Yesterday around 4000 calories… hard to track precisely. Like 700 of beer WTF I’m never drinking beer anymore it’s so caloric. Also some chocolate (Easter oblige, and yeah I know it’s not the day but I don’t want to eat shit on monday) and a burger with the boys
Also i’m never wrestling again lol not only I have horrible traps and neck soreness but with my sensitive skin, I have bad scratches on my back elbows and knees. The right knee especially is bad, flesh out, and quite painful, it prevented me for sleeping…
Unpopular opinion: I really dislike hard things that are hard because of environmental or convenience factors. For example I hate running in the sand not because it’s harder physically (that’s awesome and why I’d do it) but because it’s uncomfortable to get sand in my shoes. The inconvenience isn’t adding any physical benefit and seems like pointless suffering. Same with combat sports. You’re risking getting hurt, not because you’re working harder but because you’re literally getting beat up
I get the whole “mental toughness “ part, but it just feels pointless to me
Every time I go into knee flexion it hurts like hell as it stretches the wounds
Danger, speed, adrenaline, pain… You feel alive! It’s in our primal nature. Like when you go hiking, lost in the immenseness and wilderness of the world. I feel alive.
Also it’s fun and it breaks a good sweat.
You can set the rules, use equipments, make it wayyy less dangerous.
In any case, I can tell you, compared to american football, this is just so much less dangerous.
And trust me when you’re in these situations you don’t think much of the danger
These are all well and good, but we seem to be forgetting, in my opinion, the main point of martial arts: self defence.
I’m 100% biased because I’ve spent the majority of my life dedicated to multiple combat disciplines, but I strongly disagree that it’s “pointless” — to use @anna_5588’s word — to learn how to defend my own life as efficiently as possible. When push comes to shove, I’m happy to know that I’ll be the one doing both the pushing and shoving.
You can feel accomplished doing something hard that doesn’t come with added danger. For example, breaking a powerlifting record or running a fast race
Ahh okay, I guess I’m different. I am very risk averse and do not get any pleasure out of danger
I don’t even like downhill skiing. Tearing a muscle because i misgrooved a rep is one thing. Tearing a muscle because I slipped or crashed into something seems pointless to me and unnecessarily prevents me from making progress in the areas I care about.
I agree that training hard is important, but you can do so without putting yourself in danger. For example going hard with a heavy bag is very hard and fun. For me, I’d get less of a conditioning effect from real life sparring because I’d constantly have to make sure I don’t get hurt
I’d like to think I train somewhat hard. I did hit a 3x bodyweight deadlift and 2x bodyweight squat before this lockdown shit. It’s not impressive, but I did have to work to get there
For me, the best form of self defense is 1) avoiding dangerous situations (ie staying in populated places and in daylight) 2) don’t go into potentially danger zones/times alone 3) carry mace or pepper spray and a very loud alarm.
As a petite female, I doubt I’d have much of a chance in a real fight
My point is, if I’m doing an activity for exercise, I want to be limited by the thing I’m trying to work, not by some external factor. I like kickboxing for conditioning and fun, I want to be limited because my heart, lungs and muscles are tired, not because I got hit in the face.
If I were learning to fight for the sake of fighting (ie what @kdjohn was/is involved in) I’d have a different attitude
I did some fighting discipline in my greener years… But I’ve never fought. I don’t want to, ever. Especially considering that if I have trouble with justice regarding some fight I lose my coaching licence
I get you @anna_5588 . Probably why I won’t wrestle again. But boxing has an appreciable risk/reward ratio to me.
It can bleed into other aspects of life. As well as lifting. I’m the kind of guy that avoids conflict, and don’t stand enough for myself. it helps me get out of my comfort zone. Confront. Impose myself at work. Have more confidence. Be less afraid of a heavy bar. Etc…
I feel like this is a reductionist counter-argument.
That’s your experience, but maybe it’s not the only one to have. If you cause your shins to bleed you effectively have no skin left to toughen, and have to create brand new skin that you’ll scrape off before it can adapt.
To drive a ridiculous counter, imagine if you pulled a hamstring each time you performed deadlifts. Your experience would then contradict the statement that deadlifts can strengthen your hamstrings but that’s because you exceed the tissues capacity completely.
My hands are tough as hell from climbing, but if I had remained as flailing as I was in the beginning when skin was literally torn off I would never have produced the leathery toughness that make up my palms now.
I don’t understand why this was directed at me. You view training as a stimulus to produce an adaptation in some dimension of performance. I see training as a tool for learning about myself, how I respond or want to respond to challenges and grow as a person by finding new ways to sustain and continue my efforts even when my body is urging me to stop. Whether or not the impetus to stop is fear or fatigue, I want to push those boundaries.
There is nothing wrong with this thinking, in fact personally I think it’s normal.
For me the more used to training in uncomfortable situations makes it easier at work. I’m rarely ever trying to restrain someone when in warmed up, or on an even surface, or a dry surface, or someone who’s not drug affected.
It’s part of the reason I rarely ‘warm up’ properly or rest for longer than some deep breaths if I can help it
Tbh if you’re training ‘optimally’ then it would be as you say.
