the law of the fight game, shugyou
My week has been pretty great.
I haven’t run stairs in a week and a half because I’m getting plenty of stamina and cardio training from Saturday’s MMA circuit and Wednesday’s shark-tanks. My weight is really low thanks to my good diet, self control, and food poisoning. 😀 I only have to lose two more pounds of fat and then I’m good. I can do that in one week.
One of my friends once told me that I shouldn’t write that I’m learning so much and I don’t know this and that, because I’m supposed to be a high-level fighter who should give the impression of being a master and not weak.
I don’t agree at all, but every time I write “I learned this new thing!” I think of him. haha But really, lately I’ve been learning things that I didn’t know I didn’t know. Sometimes it’s frustrating because sometimes I know that I’m doing portion A of the move correctly, like the stepping and hip movement, but there’s some portion B I’m doing wrong. I’m not sure what B is, but I know that’s the problem. However my coach keeps explaining portion A again. Then my brain gets stuck and even if he happens to mention the real problem, I sometimes don’t notice. That happened yesterday. Later, my training partner was like, “Actually your problem was using your upper body and arms to pull more” and then I realized my coach had mentioned that, but my focus was on the other thing so it didn’t sink in. 🙁
Communication is complicated, isn’t it? My brain is complicated. AT LEAST IT’S IN ENGLISH! 😀 I remember my former instructors trying to explain something in Japanese and I kept having to tell them to slow down because not only did my brain have to understand how the technique worked, but I had to translate the meaning of the words first. x_x The average non-language teacher has trouble slowing their speech.
Anyway. I randomly learned two super important techniques without even meaning to this week.
Jessy Jess is here visiting from Australia to train! I didn’t even know her last name until ten minutes ago when I googled it + sherdog LOL…it’s Clark. I love having her here and training with her. She attacked me with some stuff that I’m not used to, and that lead to me practicing a new defense. Thank youuuu. New friend, yay. (purple hair)
Coach John has been putting in a lot of extra time to my fight camp. I hope he knows how grateful I am. I’m tired every day and I don’t have to worry about taking care of a family or running a gym or managing other people’s fight careers or a clothing line, etc!
What clothing line? I’m SO GLAD YOU ASKED. Check out http://www.maverickunbranded.com/
So a shark-tank means that I do five 5-minute rounds with a mix of hitting pads hard with John, then Jessy will try to take me down and I have to defend, then Jessica will hold me against the cage and I have to get away, then I have to pick up the heavy bag, carry it around, slam it down, ground and pound, then get back up and hit mitts, then Jessy will get on top and I have to escape, etc.
It’s already not easy when you are feeling energetic and in shape, but what if you’re tired and hurt?
Pretty much, the law of the fight game is that you have to “win anyway.” You could be gassed, but you have to punch anyway. Your hand could be broken, but you have to find a way to win anyway. Hurt eye? Tired arms? Cramping legs? Move anyway. Find a way to win anyway. Or you lose.
I’ve known this and believed in it for a long time. “Win anyway” became a mantra after I fought Hashi with hurt knee. I accepted the fight and realized that I couldn’t use the knee as an excuse.
And if I can dork out for a moment, can you name a single anime series where the hero isn’t already tired and beat up from fighting lackies before facing the end villain, who is always fresh? Can you?
Anime is life, how many times do I have to tell you this? 😀
I’ve gotten into shamisen music. I’ve always liked it. It’s in some Naruto battle music. I also love the Yoshida brothers. Here’s a video of theirs.
I’ve been really into Hakuoki lately. It’s an anime covering the Boshin war in 1868. The characters (who are attractive and bad-ass) are actually real people. The character development is good. They act very Japanese and very bushido. I love it.
(click to enlarge)
They depict the highest standards of honor. Whether in real life it was really like that 100% of the time is another matter, but the ideals are what I shoot for in my life.
That’s the other thing…. I feel I need to strive for perfection, and since it can’t be reached, I’ll never sit back and believe I’ve reached it. That’s why I prefer to wear white jiu-jitsu gi’s after all… it symbolizes purity of heart and an open mind.
And there’s not only physical practice of techniques, there’s “Shugyo,” which translates roughly to mental training. …