We all have our ups and downs. After non-stop martial arts training for two years now I decided to take a break for about a month. Things were getting slow, I didn't enjoy training as much as before, and it felt like I needed a break. The problem is that now I don't feel like training at all. After training every day for a long time you can't just stop without various side effects, but the training just feels painful, im almost never in the mood for it. Anyway, what I want to know is how others handle these periods? Do you force yourself to keep training, slow down the pace, stop for a while, or change the type of training that you do? Does anyone have any useful tips?
Take up Thai boxing. (This generic reply was brought to you by predictabot, MAP's automatic response machine)
For structured training (dojo training mostly) all I forced myself to do was get as far as the door to the dojo. Then if I didn't want to go in, I didn't. ...... as i was I always went in as by that point I remembered the buzz from training. Something you might want to try considering, is to get back into training, start by training somewhere other than where you used to train. That way there are no expectations on your ability by others or by youself. It might be that by training in a new style/art, your interest will be maintained in the way it must have been the first time you trained (despite the pain!). It's important that you don't expect to be as good as you used to be, and that way you won't be demotivated by what feels like a bad session every session (that's what I found after being out of training for a year through a couple of broken bones). Saint_Deshi
Typically, if you're away from training for more than a couple of weeks (either MA or weights), you'll end up feeling like this. It's very common. Saint_deshi has the right idea - just force yourself to turn up and see if you get back into it from there. If you don't then just quit.
yeah, this happened to me recently after recovering from an injury. you just have to do it. and remind yourself that the days you don't feel like it are the days you need it most.
That's true sometimes, sometimes it isn't. Im trying to listen to my body, and I needed a break. All the tips in this thread sound good, and muay thai is a good solution to almost everything Anyway it helped just writing this on here to get the wheels in motion. Last week when I tried to start training again I felt like I was going to puke right away. Went jogging today and it was like running on clouds. So I'll get started with jogging, then add weights and MA when we all feel like starting again.
