Why So Serious?

Been a while since I wrote a post, forgive me that, training takes up a great deal of my time and when I stand still for a moment sitting down to write isn’t the first thing I generally want to do. Not because I am killing myself out here training, or I’m some sort of martyr to the process of being a badass. Not at all. I spend all that time training because I ENJOY IT.

Yeah, sure, I don’t always love every moment. I’m often struggling, frustrated, and failing over and over. But the big picture, the what it does for me, the rare gems of success I mine out the piles of hard work and sweat, those pay off for the early morning workouts and late nights tired and beaten trying to get the strength to do just one more round.

“It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how.”
~ Dr. Suess

It’s important to me that this process have some fun in it. That there be laughter. That we engage on many different levels both physical and emotional. One might from afar see the self defense course I teach regularly at Stout Training /Team Renzo Gracie and wonder at the fun we seem to be having around such a serious subject. You might not catch a whiff of the fear, of the desperation when someone is pinned to the ground trying to get someone off of them or smashed in a corner about to be hit. That seriousness , those real discussions about the application of these skills in the real world and the dire consequences of getting it wrong needs balanced out with humor.

We don’t laugh at jokes we don’t get. The laughter means there is understanding, there is comprehension. When the training can stay engaging, be fun at times and also deadly serious at others, it is then that I know we are communicating with each other across a spectrum of understanding.

 Some people like to teach with a “drill instructor” methodology. Just not my style. Not how I get down.