Newbie : unnecessary pain during practice,blocks, hits ...

[superfighter]

personally, it does my head in when somebody complains that my blocks are too hard, blocks are supposed to be hard thats what there for, there used as a weapon, possibly to break somebodys arm if need be. The fact that people winge about the pain i find to be childish, if you don't like it, go do some tai chi or summfin.

[alanseijas]

Down, boy! Down! All things start at the beginning!

[tommarker]

personally, it does my head in when somebody complains that my blocks are too hard, blocks are supposed to be hard thats what there for, there used as a weapon, possibly to break somebodys arm if need be. The fact that people winge about the pain i find to be childish, if you don't like it, go do some tai chi or summfin.

 

I'm sorry, but that is flat-out ignorant.

 

I don't spend the entire drill bashing my partners forearms in, and I can still swing a hard block when I need to. If you feel like you have to provide some sort of "initiation" to show all the new students how tough you are with your iron forearms, that's great for you.

 

btw, maybe you should find a good tai chi club and tell them what a bunch of soft hitting sissies they are.

[Bdaze]

as you will probably learn there's no such thing as "unnnecissary pain" in the martial arts.

 

if it gets to the point of being unnnesissary you most likely go home with a few broken bones.

 

in my dojo there is strong emphasis on giving the person a taste of what it feels like. this conditions you to take a fall/hit and also makes you aware of what you;re doing to someone else. so maybe you'll think twice about breaking your freinds arms.

 

hold back a little, but don't be afriad to give em a taste. it will help both of your techniques greatly.

[JohnnyS]

Am I the only one who thinks this guy should get used to the pain? That you can't win a fight or defend yourself if the pain from a block discourages you?

 

You should welcome pain - use it toughen you up. There's a difference with pain between discomfort and injury. Soak it up. As my karate instructor used to say before we did arm-pounding "Pain builds character".

[Jussi Häkkinen]

Am I the only one who thinks this guy should get used to the pain?

 

No, not really. But there's some pain that you have to get used to, then the other type of pain that you don't need to get used to - coming from the technique performed in a wrong way - and a pain that implies injury. The pain #2 indicates that pain #3 could be on its way - so it shouldn't be "soaked up".

 

Slight amount of pain and uncomfortable feeling is a part of training, sure. However, continuous pain and damage done by wrong training methods is not a part of healthy training. Oh, sure, it's nice to be a macho when you're young, but when you grow up, all the pain and sore spots lose their glamour rather fast. Quicker you realize that, better you will be.

 

So, allow small amount of pain and discomfort that are unavoidable in martial arts training. Don't allow yourself to feel pain all the time - especially if it is concentrated to same spots all the time. That isn't really healthy.

[cymry]

You could do some conditioning exercises

[nastia]

My instructors do a very smart thing. We do not spar or do alot of hitting each other utnill you get to Orange beld (which is about 3 months into the training). By that time people are physically and mentally tougher.

 

I agree, people should get used to some amount of pain, but if it all comes at you too fast, it could be too much to handle.

[Jussi Häkkinen]

Conditioning excercises - while applied correctly and not done in excessive amounts - are a good way to adjust into that slight level of pain. Those excercises (kote kitai) generally also tend to teach about correct methods of blocking and punching. That really is a good idea.

 

However, karate is a martial art - I think that paired practice (some forms of formal kumite) are very important to include into training from the day one. It is quite essential to teach the applicative side of the movement you've just taught alongside the crude kihon form.

[alanseijas]

I get the feeling that many of you must be much younger than I. I work with my hands, and adding pain on the job is no good at all. Yes, through the years, I have been conditioned to some pain; but going overboard and thinking that the pain is a good thing is ridiculous and unwise. Take my own experience as an example. I was working out and working out, over and over, harder and harder. I developed pain in my right elbow. I shook it off, as you guys say to do, and kept on working on it hard. WELL, after a couple of weeks, I couldn't even move my arm anymore the pain was so bad. I went to the doctor, and found out I gave myself lateral epicondylitis. This condition was caused by repetitive use of the arm in a damaging way, and NEVER FULLY HEALS. Of course I could have surgery, but I still wouldn't be able to train like I used to.

 

So you see, I'm done with all that "push yourself beyond" and "pain is good" crap. As wisely perviously stated, when you get older, it is not so glamorous.

 

Besides, as I said earlier; in Isshinryu, we block muscle to muscle. Much smarter and safer.