How to Analyze Rough Days When Training in the Martial Arts
New martial arts students get discouraged or bummed out quite often.. You may be training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay thai, or Mixed Martial Arts; all leave room to feel down about how your training is going if it’s not going quite the way you expected or wanted.
Remember – everyone else is training alongside with you so stay positive and stick to your short and long-term goals.. If you are training in any martial arts you are going to have good days and bad days, that’s just how it is. What you need to stay focused on and realize is that training in martial arts is a process. You have to stay dedicated and remember that you are progressing every time you train whether you realize it or not; you can not get any better if you get frustrated and stop completely. You need to keep a good mindset and really focus on yourself and what your goals are.
For example, you are training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and you decide you really want to learn how to do the triangle choke well enough to submit people. You drill the move over and over and you are starting to get good at it, but then when you spar with someone in class, you are unable to finish the move because your opponent successfully defends it every time. It would be really easy for you to become discouraged here and give up on learning the triangle, but what you have to remember is that everyone else is training just like you. Your opponent also has goals and his may have been to learn how to defend the triangle because he had a high triangle submission rate. So all the time you spent learning how to triangle, he spent learning how to defend the triangle. It is important to have persistence and stay with it, not get angry, frustrated, or discouraged at the fact that your opponent is just as good at defending the triangle as you are at doing it.
Kickboxing is another martial art where students can often get discouraged.. As a novice to Muay Thai kickboxing, you might see other students throwing flashy kicks and intricate combinations.. This is a perfect example of where people get discouraged because it looks overwhelming and it’s a lot to look at. In this case you have to realize that the person your watching has most likely been training for at least three months and has developed all these different combinations. Learning how to shadow box like this person will take time. While training in class you learn about three series, so already you have three to practice with.
The coaches at my Columbia Martial Arts school always say that training in martial arts is a process. Training and effort is all that separates you from the people who are “really good”.. You need to keep a positive mindset while training and remember there will be good days and bad days, but stay in the process.