Why you should undergo ritual humiliation

This is an account of my fifth-ever judo session. see my previous entry
on learning to walk like a baby.

I went to my fifth Judo session after a week's break. I was
recovering from a 'discovered injury' - an injury that took a couple
of days to be felt. It seems I had pulled a muscle in my upper chest
area, above my heart (which is a muscle too - so what happens when
_it_ is torn slightly?). I did not go to see a doctor; I figured it
was an injury and time will sort it out. A cold came in too. So I
wasn't even sure if it was an injury or a really bad flu! I spent a
week living my usual low-activity life; then I pushed myself to go
to back to the one-hour session.

1. Why should you go to training when you're out of shape and out of
it?

To continue what you started. If you postpone for a couple more
sessions, going back will get harder and harder.

Our instructor on Saturdays likes to give us a good work-out. He
is also less tolerant of various forms of wuss behaviour. So, the
warm-up was particularly intense. We lugged random partners around
the dojo; did several rounds of push-ups; rolled, crawled, and got
ready to be mauled! But I was exhausted already.

This burst of intense physical activity (in fifteen minutes) really
just drained me: the injury felt bigger than it was. Besides, no one
had taught me the Judo-specific warm-up exercises we were doing, and
nothing puts you under more pressure than being the only one who
does not know how to do something.

2. Why should you carry on, when you already know you are very
tired?

To learn a few techniques. To test your physical fitness. To get
your money's worth! The moves you will train on are, after all, a
distillation of hundreds of years of fighting experience.

Our instructor called out for the (Japanese) names of certain
moves, and hardly anyone could answer. He demanded we memorise
the syllabus: names + steps. He didn't look like he was joking!

The next thing I know, a guy's sweaty buttocks were in my face. I
was flat on my back, and this guy was on top of me facing towards my
feet with his bum almost suffocating me. I found myself making an
anti-choke gasping sound. The instructor commended my partner:
"That's exactly how he should feel, excellent."

3. Why should you accept to have a man's sweaty ass in your
face? Isn't it enough that his entire weight is sitting on your
injured chest?

The answer is: To help him learn how to do the move properly.
Besides, when he's doing it right, you're not thinking "this is
disgusting", you're thinking "I want to breathe"! And also, it will
shortly be your turn to rub your sweaty ass into his nose.

When we started doing a new move (I don't know its name, I haven't
studied the syllabus yet), I felt scared. I just did not want to do
it. It involved throwing. And I had to try to throw my partner ten
times, and then my partner had to throw me ten times. My break-fall
technique is bad.

Sure enough, time and again, I fell badly, including one fall in
which I got very dizzy. The partners I trained with all told me to
relax; it seems they felt the tension in my body.

4. Why should you let yourself be shoved around and then thrown like
a sack of laundry over someone's back?

Because it is good for the ego!  It is after all a very weakening feeling:
to feel you're not in control, to feel your body give way, to collapse -
it happens so quickly and you cannot stop it.  And though it is scary and
quite unpleasant (especially when it is a good throw), you learn how to
break the fall, to lessen its impact.

A friend told me the other day: "it's something we've stopped doing
since our childhood, to fall." A grown man falling is good practice.

Substitute falling for failing (they are the 'same' somehow).
Shouldn't we all practice the art of failing?

Some nice clips Big hip throw in Judo

Randori - fights - followed. And by this point I was so tired, out
of breath, and disorientated, I dropped out of them. I regretted the
decision minutes afterwards. The fights are a different realm by
comparison to training; half the people are not exceptionally good,
most of the white belts (lower grades) instinctively revert to the
resist-strength-with-strength mentality. So, the fights test
different skills: how do you handle yourself under pressure, how do
you apply what you've just learnt, how do you parry?

5. Why should you not drop out of fights when you are tired?

Because if you do, you are admitting you are scared, weak and
your morale is low, and whereas there is nothing wrong with being
scared and weak, stepping up raises your morale. You can step up and
channel your fear into playing defensively, channel your tiredness
into quick, precise moves.  Step up, don't drop out!