|
Doing
Your Own Thing
Written
by Grandmaster
Caprio
In
many of instances, "doing your own thing" is a positive.
Being your own person, not succumbing to peer pressure, and not being
afraid to stand up for yourself are characteristics we all try to achieve in our
daily lives. The one area where this
type of thinking can actually be a negative is in doing the exercises that are
part of the classical training curriculum. The skills acquired by the higher
ranks took many years to develop and have not come for free or overnight. Too many people think that they can create their own
variations or short cuts to get to the desired goal. This type of mentality only
leads to injury. Don’t allow
yourself to fall into this way of thinking.
Here are stories from two of our students.
One
student, "Iron Elbows", saw a higher rank hitting a heavy bag using a
special technique and decided he was going to do the same thing with his elbows
at home. The Result: He couldn't work out for three weeks.
“Lefty”
had the same idea with the Power Room.
After learning what he thought was the power room, he insisted
that he was going to do it at home. After many warnings from the instructors not
to do this, he still went out and bought the weights, bars and plates, etc.
Thinking he could adjust the weight, reps, and form without checking with the
instructors, he wanted to do more in less time. The Result: strained sciatica,
which took three months to heal. Then
after he completely healed he went to do it his way again and he hurt himself
again. This time he tore a bicep tendon. This is called learning the hard
way. Some people must go to extremes because the only thing they understand is
pain and agony. Maybe now “Lefty” will workout as instructed by the school,
and maybe not?
Please
learn from these mistakes and do not fall into the same mind-set. You are
investing your time as well as paying your money, so why not listen to your
teachers who have become your personal trainers, so you can get the most on your
return!
Teenagers
|
