Repetition and Boredom: how do you stay engaged with the thousandth suburi/kata/punch/kick?

[Gyakuto168 177]

I train on my own and I have to say, I find it a struggle most of the time. The lack of comrades to push you on actively or even passively is missing. I train with traditional (and non-traditional) Japanese music playing just to keep things more stimulating. How do you cultivate your enthusiasm when you don’t have any?

 

[_Simon_167 198]

I think reinventing your training and approach is important. Firstly understanding the deeper stuff of what drives you to train, and what you really value about it and what you get out of it is important, but also being creative in exploring your art.

There can often be a very stoic, clinical approach to training in which people say you just gotta repeat things over and over and over, and whilst it's true on a level, there are other approaches and methods in which you can train things.

Some of my sessions at home are very planned, line by line of what I want to work on, and others are completely and totally spontaneous, whatever I'm just leaning towards in the moment, and honestly these have been some of the best and most productive sessions. Because you can train something, and it brings up a natural curiosity within a technique or movement, and you delve deeper and explore it without a script prior. Totally experiential exploration. It's like being a disciplined loosy-goose haha.

Both approaches are self-directed, but one is simply more intuitive.

Or you could just go back to karate. Yeah. I say you just do karate. Guys, I think we can bring him back

 

[Gyakuto168 177]

A friend of mine returned from a seminar in Munich where there were a few 8th Dan. He made extensive notes and shared them with me. These have really enthused me to practice but I may ask Ai to write a training plan (with lots of direction from me.