as; Link passes with flying colors.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_fa00b130	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_fa00b130	comment	The Spongebob Squarepants episode "Squid's Defense" has Sandy teaching Squidward karate and telling him that in order to learn it, he must "master the movements of every day". He later fights his opponent with moves such as "watering Sandy's lawn" and "taking out Sandy's trash".
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_fe16b92c	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_fe16b92c	comment	The second season of Happy Heroes features a two-part episode (episodes 17 and 18, specifically) where the Supermen get ready to participate in a game of basketball. Headmaster Tele's basketball training works surprisingly well on them considering that it involves them washing dishes.
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Wax On, Wax Off / int_ffb43795	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_ffb43795	comment	In Cobra Kai, which is the Distant Sequel to The Karate Kid trilogy: Daniel is now a successful auto dealer, likely using it as a way to honor Miyagi's training. He later uses this exact technique to train Johnny's son Robby Keene through basic office tasks around the dealership, from cleaning the cars in the lot, washing the windows, sweeping the floor, jacking a car, and stapling files. Amanda even notices that he's enjoying being on the other side of it a little too much. This is contrasted with Johnny having Miguel Diaz do various chores around the dojo. There's no hidden meaning behind it, it's simply a way for Miguel to work off his dojo fees. But, when it comes to actual training, Johnny never indulges in this trope at all. While his training methods are harsh and sometimes brutal, he is never less than completely up-front about what his program entails and is supposed to accomplish. Also, while it is clearly not Johnny's intention, Miguel's karate training benefits from both being Johnny's only student for the first few weeks as well as him having gotten used to physical strain from helping set the place up. Season 2 sees Daniel, having decided to turn Miyagi-Do into a full-scale dojo, try to apply this with all of his prospective students. Most of them assume he's just trying to con them into doing his chores and they bolt for Cobra Kai, only coming back after Miyagi-Do gets trashed by some Cobra Kai students. Demetri actually recognizes the purpose immediately, but he still complains about having to do all of the chores. Even before that, it's hinted that Daniel's son Anthony's refusal to learn karate is at least partially due to Daniel's insistence on Miyagi's more indirect methods of teaching over a more direct style (while it could be chalked up initially to Anthony's love of video games, he's shown to have lost some weight in the few appearances he has in later seasons, implying that he does do some non-karate physical activity on the side). In season 3, Sam puts on a car wash fundraiser to raise money for Miguel's recovery. As she oversees the fundraiser, we see her directing the volunteers to use their sponges to make wide circular motions while washing the cars, showing she wants the Miyagi-Do students to keep up their muscle memory even with Daniel having shut down Miyagi-Do in light of the school brawl. Late in season 3, when Sam is refusing to participate in karate, Daniel decides to take her out fishing for the day in hopes of getting her to open up to him about her problems so he can convince her to change her mind. He tries to ease her into it by reminiscing about a time they went fishing with Mr. Miyagi and caught a very big fish. Ultimately, it turns out that the fishing trip was to teach Sam techniques for the art of bo staff fighting, which she then uses against Tory in the season 3 finale. Season 4 has Daniel put Johnny through this as they learn each other's karate styles. Johnny, who's done a lot of work in maintenance, just points out the flaws in these methods, like how Daniel has the students paint the house without first scraping off the old layer. He later finally forces Anthony to take it up by cleaning the cars, but Anthony tries to get out of it by hiring a guy to clean the cars while Daniel isn't observing.
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Cobra Kai	hasFeature	Wax On, Wax Off / int_ffb43795
Wax On, Wax Off / int_ffc6ca91	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Wax On, Wax Off / int_ffc6ca91	comment	Parodied on The Goldbergs episode "The Kara-te Kid", as part of a Whole-Plot Reference. Adam and Barry think their uncle Marvin is teaching them as Mr. Miyagi did, but then Adam realizes they're just cleaning his apartment, and Marvin knows nothing about actual karate.
Wax On, Wax Off / int_ffc6ca91	featureApplicability	1.0
Wax On, Wax Off / int_ffc6ca91	featureConfidence	1.0
The Goldbergs	hasFeature	Wax On, Wax Off / int_ffc6ca91

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Wax On, Wax Off	processingCategory2	Action/Adventure Tropes
Wax On, Wax Off	processingCategory2	Dead Horse Trope
Wax On, Wax Off	processingCategory2	Index All Along
Wax On, Wax Off	processingCategory2	Martial Arts Movie
Wax On, Wax Off	processingCategory2	Older Than Television
Wax On, Wax Off	processingCategory2	School Tropes
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Wax On, Wax Off	processingCategory2	Tropes of Wisdom
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Genesis of Aquarion / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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Hungry Heart: Wild Striker / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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Akeelah and the Bee / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000 / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Kill Bill / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Mystery Men / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
One Night of Love / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The Assignment (1997) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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The Karate Kid (1984) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The Karate Kid (2010) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The Next Karate Kid / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Super Sentai (Franchise) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The Karate Kid (Franchise) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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Armada / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Ave Xia Rem Y / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Fighting Fantasy / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Hitherby Dragons / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Lux / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Nagabumi / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Run with the Wind / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Spellslinger Series / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The Elder Scrolls In-Universe Books / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The Legend of the Condor Heroes / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The McGurk Organization / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The Numair Chronicles / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The Return of the Condor Heroes / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Warcraft: The Last Guardian / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
DarkerThanBlackTwinsOfTheMeteor	seeAlso	Wax On, Wax Off
Ptitle1qalhkkypz48	seeAlso	Wax On, Wax Off
The '80s	seeAlso	Wax On, Wax Off
Akane-banashi (Manga) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Ao Ashi (Manga) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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Eyeshield 21 (Manga) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Get Backers (Manga) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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Initial D (Manga) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Kenji (Manga) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
PokÃ©mon Adventures (Manga) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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Skip Beat! (Manga) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The Prince of Tennis (Manga) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Yaiba (Manga) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
You're Under Arrest! (Manga) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The Dick Show (Podcast) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
blackâ€¢ish / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Graceland / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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Kamen Rider Gaim / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Party Down / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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Santa Clarita Diet / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Studio C / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Tensou Sentai Goseiger / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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The Goldbergs / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The Office (US) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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Zoey 101 / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Dragon Quest IX (Video Game) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time (Video Game) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Rune Factory (Video Game) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Rune Factory 5 (Video Game) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Shaq Fu (Video Game) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Shenmue (Video Game) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Kill Six Billion Demons (Webcomic) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
MoringMark - TOH Comics (Webcomic) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Namir Deiter (Webcomic) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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Way Of Wushu (Webcomic) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
American Dragon: Jake Long / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Ballerina / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Brickleberry / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Carmen Sandiego / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Elena of Avalor / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Hotel Transylvania: The Series / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Johnny Bravo / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Knuckleheads / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Molly of Denali / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Slugterra / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
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Surf's Up / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
The Buzz on Maggie / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Trolls: The Beat Goes On! / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
VeggieTales / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
Kazushi Sakuraba (Wrestling) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
waxonwaxoff	sameAs	Wax On, Wax Off
Akame ga Kill! (Manga) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off
College Roomies from Hell!!! (Webcomic) / int_ce6a1069	type	Wax On, Wax Off

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