News Every Day | 15 August 2022, 23:57

Harder is Better

Harder is Better

I sometimes hear students in class asking if they are doing things properly. They wonder if they might not be doing it correctly because they find that the way that I am asking them to do it is “harder” than what they think it should be.

Sometimes, harder is better.

Why do we train mostly in low stances? Is it because this is the way we should apply our techniques in an actual self-defense situation? These stances may work well in actual application. But it may be more about the actual training itself than the application of it. By going to an extreme, we are really working to the maximum. And this usually makes the practice more valuable as a form of exercise and creates a more beneficial training of muscle memory.

Doing things the easy way is, well, “easy”. And as such it should not be difficult to revert back to the easy/natural way in cases where we forget or do not have time, energy or clear enough understanding to perform the ideal way. So, in self-defense, for example, if we are not able to make a full, proper, round-house kick, at least our training will have probably made whatever kick that comes out in such a situation more effective.

When it comes down to it, that front snap kick we trained so hard on in the dojo may not be as effective as the pushing type of front kick that comes more naturally. Does that mean we should not practice the relatively ineffective snapping front kick? No. This kick could definitely be very effective; it is simply that the situations in which it would be more effective than a more natural thrust kick are somewhat limited. And since the thrusting version is more natural, it does not need as much practice. The snapping version is more difficult. Thus that is what we concentrate on.

Why do we wait until the last possible moment before blocking? Although there are practical application reasons to do this, part of it may simply be to make the training more challenging. And the challenge itself is sometimes very beneficial to our training.While these challenges can at times cause some frustration, we should keep in mind that these challenges are there to be overcome. They are there to make us try harder and as a result become better.

“Challenge, but not Impossible”
This is one my signature sayings. I use this phrase often when I teach. Our objective should be to put ourselves and our partners in a situation that is a challenge but not one that seems impossible. If we are always simply working within our comfort zone, not trying at all to reach outside of what is easy for us, how are we to improve?

Remember that we do not need to always be focusing on 1000 different points and that we should sometimes not worry too much about certain details while training, instead focusing on just the one or two most important points of the lesson. Trying to focus on many details at once is tough. But this is not really what I have in mind when I suggest keeping training “hard”. It should be a challenge even if you just focus on one or two details.

Please do not forget to keep in mind that “hard” does not have to mean “exhausting and/or dangerous” training. That type of workout may be what some people desire. But training should be hard enough (difficult enough) without making people so uncomfortable that they no longer feel like they want to come to the dojo.

Doing things that are difficult is often a good thing. But that does not mean that everything should be a struggle and successes be severely limited. We should be meeting our challenges and keeping in mind that there is usually a reason that things are difficult. Do not get too frustrated. This “hard” training should be good for us.