What motivates you?

[Spartacus Maximus]

What motivates you or how do you motivate yourself to train? Lately it has been very difficult to find the time to train.

[OneKickWonder]

My family. I want to remain fit enough to be a fun dad to my young kids. I don't like sport, and I can't get into solo exercise or the gym, and there are no decent dance classes in my area. Martial arts interest me, it's social and it's a fairly comprehensive workout.

[sensei8]

1) My family, my health, and my MA journey...none more important than another because they are all of equal importance.

My family has encouraged me all of these many years to remain on the floor. They've seen both the ups and the downs, and they'd never change a thong because they know how much the MA means to me personally as well as professionally, on and off the floor. My wife, Linda, is a very staunch supporter of my MA career, even though I'm often away from home on business with the SKKA and/or conducting seminars here and there.

My health! Well, I've Afib, and I'll have it for the rest of my life; nothing I can do about that. I do go to the gym religiously, 5-6 days a week for about 2-3 hours a day. And when I'm not at the gym, I train at home...but not on Sunday per my wife!! I've lost just over 110lbs since October 2017, and I've 30-40lbs more to lose to reach my goal per my doctors. I've been stuck in a plateau at 250lbs for some time now, and that angers me to no end.

My MA journey is in its 53rd year, and I've not regretted on single second of it. I've earned some sizeable milestones that I'm quite proud of, but not so much that my ego gets in the way of the journey; integrity and humbleness. I've climbed the SKKA ladder, even though those appointments weren't ever searched for, nor were they desired of by myself; they happened, but not of my accord. My journey is far from over, God willing!!

2) Then there's my students, as well as the entire Student Body of the SKKA.

My students are everything to me, and these aren't idle words because I mean it with all of my heart and soul. They came to me, and I didn't come to me, and that speaks in deafening volumes that I'll never deny. I've more than my share of Dan students under me, as well as the countless amount of Kyu students. After all, to me, the White Belt is the most important belt of them all because without the White Belt, any other rank is impossible to earn. Rank is free; its only cost is blood, sweat, and tears!!

What is a dojo with no students?? A long lonely walk; a painful void!!

The SKKA Student Body is my sole responsibility to ensure that they receive the best of the best on and off the floor!! As Kaicho, nothing comes before the Student Body; they're first and foremost!! Albeit, I'm responsible of the success of the SKKA because it is a business, and in that, it must comp up continuously, and without any ambiguity. Therefore, and for that, the Student Body of the SKKA must be, has to be, taken care of firstly on the floor, then off the floor as well.

As long as there's breath in me, the SKKA's Student Body will be cared for in immeasurable ways; I take care of them, then Shindokan Saitou-ryu is taken care of as well.

[MatsuShinshii]

In terms of life... the lessons my father instilled in me and my family.

In terms of the arts... my teacher, my students and my never satisfied need for knowledge.

In terms of work... my family, my men (employees).

Motivation is comes from our desire to do better for our selves and for those we care about.

[Bulltahr]

To keep the mobility that I have really. Plus I enjoy the whole MA experience including traditions, history, etc.

When things get tough, my motivation is just to keep going!

[singularity6]

Yeah, I've had a lot of issues. Trying to get back into training has been hard. Hopefully things settle down for me enough in September.

[Spartacus Maximus]

Feeling old and tired lately, though age should not be of any concern and work is nothing that requires and kind of strenuous physical effort. The recent heat wave and humid summer weather are making things worse. It has been really tough finding time in the week to do any kind of training for the last 6 weeks.

[JR 137]

The heat and humidity here have been absolutely brutal this summer. And while we have a window unit air conditioner in the dojo, we really don’t have air conditioning to speak of. And the gentleman who teaches on Tuesday night’s war cry is “I don’t believe in air conditioning.” IMO it just makes it more fun. It brings me back to my high school wrestling days where we were crammed into room that was way too small for a wrestling team. Too many guys working out in a tight space, wearing multiple layers to cut weight, and a built in space heater that my coach would always turn all the way up all combined for interesting workouts. The walls and mats had a thick layer of condensation on them during practice.

Not the smartest nor safest thing in hindsight, but it built character.

[JR 137]

What motivates me is being a perfectionist, of sorts. I want to know my material inside and out, and I want to do it perfectly. I’m not satisfied until I do it better than I ever thought I could. Seeing as how I learned Taikyoku 1 around 1995 and I still have room to improve it, I’m going to have to go out on a limb and say I’ll never perfect ANYTHING. But I’ll definitely keep trying

Attaining that which is unattainable is my motivation. I don’t care about outdoing the next guy, I just want to outdo myself.

[bushido_man96]

I'm having the same issues as you. My work schedule takes place in the middle of the day now, so I can't make it to training for classes. It sucks. I think when I rotate next, I'll be able to get something going, but as a parent, we have school athletics going on now, too. We'll be busy, and my time isn't my own anymore.

I try to spend time running through things in my head, forms and the like, to try to stay fresh. Youtube videos help out to, as refreshers. If I'm being honest, though, self-motivation is hard to come by right now.