Suffer Silently
One of our sayings in Kuntaw is, “Suffer Silently”. There are several meanings to this philosophy.
The martial arts student is endeavoring to develop courage, along with physical strength and fighting skill. In order for him to develop courage, he must learn to endure pain and ignore it. During training, everyone feels pain and continues training, but not everyone benefits from this training equally.
Hold it... hold it... keep it inside!
Some students moan, wince, grimace, and “suffer” audibly. These students have not learned to accept pain completely, and will enjoy only the physical benefits of training. In other words, he will have a nice physique, and be as strong and limber as he can, yet will not have the durability or the courage of the other student:
The other student is stoic, and although he experiences the same amount of pain and fatigue, masks his feelings and suffering while trudging forward in his training. While he too will have the physique of the first fighter as well as have the strength and flexibility, this fighter will be able to exceed his physical limits because he is not held captive by his emotions and psychological barriers. In combat, he will be better prepared to continue fighting if he injured or scared, because he has learned pain tolerance.
The martial arts teacher must demand full concentration and focus during training. He must ban emotion and facial displays of pain and suffering, as this distracts the student from his training. The class must be silent, as in combat, they will have to learn to hide:
- pain
- fear
- fatigue
- injury
- intent
When the student has conditioned himself to deny the presence of these things, he will be able to do this when fighting. If the opponent notices them, it will empower him, even when he himself is fatigued, afraid, injured…
A second reason we demand silent suffering: image. The fighter must think himself bulletproof. When I say this, I am referring to his willingness to accept punishment and deny presence of weakness. Few martial artists understand this. They will most likely sit down when tired, sit out sparring sessions when he has a pulled leg muscle (instead of sparring without kicking), or bow out of a match if he feels like “today isn’t my day”. By the simple act of suffering internally, he has taken the first step to learning pain tolerance: accepting the discomfort of training. If the fighter cannot take the displeasures of physical training, he will not be able to focus if he ends up with a broken nose while in combat.
Finally, having your students silent during training will send the message (if you allow visitors to view your classes) that your students are disciplined and tough. Allowing them to express fatigue and pain during training gives the appearance of weakness, as it really is an indication of weakness. By learning to hide it, your students are developing the strength to control their fear and pain.
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