It’s less about intensity than intent…

It’s less about the intensity of our practice and more about the intent!

When we practice karate, we can all too easily fixate on the intensity; how hard we are training; the importance of getting a “good workout”! 

If we are training harder, it must mean we are getting better… right? 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but no,  it doesn’t! What we are doing is confusing getting a “workout” with the act of training to develop skill.

Increasing training intensity can actually have a negative impact on skill development, particularly if we do it too early on in our practice. We are basically “pressure testing” an under developed or immature skill, which leads to failure.

Skill development is more about our intent, a focus on understanding the how, the why and the when!

Of course this doesn’t mean that intensity should not form a part of our training regime - of course it should - but intensity builds spirit, not technique. 

We should aim for intent of purpose in our studies first and foremost, helping us to hone our skills through repetition. We refine each movement as our level of understanding - internal/external connections; the linking - increases.

We should sprinkle intensity onto our intent, not the other way around!