OP
- Thread Starter
- #21
ooooooo...only if it can be connected to my parched throat. lol!
Water on the Training Floor
- Thread starter Jade Tigress
- Start date
ooooooo...only if it can be connected to my parched throat. lol!
Pacificshore
Purple Belt
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2003
- Messages
- 341
- Reaction score
- 9
Well there's always the fall back answer of "tradition", it's how I was trained and that's how you will be trained?? Or.....it can be a mental test to show that your body can push beyond its limits....I smell a "what if" here....you find yourself in a desert and have to defend yourself against desert nomads for your piece of sand, and you are short on water that you can't possible waste one drop!!
Exactly, Pacific. There is no reason whatsoever to limit a persons access to water when they feel they need it.
If I'm at a seminar and do not wish to show disrespect to a visiting sensei by wandering off for a drink then I shall command my instincts to obey my will. Otherwise it is a useless excercise for most of us for whom martial arts are not a life-or-death affair.
If Sensei Iwata, the holder of menkyo kaiden for MJER, is at pains to tell people to go and get a drink whenever they need one, regardless of circumstance, then I think 'lesser' lights behaving otherwise need to look to their reasons.
If I'm at a seminar and do not wish to show disrespect to a visiting sensei by wandering off for a drink then I shall command my instincts to obey my will. Otherwise it is a useless excercise for most of us for whom martial arts are not a life-or-death affair.
If Sensei Iwata, the holder of menkyo kaiden for MJER, is at pains to tell people to go and get a drink whenever they need one, regardless of circumstance, then I think 'lesser' lights behaving otherwise need to look to their reasons.
Steel Tiger
Senior Master
Sports science tells us that during heavy exercise we should be taking a drink (200mls or so) every 20 minutes or so.
My teacher's and my own classes are so lacking in formality I often find it hard to get my head around schools with rules like this. I can understand a need to protect the integrity of the floor and the need to minimise disruption, but concepts like trying to 'toughen' people up really are weird. A dehydrated person just isn't working as well as they can and is not capable of learning to the best of their ability.
My teacher's and my own classes are so lacking in formality I often find it hard to get my head around schools with rules like this. I can understand a need to protect the integrity of the floor and the need to minimise disruption, but concepts like trying to 'toughen' people up really are weird. A dehydrated person just isn't working as well as they can and is not capable of learning to the best of their ability.
masherdong
2nd Black Belt
My instructor always tells us to get water anytime we need to. Also, we dont drink water on the mats, it is on the bench just right off of the mats.
We have one regularly scheduled water break mid-class in winter, and two, pretty much, when we train under very warm conditions. We have a huge space to work ina full-size basketball court with a lovely wooden floorand bleachers down at one end; you can keep a whole barrel of water next to the seats there if you like. If you're really thirsty, you can go take a water break when you need to. We're pretty relaxed about that sort of thing; but you work really hard on the floor, so it kind of evens out...
fireman00
Brown Belt
strange thinking by the instructor when it comes to water intake - there's been enough talk about how dehydration can affect one's performance that you'd think that either he/she would give water breaks ever xx minutes or would allow folks to grab a couple of gulps without bowing in/ out.
There are two rooms at our dojang; you keep the water off to the side on the shelf and can take a couple of swigs when you need to... in my case I go through 32 oz in a class - I perspire a LOT and feel out of sorts if I can't keep hydrated.
There are two rooms at our dojang; you keep the water off to the side on the shelf and can take a couple of swigs when you need to... in my case I go through 32 oz in a class - I perspire a LOT and feel out of sorts if I can't keep hydrated.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #28
Interesting takes on this. For the record, I'm with the ones who say water is essential for training, especially in hot weather.
For me, just that one day of having it available while training made a HUGE difference in my performance.
For me, just that one day of having it available while training made a HUGE difference in my performance.
Do you have a good relationship with the main instructors? You could possibly raise this as an issue with them, and maybe approach them with a solution to the issue. In a very respectful way of course! Or I think somebody mentioned earlier in the post to get a group of you to consistently ask for break during training to grab a drink.
If you feel it is an issue, and would be more comfortable with water readily available, then there is no reason why you should go without. I say take a stand!!!
If you feel it is an issue, and would be more comfortable with water readily available, then there is no reason why you should go without. I say take a stand!!!
girlbug2
Master of Arts
After reading through both pages of responses, my thoughts are:
1. There is no doubt that having water breaks improves performance and learning ability during MA training
2. Most instructors seem to allow water breaks to one extent or another, off the mat
3. The instructors that don't allow any water breaks may be citing tradition as their main reason -- I do wonder, under what circumstances were those traditions created, originally? for instance, perhaps for traditions developed in northern climates it wasn't as essential to take water breaks?
4. If "toughening up" and "developing the warrior spirit" is the rationale behind eliminating water breaks, there may be some validity there...some MAs allowed all kinds of things to toughen up the mind and the body in ancient times which would be considered barbaric today, but doubtless those that survived did toughen up considerably more than modern practicioners as a result. But for that I would say, count the cost first before you decide to toughen up your students like that! Modern times require different things from martial artists. Is it your goal to "break" them, military-style, or are you teaching them skills?
Both styles I have practiced have regular, limited water breaks called by the teachers and water was only drunk off the workout area. I think that worked well.
1. There is no doubt that having water breaks improves performance and learning ability during MA training
2. Most instructors seem to allow water breaks to one extent or another, off the mat
3. The instructors that don't allow any water breaks may be citing tradition as their main reason -- I do wonder, under what circumstances were those traditions created, originally? for instance, perhaps for traditions developed in northern climates it wasn't as essential to take water breaks?
4. If "toughening up" and "developing the warrior spirit" is the rationale behind eliminating water breaks, there may be some validity there...some MAs allowed all kinds of things to toughen up the mind and the body in ancient times which would be considered barbaric today, but doubtless those that survived did toughen up considerably more than modern practicioners as a result. But for that I would say, count the cost first before you decide to toughen up your students like that! Modern times require different things from martial artists. Is it your goal to "break" them, military-style, or are you teaching them skills?
Both styles I have practiced have regular, limited water breaks called by the teachers and water was only drunk off the workout area. I think that worked well.
Cirdan
Senior Master
Our students are expected to bring water bottles and there will be one or more water breaks during class. If you don`t have a bottle you may or may not be allowed to leave the floor to drink from the tap, depending on the instructor.
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