On training

(Copied from my dojo e-news for this week.  I thought I hit on something really good and wanted to share it with my blog.  Enjoy!)

This week we are going to continue to drill, drill, drill those basics into our bodies. I feel like our current pace and format is good. The intensity and physical demands set a good foundation for the rest of the class. I find everybody's bodies move better. An important training concept that's quickly becoming recognized as most efficient among fitness experts is this idea of quick, intense bursts of physical stress (with proper technique to avoid injury). Our friend Dan's budo fitness site http://www.warriorinshape.com/ has many great articles that focus on this training concept. As warriors, our bodies may be suddenly and instantly called into extreme physical action. We may go about our normal day for weeks, months, years living at our regular pace. Without warning, we could suddenly and violently be faced with extreme danger, causing a huge dump of endorphins into our system, as the "fight or flight" programming we are hard-wired with instantly kicks in. Our bodies need to be able to handle this sudden stress. Our consciousness needs to be able to adapt, recover and take charge of our bodies. We need to be able to move tactically and have the stamina to handle the physical demands we are faced with.

Then, just as quick as it started, it could end and we need to be able to recover from that as well. Recovery is at the root of ukemi and it begins with exposing our bodies and minds to sudden demands in bursts.
This brings me to another important point - making ourselves train. Our classes are on a weekday, after we've all worked long, stressful hours. We are tired, maybe sore, and I'm sure our brains are wiped out. I know that for most, one of the last things we truly want to do is to be hit and thrown around a mat for a couple hours. Yet, we do. I think this is also an important concept. Danger almost always comes when we are at our weakest moment, when our attention is focused elsewhere, when our bodies are tired, hungry, injured and unprepared. Yet, at that instant, the danger takes over the entire situation and we have to suddenly act. I believe some of the best training comes from those nights when you really don't want to train, yet force yourself to go and just throw yourself into it. Both body and mind are being pushed. The lessons learned go far beyond the technical aspect of the class. And, when you've made yourself train on those nights, don't you always feel good afterward and happy you went?

Life creates far more reasons and opportunities to not train than to get out and train. It becomes easy to put it off another day, another week, another month, and even another year. Yet, if we truly want to call ourselves martial artists, even warriors, we need to make training a priority, not just for our own protection, but the protection of those we love. This is why we show up when most go home. This is what separates us from the rest of society. This is why to be a real budoka (student of martial arts) you also have to strive to be a Tatsujin, or complete human being, a gentleman, one who lives to a higher purpose. It starts with the attitude towards training the body, the mind and one's spirit, every day, every opportunity, every second.

Just like finding the kukan, or tactical space, in a technique and operating within it, we also have to find the kukan in our lives and train within it. Know when it's there and get in it. Know when it moves, find it, then move in it again. There is always kukan if you take the time and have the desire to find it. It's always up to you.

This is what is meant by the term "Gambatte" or "Keep Training"! It's a way of living, not an interruption to it...