What were your toughest challenges as a student in your art?

[Sanchin-J]

When I think back on it, I think for me at least, it was coming to the realization that no matter how strong, or tough you think you are, you are not invincible and you are most likely going to be hurt and you have to accept that. When I first started, I wanted to train so that I wouldn't get hurt, wanted to be able to stop anyone from actually physically harming me per say, WOW was the wool pulled over my eyes. I still do my best not to get hit, but it took me a long long time to accept that there would be times I would be struck and I had to acknowledge that and push on.

 

[terryl965]

For me it was the hours standing in a horse stance with wieghts. That was a killer and it still is that way years after the fact.

 

[Sanchin-J]

Ugh! Boy do I hate Iron Horse and Sanchin Horse stance, your right those are killer hehehe. I practice a form that utilizes both stances pretty much daily, I'm just glad that you don't have to remain in the stance for long in between techniques.

 

[Kacey]

Hitting a person. Boards were easy... but the first time I had to aim at a person's face, with the deliberate intention of touching, full speed, full power, no pads, hit the nose - that was extremely difficult psychologically; body shots were much easier.

 

[Sukerkin]

Interesting question. For me the challenges just keep on coming as the years pass by; they just morph to keep me going .

Thinking back, I think the hardest challenge in my Lau Gar days was the stretching. Lordy did that hurt as I went from inflexible to bendy over the months. In MJER, my biggest challenge has been enduring the pain of the tate hiza stance - it's just not natural for us hulking gaijin to sit like that and to try to move in defence or attack with any alacrity is a blush-inducing joke . Still, it makes you appreciate how comfy seiza is :lol:.

 

[Big Don]

Starting at 32, as I did, the toughest challenges for me were: Not judging myself by the performance of others, and wrapping my little mind around the fact that the 15 and 16 year old Brown Belts are going to kick my butt during sparring. I really had a hard time with that...

 

[Sukerkin]

That's a standout point there, Don about the difficulty of not judging yourself by the performance of others.

My Iaido sensei always takes pains to get us to address this issue. You are striving to improve yourself, not be 'better' than the chap/chapess standing next to you. It's intriguing how hard it is to overcome this - your mind understands but your ego refuses to comply at times.

 

[IcemanSK]

Mine biggest struggle without a doubt was flexibility. I was very inflexible when I started & had work work very hard just to have a waist-high side kick on my left side. It is still the one thing I don't take for granted.

 

[exile]

Balance. Developing enough balance skills in kicking that I could then impose significant resistance challenges on myself by keeping the kick frozen in the extended position; doing that then enables you to adjust the extended position to add further challenge to the balance sense; meet those challenges and you can work on developing more strength (and flexibility, agility, power, etc.) But the balance skills were and are the keys to the whole shebang....

 

[morph4me]

My biggest challenge was, and still is from time to time, relaxing and not using my size and stregnth to force a technique. I find that to be an ongoing struggle. Sitting in seiza or doing anything that puts stress on my knees is a struggle nowadays too.

 

[YoungMan]

Stopping teaching to focus on work and school. I taught for 12 years, and many of my students were like a family. I was the only stable male role model some of them had. Quitting teaching, even for a perfectly valid reason, was one of the hardest things I ever did. Not driving 40 miles each way was nice, but I missed the atmosphere. I still do. I look forward to resuming after school is done, albeit a bit closer to home.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Admitting to myself that my Sifu does actually know better than I do as to what I should train and when I should train it.

 

[crushing]

I find it difficult to relax which has me muscling through and forcing techniques. Also after I throw or takedown the opponent I tend to bend over to the person for a finish rather than keep my back straight and lower my mass.

 

[jazzmasta25]

Breathing. During strikes, taking strikes, and movement constantly keeping my breathing patterns normal while doing techniques, sparring, and Kata. We always try to keep rhythmic breathing the same throughout all three activities.

 

[searcher]

For me it was when I saw my first 50 man fight and came to the realization that I would have to do the same. It was just as much a mental taxation as it was a physically demanding piece of the Sho-dan test. Months of prep for 1 hour of brutallity.

 

[HelloKitty]

I've had a couple of injuries before and some days I train with the fear of having another one again, being forced to stop again... it's hard to concentrate, and it even affects some of my techniques.

 

[Cirdan]

Relaxing and finding the flow instead of forcing the movement.

 

[Nomad]

Although many of the above sound familiar, my biggest challenge has been in controlling my ego... knowing when NOT to compete with the teens and twenty-year olds and learning how to LISTEN when my body starts telling me to back off in training intensity or pay the price (in self-inflicted injuries).

 

[Fiendlover]

well performance wise was nunchucks. and doing the butterfly kick

:whip:

 

[Skip Cooper]

My toughest challenge?

That would be convincing my wife (not a MA) why I needed to train more than one night a week. That battle was not easily won.