Bad practice/Good practice

[KC Elbows]

I've noticed something. Some nights, I go to practice, and I'm just on. One million push ups? Sure thing, sir, would you like to stand on my shoulders while I do them, sir? Then we'll spar, and its effortless.

Then there's other nights. Everything is a struggle, none of my forms come out right(to my expectations), I don't feel like I'm using my kung fu in sparring, at least in that I'm following the motions, it looks like the kung fu I practice, but the principles just don't feel like they are there.

I learn more from the bad nights. Sometimes, I thiink that the things that make those nights bad are there on the good nights, I'm just not aware of them. I come away with more resolve, I know some things I need to work on, etc.

Good nights make me work on my ego, as I feel all pumped, but I know I have to make sure I remember that I am always a student, or my mind closes to the possibilities of what I could be.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

[ewallace]

Sure. It really applies to much more than training too. For instance, if you help a quadriplegic nail in a board to fix his house, nobody will ever know of your good deed. But, if you nail the same quadriplegic repetitively in the head with a 2x4 , you will gain national media coverage. The bad usually overshadows the good. You will always learn much more from NOT successfully defending a good shot in the nose.

[Sharky]

I got that today. I just got back from the gym... just got exausted... totally fugged, couldn't move, had to leave early.

I think it's my fault for going while i had a cold.

[Justa Man]

yea i get that too. the bad nights happen more often now than ever. they keep me thinking about what i need to work on, how i need to switch up my training schedule, etc. the good nights are training to keep my ego in check cuz i know they are as impermanent as the bad nights.
the bad nights keep me hungry. no way do i like goin out on a bad note.

[Royal Dragon]

Eat a good rice/raw veggie filed meal and a STRONG glass of Ginseng/Ginger Tea. Then take a nap for 1-2 hours about 2 1/2 hours before you train.

When you wake up, you will be extra fresh and strong, and get much more out of your workouts.

During my off season, I do this religiously. I have the best workouts of the year.

[Tae Li]

OMG!!! YOU MEAN IT HAPPENS TO OTHER PEOPLE??!!!????

I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE.

im telling you there are days where my kicks are amazing! i surprise myself and then there are days when even a reverse hook kick looks feeble and wouldnt hurt a mouse! i get sooooooooo angry because i dont know hwy after 6years of training i have some days that are sooo bad with my techinque.

But then all that anger turns into power and you should see me go!;) ;) ;)

Tae Li;)

[dezhen2001]

tae li: long as i don't get kicked by u i'm fine ;)

I think it depends on a lot of things for me: how much sleep i've got, what's going on in my life, when was the last time i had trained...if i feel lazy, or hungry. so many things... but i agree, sometimes i can do my training: 2 hours no problem, but other days i just feel so heavy and weak.

But if i keep going usually i feel better after :)

david

[straight blast]

Some nights you can't even get to the Kwoon without stubbing your toe, inciting a few incidents of road rage and being unable to park within the same postcode. And that's before training. I find that that's where the much vaunted discipline of the Martial Arts comes in.

I train with a guy who's a natural athlete. Everything he's ever done he's done with an absolute minimum of effort, it all just comes naturally. Not so with Wing Chun. He's never faced anything physical in his life before that he hasn't picked up in two minutes, and I thought that as a high level athlete his attitude towards it would be just a matter of revising some goals. Not so. He swears, curses, hits the wallbag in a rage and seethes all the way home. It'll literally p!ss him off for hours. He's gotta learn discipline.

For me when I'm going so crap that I just want to leave that's when I call on the discipline of several years of hard training. Sometimes one of those nights can scar you mentally ;) . Discipline is the key and I always feel better afterwards. I always go home happy from class. I may not have achieved as much as I'd liked physically, but I know that I've successfully trained my mental focus just that little bit more :)

[Royal Dragon]

I'm tell'n you gys, the pre practice nap is the key!!!!:o

[dezhen2001]

Royal Dragon: thx, i might try that sometime :) But if i'm a lazy @ss all day then i'm not sur eif i need to take a nap? :D

david

[scotty1]

Doesn't matter how bad my practice is, I am always pleased with myself for going, and think to myself "even if I feel worse cos it was a **** practice, I must be better than I was before I went."

And that helps.

[Royal Dragon]

You need to slip into a good REM sleep for about 40 mminutes at least. Then your all charged up and train strong with very few off days.

[guohuen]

Thanks for clarifying that for me RD. I sort of figured that out on my own but never put it into words. Maybe now the idea will stick and I will do it more often. I love that feeling of absolute power I sometimes get when I do hard training after a proper nap.

[Royal Dragon]

Yeah, it's sort'a like beig invincibal!!!!

[Kristoffer]

When in after a bad practise, write down everything you were unhappy with. Then remember it untill next training. Be open minded about advancing in the art.