I’m often GO GO GO all the time. Like ALL THE TIME. And I dont think there is an issue with that, with the constantly putting work in, especially when that work is among multiple disciplines. The cycling often gives rest to one area while you work another. Shooting days where I don’t do anything physical give my body time to rest, and long rolling bjj sessions get my mind working along with my body.
The issue though, for me at least, isn’t the constant work, its the level of intensity of that work. If I’m always going as hard as I can go, then I’m never actually going as hard as I could. There are no medals given out at open mat, there are only those that got better that day and those that didn’t. I have to watch myself. Being overly competitive and “going hard” has caused me two injuries recently that I’m very lucky where not worse than they were. The one thing I desperately cannot afford is an injury taking training time away from me.
“Fear is a state of nervousness only fit for children”
-The RZA
Tao Te Ching 76
The living are soft and supple;
the dead are rigid and stiff.
In life, plants are flexible and tender;
in death, they are brittle and dry.
Stiffness is thus a companion of death;
flexibility a companion of life.
An army that cannot yield
will be defeated.
A tree that cannot bend
will crack in the wind.
The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.
Yeah, all Tao and shit. Maybe I’ll play the role of Captain Go Hard next week.. once this elbow heals.. until then I’m happy to be training at all and trying desperately to rein in emotions. The point to all this antifragility is to push it as far as we can go, but without pushing it further and doing irreparable harm. Riding that line takes discipline and constant self assessment. Skills that translate well to just about everything. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Keep building, keep working, keep moving. Memento Mori Motherfuckers!
Antifragile Training 