Do you ever lose focus in your training? Of course not. You’re a martial artist right?
I know it’s easy to get caught up in your training and forget what purpose your training serves. You know the routine: train your basics, run through your katas, maybe do a few push-ups and sit-ups, stretch out and call it a day.
But what did you really accomplish? Are you improving? It’s easy to slip into this rut and think we’re really training well, but truth be told, we’re just mindlessly doing what we think we’re supposed to do and thinking it’s good enough.
It’s important to have some goals, something to focus on. So here’s my challenge to you – develop a roadmap to help reach your goals. If you don’t have any specific goals yet, it’s time to develop some. It’s the same as working your way up the ranks, you know what you need to do in order to advance, so that’s what you train.
Now what about your fitness? Come up with a few specific goals that will boost your martial arts performance and focus on those. Do you need to improve your conditioning for sparring, or your strength for grappling? Maybe your balance isn’t quite up to par, or you need some more flexibility.
Pick one or two things to focus on, and concentrate on those for one month. After your month is up, keep working on those skills, but rotate them to the back burner and bring another one or two areas into the forefront. Each month, focus on new weaknesses to shore up. After a few months, you should start noticing some real improvements in your skills.
Remember, training with no goal in mind is hardly doing you any good. If you aren’t improving, you’re moving backwards.
Train Smart. Train Hard.
-Chris
