Long ago are the days when I was a teen color belt student, and I would be looking at my friends in class and try to see if my stance could be lower than theirs, my kicks higher, and my kihaps louder. It was a great motivator at the time; every class felt like a little friendly competition to see who could be the best that day. It led to progress in my skill and stronger technique, in addition to finding some motivation to practice the “boring” drills.
I found this type of friendly, classroom competition very beneficial to me. Other people find that tournament competition is the greatest motivator in their training; they train to be the best, in order to compete against the best. Both of these tools of competing can be great for enhancing your training, although there is one downside to them: both of these are dependent on other people.
At its core, martial arts is a very individual activity. Ideally it’s practiced with others, using a variety of different bodies and energies to enhance your skills. But what about the other 4 days of the week where you’re not in class? Or maybe a global pandemic has occurred, and you’re not able to physically touch your classmates anymore for self defense practice or sparring. There will always be a time when you cannot train in the ideal settings.
As we grow as martial artists, there comes a point in time where just going to class won’t be enough: you need to start owning your training and practice on your own. You have to take the initiative to become the best you can be, and the only way to do this is to be in constant competition with yourself. Compete to be better than you were yesterday, or a better kick than last week, even a more motivated person than last month; create small victories for yourself. It can be something as easy as allotting 10 minutes before bed to stretch, or cutting a fraction out of your 4 hours of relaxation time after work to train.
Remember, your martial arts training is yours. Just because you may not be in the ideal situation, doesn’t mean you can’t train, learn, and grow. There’s no reason you have to give up something that’s become a part of who you are just because the situation became tough. As martial artists, we adapt and move with the energy of change. Just never give up.
