Train too hard or too easy:
How Much Should We Push Ourselves?

I suggested that we should not train TOO hard in the article, "Can kendo make me healthy or Does it hurt me?". I wanted to make sure that I did not suggest that we can be lazy.

We must push ourselves as hard as we can. However, if you feel a pain, you must need to take a break.

In kendo, we always say, "the real training starts once your physical strength is gone". That means you are totally worn out physically and you think you cannot move.

It does not matter what you do, your body just does not move. However, this is not your limit. You think you are there so you are done with training.

If you stop there, you will never know that it is not your limit. Actually when your body stops moving, it is the time for your mind to take over your body. This is called "ki", or "chi" in Chinese.

You do not know how much power you have hidden inside your body. You move your body with ki, not with your muscles.

You must know how it feels. Yes, it is tiring and you will hate your sensei giving you a very hard time, but later you will appreciate your teacher for giving your the hard time.

But you must remember that physical injuries will end your kendo life. Thus, do not think you are weak because you have to take a break from training because of a pain you feel. If you are fine but stop training because it is too hard, then you are weak.

We must push ourselves until we go beyond our physical limitation. Then, we can really train our mental side of ourselves.

When you feel a pain, take a break. If you don't feel a pain but you want to stop even when you can still keep going, you are lazy and weak. Push yourself harder. I think that is a good line to draw between being lazy and taking a break.

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