If someone is going to run a school with high fitness requirements. That is their choice our sparing team does this to a extent most drop out because they can't keep up. But it is not a written rule. Most don't want to do what is needed and we can't slow down! The team stays around 10....
Martial Arts for every one
- Thread starter Manny
- Start date
Such things make sense for competition teams, but not so much for open classes. I'm not really convinced that anything resembling the stamina needed to perform 100 pushups/situps/squats is needed for practical applications of martial arts training.
ralphmcpherson
Senior Master
I think the ridiculous physical requirements are more of a mental test. Doing 100 push ups is is more a test of mental character (this is their theory), and its this mental strength that they see as necessary to have warrior mentality. Its like running, there is no way the average joe could run a matathon, but Im sure if they had a gun to their head they could. Point being, most people can do 100 push ups if they really had to, but most people wont push through the pain to do it, its easier to give up and say they cant. This is the theory these clubs take on board , they rate mental toughness very highly. I dont necessarilly share their point of view, but this is where they are coming from.
If it's a test of mental character they want, then the student could be required to perform mental exercises. Like a written exam (which we require) involving anything from answering simple vocabulary questions (for beginners) to lengthy essays (for Dan ranks). Or solving complex equations. Or arguing both sides of an ethical issue.
I do not think the average Joe could run a marathon even with a gun to his head. I could not. However, I could most likely wait for you to be distracted for just a second, move the gun offline, and do something unplesantly violent that would end your insistence that I run the marathon.
chrispillertkd
Senior Master
I think the type of mental training Ralph - and he can certainly correct me if I am mistaken - means might be more along the lines of spiritual training; that is, training designed to improve or test a trainees spirit (hence Taekwon-Do's tenet "Baekjul Boolgool," or Indomitable Spirit). It's not so much a matter of deductive reasoning so much as developing willpower. The type of training that's been discussed (lots of fitness requirements during a test or to even enter a school as a student) would seem to be similar to the Japanese concept of "Shugyo." Shugyo is intense physical and mental training designed to push the student to his limits and so improve his spirit or character. While I'm not a fan of fitness tests as part of a rank test per se, I think the practice of shugyo certainly has a place within martial arts and know some schools that set aside a couple of specific dan level tests as shugyo-type experiences.
Ultimately, such austere training will become something that a student takes upon themselves and will largely (though not exclusively) be something that is done alone and only periodically, perhaps to mark a special date such as an anniversary of training. Because of the intensity of the training, both physical and mental, it really isn't something that is done day in and day out.
Pax,
Chris
ralphmcpherson
Senior Master
Thats exactly what I was talking about. By "the mental side" I mean more along the lines of mental toughness or strength of character. I dont think the ability to write an essay or solving complex equations is the same thing. Look at the mental toughness to play a game like rugby league, most guys would be terrified to play a game of league , yet the guys who play at the elite level probably couldnt spell their own name
I don't think doing situps shows anything about character. All it shows is that you've done a lot of situps.
ralphmcpherson
Senior Master
go till you cant do anymore and every muscle aches and you feel like you are going to die. Then do another ten. That says a lot about someone's character. I remember working as a personal trainer years ago, and you would get people say "I have to stop,I cant go any further", the ones who were really strong mentally really did have to stop, the weaker minded ones didnt have to stop, they just didnt want to push through the pain any longer.
Last edited:
