The Way of the Warrior

Daily training is absolutely essential for the warrior.  It must be firmly ingrained into your routine until doing your practice becomes as natural as brushing your teeth or taking a shower.  No thought or debate is required, you simply just do it every day, sometimes twice a day.  It must become habitual.

“Make the difficult habitual – what is habitual will become easy, and what is easy will become agreeable”  – Constantin Stanislavski

Training Builds Upon Itself

All types of practice, be they martial arts or chess, are about building skill through training the nervous system.  The more you practice something with a fully engaged mind/body/spirit, the stronger (cleaner) the signal becomes from brain to body.  The key is mindful practice.

Garbage repetitions, IE doing the movements without intent (will) behind them are a waste of time.  And, herein lies the problem.  Many people think that just doing the empty movements will inculcate skill.  Nothing can be farther from the truth.  This is why martial artists can train for 20-30 years and still suck.  They practice empty forms with no intent behind them.  Better to do the movement one time with full intent and feeling than a hundred times with no engagement of your will.

“In order to understand aiki, unceasing daily training is absolutely essential. By means of this training your body becomes stronger.  This is the grinding and polishing that leads to understanding.  The key concept of aiki is that there is something sleeping in the human body that modern people have lost all awareness of.  In order to call up this hidden power that sleeps in our bodies, a certain kind of conditioning training must be done.”                                                                       – Sagawa Yukiyoshi

Even When You Don’t Feel Like It

You must practice even when you don’t feel like it, especially when you don’t feel like it.  Some of the best training sessions I have ever had began with me kicking myself in the ass to do it when I didn’t feel like it.  Some of the most profound insights and breakthroughs come when you least expect it, and usually at the times when you push yourself to do what you don’t feel like doing at the time.

If you don’t care about getting any better and are content to be mediocre at your craft for the rest of your life, than by all means train sporadically only when you feel like it.

Train Every Day

However, if you want to be great, you must train every day.  There is no other way.  Get it done!

Not sure what to practice or how to get the most out of your daily training?

Check out the brand new Shadow Strength Program to learn exactly how to train to build the warrior’s unique internal strength, energy, and vibrant health!

Jon

Jon Haas, "The Warrior Coach" has been training in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu for more than 25 years and is currently ranked as a Kudan (9th degree black belt) under Jack Hoban Shihan. He has also trained in Okinawan Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Russian Systema, BJJ, Krav Maga, as well as Internal Martial Arts of Yiquan and Aiki.He is a certified Underground Strength Coach-Level 2, a certified Personal Trainer as well as founder of Warrior Fitness Training Systems. In 2008, Jon wrote the book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts, and since then has created numerous other online training and coaching programs helping people around the world become the strongest, most capable versions of themselves!

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