Martial Arts Training - should it be fun?

There is a lot of pressure on teachers to make training fun. While I understand this from the position of teaching beginners, the reality is that quality martial arts training in and of itself is not fun. If we make fun the aim, as soon as it isn’t fun anymore, we quit!

Taking the opposite approach and making training like a military boot camp doesn’t necessarily work either. If this approach floats your boat, that’s great, but it has a limited shelf life, particularly as we get older and the injuries pile up. It has a place and is great on occasion, but it should not be the only way that we practice.

As a student and teacher, my training is almost always enjoyable. I may even have a degree of fun, but that is not why I train; learning and improving are the goal - and there is still a lot to learn.

Martial Arts should be physically and mentally demanding, and continually rising to the challenge takes discipline. It takes time to make training a habit, and we have to give it that time.

So have fun, but don’t make fun the goal. Train hard (even train boot camp style), but always give yourself enough time to recover. Identify why you train, and take time to enjoy the journey.