Managing Pain

Formidable Fighter, #11

Strength, intent, tolerance to physical contact . . . these are principles that condition you to be in charge, control the arena, dominate your opponent, and win the fight. Good martial art training strengthens your resolve; it sharpens your reflexes and makes you tougher. Most of us can tolerate a great deal of pain, as long as we can prevent our mental discomfort from sidetracking us. Physical pain tolerance prepares you for mental pain tolerance. The moment your physical pain threshold crumbles, so will your mental pain threshold, and vice versa. This bit of knowledge can help you survive a physical confrontation. Fighting is violent and training in violence, to execute it and protect against it, is necessary to understand violence. Some people are naturally more tolerant of pain than others. What is painful to me may not even faze you. A little bit of pain in training can give you insight into what it is like to be engaged in a physical confrontation, and teach you something about your combat spirit and how far you are willing to go to protect yourself and others. How you react to pain is an important part of your self-assessment as a martial artist. Knowing how to inflict pain on your opponent to make him do your bidding is equally important. Formidable Fighter: The Complete Series, a compilation of all 14 books in this series, is available in both electronic and print format.