Any mildly serious martial arts training has to give you three things. 1) a system of techniques that can protect, cause damage and transition from one another under pressure; 2) physical and mental conditioning to allow you to survive the effort of a fight; and 3) a routine that allows you to eat some pain without panicking, so you can survive until the the opening for your final move. (The idea you can get into a fight and leave unharmed is only for Hollywood)
That reminds me of a quote from #BruceLee : “A fight is not won by one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or hire a bodyguard.” One can take endurance here as enough cardio and muscle resilience, but knowing @brucelee ’s obsession with practicality, I bet he also meant the ability to eat some pain during the fight.
That’s particularly important for women in our #McDojo times. Some will try to lure you by offering the cardio and strength workout, or even a few techniques that are better than none. But unless you have a chance to spar, to get hurt a little, to feel the mind-forging power of pain, what you’re doing ain’t #martialarts — It’s just gymnastics. Will keep you healthy under safe conditions, but will not protect you in the real world.
Of course the opposite is also a threat. Some schools focus too much on the ability to take pain and end up causing deformations on the body and long term impairment. That’s dumb too.
Those two kinds of bad experiences — pain free McDojos or torture chambers with too much of it — aren’t privilege of a style, but rather a trait of the place and the instructor. For any style strong enough to survive its creator must have at least some martial validity.
So don’t get fooled or dragged into fake schools either way. If in doubt, stop by and ask the Tigress.
#girlpower #girlfighter #fitness #unitedbyblood
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Photo is an Instagram #Repost of @femalekickers ::: @kispec a fierce #kyokushin fighter
