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[PAUL]

Ola,

Strolling thru the forum here for the first time in a couple years.

First of all, it’s hilarious that the responses on this particular thread appear to be years apart.

Regardless, this is still an issue which could apply to lots of people. Here’s some ideas of my own which may be useful.

(1) Inflicting trauma on yourself is going to make you sore. More so if it’s a new kind of trauma, and your body isn’t used to it. Whether it’s running, lifting weights, or hitting shit. With your face. Ok, not with your face.

But let this just add to the realism. Many many years ago I learned how to correctly punch from my center of gravity on this 100lb heavy bag with a rough fabric of some kind. It felt like sandpaper on my bare fists. It would literally take skin off my knuckles IF I didn’t hit the bag perfectly square. Which was a bitch for awhile. So, there’d be a lot of pain hitting sandpaper with bleeding knuckles. BUT, if I did hit it square there’d be no pain since the force would be directly INTO my fists, with no abrasive force ACROSS my fists. This was only possible by directing every strike from my center of gravity.

So, pain is a great teacher. And it goes away when you finally learn. I do NOT like, for example, pain killers after surgery because I like to know where my body’s at and how far I can push it. A year ago, I tore my right biceps tendon completely off of my radius bone. It was then surgically reattached and then I rehabbed it myself back to 100% kick ass form again, in spite of the frequent panic attacks of so called medical professionals. So, feeling pain was critical to not destroying my arm.

Feel the pain. But don’t break anything, obviously. Push it til it hurts, and you’ll get used to it. If you never run and you start running, your lungs really take a beating. But they adapt. Likewise, lifting weights, or stabbing yourself in the balls with a no. 2 pencil.

You can ice whatever hurts, or submerge it in ice water afterwards if you like. Maybe some contrast hydrotherapy. Hot sink, cold sink. Submerge in hot sink for a few minutes, then go to the cold sink for 30 seconds or a minute. I forget the exact ratios now. But, for example, taking ice cold showers is great. Great for the body, and the mind. That kind of shock forces your mind to focus.

So, exercise and physical discomfort is GOOD, because these are similar to the discomfort of evil motherfuckers trying to kill you! And a similar kind of focus is needed to subject yourself to pain and keep going. So, training with stress is good. Like, I like to do point shooting gun drills WHILE I’m working out because then you REALLY find out what kinds of grips and shit is gonna work in real life when your body is tired and things are shaking, etc.

Basically, the point here is that the pain is GOOD. Embrace it and love it. It means you’re still alive. And kicking ass despite it.

Another point is that the most important aspect of self-defense is really your mindset. Which must be like focused rage really. So, if you feel pain, then you must feel even greater rage. It’s like how I say that the greater the fear, the greater the power. Because a greater focus is needed to surpass the fear and, having surpassed the fear, becomes truly fearsome. And so you learn a singular focus on a single objective. Which is to destroy.

After all, this is not a game and this is not a workout. You’re preparing to physically destroy the most dangerous threats which you can imagine. Imagine being assaulted by the Navy SEALS. Etc, etc, etc. Whatever. Maybe a really mean koala bear. Meany!

Imagination is SO critical because you can war game so many things in life, and walk thru entire scenarios in your mind. For lots of things aside from killing Navy SEALs and evil koala bears. And you can find exploits and weaknesses and see angles as if you were really doing it. Imagine building a tree house, or something, and imagine going thru every step, and installing every board. You’ll see all kinds of things. Combine this with your training. In a lot of ways, this is even more effective than the actual training.

Also, I think using a BOB dummy or similar body shaped striking thingamajig is better in a lot of ways than just a blob of a bag. For example, ax hands on a heavy bag will probably contact far more area of your hand and arm than a guy’s head. At least with a BOB, it’s got a head on it and you get more of a feel for hitting a real humanoid creature.

But, train with pain. Don’t complain. Use pain as a guide so that you don’t injure yourself, obviously. But allow and embrace some pain because it’s healthy and good, and makes you tougher, not just physically, but mentally as well. It adds stress. Pain and fatigue should be elements of a good workout. These two elements add a nice realism.

I personally get up and do 15 min of joint mobility, run for 30 minutes, and then do like a 45 minute circuit training/HIIT style body weight workout, and then stretch for like 15 min. But, I like the balance, and it’s applicability to a wide variety of real life things.

Also, when you’re working out specifically knowing that it will make you for more able to handle a variety of situations, then you take your workouts more seriously. Not just the actual combat drills. But, the running, the pull-ups, etc – all of it. All of it is making you more bad ass. So, I think being as well rounded as possible in your approach is ideal. Like, I mentioned the weaponization of imagination. HUGE. Like multiple angle replays in sports. You can stop, freeze, rotate, game things from every angle imaginable.

This is also VERY effective BEFORE going into suspect situations. You can run scenarios and see things you never would have seen.

I could go on. But I’m rambling off topic a bit. But not entirely. Pain is a training aid. It’s not bad. One of many training aids. And if training aids were good enough for Magic Johnson, then heh, man, I’ma get me all the training aids I can.

Something tough sounding,
PAUL