In 3 weeks, I will be joining a great fundraiser at Combat Arts Institute of Australia. It is a challenging and fun event that will help raise funds for diabetes research.
The event consists of 100, 1-minute rounds of sparring, with only a 10-second break in between each round. Participants register, and then find sponsors to donate a set amount for every round they complete. For example, if a person agrees to donate $1 for every round you complete, then if you get through all 100 rounds they donate $100.
It is a lot of fun and a real tough challenge! And it got me thinking…
I’ve given tips before on sparring here and here. One of the things I mention often is to try and look at the positives. But sometimes, that can be very hard to do. Maybe you know there is a hard session coming up. Maybe you are about to face a sparring partner who always kicks your butt (you know the one! It’s the one you usually try and avoid making eye contact with).
These moments can deter people from coming to training and can represent barriers that we need to smash in order to continue growing.
So how do we stay positive during a hard session?
Lemons and Lemonade
Here are a few tips that I find to be helpful when I’m struggling through a hard session and will help you turn those frowns upside down:
- Counting up: Surprisingly enough, this lesson was best verbalised to me by a nurse in an antenatal class. She was talking about contraction during labour, and how with every contraction she tells the mum-to-be ‘that’s one less towards being a mum’. This method of counting up rather than down makes a huge difference mentally. How does this apply to sparring? Focus on how many rounds are behind you instead of how many you have left. Doesn’t matter if you are doing 5 or 50, when you count up you are giving yourself credit for working towards your goal – ‘that’s one less towards the finish line, good job!.’ If you are counting down – ‘I have 70 more rounds to go… F$%&$’ – you are going to become overwhelmed and frustrated. The rounds won’t change. But how you look at them will determine how much energy you spend, physically and mentally.
- The timer: This is something experienced fighters will notice immediately. When you start looking at the timer repeatedly, you are telling your opponent you are tired. If they are experienced enough to notice it, that’s when they’ll start pushing you. The other thing is that much like the point above, every time you start looking at the timer you are going to ‘survival mode’. You are telling yourself you are tired and you want to stop. For me, it’s simple – don’t look at the timer! Focus on the job in front of you, and that’s the person trying to beat you up.
- Know your pain: If you’ve been training for a while, you are well familiar with different types of pain. There is pain from impact, and pain from fatigue, and pain from pressure, and a lot of other types. There is also injury pain. Most of the time, you also know when a pain is ‘injury pain’.
When something hurts, you can train to ignore it and keep pushing. But if something is the pain of injury, don’t be too proud to let your instructor know. There is no honour to be gained from fighting through injury just for the sake of doing so.
The more you get to know pain, the better you know your body and your mind. - Respond, don’t react: This follows on from the previous point. I find that I always laugh when someone gets a good shot in. If I get too serious about it then I stop having fun and get frustrated when someone hits me. I then spend too much physical energy trying to get them back or tensing up, or mental energy thinking about why they got me. The second I smile and say ‘good shot’, I allow myself to relax and remember that I’m doing what I love. Obviously, there might be times when that’s not appropriate. Also, everyone reacts differently. If you find that getting hit makes you angry, and getting angry gives you energy, then get angry! The point is to think about how you respond, rather than react. Choose the response that will yield the best result for you and use it!
- Know, and analyse, your training partners: Every person fights differently. Some people go all out all the time. Some people conserve energy. Some prefer offense to defence, some prefer to fight on the inside while others prefer to fight on the outside. When I go through a hard training session with lots of sparring rounds, I’m conscious of who does what. This means that if I feel like I need an easier round to recuperate I’ll find someone who likes to go a bit lighter or slower, or perhaps someone I can keep away with long-range attacks. My point is, analyse what your training partners are doing and keep it in mind for the long haul, not just for the current round. I often think about this towards the end of the round or even a round in advance, so I can position myself next to the person I want to go with next!
Swings and Roundabouts
We all go through times when training can feel like a drag. It can happen over weeks or months or years, but it can also happen within a single session.
At the end of the day, I think the most important thing is to remember why you are doing it in the first place. For me personally, there is no happier place than when I’m sparring. I really love it. I enjoy the thrill of it and the physical challenge. I enjoy trying to figure out how people move, and how they think. I enjoy analysing it and trying to implement strategies to counter what they are doing. Chances are, if you are doing long sparring sessions then you love it too. When things get hard, just think about what it is that you love about it and you’ll be able to go that one extra round!
Training in the martial arts can, and should be, a challenging experience. And it can be challenging in many different ways. Dealing with physical exhaustion, pain, and injuries. Dealing with frustration, anticipation, fear or disappointment. Learning to stay calm and perform under pressure.
The lessons learned from these experiences can be used in all aspects of life.
I challenge you to have a tough training session this week, and see if you can put these into practice!
And lastly – please check out our 100 Fights Page on Facebook and on the CAIA Website. Last time we ran this event, my arm was broken and I committed to kicking a punching bag non-stop for 100 rounds. I managed to do 4,384 kicks in the 100 minutes and raised quite a lot of money for charity. Together with everyone who competed in the event, we raised close to $7,000 towards free surgery for kids through Operation Rainbow.
If you want to donate some money to a good cause (and see me get beat up) please click on this link and sponsor me! The event will be streamed live on Facebook and on our website. I promise I’ll give it my all to make it through all 100 rounds!
Stay safe, stay tuned
Osu/Oss
- The Karate Kid (1984): Movie Review - March 31, 2019
- Fairy Tales: Even MORE Statements To Be Careful Of! - February 21, 2019
- Don’t be That Person! Thoughts on Giving Feedback in Class - January 30, 2019
Leave a Reply