In the quest to be the best that you can be, it is all too easy for us to fall into tunnel vision in which new ranks, techniques and victories become the goal of training; but if we focus too much on striving, we may forget what we’re ultimately striving for – to feel good about ourselves, for recreation, to experience happiness, to reach our potential in the physical and mental arena. It is important that everyone understands you should not dedicate your life to your training but dedicate your training to your life.
Train vb 3a: to form by instruction, discipline, or drill b: to teach so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient 4: to make prepared (as by exercise) for a test of skill 5: to aim at an object or objective: DIRECT <-ing every effort toward success>
Training n la: the act, process, or method of one who trains b: the knowledge or experience acquired by one who trains 2 the state of being trained
These are the definitions as given by “Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary” it is indeed satisfactory and includes many key words such as discipline, drill, make prepared, and aim to name a few. When I use the term training I refer to an intensified quality of attention, along with a consistent and sustained commitment to refine and improve our chosen endeavor. This type of training approach, if truly applied, will cross over to nearly every area of our daily living. There is an old Japanese saying that embodies this mentality, “A master will show himself in every action.” We continually practice our martial arts, but how many of us still practice our handwriting? How often do we fully jump into our everyday activities showing ourselves in every action?
Training, the heart of the athletic experience, can be represented by a cross country journey. The final destination represents our “best that we can be.” Wherever you are on your road, it is wise to have a map of the trip ahead of you – a way of seeing where you are compared to where you want to be – a view of the potential detours and road blocks and the effort that will be required to reach your destination. A realistic vision and a deep
understanding of your potential will allow you to choose the wisest course and the best way to train for it. It is most important to know that from a good beginning, all else flows.
Just Do It
In Judo, he who thinks is immediately thrown.
Victory is assured to those who are physically and mentally nonresistant.
– ROBERT LINSSEN
Most athletes/martial artists commonly resist the natural way the body works by trying. In everyday simple activities like walking around, taking a shower, driving a car; we don’t have to try to do these things, and we perform them easily and naturally. But when we are about to begin something that we feel is quite challenging – we begin to try. To illustrate how trying too much changes the way we look at things consider walking across a balance beam a couple of inches off the ground. Easy, right? Now put that same beam up at about fifteen feet with a lot of jagged rocks under it. Suddenly you begin trying very hard, you get tense, and the same balance beam becomes very difficult to walk across.
Whenever we start to try, we tense up too much, we fight our own bodies, tense the wrong muscles, think too much and therefore go against what we want to accomplish.
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