We all push ourselves or want to think we do. If you’re not, why would you be in a martial arts or fitness class of any sort? So what is it to push yourself? What do you want to achieve? How do you push yourself? How much should you push yourself and how do you measure this?
Obviously these are very personalized questions, but there are some simple and often overlooked guidelines to follow when pushing yourself, questioning, and monitoring.
First off, I am a big proponent of erring on the side of caution. If you hurt yourself, which is common when people push themselves, you will not be able to defend yourself on the street as effectively as you could if you were unhurt. Isn’t that why we do this? Why would you want to take a chance on walking with crutches? Even though crutches might be considered a good weapon. So you have to feel out what you are capable of doing in a smart way. You have to know your objectives and have a realistic set of expectations and move towards them in a somewhat objective way.
Having said that, pushing is all about finding those limits and getting better and stronger. So you have to PUSH. You have to DO. And as you get better you have to push more, otherwise you stay at the same level. People who are more advanced need to push very hard just to stay where they are.
You have to be very attuned to your body and abilities, and having a good guide helps. Because there is a balance. This points to why I say ‘somewhat objective’ in a paragraph above – because it’s not all about numbers. It’s just as much feeling as it is numbers. People get accustomed to hurting a lot. Major soreness, reoccurring injuries, etc. MMA fighters are always fighting with injuries. But they get paid to do what they do and there is a fairness in the ring. Someone gets hurt too bad and the fight is stopped. Your life doesn’t stop.
So next time you think ‘I can’t do anymore’ or on the other hand ‘I have to get to 100’ or ‘I’ve got to go harder’, ask your body what it thinks and either suck it up or slow it down. The price for ignoring that balance is either not progressing, or doing something you may regret for a long time.