Take a break

[Sparky]

Do any of you regularly take breaks from your training. If so, for how long and how often? Do you feel that it helps or hinders your progress?

 

Rachael

[Tibby]

Define "regularly"?

 

Yeah, breaks are good, they keep you from burning out. Some pro's who LOT there choosen sport talk about forcing a break, let your body fully recover, tells you be lazy for a while. Vacations are good for the body as wel las the soul. It can be a handerance, if you do it to much. Don't take breaks to often.

 

Have you ever had a day when you just don't want to work out, and your dagging your feet in training? This is normal if you get it every once in a while, but if this lasts for 2 weeks or more in a row, you need to take a break. Half-assing it is going to get you anywhere! Better to just take a break for a week or 2, then come back full force. Better then forcing your self to do something you don't want to for a year, then leaving for good.

[karatekid1975]

I had to take a break this past summer. I switched dojangs 6 months before, and my brain was fried trying to catch up. I took almost two weeks off to re-group. I did work on my own on some stuff, so I didn't totally stop training. It helped a lot.

 

I took time off a few times before that, but it was mostly injury related.

[sindian]

Heh. I'm coming back from a 4 year break now. I quit training when I went off to college. I went to our school's tkd club meetings a few times, but I wasn't overly impressed with them. Then, I just got busy with school and other activities. When I finally decided to get back into MA training, I wrecked my knee playing football. Now that my knee is mostly fixed and I'm out of school, I'm back to training. I don't plan on taking such an extended break again. I've actually forgotten a lot of my forms. I thought I would never be able to forget them after doing them for so long. (I started when I was 6.) It's funny. I can only do the first half of two dozen forms. I only remember two in entirety. It's especially sad, since I used to teach these forms to other kids. At least, my sparring rhythm is slowly coming back.

 

When I was training seriously, I would take breaks every once in a while for a week or so. Sometimes, I would just feel I needed a break. I think periodic breaks help get your focus back. Sometimes, you just get sick of training. Plus, your body can use the rest at times.

[Sparky]

By regularly, I mean like once a month take a day you normally go to karate and doing something else. Something else can be as simple as staying home and relaxing or doing something that you just have a hard time doing with your schedule.

 

I train outside of karate as well, and I have a tendency to take two days a week off from that. Not sure how beneficial that is, but I don't want to burn out either.

 

My doctor wanted me to take a six week break from karate about two months after I fractured my rib. It apparently had went from a hairline to a displaced fracture.

 

Rachael

[karatekid1975]

I do sometimes. I just decide to take a day off, and do something else. It can be good to rest or put your mind to something else for a day or two. Then when you go back to training, you feel "refreshed." Ay least, I do, anyways.

[Tibby]

Rachael- Once a month would be pushing it, that is a little to much. As for what the Doc said, talk to your sensei. Maybe take 2-3 weeks off, then spend the rest of the 6 weeks doing light training. No Sparring, not even light contact in a redman suit, and no heavy drilling either. Just do light drills and kata till it heals.