THE OWIE FACTOR

 by Phillip Starr

I often tell my students that training in the martial arts is very similar to weightlifting. That is, training should be progressive and regular. You'd think such simple advice would be fairly easy to follow but I am constantly surprised at the number of people who just don't seem to get it.

When you lift weights, you must do it regularly; you dare not do it twice this week, once next week, skip a week, then come back and hit it full-strength again. If you attempt to train in this way, you're guaranteed an injury. Yet, students will miss a week or two (or a month or more) of class, then show up and try to start where they left off. Now, one who has trained for an extended period of time can miss a week or two but even so, it's best to come back slowly so that the body becomes re-accustomed to the intensity of the workout(s).

One of my advanced students whose job now prevents him from training on a regular basis, showed up at class one Sunday afternoon. Within the first 60 seconds of drill over basic techniques, he suffered a serious tear in a hamstring! I'd warned him about jumping right into class but he figured that because he was an advanced student, he'd do just fine.

Not.

Training isn't just about learning various techniques and memorizing a bunch of forms; it involves attaining a certain level of fitness and then maintaining that level of fitness year-round. If you've been out of training for some time, come back slowly. If you jump right back in and injure yourself, you'll be out of training even longer! Train smart before you train hard.