Zyaga Writing about whatever the hell I want, cuz it's the Interwebz!

Tuesday Tips: Remember to be lazy

I’ve covered various ways about how you can switch up your training regimes, etc like using your punching bag as a replacement for working out. Often we try to remember to get enough practice in, and when we do practice we also like to count it as our exercise, which is okay but we need to keep one thing in mind: Remember to be lazy.

It’s not often that we are told being lazy is an okay thing, but in Martial Arts I often find it’s one of the best attributes a Martial Artist can have. Now, before you misunderstand, let me brief you on exactly what I mean. The more we work at becoming better and more powerful, in the future we can actually dilute our own Martial Arts. The man who is lazy doesn’t work at how he can become better or more powerful, he works at how he can become more lazy.

Just imagine for a moment, that there are two different people who have happened to become Martial Art rivals. Each has worked at becoming better for the same amount of time, but one has worked at simply learning more and more techniques and becoming more knowledgeable, while the other simply worked at being able to defeat his opponent in the least amount of movements. The man that knows many techniques and many styles may be able to out perform the lazy man in stunts and showmanship, but the lazy man will have a much higher advantage in a real combat situation. Why? Because the lazy man has trained at learning to win with the least amount of movements. The lazy man has trained to a much greater degree by just realizing that those who don’t have to do much to win are the true masters. Less is sometimes more.

I’ve often heard that the greater you become in Martial Arts, the bigger you become. Obviously, this is a joke, but the implied message is that as you become better in the skills you’ve learned, they are no longer an effort for you and give you nor your body a challenge. Thus, many of those who advance higher in their Martial Art have to also exercise on the side if they wish to maintain a good shape. It all makes sense when you think about it. Are you more impressed when someone fights an opponent for five minutes before defeating him, or when the man defeats his opponent within the first couple of moves? Ponder on this subject and attempt to come up with your own conclusion, since it doesn’t have to match mine.