Should it hurt like that?
Sun, Oct 10 2010 12:46
| injuries, martial arts, cardio, boxing, form, Wing Tsun Kung fu, martial arts Altrincham, stretching, kickboxing
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I was going to start this blog by saying that nothing you do in martial arts should hurt -but that's patently rubbish. It's not even true to say that nothing you do in martial arts should hurt you. Stretching being a pertinent case in point personally speaking. Hard clay-like muscles and tendons aside I was not graced with qualities such as stopping because something hurts a bit. I've finished sessions covered in blood, sweat and snot and usually most of it isn't someone else's.
When I first started to train really hard I went through a phase of presuming if it didn't leave me broken in some way I was wussing out or doing it wrong. Perhaps not the sensible or smart way to approach things. I'll happily admit that deep down as much as I relish getting hit I don't relish getting hit directly in the face when I could have prevented it. There's a fuzzy distinction to be drawn. Similarly I don't mind the aches and the pains of training; DOMS from hitting weights, or stiff burnt out calves from cardio, the scabs from split lips or busted knuckles are all things I can live with. Where it starts to become a problem is when you pull (or even worse) tear that muscle you didn't need to. Injuries are something I've made quite a habit of and to be honest I wish I'd taken other people's advice more. There's nothing worse than missing training because you've been an idiot. It does you no good and to be honest no one gives a crap that you're bandaged up because you did something preventable.
Stretching is commonplace for most kicking arts and boxers, wrestlers any athlete really but in Wing Tsun it seems deemed as contemptible and “unnecessary” by many practitioners. I generalise of course but out of all the teachers I've come into contact few pay more than lip service to it. I understand their position. We place very little impact and strain on our joints compared to most arts. The problem is that the stress is rather more gradual and often it is forgotten by us teaching.
When our students first learn IRAS stance and practice form, hand-shapes and even stepping we often seem to be confused if not dismissive of their “should my knees hurt?” type questions. I'd say at least 75% ask and the other 25% suffer in silence out of embarrassment or the misplaced assumptions I had early on. Often when we see things for the first time we put our all into them. This often means we exert extra and unnecessary muscular force into things like punching and our stance. This muscular tension can be rather dangerous particularly when one is still trying to learn correct technique. Forcing your muscles into any position is going to be a wing and prayer type scenario if you are stubborn enough to forgo comfort in search of excellence.
IRAS is particularly dangerous the odd and new angles asked our knees and ankles can often lead to people “limboing” as they push their knees down and forward over their toes into an uncomfortable and dangerous position. The basic rule if there is pain whether immediate or accrued over time is to stop and say “what's going on?”. Perform the move as you normally would and look in the mirror see if there are any obvious defects with your alignment. Ask yourself how “tight” do the muscles and joints feel. People forget or do not know just how “soft” WT is and therefore exertion is not always needed. When learning especially good technique done “softly” is often much better. It is easy to build up power or speed in your movements. It is hard to undo them to replace technique afterwards I find.
Most importantly of all -ask. Pull your teacher to one side or find a senior student and get them to check out anything that is causing particular concern or discomfort. The answer is usually quite simple and the smallest tweak or adjustment can work wonders. I've had people email me and calling it a day saying that WT is wrecking their bodies. A fair comment if you add in the caveat that their interpretation of WT is wrecking their body at the moment. We can't blame the art it's intangible – we can look at ourselves in that mirror literally and figuratively before pointing fingers. Preferably non arthritic fingers at that.
When I first started to train really hard I went through a phase of presuming if it didn't leave me broken in some way I was wussing out or doing it wrong. Perhaps not the sensible or smart way to approach things. I'll happily admit that deep down as much as I relish getting hit I don't relish getting hit directly in the face when I could have prevented it. There's a fuzzy distinction to be drawn. Similarly I don't mind the aches and the pains of training; DOMS from hitting weights, or stiff burnt out calves from cardio, the scabs from split lips or busted knuckles are all things I can live with. Where it starts to become a problem is when you pull (or even worse) tear that muscle you didn't need to. Injuries are something I've made quite a habit of and to be honest I wish I'd taken other people's advice more. There's nothing worse than missing training because you've been an idiot. It does you no good and to be honest no one gives a crap that you're bandaged up because you did something preventable.
Stretching is commonplace for most kicking arts and boxers, wrestlers any athlete really but in Wing Tsun it seems deemed as contemptible and “unnecessary” by many practitioners. I generalise of course but out of all the teachers I've come into contact few pay more than lip service to it. I understand their position. We place very little impact and strain on our joints compared to most arts. The problem is that the stress is rather more gradual and often it is forgotten by us teaching.
When our students first learn IRAS stance and practice form, hand-shapes and even stepping we often seem to be confused if not dismissive of their “should my knees hurt?” type questions. I'd say at least 75% ask and the other 25% suffer in silence out of embarrassment or the misplaced assumptions I had early on. Often when we see things for the first time we put our all into them. This often means we exert extra and unnecessary muscular force into things like punching and our stance. This muscular tension can be rather dangerous particularly when one is still trying to learn correct technique. Forcing your muscles into any position is going to be a wing and prayer type scenario if you are stubborn enough to forgo comfort in search of excellence.
IRAS is particularly dangerous the odd and new angles asked our knees and ankles can often lead to people “limboing” as they push their knees down and forward over their toes into an uncomfortable and dangerous position. The basic rule if there is pain whether immediate or accrued over time is to stop and say “what's going on?”. Perform the move as you normally would and look in the mirror see if there are any obvious defects with your alignment. Ask yourself how “tight” do the muscles and joints feel. People forget or do not know just how “soft” WT is and therefore exertion is not always needed. When learning especially good technique done “softly” is often much better. It is easy to build up power or speed in your movements. It is hard to undo them to replace technique afterwards I find.
Most importantly of all -ask. Pull your teacher to one side or find a senior student and get them to check out anything that is causing particular concern or discomfort. The answer is usually quite simple and the smallest tweak or adjustment can work wonders. I've had people email me and calling it a day saying that WT is wrecking their bodies. A fair comment if you add in the caveat that their interpretation of WT is wrecking their body at the moment. We can't blame the art it's intangible – we can look at ourselves in that mirror literally and figuratively before pointing fingers. Preferably non arthritic fingers at that.