By Gavin King, 2nd Dan Go So Kempo

Last night is a prime example of how warped Martial Arts training have made me. I think the years of blood, sweat and tears have finally taken the toll, and retirement seems a rather sensible course of action!

By day, I’m a mild mannered Internet geek working from North London. To make it back for training each night I have a fifty mile battle through the world’s largest collection of stationary cars, commonly known as London.

Those unfamiliar with the British weather maybe surprised to hear that it is on the whole generally miserable. You could be forgiven for thinking that as a nation plagued by constant rainfall we’d be accustomed to adverse driving conditions. In reality however, the whole of the British transport system can be brought to a standstill at the mere threat of a puddle, and last night we had a full on monsoon!

With every possible route home gridlocked I had two options; spend two hours in traffic or two hours in the pub. It was touch and go for a few seconds, but I opted for calling some friends and meeting up for a drink!

It’s pretty much common knowledge that I like the odd alcoholic beverage, but a lesser known fact is that I usually need to make fifteen trips to the bathroom per pint. As much as my body likes the intake of lager, it seems rather unwilling to store it for any period of time. Armed with this knowledge any sensible person would think that drinking a pint of lager before driving fifty miles non-stop would be a bad idea, yes? Not this soldier! I had my pint, waited for the traffic to clear and bid my friend’s farewell.

Halfway round the M25 my bladder decided it was in need of emptying. Now, I could have found a spot at the side of the road and pulled over and relieved myself, but there’s no challenge in that is there? So instead I decided to turn it into a test of self control, mind over body. Yep, only I could turn bodily waste into a Martial exercise.

With my challenge in mind, I needed a destination for relief. About half an hour away was a roadside McDonalds; a fabulous choice! Location chosen the challenge was afoot. Yeah, I know looking back it was an utterly stupid exercise, but at the time it seemed like a challenge worthy of any Karate master. A bit like the time I tried to walk home from the pub with my eyes shut to test my awareness out. I walked smack bang into a tree! Hindsight is a truly wonderful thing.

Twenty minutes in and things were getting unpleasant, but I was focussed and in control, concentrating on breathing! Then, out of nowhere, an unforeseen obstacle cropped up in my little challenge. Road works. The British government seems to have a bit of a fetish about digging up pieces of perfectly good road. Annoying at the best of times, at this precise time it was simply torture. Only minutes away from my chosen location as the crow flies, yet hours as the traffic queues!

Thankfully using more breathing, a hell of a lot more focussing and a tiny bit of swearing I made it to my glorious oasis, the McDonalds Drive Thru at the Fortune of War roundabout in Essex. A piece of local information about this particular McDonalds that I only learnt last night is that it closes at 22.00hrs. I arrived at two minutes past only to see some spotty kid locking the doors! This evil little puss filled adolescent knew I was suffering and took gleeful pleasure in it. I took the higher path though and used the back of his restaurant instead! Who’s laughing now you little git?

Suitable relieved, I continued my journey only to ponder why on earth I put myself through the torturous experiences? On Sunday I was training privately with my instructor who pushed me to the point of wanting to vomit! Trenched in sweat, exhausted and knowing full well that I was going to ache for a week I was having a thoroughly spiffing time! About halfway through I’d reached the point where I wanted to drop and give in, and then pushed myself through it. It’s a great sense of achievement when you smash the barrier of your own limitations! Pushing yourself past this point of failure takes you to places that you never knew existed!

Martial Arts, when practiced properly, push the practitioner far beyond their natural limitations. My instructor has always said that if you spend a year studying the Martial Arts diligently, it will change you in ways that will benefit you for the rest of your life. Martial Arts study requires discipline, dedication and concentration! All qualities essential to life and through Martial Arts each of them can be increased ten fold.

For these changes to manifest themselves you MUST push yourself. To push yourself, your training HAS to be hard. Through hardship your body is forced to adapt. A runner doesn’t shave those extra seconds off their time by jogging the last part of the race, nor will the Martial Artist improve if they plod along at the same pace. A good instructor knows this and will push you past the boundaries of your own limitations. If you give up, it is not your instructor who’s being cheated, it’s you!

Your Martial Arts training is a forging process, the harder you push yourself, the more you will become. So push yourself in the lines, on the bag, when sparring and constantly test your limitations. Once you find a limitation, treat it like an obstacle and smash through it! This is the only way to make your Martial Arts grow! Having said that, walking with your eyes closed and busting for the toilet probably aren’t the best ways to expand your horizons!