"Mental Toughness" and the martial arts.

[still learning]

Hello, Reading all the theads reminds me of basic training from the Army. One goal is to build "mental toughness". The long marches,all the running and physcial workouts, long days and nights of training. The Drill instructors are always pushing you to the limits. As you get stronger so does you mind, you learn you can do more. Marines have the" curcible" on there last week of training, any marine who make it knows he is ready for WAR. "mental toughness" is learn and can be taught to others.

The mind has no limits to what it can learn, but our background of growing up has a lot to do with our thoughts. Positive environment makes it easlier to learn mental toughness, negative minds feel they cannot, but this can be change thru force.

In martial arts this is taught everyday in class, sometimes indirectly, for some it takes time ,others gets it right away. Endurance and mental toughness could be almost the same thing? So get "STRONGER" in the mind, body and spirit.

This reminds me of the days when we get home from a long, hard day at work. How many of you battle with your minds?..stay home or go training? This is where mental toughness comes in. GO to class, Never miss training!....Aloha (I stay home to write this)

 

[47MartialMan]

Hello, Reading all the theads reminds me of basic training from the Army. One goal is to build "mental toughness". The long marches,all the running and physcial workouts, long days and nights of training. The Drill instructors are always pushing you to the limits. As you get stronger so does you mind, you learn you can do more. Marines have the" curcible" on there last week of training, any marine who make it knows he is ready for WAR. "mental toughness" is learn and can be taught to others.

The mind has no limits to what it can learn, but our background of growing up has a lot to do with our thoughts. Positive environment makes it easlier to learn mental toughness, negative minds feel they cannot, but this can be change thru force.

In martial arts this is taught everyday in class, sometimes indirectly, for some it takes time ,others gets it right away. Endurance and mental toughness could be almost the same thing? So get "STRONGER" in the mind, body and spirit.

This reminds me of the days when we get home from a long, hard day at work. How many of you battle with your minds?..stay home or go training? This is where mental toughness comes in. GO to class, Never miss training!....Aloha (I stay home to write this)

Sorry, I still disagree, it cannot be learned and taught, for under battle/stress, many of soldier froze or didn't perform.....

 

[still learning]

Hello, Good point, Need to research this more , War zone.

Mental toughness is like not giving up, there is one for everything we do. Like at work trying to get the task done, Running a little be farther,longer. There is one for everything we do.

At war in the combat zone/liife or death, one needs to develop this mental toughness/ it is different from basic training where the fear is different,(fear of failing basic training). For every situtions there is a level of mental toughtness, don't you think? .....Aloha

 

[47MartialMan]

For every situtions there is a level of mental toughtness, don't you think?Somewhat agree on the sbove- but still not my idea of something that can be taught or learned.

 

[still learning]

Hello, Hopefully the PHD guy can do a his research/study on this and come out with a conclusion. What is mental toughness?, and can it be learn and taught? Is there one for everthing we do in life. Reminds me of our belief of our selves in everything we do? What kind of a person you are? What kind of a public speaker you are? What kind of a martial artist you are? What kind of the fighter you are? and so on?

Can this be apply to losing weight? (mental toughness to stop eating too much)

Mental toughness what is it refering too? ....Humm

I might be on the wrong track? ......Aloha....going mental!

 

[47MartialMan]

yeah-Caffeine King is touching on one of my other favorite subjects-psychology.


I wonder if he had ever heard of the term "Opiate of the Masses"..?

 

[CaffeineKing]

The PhD guy? That's me!!

(PS. How do you put proper emotes *in* the text? Kind of tricky...)

Ok then, where were we?

Looks to me like some very interesting - yet different - views have come out of this. Whether or not "mental toughness" can be nurtured or is more or less set at birth. What seems clear to me is that martial arts are seen as positive, whether it's nurturing mental toughness, or helping it out the box for the first time.

Still learning - I've always fancied the idea of research into this. Thing is, it's kind of tricky. On the basic level, I can go around martial art schools - or even hassle everyone of this board!! - and pass out a 48-item questionnaire for people to fill in, with the assumption that beginners don't score as highly as the veterans. Thing is, probably wouldn't work. as we're back to my first point. Are the long-standing club-goers "tougher" because of their martial arts conditioning, or have the "weaker" ones given up by then? You can't say. What we'll have to do is question every new arrival and then come back to them months (preferably a year later) and see if they've changed. Even that could be all manner of things so we'd need a couple of hundred people to remove individual differences from the pot. Sounds like a lot of work!!

I like the fudo-shin concept very much so thanks for that. And your points are interesting too, Paul. I'm more concerned academically with chronic pain as acute pain is somewhat different. I can see - though it's demanding - why the utilisation of pain is useful. Pain is bad. Fear of pain is evolutionary. Removal of that fear through habituation allows people to function better if something very *serious* is going on. Not my thing mind you (lol), but it makes perfect sense. It's funny really, but the brain is not wired up to remember pain. Only the concept that something hurt in the past. Good job really or else no woman in her right mind would give birth twice - and then the human race would simply die out. Imagine remembering about having broken your leg in the past, only to have the same pain sensations being brought right back there and then, every single time you thought about it?

This is very interesting. I'd love to hear your theory as to how each one may equate to martial arts.

mj-hi-yay - I'll get back to you on that.