Commitment

Last night's training session was tough. The class itself was not more challenging than usual but the motivation to go there was a mental challenge. After some bag work on Tuesday night my left knee has been painful, I also managed to bruise my right hand making it painful to use it in any way. On top of that I had reduced sleep the night before as I was coughing in the night and my co-workers in my team were all heading out to drinks after work and wanted me to come along. All this together made it very challenging to make kung fu my priority.

It ties in to the phrase 'to be believed you need to be believable' that we talked about in class on Saturday and again last night. You can say you are dedicated to your martial art but unless you are committed to your training you cannot believe it yourself and others won't believe it in you. Times like last night really challenge you and it takes great strength to keep to your commitment to your training. I was not alone, 2 other regulars in the leadership team were injured and sat through the whole class to join in the theory part - the only part they were physically able to do. This is very frustrating when you are desperate to train. The depth of their commitment was impressive.

This is something I have been lacking in my last 2 years of TaeKwon-Do training when I did not have the time to commit to it 100%. I would turn up for a class every few weeks and never made progress, it was unfulfilling. You either commit to your martial arts training 100% or you don't do it - there is no half way, no 'martial arts for dummies'.