Masochistic Training

[Mr. Nemo]

This may not merit it's own thread - however, it's a personal belief of mine. Here it is:

The training that hurts the most, or makes you the most exhausted, is not necessarily the best.

Among martial artists, there seems to be a sort of pleasure in using exercise to beat your body into submission. Horse stance is a favorite device to put your body in a lot of pain. However, in my opinion there are some disadvantages to training too hard:

You wear yourself out more quickly, and stop earlier. We all want to pretend that we have iron willpower and unbeatable dedication, but in reality it's not true. My training became much more effective when I was able to put aside my pride and pace myself.

When you're exhausted, you make more mistakes. Bad habits can develop. I find that my technique improves more quickly when I don't push my body as hard, but I concentrate through every move.

I don't train as hard as I used to, but my skills are improving more quickly now. Suprisingly enough, so is my conditioning.

[Sharky]

it's to train the mind to be more determined also man

All i wanted was some RICE CAKES! Now? WE MUST BATTLE.

[KC Elbows]

To an extent, I agree. Train smart. However, there will be discomfort, its just recognizing the difference between good pain and bad pain.

Regardless, I don't think technique should be painful or even physically difficult to practice. Body conditioning will be, but if you've conditioned well, your technique should be simple to pull off. I've heard a lot of people talk about not practicing technique when you are too exhausted to do it right, and I think this is true. I tend to work on my technique as a separate session to conditioning, and I get more technique practice in that way. Just my 2 cents.

[Ryu]

Hurting your body to the point of not being able to practice is not "tough" it's unintelligent.
However sometimes pain and heart are the two things that teach you the most about yourself. I've purposely rolled with guys who were just killing me and running me into the ground. I would not go to anyone else to train because I wanted to see just how hard my inner resilience was. I found out that the one thing I'm not is someone who gives up when hurt. I won't stop if I'm motivated to fight. No matter what. So that gives me confidence I guess.

by the way nice title.. :(

Let's leave the S&M jokes out of this thread, huh guys??? :mad:


....... ugh..bad move even mentioning it, Ryu...

http://judoinfo.com/images/kimuraosawa.jpg


"One who takes pride in shallow knowledge or understanding is like a monkey who delights in adorning itself with garbage."

[Mr. Nemo]

I don't mean to imply that you shouldn't push yourself. Ryu's example was good - put yourself and your abilities in a situation where they're not comfortable. My point is that the correlation between pain and progress is not strict.

[Kung Lek]

Often times I have heard the phrase "no pain, no gain"

I prefer to think of the phrase "no pain, no brain"

Kung fu is skill built up over a long period of time. It is not about hurting yourself or others.

It is not about damaging yourself with ridiculous conditioning exercises.

The Iron Palm "Master" has soft and supple hands.

The person with rough course hands has trained improperly and ineffectively, what good will a strike from him be in 20 years when he is crippled and arthritic from short term punishment.

There is no long term benifits to harsh training.

Go slow, be patient, skill will grow with practice.

peace

Kung Lek

Martial Arts Links (http://members.home.net/kunglek)

[shaolinboxer]

It is dependent on your goals. If you are a ufc fighter, you may want to train into extreme experiences of pain and exhaustion because you need to compete in that environment.

However, for other types martial artists there are other conditions that can train the mind without the need for such extremeties.

Simply the idea that you may never use your technique "on the street" and will never be recognized in any way (other then by your own personal success) is harder to take for some than a heavy beating.

The training described in that article about the lions den souds like it had very specific goals, like the final examination when graduating from the marines (what do they call that...the gauntlet?).

You come out of it a changed person...of a different mind.

Physical training to get at the mind. Your traininf needs depend on what kind of a head you want to have.

[Wongsifu]

i like to put my nuts on a table and bash them with a rolling pin , does this make me a better martial artist ?

what do bin laden and general custer have in common????
They're both wondering where the fu(k all of those tomahawks are coming from. - donated by mojo

[IronFist]

it's like Kung Lek said about the Iron palm master.

Iron body training involves beating the body, but it is done softly with gradual increases in intensity.

Beating the ****e out of yourself isn't very good.

Iron