# Need MAJOR help!



## bookworm_cn317 (Jul 11, 2011)

I'm starting to lose motivation to train! Please help me!


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## Jenna (Jul 11, 2011)

bookworm_cn317 said:


> I'm starting to lose motivation to train! Please help me!


If there is nothing in particular causing you to lose motivation then I think if you want to do it, just grab your kit and get out and do it, do not spend too much time thinking about the whys and wherefores.  If you simply need geed up then sometimes nothing can gee you up but your own force of will.  

If there is something in particular causing you to lose motivation then I think you should rectify it by addressing it directly.  If it is your school, instructor or training partners, find others who are better suited.  If it is your lack of progress, train harder or find a better instructor.  If it is some personal circumstance that is taking your attention then by all means take a hiatus from your art and do not fret about it. Since you have posted in this section, if it is your medical health then ensure your concerns are addressed by your health providers and do not risk yourself.   If it is your fitness then will your instructor design you a plan?  Whatever your specific concerns they can be addressed and you can continue on as happily motivated as ever before 

I hope this is just a hiccup in your training.  Remember why you started training MA.  When you can figure what has changed since then perhaps you will have a better and more precise understanding of where your motivation went.

I wish you contentment in your training if you decide to continue or assurance in your decision if you decide not to.


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## Thesemindz (Jul 11, 2011)

Don't worry. It'll come and go.

I was just having this discussion with my wife last night. She's studying another very technical field and basically she was asking me how I find the drive to keep my nose to the grindstone. The short answer is, I don't. Sometimes I spend all my time training my butt off. Sometimes I just can't get off the couch. That's ok.

You can't put all your focus in one thing all the time. At least most of us can't. Sometimes you need to focus on work, or family. Sometimes you just need to take a step back and rest for a minute. That's ok. If it's in you, you'll be back.

In the meantime, I'd say keep a toe in. Spend a little time working your patterns. Keep reading MartialTalk. Maybe watch a youtube video from time to time. Your motivation will come back. And when it does, it'll be fresh and exciting all over again.

Master Funakoshi said "Karate is like boiling water. Without heat, it returns to a tepid state." If you don't have the fire in your heart, you _will _start to slip some. But that doesn't mean you're gone forever. Karate isn't going anywhere, it'll be waiting for you when you're ready. For now, maybe your motivation is slipping because your attention is needed somewhere else. Take a look at your life, figure out what that is, and deal with it. Maybe then you'll feel the pull of the training floor again.

Good luck. I know it can be hard. Sometimes you just hit the plateau. I wrote an article about that for my students, you can find it on our school's karate blog.

http://dunhamsmartialarts.blogspot.com/2011/06/on-swept-plateau.html

Left foot right foot buddy. You'll get there. Don't sweat the pace, just enjoy the journey.


-Rob


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## Kacey (Jul 11, 2011)

My motivation comes and goes.  There was a time when, if I hadn't been teaching as well, I might well have quit and never come back.  Also, knowing people were expecting me helped me show up - and even when I don't want to go and force myself, I always feel better *having* trained.


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## ATACX GYM (Jul 11, 2011)

Thesemindz said:


> Don't worry. It'll come and go.
> 
> I was just having this discussion with my wife last night. She's studying another very technical field and basically she was asking me how I find the drive to keep my nose to the grindstone. The short answer is, I don't. Sometimes I spend all my time training my butt off. Sometimes I just can't get off the couch. That's ok.
> 
> ...



What he said.I'd be more specific with my supplementation to Rob's excellent post,but I don't know enough about your situation.What art do you study? What rank are you in? What specifically has changed from the time you entered martial study (presumably all excited and stuff) to now? Is it lack of progress? Is it monotonous training routines (we've all been there,lol)? If you're more specific with your issue,we can be more specific with our suggested methods of alleviation.


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## Ken Morgan (Jul 11, 2011)

As everyone else said, it all depends on many factors. 

How often are you training?

Regardless, taking time off can be good for your training, it lets your body and mind recuperate from the journey. Eat, sleep relax, see a movie, then in a week or two get your *** back into the dojo and see how you feel.


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## mook jong man (Jul 12, 2011)

I just think the day I stop training will probably be the day I am required to use it .


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## yak sao (Jul 13, 2011)

Sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming....the forms, the drills, the weapons, keeping fit. 
If you're in a slump, don't try to keep everything going.
Instead of cardio, take a walk in the woods, substitute pushups for weight training for a while.
If you have a large amount of material, there are times it can hang over your head if you aren't working on it. But don't feel compelled to practice every form/technique you know, just start out telling yourself that you're going to do nothing but say front kicks, and do that. More often than not, you'll get warmed up and that will lead to something else. But if it doesn't, and all you do are front kicks, then you still made progress.


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## MA-Caver (Jul 13, 2011)

mook jong man said:


> I just think the day I stop training will probably be the day I am required to use it .


 Please, no offense intended but not particularly good advice to a white belt. Not saying you are mook or bookworm or anyone else for that matter, just the idea that to stop training the day you're required to use it... a white belt can get jumped/attacked just walking to their car from the dojo after their very first class. Now I can understand that if one has been training for years and is a multi-level BB. However; to me, a MA-ist always continues to train. 

How many GM's ever felt like they were losing their motivation at any given point in their training? How many of them put it aside and picked it up later? 
There's two ways to deal with lack of motivation. 
Give in and quit  (maybe pick it up later...or not )
Soldier on and keep training irregardless until the feeling goes away.


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## mook jong man (Jul 14, 2011)

MA-Caver said:


> Please, no offense intended but not particularly good advice to a white belt. Not saying you are mook or bookworm or anyone else for that matter, just the idea that to stop training the day you're required to use it... a white belt can get jumped/attacked just walking to their car from the dojo after their very first class. Now I can understand that if one has been training for years and is a multi-level BB. However; to me, a MA-ist always continues to train.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



No offence taken , I was just pointing out that for me at least it would be an example of Murphy's Law or perfect irony that as soon as I stopped training or slowed down you could bet your **** that is when I would be attacked.

For real advice , it is my belief that Bookworm needs to take a little training holiday away from her core system , that is not totally cease training altogether but train in something else for awhile , for me it was grappling and knife fighting .
But she can substitute for whatever she may have had a passing interest in.
I'm assuming Bookworm is female judging by the avatar.

This can help to stoke those motivational fires as suddenly you find yourself with a whole new exciting set of toys to play with and before long she will return to the main system refreshed and rejuvenated.


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## seasoned (Jul 14, 2011)

Now there is motivation to live by. I would also add, just the fact your working out has so many good benefits to it. There were times I would drag myself to the dojo only to be glad I did afterward.


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## bookworm_cn317 (Jul 14, 2011)

ATACX GYM said:


> What he said.I'd be more specific with my supplementation to Rob's excellent post,but I don't know enough about your situation.What art do you study? What rank are you in? What specifically has changed from the time you entered martial study (presumably all excited and stuff) to now? Is it lack of progress? Is it monotonous training routines (we've all been there,lol)? If you're more specific with your issue,we can be more specific with our suggested methods of alleviation.



The answers, in order of question: 
   I study TKD.
   I'm a 2nd degree blue(3 belts away from black).
   What's changed in my life--getting diagnosed with cancer & having to go thru the surgeries/chemo/radiation treatments.

And, sometimes, I get distracted by shiny things. Or books. I got a HUGE pile of books next to my bed that keep calling my name.


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## Buka (Jul 14, 2011)

bookworm_cn317 said:


> The answers, in order of question:
> I study TKD.
> I'm a 2nd degree blue(3 belts away from black).
> What's changed in my life--getting diagnosed with cancer & having to go thru the surgeries/chemo/radiation treatments.
> ...



Stay centered, my friend. One of my closest friends is going through that exact same thing. She has her ups and downs but she's winning! Being close to the process doesn't make me understand what she's going through, but I'm there with her, I nod in all the right places and treat her with the same casual disrespect that I always have. (that is a joke amongst very close friends) Her motivation has waned as of late, too. But we (her and I) figure that's to be expected. We'll just take it one step at a time. She just started radiation treatment and she finds it so much easier than chemo.

Maybe you can draw on your strengths from the arts to help. Don't worry about the motivation, that will come back.....or it won't. The Martial Arts are not the destination, the Martial Arts are the road. May you travel it well.


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