Christmas is just around the corner, with New Year’s hot on its heels, and you know what that means. It’s time to eat too much, drink too much, and to start thinking up some resolutions that you’ll be berating yourself for not keeping by the time March rolls around.
But, how do you make a change and turn bad habits around, rather than repeating the same old cycle? How do you moderate yourself over the holidays? How do you keep from going up a pants or dress size? How do you stick to your resolutions that you hope will make next year a success?
Discipline. And the martial arts are the perfect way to develop it.
Constant training & Self-control No matter the martial art or the style of fighting it employs – grappling, wrestling or striking – the focus of training and development is not primarily about controlling one’s opponent, but about mastery of oneself.
Only through self-control can a practitioner hope to push aside fear or anxiety, and put to use the skills he or she has learned in a dangerous or competitive situation.
This emphasis on self-control and the habits that encourage it are reinforced by regular training and competition. Its effects will spill over into the rest of your life. And, before you know it, you’ll be pushing aside that third helping of Christmas pudding, as though it were nothing but a bowlful of distractions standing between you and your competitive goals.
Clear rules
The martial arts are not about mindless street brawls. While training can, should, and often does simulate the no-rules chaos of real-world confrontations, competition is governed by rules that must be respected and adhered to by practitioners.
At its heart, discipline is all about sticking to the rules. And making a habit of abiding by the rules of your chosen martial art prepares you to stick to the real-world rules that you know you should (but really don’t want to) follow.
Clear goals
Nothing aids the development of discipline quite as effectively as clear and well-defined goals. But, even before goals can motivate discipline and immediate gratification can be overcome, one must first become accustomed to the satisfaction of achieving goals.
Martial arts give their practitioners a platform for setting and achieving realistic goals that will serve to track and measure their improvement.
Whether it’s earning your national colours, taking gold in international
competition, or simply perfecting the form on your spinning back-kick, the
martial arts are all about encouraging you and giving you the tools to achieve
your goals.
Sign up with the SMA Centre today
It’s never too late to start developing your discipline, and if you’ve always had trouble with self-control, there’s no better time to start confronting it than right now! So, this festive season, consider gifting yourself the discipline-enforcing routine of regular martial arts classes, and make your New Year’s resolution to contact the SMA Centre, find out about the styles we offer, and book yourself into a class for 2020!