Karate blog March 2025
The mind under stress
The human body is designed to try and protect itself when there is a high-stress level. This is often done involuntarily within the body. The body redirects blood to where it needs it most, pumps adrenaline, and causes the motions to become gross. Total 360 is a studio that seeks to put stress on its students and help them break through those moments of shutdown or gross motor movements. This blog will discuss the importance of high-stress training in the dojo.
We are not able to go out and replicate in exact detail a high-stress situation for each student. The variables are endless. What Total 360 does is use the experience of the shodan and sensei to make the body tired, and the mind wandering when you are put under stress to simulate what it would feel like.
If you have been in any of our testing above the green belt, you will notice the testing is high energy, high focus, and endurance. The testing builds to simulate stress on the body. Most studios do not add the complex nature of this training. Other dojos may have fitness but allow students to fully recover before moving on.
As students work through being tired, they realize they can still function, and move. They get stronger through the training. They build confidence in being able to go further. Their gross body movements become finer. Students think clearly, apply a proper technique, or asses a situation with accuracy.
The outstretched concepts of fatigue and focus come into play. Knowing when to bring the laser focus up and push away the lingering thoughts, and distractions. Students know they will recover after they function through the exercise. Where might we see constant examples of this type of training? You would see this in first responders. They would have situations like active shooter training, SWAT training, and other training where there is a physicality that requires a thinking aspect.
Total 360 uses two common concepts to develop its students relating to stress training: physical fitness and advanced self-defense classes (sparring). Both of these situations bring adrenaline and gross motor movements to the forefront. I have often stopped a sparring match to let the students know they are stuck on one move, one idea, and to breathe. Putting them back in they begin to add aspects to the match. In the physical exercise idea, we may do 70 push-ups and have to stand up and perform a kata for accuracy. These concepts make the body adjust. We have often been told we are a physically demanding dojo, but it is done with an expectation that our students can handle life when it happens. They have been hit in the dojo, knocked down, exhausted, and become narrowly focused, all in the hopes of training to be prepared.
Tomorrow's leaders and warriors are built through adversity. You learn more when things are tough about you, the situation, and what you can do than when it is easy. Experience a new level of training at Total 360 Karate. Hajime.
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