…..Okay so you have found that you have a passion for the martial sciences.  That is absolutely great! Once you start training you have joined with a group of like minded people around the world who want to be fit and effective.  One thing you will encounter while on this path is that you will have some ups and downs.  Meaning that at different points you will probably be unmotivated and yet in order to keep these skills you must continue to train.  So you will need to figure out ways to keep yourself motivated.  Variety in training will certainly help, reading technique oriented books, magazines and what is available on the Internet in regards to the martial arts will also help.  Borrowing or renting DVD’s that feature martial training or are just a movie that has martial arts in it will help as well.  Personally, nothing gets me more motivated than reading a best selling fiction book that has martial arts within it.  When reading a good book like that it will easily give me enough motivation to continue for several weeks or longer.  Since I teach I also have another motivating factor that plays an important role.  Whether I am up for it or not if I have a class or a private lesson to teach I will be doing it as the practitioner or practitioner’s that come to train always come first.  Teaching is a great motivating factor as you see people progress and improve and be inspired.  That always helps to inspire you as well!  I love to teach and always feel good after teaching. 

…..So you are training and enjoying it and plan to stick with it! That is great! Now however you always need to remember that you have a goal to train long term or over time.  This will require that you understand that you need to pace yourself.  Keep the fire and desire to improve going but do not burn it all out by to much over training.  I have witnessed this happen on more than one occasion and even with practitioner’s that have been studying martial science for a long time.  The unfortunate thing is that if you stop you lose those skills.  So pace yourself and understand that you need to keep going for the long term.  This also means that you need to take precautions when training.  Stretch and warm up.  If you are injured ease up and take appropriate measures.  Also if you are grappling do not be afraid to tap out.  Personally I would rather tap any day than allow a major injury to occur.  There is no shame in taping out as everyone has to regularly if you are rolling hard.  The same goes for full contact sparring in that you should not be afraid to ever say you have had enough or if in danger after taking a shot do not worry about saying stop, enough or I am done.  Always protect yourself during training. If you can take precautions in training and do not suffer serious injury then you will be able to continue training.  That is definitely a benefit to you, your Training Hall and your comrades along this martial path!  Pace yourself, take precautions in training and find ways to motivate yourself.  If you can do this then your long term training will pay off to a degree that you had never imagined!

See You On The Mats!

Brian R. VanCise

Note: This Blog is opinion only and Instinctive Response Training LLC nor Brian R. VanCise is responsible for any third party actions taken.

Visit Us At: http://www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com/