WHY WE MUST TRAIN EVERY DAY.

This does bring up the conversation around ‘what constitutes training’? 

Hey guys,

Do not pass this up because it is a bit wordy, if you pay attention to the points raised it could take you to the next level and save you years.

In an earlier post, I mentioned how what we did in the last 24 hours can influence our actions/abilities much more than anything we did in the past 24 months.

And it has to do with just about everything that we do not touch on in our training.

Accessing our training comes down to our ability to access information via our internal storage, our memory.

This means that access to our training is influenced much more by how good our memory is than the inherent functionality of any training protocols or advice of any gurus.

If we look at how humans operate in the same way we look at computing operations, everything we do is influenced by R.A.M.

In humans this is called Short-Term Memory, or as some call it working memory.

What is our short-term and working memory capacity?

The Magic number 7 (plus or minus two) provides evidence for the capacity of short-term memory. Most adults can store between 5 and 9 items in their short-term memory.

Working memory has been conceived and defined in three different, slightly discrepant ways: as short-term memory applied to cognitive tasks, as a multi-component system that holds and manipulates information in short-term memory, and as the use of attention to managing short-term memory.

This is all a bit nerdy so I advise you to do some research to make better sense of it all.

START HERE, and then surf the net for more personally aligned information.

For a serious Wing Chun practitioner, if there is a downside to regular weight training, or any regular excessive physical training, be it for speed or endurance, it is that these protocols that will flood our S.T.M. and as such be the most easily available method of choice for our nervous system in a time of stress.

To general Martial Artists, especially combat Athletes, this argument holds the same for Relaxation and Softness, and it could well be that we ignore this at our peril.

All training is task-specific, we will learn what we work on, and the chances are very high that in times of stress, we will choose the protocol that we attach the highest priority to, which is going to end up as the one we spend the most time or effort on. 

If we are in the gym every day working on muscular strength do we really think that our nervous system would choose to use relaxation or softness over muscular strength if we need to defend ourselves?

The answer will depend a great deal more upon what we have in our Short Term or Working Memory than any preferred philosophy,  balanced training is likely to result in balanced responses.

If we are not involved in some sort of Wing Chun training in the previous 24 hours but have been vigorously involved in some other training our chances of choosing Wing Chun as opposed to some other option slip away remarkably quickly.

This does bring up the conversation around ‘what constitutes training’? 

Especially from the perspective of loading our SHORT TERM MEMORY.

By far the easiest and most economical training for time spent is some aspect of FORMS training, engaging in correct, accurate FORMS training, even if we are only working on one movement, brings in a whole package of Wing Chun related influences.

However, there is a rather large caveat.

If we wish to be capable and effective in terms of using Wing Chun, but we are only training in Wing Chun, we are facing a very steep uphill climb that many will simply not succeed at.

The reason should be self-evident, Wing Chun is comprised of normal human body movement, if we are not actively working on improving our normal human body movement, this aspect of our training will go backward, and this will wreck our Wing Chun.

This may sound a little contradictory, first I say that external physical training can make it difficult to access our Wing Chun, but now I am saying that without external training there will be no Wing Chun.

It all depends on how we prioritise each training.

If we train something every day, even if we are only training for 10 to 20 minutes per session, our brain will prioritise that over something we do 2 or 3 times a week, even if that training is for much longer per session. 

I know that there will be some Gy Junkies out there that think we need to be in the gym every day, to run every day or to swim every day if we do not wish to lose what we have gained, but the science does not agree with this, quite the opposite in fact.

The days of no pain – no gain are well and truly over, even the most elite of athletes train smarter and not harder.

The science is clear, in the past 5 years or so it has become obvious that just about everything we thought about exercise, diet, how muscles work and all forms of accepted physical improvement was a long way from accurate, of course, this is true of Martial Art as well.

There are several well-respected Doctors and Professors that run podcasts bringing clear, peer-reviewed information into the public space, most if not all of these presenters are successful in their own field and do not run these shows for personal short-term gain, their aim is to correct the record and to try to help people steer clear of bogus information.

When push comes to shove it is our body that does the work.

Becoming better acquainted with how our body works, from accessing information to completing tasks will improve everything we do, including Wing Chun.

How could it not?

People I listen to include but are not restricted to….

Prof. Andrew Huberman.  Neuroscience.

Dr. Kelly Starrett.  Doctor of Physical Therapy and movement expert.

Dr. Andy Galpin.   Kinesiology.   https://www.andygalpin.com/ 

Move all joints through all ranges of motion