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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Marathon Readiness |
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| Kathy |
| 07/04/03 at 11:05:45 |
| [slm] My son, who is nine, passed his final belt in Karate. In September he has a pre-test for his Black Belt. It is 6 hours long with non stop action with no breaks, water or bathroom privledges. How do I prepare his body? What do I feed him the day before? What do I feed him the morning of? and what time? Is there a way to empty his bladder fully? Test begins at 8am. What advice can I give him if he really has to go to the bathroom during the test? |
| 07/04/03 at 16:04:25 |
| Kathy |
| Re: Marathon Readiness |
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| muahmed |
| 07/04/03 at 14:31:52 |
| [slm] ;-) Don't worry. They will keep him so busy, that bathroom would be the last thing on his mind, even if he has the need to go. |
| Re: Marathon Readiness |
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| Nomi |
| 07/04/03 at 16:21:23 |
| [slm] Let him go by the normal diet and when there are a couple of days left give him milk and dates only in breakfast and some serials in dinner, no lunch. [slm] Asim Dates err i mean Zafar :) |
| Re: Marathon Readiness |
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| BroHanif |
| 07/05/03 at 06:09:58 |
| Salaams, What a weired training session, if anything they should allow water breaks unless they want someone to collapse of fatigue, ask any doctor or REAL physical instructor and they will tell yah water is necessary just as breathing when training. 6 hours is too long to go without water. Is it mainly kata and stuff like that or will he have to spar with others ?. I would speak to the sensei about his grading before young Ali commences on his training. Salaams Hanif |
| NS |
| Re: Marathon Readiness |
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| Kathy |
| 07/05/03 at 12:08:14 |
| [slm] It is grueling. I went to the the last test to see how bad it was. Kids/adults were almost to the point of passing out and a couple left the floor vomitting. Katas are a small part of it. There are hundreds..hundreds of stomach crunches, leg kicks, push ups, running and jumping jacks. Sparing is about 1/4 of the time as well as knowledge tests, over 100 self defence moves and a show of hand and foot techniques. The 'master' is an Olympian Gold medalist in Karate and an ex-Marine. So that gives you some insight to his thought of training. I just don't understand why no one has questioned him on this... and he certainly is not going to take words of advice from someone looking like me (over weight) It sounds to me like "old boys' way of thinking... they had to do it that way so do the newbies. Reminds me of the doctors vs the residents and the 24/36 hours of active oncall.... even they know better... |
| Re: Marathon Readiness |
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| muahmed |
| 07/05/03 at 16:09:27 |
| [slm] ;-) To improve one mush push beyond one's current limits. An instructor who didn't know that would not be a good instructor indeed. |
| Re: Marathon Readiness |
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| AbdulBasir |
| 07/06/03 at 16:47:57 |
| [slm] Subhanallah, this thread brings back memories. That might make me have “old boys” thinking regarding this, but I’ve been called worse things :) It should be remembered that this is a [I]test[/I], not a regular physical training session, and it’s a test of physical ability, stamina, and most importantly, mental and emotional toughness. Indeed that is why it set up the way it is. The point is to be pushed beyond the purely physical limitations to a higher level, where the mind and spirit pushes one beyond those perceived limitations to then accomplish things that the layperson might think impossible. An innate desire like thirst is no longer perceived as a normative reality but rather as an illusory impediment to progress. If one looks at, for example, special elite forces training, you will see that during some of their standard training regimens, they drink water appropriately and do the things that we think are healthy. But at certain stages in their training, which are temporary, they will undergo food, water and sleep deprivation in the face of severe physical stress. No matter how physically strong a person is, the only ones that will survive this will be the ones with the proper mental and emotional makeup that will allow them to push beyond the thirst, exhaustion and pain and accomplish more. Everyone can perform certain tasks in the ideal training environment, but the real world, i.e battle, doesn’t work that way and that’s the whole point behind it. Moreover, this is an established means of training that has been reaffirmed generation after generation. It can be hard to really understand it for the uninitiated, and it is sort of like the stories of the ‘awliyaa that we hear and think of as so extraordinary. They, may Allah reward them, could train and subjugate their bodies and souls to almost unheard of levels, only to reach such lofty stations that we can only aspire to. As they say, the iron has to be beaten and pulverized before it can be molded into shape. Anyways, before digressing anymore, sr. Kathy, the major thing to help your son is to make sure he is prepared physically in terms of the conditioning. Make sure he can do the hundreds of push-ups and all those other exercises beforehand. They tend to be easier on the kids, in terms of leniency with regards to proper form and all, but he will need to have the proper baseline. Adrenaline only gets one so far, and it can’t be relied upon. They put those pushups etc in these tests to physically exhaust but more importantly to mentally intimidate and break down everyone before the “real” testing, so that the reserves and confidence are lost at the initial stages. On the other hand, if he is physically conditioned enough to do these initial exercises easily, the remainder of the test, e.g.the forms, sparring, will be a piece of cake, because that is all more mental attitude and skill rather than sheer stamina. Don’t worry about the bathroom breaks. One, as br. Muhammad says, he will be too busy to notice. Two, he will be sweating enough that his water balance probably won’t allow his bladder to get a chance to fill. Thirdly, he’ll have such an adrenaline rush that he shouldn’t feel the urge; the sympathetic stimulation alone inhibits it. The important thing of course is to hydrate him a lot during the several days prior as well as carbo-load during those days so that he will have enough reserve. Only a light carb-heavy meal in the morning around dawn; he shouldn’t be having to be still actively digesting something when he starts the test. Stick with the usual stuff and don't try anything new. Unfortunately I listened to someone I was going to test with who told me about this carbo drink; I drank about a gallon of this powdery orange flavored malty water the evening of and the morning of the test. It was big mistake though alhamdulillah in the end no harm was done ;) So no tricks, just stick with the standards. As for the thirst, just tell him to imagine that he is fasting ;) May Allah make this jihad for your son (and you) easy. [slm]:) |
| 07/06/03 at 16:56:18 |
| AbdulBasir |
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