I recently wrote about my experience in training for me next test. It is intensive, and sometimes slow. So slow that it is painful, because I almost feel interrupted by all the things that get in the way of training. However, brief breaks (I am finishing about a five day break from my training efforts), can be helpful. There are few ways to look at breaks in training. There is a physical aspect of it, there is a mental aspect of it, and then there is a philosophical aspect as well. Let's take a look at the use of breaks in training.
Breaks can be scheduled, or unscheduled, but the benefits can be the same, if the context is correct. In my case, I took about five days off of training. Do I prefer that break? No. This was an unplanned break that I was kind of forced into. I work an extremely busy job that I balance with my workouts and training. However, I reached a moment where I saw an opportunity to take a break instead of forcing the training into time slots that were not really there and could have ended up hurting my progress had I persisted with it. I was pulling long hours and my sleep was right on that borderline between being enough and not being enough. Had I forced a bunch of workouts in during this past week, I might have lost some sleep, as well as some productive time that I needed at work. I knew I had a vacation coming up at the end of the week, where I could restart my intensive training sessions. So, I took advantage of the situation and told myself to take five days to rest from training and then start again. If I was a professional athlete and could pick any time to take a break to benefit myself, then I would not have taken this particular break, but that is not real life for many people. They balance work and training all the time. So it is important to think creatively when presented with situations that are challenging.
How did I make the decision to take the break? One, I knew I was at a point where my body could use the break and rest some for more intensive work at the end of the week. The break just made sense. I feel recovered and ready to take on a new cycle of training. Two, mental breaks are important. If I stressed myself out for five days, trying to jam in way more than I could really handle and mentally process my martial arts training as well as my work needs, then I would have just cluttered my thinking by creating stress for myself when it was not necessary. I also would have lost sleep, which is vital for both mental and physical progress in your martial arts journey. Three, the mental fatigue from pressing more than you should would lead to several setbacks. It makes it more difficult to think and process information. That part is often overlooked for athletes. As athletes, we need to process a lot of information, and the use of your mind wears you out, and it requires a lot of sleep. Sleep is key when making decisions like this. Now, maybe sometimes your training calls for a sacrifice where you push through a period of time, like a day or two, with less sleep. But the overall health of the athlete should be taken into consideration when sleep and lack of sleep are factors in the decision-making process. The other part of this is that when the mind falters, and the body falters, the spiritual and philosophical fortitude of the individual can falter too. This is a difficult measurement to make, but you can see it. Let's say you are training for a big fight - if you are a MMA fighter - and you lose some sleep leading up to the fight. To get through a battle like that, requires spiritual fortitude. When you back is against the wall, and you see defeat looming, you draw on spiritual fortitude to carry you through to give you a chance to still win. That is just one example. These factors help me make a decision as to when it is time to take a break, or when to push through. There is no reason to push through in this moment, and the rest was beneficial, so the decision was pretty easy.
The danger that you do run into, if you are not careful, is that it could become more than just a scheduled break. Five days becomes two weeks, which leads to doubt, which leads to maybe giving up on the goal. That is why a break cannot just be time off with no rules. Impose a timeline and stick to it, then make it happen again.
Everything is a balance, and as martial artists and athletes, we need to recognize balance. If we fail to balance what we do, things go wrong. Rest is essential and productive, if not overused. Don't be afraid of it, because your body and mind need it. The question comes back to how to use it. That is where you achieve your balance. Right now, I just came off of my break, and I feel rested mentally and physically. I feel productive because I could write in my blogs, which tie into my training. I feel ready to do more work. The rest has been positive because I planned and did not let it push me off my goals. Sometimes a person has to think creatively to make the most of a difficult situation.
Train hard.
No comments:
Post a Comment