Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Here, bite this bullet...

Sometimes the stuff we do in Krav is painful so I don't want to do it. During an exercise I might find myself backing away when instead I should be driving forward. I see this all the time in others, as well, so I will share a little trick I was taught by my friend and former Chayon-ryu instructor Glenn G.

So says Glenn:

Pain is usually your body telling you that something's wrong, so it's natural to try to avoid it or be frightened by it. When an exercise hurts, first decide if you're in any real danger. If you're not, tell yourself, "It's only pain. I'm not in any danger, I'm not going to die, and the pain will go away. It's temporary, and it's only pain."

At first I thought he was messing with me. Then I was annoyed with him for giving me terrible advice.

But sure enough, the next time I found myself in that situation I told myself, "It's only pain..." and it worked! I stopped being afraid of it, gritted my teeth & just accepted that it was part of the deal. I accepted what it was and what it wasn't, and it became a lot easier to live with.

Why not give it a shot?

3 comments:

  1. Good advice, Glenn/Parker! I also tell myself that the bruises/pain that whatever defense we're practicing (knife, for example) are causing hurt WAY less than actually getting stabbed, shot, etc. It's a small price to pay, in the long run.

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  2. Glenn IS awesome! What works for me: 1/ the saying, "Pain is weakness leaving the body" and 2/ growling the F word over and over, usually under my breath at Wayne, and sometimes Lynda, these days.

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