homeikigai shop and ebooksmartial artsinterviewsaboutcontact

Bestof Ikigai

TBO Tech Self Defense Products

free ebook surviving traditional dojo

Recent Comments

  • Matt__A: Thanks for your visit artur!
  • Artur Pinto: Realy like the articale. If you do what you like, that's what counts. And the art does not make the...
  • Hannam: In a battle in WW2, out of bullets, a Maori soldier stood firm.as he was charged by a German soldier with a...
  • Hannam: There's a difference. Shaolin then were tough fought off bandits etc.These days they are all acrobatics...
  • Hannam: I wish I could find a 'Mauri Toa' that would train me.I'd be the Bruce Lee of Toa!

Archives


TopBlogLists.com - Blog Search Ikigai | Blogging the Martial Way - Blogged
Blog directory
Join My Community at MyBloglog! Local Directory for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania



«
»

How to Win the Internal, Eternal Training Argument

March 30, 2009 | Author: Matthew | Filed under: How-To, Martial Arts, Tips and Tricks, karate, mindset

I don’t know anyone (including myself) who is totally immune to the “should I train today?” self argument. Training can be a physically and mentally draining experience, so our bodies and subconscious find all kinds of excuses to do something less strenuous.  Among the classic cop-outs are:

“I had a tough day at work today.”

“I’m not feeling very good.”

“The kids/spouse/pet/house plants are being a real pain, I should pay attention to them.”

“Ohh my ______ is feeling weird and sore, I should rest it.”

“But American Idol is on tonight!”

Let’s be honest  – we’ve all made these excuses. It happens. The trick is recognizing when we are setting up artificial barriers in order to allow ourselves to stay away from exertion without any sort of guilt.

A personal experience helped me put this into perspective a few years ago.

Ever since I was a kid I’ve hated flossing. Unfortunately, I also have soft teeth which are prone to cavities. This combination resulted in many unpleasant trips to the dentist. Every time I went I was reminded that I needed to floss more, but I knew better. Instead I doubled my brushing time, integrated mouthwash, and cut down on soda and high sugar juices…everything I could do except flossing.

My brilliant plan failed and I kept getting cavities. One day my dentist explained that the cavities were occurring in between my teeth because I wasn’t doing anything to clean those areas out. Being extremely frustrated with the situation, I decided it was finally time to bite the bullet and floss.

I knew if I just told myself to floss (in the same way people make New Years Resolutions) it was never gonna happen. So instead I went out and spent some money on these devices:

I left them out on my countertop and told myself that I would create a routine of flossing two times a week. My initial instinct was to shoot for every day but I knew I would abandon that venture quickly, so I set a more reasonable goal. When it came to this routine there was no negotiation. It didn’t matter what I had done that day or what  I was doing that night, the flossing was going to happen.

Since then I’ve managed to maintain my system and occasionally increase it when I’m feeling motivated. You natural flossers out there might think this is all very quaint and silly, but for me it was real progress.

The trick to winning the training self argument is exactly the same – no negotiations.

Make it a Routine

There are certain things in our day-to-day lives that are simply routine: going to work, brushing our teeth, packing the kids lunches, etc etc. Training can be the same way. The key is to recognize when you are negotiating with yourself.

There are times when you have legitimate reasons not to practice. Things like serious injury, jury duty, Ebola, and getting caught by Cuban Militaristas are all valid excuses. But beyond that, most of the time we are just trying to convince ourselves we have an excuse.

Learn your own tendencies and recognize when you are trying to negotiate.

There are also active decisions you can make that will help establish martial arts as a resilient habit. The strongest of which is teaching.

Teaching – Full Instructor and Sempai

Teaching is a great way to establish a rhythm in your training. When you’re the teacher, there is no option – If you don’t show up there will be no class and you’ll likely get a raised eyebrow from the dojo head about your absence.  Furthermore, you gain a sense of what students need to work on – so you already have a mental commitment for future classes.

In case you’re not at a rank yet where you can take a class by yourself, you have the option of exercising your status as a Sempai. Sempai means elder student to Kohai, or newer students. As a Sempai, it is your duty to set a good example for the Kohai of the dojo; but, should you be motivated, you can also take an interest in their development.

As you get to know younger students better, there may be instances where you can arrange little workouts before or after class to help them out. This can be as short as 15 minutes, but it is still a commitment made by you. This obligation makes your arrival in the dojo not just important to you, but also to the students you are assisting.

External and Internal Goals

Although I’m a big pusher of the internal benefits of martial arts training, external goals can be helpful when motivation starts to wane. Things like rank tests, tournaments, and other achievements can place a tangible deadline or horizon on your training which can help structure your day-to-day workouts.

Ranking and tournaments are a very slippery slope as they can easily become a sole source of motivation; but when kept in perspective, that drive can be the kind of pick-me-up you might need.

Pace Yourself – Consistently

When I started flossing I only did it two times a week because I knew being more gung-ho than that would lead me to long term failure. The same can be true of training. Don’t let yourself get burned out by over-training or commiting yourself too emotionally to an external goal. Pace yourself, set realistic goals, and don’t let yourself off the hook when you begin to negotiate your training for other tasks.

Share This (Good Karma Guaranteed):
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • Technorati

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 and is filed under How-To, Martial Arts, Tips and Tricks, karate, mindset. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

xygoxen
  • Hi. I am a long time reader. I wanted to say that I like your blog and the layout.

    Peter Quinn
  • Things like serious injury, jury duty, Ebola, and getting caught by Cuban Militaristas are all valid excuses

    LMBO!! love it!

    At this stage of my martial arts career, I do feel like the internal rewards of getting my body to do something it couldn't before (still going for those splits!) and the awesome feeling of serenity that comes from a good workout outweigh the external rewards (defeating the girl who took the state championship last year in kumite!)....but they certainly don't hurt every once in a while. ;-)

    What's tough is to still maintain a training schedule when the limitations of being a mom and wife weigh in. Love that the weather is nicer so that I can go Funakoshi in my back yard!
  • Those are the same excuses people use for not going to the gym. I have been known to use the "but my ____ hurts!" one myself.

    Good post on motivation in general.
  • One of the purposes of the Lenten Challenge
    (http://cookdingskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/02/20...)

    is to render those self arguments moot, and form the habit.
  • Great post. I agree that routine is crucial.

    We all have nights where we don't want to train but if you're consistent and it's part of your routine you just make yourself go.

    I train every night at the honbu dojo and in some ways I think it's actually easier than when I used to train 2 or 3 times a week. Moreover, because I've been consistent, everyone expects me to be there and that helps me get my butt to the dojo each night.

    Obviously sometimes genuine work and family commitments get in way of training but this is where having a simple and consistent routine for home training really helps. Rather than stuffing around wondering what to do next, you just jump straight into your standard warmups and then work though organised patterns of basics, strength work, kata or conditioning and before you know it you've been training for a couple of hours.
  • Peter: Thank you for dropping a line! It's always great when a reader decides to comment.

    Steph: Very true, pressures from family, work, and other responsibilities can really wreak havoc on a training schedule. Sometimes we are backed up into tough choices.

    Rick: Cool challenge! Something like that could help circumvent our own excuses.

    Krista: Great comment - just out of curiosity, how close are you to your honbu dojo? Is it a walk for you or do you drive?
  • I always feel better after practice than I did before. Every time, every day, for years, without exception. So I don't avoid it. I avoid avoiding it!

    I think if someone is making excuses to avoid daily practice, it may be a sign they have not found the right style/method/teacher, and the best response might just be to try something else.

    "Discipline" keeps a lot of bad teachers in business.
  • Maybe I'm just a freak, but last week I missed training for a 21st and spent all night thinking "Geez... I could be training right now..."

    Then again, it wasn't a very good 21st...

    Great post!!
  • Chris and Elias: Nothing wrong with that! Keep it going as long as you can!
  • Matthew,

    I've been pretty lucky. I used to live a bike ride away from the dojo but recently moved so I could be within walking distance.

    Still, some students travel a fair old way to get to training each night. One of the guys that trains with us cycles 65km to Naha from Nago and back again and he rarely leaves the dojo before 11pm.

    I'll do well to think of him in future if I catch myself winging about a 30-45min drive ;)
  • harlan
    Nice blog. Just to contribute to the topic, a neat vid. 'No excuses'.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obdd31Q9PqA&...
  • Ok, I personally hate flossing too. HATE it, and I totally lie to the dentist when I go. The good thing is I have yet to have a cavity so I can get away with it. Good analogy.

    But wait. . . are you trying to make me feel guilty for not going to the dojo last week after 53 needles of allergy testing? I think you are. I won't feel guilty. I just won't.
  • Krista: Yea the island may be small but I figured there was still some traveling involved.

    Harlan: haha nice! I hadn't seen that before, it's very appropriate.

    BBM: You are very lucky not to get cavities. I, on the other hand, can rarely avoid them.

    Also, no - this is a universal guilt trip. If you happen to feel guilty, it was part of a bigger plot.
  • This topic recently came up on one of the local martial arts forums I post at (it's also where a number of my fellow students and my sensei regularly contribute to as well) - I'm guilty of the occasional "meh" and skip training, but I try to stay consistent. I only do one night of karate training each week (much more sustainable for my condition), and augment that with 2-3 nights of weights and bag work to improve my strength and fitness.

    These days I've gotten back into the routine and am going well, but every now and again I slip up, and normally feel really guilty about it!! Your call on American Idol was eerily spot on - we're currently only a few days behind you on cable TV in .au, and my wife and I are both tragic fans of it so she doesn't mind when I've missed the occasional session and sit down to watch it with her :P
  • What is it with you people?
    I love flossing!

    And as for not having time for training...I know I should do more and try and make it part of a daily routine in small chunks.

    What I wanted to say mainly was that my Master always said you CAN make time for the things you want to do. Full stop. If Mondays and Thursdays are training nights then Mondays and Thursdays are training nights! Wanna come and see the game at mine next Thursday? No thanks, Thursday is training night. How about tiddlywinks Monday night? No thanks, Monday night is training night. Of course we don't want to lose friends but a couple of main blocked out training nights per week won't hurt any real long term friendships.

    I gotta go cos Wednesday night is slob out on sofa with glass of wine night.
  • Sean: I did a little bit of martial arts mind reading on you! haha.

    Chris: Man you crazy! Flossing stinks. I love the training block mentality, it really puts self negotiation to a halt.
  • Sarah
    Ach, karate-guilt stings like a... well, it stings pretty badly. Owch.
    Yeah, I have to admit that over the last few months I have allowed more of those excuses to creep in until I'm very nearly training - ach - only in class. I've noticed how much its effecting me, my Senseis have noticed... and yet to get back into my training routine often feels so difficult. I have a hundred thousand reasons but, you know what? Instead of browsing the internet I could be training. I think about it. I talk about it. I WRITE about it. But yet... my training still is, er, pretty much non existent.
    I'm a bit pathetic, ja?
    Still, I enjoyed this article - sometimes a guilt-stab is more beneficial than painful - I already know - once I get started back into the groove, I'll keep going because I'll see the results in my technique. Even a blind man see my technique slipping.
    Anyway, thanks for the kick in the butt!
blog comments powered by Disqus