How do you find time to train?

[PeaceWarrior]

I am a college student enrolled in 13 credit hours, with a full time job where I work 38-40 hours a week. I also have a girlfriend and a family to spend time with. I go to my Wing Chun class usually twice a week, which is not as much "hard training" as it is learning, and we are expected to train hard and practice what we have learned outside of class (like homework). For me, a good training session would last at least 2 hours, and a really good one would be 3-5 hours, five days a week. With my current schedule, I am lucky to get 30 minutes of training a day.

How am I supposed to reach my goals at this rate? On one hand, I am faced with attending college and getting a degree (which was mostly imposed by my family), but on the other hand, what I really want to do with my life is to constantly learn and teach Martial Arts. I want to become as high level as my Sifu, and he trained 5 hours a day when he was my age. Why cant I just study martial arts as my 'degree'? Its what I am passionate about, and right now school seems like so much drudgery and useless knowledge to me. So what do you guys think I should do to make time? I need to get college out of the way, but what is the point if all I can think about is training?

Sigh...

 

[tshadowchaser]

get your education

you are young and have a long time to learn the martial arts. You can still teach the arts if that is your wish but I suggest geting a degree and haveing something to fall back on or to do till your calss size reaches the point where it will support you and a family

 

[Drac]

get your education

Shadowchaser is correct..Get your education..

Question: "How do you find time to train??

Answer: It aint easy...

 

[Drac]

Shadowchaser is correct..Get your education..

Question: "How do you find time to train??

Answer: It aint easy...

Work 2 jobs plus teach at the academy..on top of being married and a home owner...Father Greek has classes on Friday night and I'm usually so whiped by the end of the day as bad as I wanna train I need the rest more...

 

[Xue Sheng]

Shadowchaser is correct..Get your education..

Question: "How do you find time to train??

Answer: It aint easy...

Both Shadowchaser and Drac are correct - get your education

For me - Fulltime+ job, wife, kids, wife's business (another fulltime job), considering returning to college.

When do I find time? Usually at about 5:00 am until 6:00 am and occasionally a 1/2 hour to 1 hour in the evening, but that is very occasionally.

See ya, I have to go and train now, really I'm not kidding.

 

[exile]

Ditto to every single thing that you've been told. It's a complex world out there; very little is what it at first seems to be, and to acquire the tools to understand it, you need to learn a wide variety of concepts and how they work together to make sense of what often seems to make no sense at all. That's the purpose of education---to give you crucial tools for undestanding so you'll be able to glimpse at least a little bit of the outlines of the systems that are at work in the world, but in a concealed fashion. No one ever went wrong learning how to think clearly, logically and creatively---and again, that's what education can give you if you take advantage of it.

As far as finding training time goes, you probably would find, if you sat down and worked out a log of your day's activities, that you have a bunch of short, `dead' time periods in between major activities when not much is going on. No one says you can make three hours a day of workouts out of them... but you probably could put together an hour's worth of them, right? I mean, if that's what you feel you want to spend your life doing, then you should be able to find the equivalent of an hour's worth of `small change' in the day and use that for training. There are all kinds of skills that you can work on in those short gaps between fixed parts of your schedule---I know I once did worked out such a time log and was astonished at how much time I just frittered away waiting in between `major' activities (I can't say I became a model of time use efficiency, but the question is, how much do you really want that extra training time?)

Try it just for fun---you might be as surprised as I was to see how much you have in the way of time reserves that you aren't using... good luck!

 

[terryl965]

Here is my perspective on this, you never find time to train. You make time to train like anything in life if you want it bad enough you will make time for it. School is always number one for every reason, but every single person can find time to train if they choose too.

 

[Flying Crane]

I get up early in the morning and train before work.

I have a gym membership and go to train during my lunch break.

I train some evenings and weekends.

You've got to get creative with your schedule, look for time when you can sqeeze it in, even if just a little. It's better than nothing.

 

[pstarr]

Yep. At this point in your life, education must come first. In a way, it's part of your training. The discipline and drive - and you'll learn a LOT that can be applied to martial arts along the way. Trust me on this.

Set aside a certain time each day for practice and stick to it. It'll change as your school classes change each semester, but do your best to stay with it. 30 minutes to an hour is fine for daily practice.

3-5 hours is phenomenal. If you can train HARD for that long, you're way ahead of me. I'm fried after about 90 minutes, tops!

It's what you put into the training that counts...not how long you train.

You'll make it. Just set up a schedule and stick by it.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Definately continue on with your education and pursue that with a passion. (it is very important) Making time to train is always difficult but if you structure your life you can do it. Sometimes I train before work, sometimes after. Sometimes during the work day as my Training Hall is directly attached to where I work. Since I also teach, I generally have plenty of time before or after teaching to work on different aspects of the martial arts. No matter what it is always going to be a challenge but if you make time and keep going the rewards are unlimited. Good luck.

 

[PeaceWarrior]

Thank you all for replying I have just been so frustrated with school and work, and on top of that it seems like I never have the time to train like I want to. You all have some very good advice on making time to train, and I appreciate your enthusiasm. The problem with getting up early or staying up late is that I am a guy who needs sleep, without it I am no use for anything. I have tried to get up early but I am simply to tired to do anything. And I do make time during the day, I practice at school between classes (when I dont have truckloads of homework-rarely the case) and every other time I can. Not only that I am constantly thinking about techniques and applications and how it all fits together.

The other thing that is bugging me, is I dont really see what I am pursuing with my education. In other words, I dont have a plan when I get out of college. Im majoring in fine arts, and there arent many good paying careers for that sort of degree. The way I am going I feel like I am never going to leave this place, and even when I do Im not sure what lies ahead.

Anyways, I really wish I had time to detail a response to all of your posts, but I want to sincerely thank you all for your ideas and support, and its all been duley noted and I promise to work on it hard. I know school is important and it will affect my training in some way, and that I need better time management (most definetly so).

Ok, I had better get back to work on this here term paper

Peace and God Bless

Keith

 

[bushidomartialarts]

keep on keepin' on, keith.

you may need to settle for 15 minutes of kata some mornings, but you'll find that if you work out even a bit most days, your energy levels will be higher and you'll get more done: taking half an hour to work out in the morning often results in getting 45 minutes to an hour extra done in the time you have left. increased focus and all that.

good luck with your studies.

 

[JasonASmith]

Education, education, education!
Training is a life-long endeavor(re-emphasize LIFE-LONG)
Stay the course, stiff upper lip, and all that...It WILL work out.

 

[Bigshadow]

Here is my perspective on this, you never find time to train. You make time to train like anything in life if you want it bad enough you will make time for it. School is always number one for every reason, but every single person can find time to train if they choose too.

That is so true! It must become part of your life and must be sustainable. I see my training much like people see their religion. The faithful find time for their religion because it bears such an importance on their life. For me it is the same with my training. As long you look at your training like a hobby, you will continually be fighting for time, when you begin to train as if your life depends on it, time will be made for it.

 

[Kacey]

What they said - I work full-time, teach TKD twice a week, and go to grad school, to classes/semester. I mostly practice in bits and pieces as I have time.

 

[Arizona Angel]

Martial Arts is a life style...education (for most) is not. Train when you can and as often as you want to, but finnish the education. That you may live to regret if ya don't.

 

[PeaceWarrior]

As long you look at your training like a hobby, you will continually be fighting for time, when you begin to train as if your life depends on it, time will be made for it.

Just to clarify, MA is NOT a hobby for me, I do consider it a way of life and not just something I do to kill time. Thats why I consider my training time so important...

Now as I read more of your posts, I think I am beginning to realize that I am training like most people, and Im not as "far behind" as I thought. I really do make time for it, but my complaint was that I cant make enough time. The time I do make seems so short, and it seems like I am just inching along. Oh well, at least I get some training in.

thanks again for your support!

 

[masherdong]

Hey dont feel bad, I am in that same situation. I work 40-45 hours a week, go to school at night, 6 hour course load, and have two small children to care for. For me, I just try to do a technique whenever I can. Sometimes I will do a couple of techniques during my lunch hour in my cube. After doing my schoolwork, I may take 15-20 minutes to do a form to get some type of stress relief after looking at Calculus!

 

[fireman00]

its not the speed of the journey but what you pick up, see and enjoy along the way.

You need to prioritize your life and it sounds like you have; family, school then the dojang.

 

[Darksoul]

-If I might suggest about your particular path in education, especially if you're unsure of what you want to do after college, switch to Liberal Arts. I know that might sound funny but I read an article from a dean at one of the local universities here in Rochester, NY about Liberal Art majors. His main point was that a lot of jobs these days, at least a lot of companies, want people who can multi-task and/or know a little bit about a lot of things. That is something liberal arts hits you with, a little of everything. Often times now companies are downsizing, and remaining employees are shouldering more of the workload; sometimes one person is doing the job of two, three or more. It comes down to diversity. Granted there are jobs that only require knowledge in a limited field, since it might be just doing the same thing, over and over. Just a thought. Ideally, I'm sure a lot of us would like to study martial arts full time although not many of us are financially secure to do that. So you find a job, preferably something you enjoy, after college, that also provides a living income, including money for training. I work security for a living, and although its not the most exciting thing in the world, and I don't want to do it forever, it does provide for my lifestyle and I soon plan on attending classes again now that I've been moved to a day-shift position. But as everyone else stated, whatever you do, finish college. The degree you earn informs potential employers that you're educated and that you can finish something. Good luck!!!

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