Keys to Success - Discipline

One definition of discipline is “control gained by obedience or training.” You will find this element of self-control in virtually all areas where potentially deadly force is taught (military, law enforcement, martial arts, etc.). This is necessary because it would be irresponsible for an instructor to teach these concepts to someone who cannot control when they are used. Just about every martial arts instructor has been asked how he or she can prevent teaching someone who will use his or her training in a negative way. The answer is simple: discipline. People who are incapable of discipline will not stay in our martial arts program long enough to become dangerous. It is simply too much work.

On your journey to Black Belt, you are likely to be hit too hard and to hit someone else too hard. This can happen during sparring, one-steps or grabbing techniques. We do our best to prevent it, but it happens. How will you react when it happens to you? How should you react when you know this is something that is bound to happen from time to time when people are pushing their limits and learning new things? The disciplined martial artist will be able to handle it appropriately. The undisciplined martial artist will get angry and possibly try to retaliate in some way.

Another aspect of discipline is correction. Do you like to be corrected? You probably do not. Hebrews 12:11 says “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Our first instinct is to resist correction, but this is something we should try to overcome. It is much better to be corrected than to learn a technique incorrectly. This is what you need to realize when you are disciplined: the short-term difficulty produces a long-term benefit. Proverbs 12:1 puts it more bluntly. It states, “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.”

Another reason for discipline is training. Scientists have determined that it takes about 5,000 repetitions of a technique before is becomes ‘wired’ into our subconscious. Have you done 5,000 standing front kicks yet? It would take about 10 hours of doing nothing but standing front kicks to do 5,000 of them. If you do standing front kicks for 5 minutes every week, it would take you over 2 years of training just to get this basic kick to an acceptable level. However, we have students who have not been training with us for a year yet who are bored because they are not learning anything ‘new’. If you have not been training with us a year, you have not really learned anything yet because you have not practiced it enough for it to be part of your subconscious. This is why we have to do the same thing repeatedly. There are no shortcuts. If you want to be good, you must have the discipline to practice.

Donnie Chaffin,
3rd Dan