Train Outside

Date: Mon, 14 August 2006

If you're in a training rut, or just want a nice change of pace, here's a tip that can make a huge difference in your training experience:   train outside.

When I was in China for the 1st World Tai Chi Conference, that's the only place I saw people training.  It didn't matter if it was office workers doing Tai Chi in the park before work, or teens doing Kung Fu (by the hundreds, in unison) in the afternoon heat on hard packed dirt.

And don't just train in your back yard on a sunny day.  Train in a park.  Train on cement.  Train when it's raining.  Train at night.   Train at night in the rain.  Train in the snow.  Train at night in the snow . . . you get the idea.

Changing up your routine to include different times, places, and weather conditions will get you out of a rut fast, will teach you some things you wouldn't learn otherwise, and will wake up your senses.

If you don't have a partner, do form, shadow boxing, kick/punch drills, and yoga.  If you've got a partner do all that and some controlled sparring.

Have fun.

Train like you  mean it.

Rob LaPointe