MA and Comfort zone.

[Laughing Cow]

Hi all.

A few recent threads made me think a bit.

I was taught that a good Instructor needs to get you to perform outside your comfort zone.

This comfort zone is physical as well as emotional/mental and you need to get pushed out of it.

This may include performing a Form in front of people, or getting touched/hit where it feels uncomfortable for you, fighting on the ground, etc.

What are your opinions?

[Shooter]

That's just crazy talk.

[joedoe]

I agree LC. You are never going to improve if you never step out of your comfort zone. Staying in your comfort zone means stagnation.

[Vapour]

My instructor's instructor beat up his student once the student reach advance standard.

[joedoe]

Originally posted by Vapour
My instructor's instructor beat up his student once the student reach advance standard.

Oh yeah, well my instructor's instructor used to kill his students once they reached advanced standard :D

Seriously, that seems to be the old way of teaching. Not necessarily a bad thing.

[dezhen2001]

i think much of the training is out of your "comfot zone". Standing in horse stance longer than you can and keeping going, training push/sticking hands against someone senior who can easily cream you, doing the forms so many times a day... things like conditioning, hard qigong, meditation... these are all to break you down and build you up again.

IMO anyway.

5.15am and i need to go to bed,
have a good night gents (and ladies too!) :)

dawood

[Robinf]

I personally agree with training outside one's comfort zone. The first time I got hit in the face hard it shocked me so much I had to stop. Then, my first black eye shocked me so much I had to stop. I then thought to myself that if this happens to me in a real situation I can't stop. So, I train myself outside my personal comfort zone.

The reason I started the other thread on groin strikes was to understand why contact was being made to me but not to the guys. I didn't want to broach the subject in school because this is a comfort zone thing and I want to get used to it, personally, but I also want to be certain nothing else was going on in their heads. Turns out, nothing at all goes on in their heads when they spar :D .

All this said, as a teacher, you can't really force someone to train outside his/her comfort zone. I encourage, my instructor encourages, but some people just aren't there for that purpose. They gain other things through training--that's their purpose.

Just an update:
Last night I got my second black eye, and kept on sparring--I didn't even flinch. It is a great reminder, however, that I need to freaking block!:eek: I also got wollopped in the groin--my leg was up with another kick and held it out to try another one, so the big ego slammed me. I kicked him just above his. Funny, he backed right off and didn't even make that much contact the rest of our bout. :P After that, I went for the guys' innner thighs, they totally stopped going for my groin. Thanks for all the help guys!

[Kinjit]

I must say I really like Geoff Thompson's way of writing about this subject. It has helped me alot, actually. Going outside my comfort zone has made some of the most positive things in my life happen. :)

[guohuen]

Good topic. In the past Ihave made students roll with people from other styles and roll in a variety of street clothes and shoes so that the comfort zone becomes something internal.

[shaolinboxer]

Generally I agree, but there must be limits. Also, people who are abuse victims (of which there are many in MA) may be triggered by moving too far out of their comfort zone.

You can be comfortable about being uncomfortable. In other words, I can endure a certain level of pain no problem. Even though I am "uncomfortable" I am still within my mental comfort zone.

Or I can perform while having intense performance anxiety. Again, I am very "uncomfortable" but I am still within the overall mental comfort zone.

So, I think this subject needs more clarity and is extremely individualized.

[Shaolin-Do]

If you never train outside of your comfort zone then your comfort zone will never expand, and when you get into a real situation, youll be so far outside your comfort zone, that you lock and dont know what to do, and the 1000's of dollars you have spent on martial arts training goes out the window.
Robin - on junk shots - shortly after reading your thread on groin hits, I decided to practice nunchukas. A friend then stupidly walked in front of me after I told him not to. The end result was a whistling fast chuck to the nuts. After 4 minutes on the ground, I went to the bathroom to puke. Never have I felt that kind of pain. I dont know what my moral here is... :) I guess its that junk shots hurt, and dont hit yourself with nuchukas? ;)

[Robinf]

Shoalin-do,

Well said about expanding your comfort zone. That's what I had in mind in my post, but wasn't able to put in words as well as you.

And, don't worry, I've never hit myself in the groin with my nunchukas, though I was hit on the head by someone else as we were practicing in class. A lesson for everyone to stay with the count! But, your experience is probably why my shot to one guy's inner thigh stopped the groin shots on me completely.

[Laughing Cow]

Originally posted by shaolinboxer
So, I think this subject needs more clarity and is extremely individualized.

The Teacher should evaluate a students comfort zone and than push him past it up to a certain level.
It must be the teacher that sets the limits and supervises the "push".

I deliberately didn't clarify because it is individual and requires a closer teacher/student relationship.

IMHO, there are not many Teachers left that can do this properly these days.
Plus, this type of training can not be done in large classes.

Cheers.

[Laughing Cow]

Shaolin-Do

It is:

Nun-chaku

There is no plurar in japanese so adding an "s" is wrong.

Jeez, hate it when peole get the names/terms wrong for equipment they use.

Seeya.

[dezhen2001]

i know from my own training that things get more progressive. For example: when i started hard qigong, doing a kind of pushup on my fingertips was no problem, but hitting my back and head on the wall was just something rather scary. Not even to mention the fact of just standing there and letting someone hit you in the stomach etc. for the test! Whereas nowadays i can jump back in to the wall from around a metre away full force and its fine! :eek:

i had never done that kind of training before, so didnt even know if it would "work" or if i had been doing it right and well - its just a plain stupid idea to let someone do that. Thankfully i trusted my sifu :)

i always remember lying down on the ground and seeing my Sisuk standing on top of a table etc. to jump down on to my dantian. That was the scariest thing! (even though it was easier than the punches). But after it happened it was a case of - oh is that it?

its one of those moments when you either make or break i guess - and thats what trainings about imo :)

i think it happens differently to different people and everyone is challenged in their own way. Me for eg. i like doing meditation and can quite happily sit down for a long time doing it - but Mabu - thats the hard one for me (and siu lim tao) ;)

dawood