training for fun

[BadgerFu57]

It seems like the first 3 months of martial arts I had that passion and drive just to train for fun, because it meant something to me.

Now circumstances have come up, that would certainly cripple a lot of people (family issues and such). But anyway....

I began to start thinking about winning tournaments and training X number of times a week and etc etc. But I realized that the best way to train is to just do it for fun. I realized I made progress faster, enjoyed training more, and had a better JuJu experience when I just went for the fun of going.

Any thoughts, comments?

[Thai Bri]

You only live once. If it isn't fun, don't do it.

[MrPoopy]

Your hobbies shouldn't be your misery. My Judo club is pretty casual and that suits me just fine. I'm there for 90% fun, 10% serious training. Maybe less than 10%.

If it wasn't fun for me, I wouldn't continue to go.

[Guest]

When I jog in the morning, I never go so hard that it is not fun. I have been jogging 5 miles in the morning consistently for 20 years.

That is the secret. If you don't like it, you won't do it in the long run.

[osopardo]

By now, after all these years and at my age I really do it primarily to stay fit and healthy. I've been looking at it as if it were some kind of necessary evil, something to be done not because it's fun but because it's good for you, like eating a salad instead of a burger...

And every now and then in the middle of some puke drill or some other really strenuous routine, struggling for breath and blinded by the torrents of sweat dripping into my eyes and all over my body, when my muscles start to rebel against me, when my perfect form starts to look like "drunken cow" style, and the instructor calls out, "Again!" there's always one of my training buddies or another who will turn to me and with a big toothy grin say, "Isn't this great!?!"

So I finally responded to one of these guys, "Dude, wtf are you saying?!? Just look at me! Does it look like I'm enjoying this?!?

And his response was kinda eye-opening. "Well, yeah! You're enjoying it more than when you first started and couldn't keep up. You're enjoying it more than last week when you couldn't figure out how to do that move you just did."

Yeah, I guess there are rewards.

No one ever achieved greatness at anything if they didn't actually enjoy doing it.

[Seifer2399]

Enjoyment is essential not only just to improve in MA, but for your own sanity. It keeps the positive energies flowing through you, thus making you perform that much better - and feel great, too!

I find this even more true with kids just getting into MA. If you drill them like boot camp, not only are they not going to have fun, but because they're not enjoying it, they're not going to want to learn. My instructor always makes sure to have a game of dodgeball at the end of each class with the lil tikes just to break up the flow and give those kids a chance to "beat" a black belt .

Best regards,

Seifer2399