After careful thought i have decided to take some time off from training. An ankle injury i picked up in the summer has required the Doctor's opinion and as a result i've been put on anti-inflamatories and referred to Physical therapy as a result. Also a current situation involving a friend of mine(politics) has required me to send an apology to him despite my actions not being of malice. this has lead me to question the politics involved and whether i want to be part of it, so it seems a good time as any to have a break after all i can't realistically train on my ankle at the moment. I have been told many times i'm too nice, but i try to see the good in all people especially other budo practioners, but my good nature has caused problems for someone who has only ever helped me and my students in the past 4-5 years. I will continue to organise any committments i have, ie Ben's seminar April 2006,and hopefully i will feel better about training then and be training. Those in the know will know the situation i refer to and its left me feeling whether i want to belong to a family that allows these actions to one of their own. anyhow best wishes for the future, and i will still visit MAP, if not just to wind Greg, spooky et al up. Gary
I hope you get better. Not to be a jerk or anything, but maybe it wouldnt be a bad idea to train on a bad ankle. Someday you may find yourself in a situation where you have a bad ankle and you need to defend yourself. How bad is the injury? Either way, good luck.
Gary, trust me, the break will do you good and you'll be back training with renewed vigour. i've had breaks of up to three months due to various reasons, from life being busy, to me just needing to focus on other things... the training is always better after time to put it into the broader perspective of your whole life... good luck with the ankle, and while 'training through injuries' does have some benefits, if you are still on anti-inflamatories it needs rest and as little weight-bearing as possible until it settles down... best wishes d.
Taking a break from training is good. I took one from training about 2 years ago for 1 month. Just to relax and see what it was like to not go trining at regular times. For the first week or two, you itch to get back into it, then it fades and you settle down into a routine. Even through my illness, I still pop in to the dojo and see how things are. I will be returning shortly to training again. But I have to take it slow, get the feel back and make sure that I do not gain any discomfort that will put me out again. My concern wil not be training, but not causing the scars from the operation I have to hurt again that may keep me away for a few more weeks. So Gary, sit back and relax. Just have fun in what you are doing. When you get the OK from the doc, give it another few weeks and then train again.
Gary, you & I go back a long time, longer than most others. You have my full respect & constant friendship. We will talk again very soon...take care of Tiger Lilly.
I've enjoyed attending your classes Gary, it's a shame to see you go for now, but will be great to see you when you come back. All the Best.
Come on... :bang: So he trains on the injury and then aggravates it even further... possibly to the point of making it a chronic injury or doing permanent damage to the ankle... thereby making him unable to train for just that much longer. Very bad idea.
Sorry dude, i didnt know how bad his injury was. I was just trying to give an idea, I wasnt telling him what to do.
Actually, in defense of KSprenk, his suggestion was not, at all, a bad one. Papa-san, who I am sure you all know of, had surgery on his shoulder and could not lift his arm for several weeks. He trained by just utilizing one arm for the months he was unable to use the other. Also, just today, a man from Vancouver came to Shiraishi-sensei's class who had to use a cane to walk due to recent back and knee injuries, yet he put down the cane, balanced mostly on his good leg, and trained. Heck, he even managed to do a beautiful, albeit modified, version of the forward roll we worked on. Learning to train around injuries can be fine, especially since it is possible to do techniques where you keep the weight distributed almost entirely on one leg. I would say that it would be up to Gary to decide if he wanted to continue training at all while he is enduring his injury. Believe me, it can be enlightening. Even with sore muscles you have to adapt. I was working with leg muscles that would not allow me to lower on one leg for a backward roll or breakfall and thus, I had to adjust so as to not hit the mat and rattle my brain. Just some ideas, but certainly not ones that people should be getting criticized for. Hatsumi-sensei has even talked about such methods in his books. By all means, ignore my thoughts due to inexperience in the art, but Hatsumi-sensei, Shiraishi-sensei, and Papa-san are certainly trustworthy sources, ne? P.S. Shiraishi-sensei was training after throwing his back out (pulled some back muscles) at work a few weeks ago and so I added his name to my list of reputable sources.
You guys seem to be missing the point...I don't think that Gary's poorly ankle is the issue. There seems to be a bigger concern at stake. :bang:
...and the point i think he was making there was for people who know personally what went on to better understand his reasons for a break...not for the rest of us to draw attention to it or speculate about it... :bang:
Don't worry. My only purpose for posting was to back up a belief about training around injuries. I was already aware that Gary's reason for taking a break lies elsewhere, but there was a response posted herein that I thought needed to be address, and thus started a semi-tangent in the thread. My apologies.
Except he posted the notice of his departure on a public forum. Isn't the point of doing that to draw attention to it? Anyway, that was just the thought while reading the thread. I neither know the man nor of any any of his particulars. As for breaks in training, a topic certainly worth discussing, I have only had short ones, one month max due to work related travel. Granted, I have only been training 3 years, so I have yet to have any personal conflicts that question my motives, etc.. Nonetheless, I always feel out of sinc the first days back. It also seems like everyone else is moving really well, while my taijutsu is crap. It can be quite frustrating. My solution is to limit the breaks as much as possible and train through everything. And that goes for injuries too. Unless the injury is really bad, with a little common sense, you can pretty much train through anything. I had my cornea ripped off my right eye last year by a shinai. I had some surgery, took two days off and was back in business patch, pain and all. It was said before, training with injury can be quite enlightening.
Agreed with this one, Gary i hope you are not using this ankle as an excuse for what i have been told, it would be such a waste!!!
