The Inner Opponent: How You’re Secretly Sabotaging Your Own Training

Tell me, who is your enemy?

In a book or movie, the enemy--the antagonist--is the one who stands in the way of the hero and their goals.

Thor has Loki, Mario has Bowser, personal trainers have grandmothers and their Thanksgiving cooking.

Life ain’t easy and sometimes people try to make it harder.

This isn’t just about fairy tales however, this is a truth about reality.

What are your goals in the martial arts? Do you want to become a well-known fighter? Are you trying to gain the skills you feel you need to protect yourself and your family? Are you a budding action star learning how to fight and fall for a role?

Who, or what, is hindering your progress?

You may say that it is an old injury that prevents you from training how you want to, you could say that your time is extremely limited due to busyness, or you could say that the teacher just doesn’t want to teach you the good stuff.

You could also say that each of the aforementioned “reasons” are bullcrap.

These excuses lead to a person becoming only a keyboard warrior, an internet A-hole, or a Kuchi Bushi (“Mouth Warrior”; aka a dude who can talk the talk but not walk the walk)

But that’s not what this article is about.

What if I said that you could eliminate every excuse, sweat your keister off, get a healthy amount of rest, and yet still be limiting your progress and potentially even hurting yourself?

It’s true. Sometimes, we are our own worst enemy.

Let me explain.

Your mentality enables your physical abilities, to improve your attitude and spirit is to fortify yourself as a martial artist.

I’ll be straight to the point, I really don’t care why you are doing martial arts (unless you are studying how to murder an annoying family member--in that case, no bueno!). All I ask is that you know why you are doing this.

Actually, scratch that. All I ask is that you remember there is a reason for why you are doing what you are doing, no matter what it actually is. There is a reason you have done what you’ve already done and there is a reason for why you are still doing it.

If you've grown up in a household of martial artists or have trained for over a decade, it is especially easy to devolve into just training because it is what you have almost always done.

Stay mindful!

Your thoughts are one of your fuel sources.

An Enemy After Your Own Heart

Especially in the beginning, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the abilities of those around you. When you see their amazing abilities and accomplishments, it can ignite a fire deep in you to train even harder.

My advice: be careful.

Ensure that this motivation stems from a desire to improve due to abundance, rather than scarcity.

When you train to improve yourself, do it because you love what your body is capable of already and your desire to build upon the foundation you have already set.

It sounds hippy dippy and cheesier than fondue in the Swiss Alps, but love yourself. Like, seriously.

Said poetically, the offerings of the world will appear after you open your heart to yourself.

I mean, doesn’t that just bring an emotional tear to the eye?

Don’t get me wrong. You can definitely get extra adrenaline pumping in your system when you think about hustling harder in order to remain on top of the game. You can definitely get inspired to train longer each day when you believe that time is dwindling and you desperately want to attain new skills before your body degrades.

The problem is, you will eventually choke on the fumes of this motivational fuel. This mentality leads to a constant feeling that you aren’t good enough. Your actions guide the inner narrative that runs in your head and you are now teaching it to say you are always either a failure or you are better than anybody else.

Success isn’t binary, it is a spectrum and it has many levels. A man with no money may only be poor because he spent every penny he owned enriching his life with adventures and experiences, a child who has only known her small town may still feel happier than the woman who has hustled in the big city for the past decade.

The dangerous side of motivation comes out when we feel that we are not fast enough, strong enough, or technically proficient enough and decide that action must be taken to overcome this weakness.

Whether we are justified in this belief or not, it can become detrimental in the long-term. Now your passion and motivation is steeped in a lack of self-worth, something that will ultimately crush your spirit if left unchecked.

Love yourself and what you are already capable of doing. Strive for betterment to preserve and improve the parts of yourself that you appreciate.

Improve yourself because you love who you are becoming, not because you loath who you already are.

This is the secret to never burning out. This is the secret to conquering the inner opponent secretly sabotaging your training.

This is the way to master your craft and also yourself.