How to Train Without a Partner: You are More Prepared Than You Think
Why should we train without a partner, and how should we approach it? Martial arts is always about finding balance. This holds true for the balance of internal training and training within a community. Luckily there are many examples throughout history. Solitary training is key to strengthening your martial arts practice, and a wonderful way to deepen your senses, boost confidence, and get to know the martial artist within you.
How did Bruce Lee do it?
It is worth considering the legendary Bruce Lee, whose regular training practice demonstrates the importance of cultivating one’s internal partner first and foremost, under the care of a teacher, of course. With internal training, one can then effectively train with others.Lee started his day off with a solitary run. The quiet, meditative place runners go in the early morning, the body waking, the mind clearing and settling. His strength training was also primarily done alone. Bruce Lee prepared his body and mind in order to be able to step up to the martial arts practice with his first Wing Chun Master, Yip Man.
People have always trained alone, while supported by a community
The practice of training alone is evident everywhere, often most successful when supported by a community of some kind. In today’s fitness environments, while we may find ourselves amidst a torrent of other cyclers, runners, weight lifters, swimmers, etc, ultimately we are aware that we are training with ourselves. Historically, even as far back as our hunter gatherer and tribal community days, each person trained internally while they belonged to an essential community. Each hunter, each tribesperson, had to cultivate the practice of their own coherent task in order to be an effective hunter, or otherwise contribute to the community.
Why you are your best partner
Martial Arts includes forms, weapons, techniques, self-defense, self protection, mindfulness practice, meditation, sparring, body training, the study of pressure points and so much more.
When you are doing a form or kata, are you dependent on another human being, aside from your teacher, in order to complete the form? It is important to break down the types of exercise that typically require partners and to have fun doing these same exercises without partners.
Let’s take the example of techniques. While it is impossible to feel the physical sensation of the pressure point or joint lock being executed on your body without a partner, it is possible with an acute mindful awareness, to feel a sensation of the joint lock and pressure point while training on your own. Proprioception, or kinesthesia, is our body’s ability to sense movement, action, and location. It is present in every muscle movement we make. Without proprioception, you would not be able to move without thinking about your next step, for example. The definition is literally, “one’s own + receptor.” An acute and sensitive nervous system, gained through martial arts practice, allows for the body and mind to feel the muscle, the joint, and the pressure point through proprioception.
We can feel chi energy, cultivated by years of attention to how the electro-magnetic fields run through our facial networks, (Chi = the amount of electricity running through the body through a field of magnetism). Similarly, we are capable of magining the sensation of a person pressing on a joint lock, even when no one is there.
We can feel chi energy, cultivated by years of attention to how the electro-magnetic fields run through our facial networks, (Chi = the amount of electricity running through the body through a field of magnetism). Similarly, we are capable of magining the sensation of a person pressing on a joint lock, even when no one is there.
Given the physics of the body, the nervous system, and surrounding tissues, we now have our own perfect partner. This partner is you.
Pointers on how to train without a partner
1. Start in a standing position, feeling your feet on the ground. Close your eyes. Bring attention to your spinal column and notice the energy (chi) running up
and down your spine. Begin lower belly breathing, inhale through the nose, belly rises, exhale through the mouth, belly falls. Draw attention to the amount of chi running through your body. If you need more chi, expand your breath and awareness to your internal organs. Imagine your body getting taller and wider and deeper so that you now have a giant presence in your space.
2. Once you have grounded into this new felt sense of a giant powerful you, open your eyes and move in front of a mirror. If you do not have a mirror, imagine that you are watching yourself.
3. Begin your practice. Notice that the person in the mirror is a reflection of your best self. It is not you, but a reflection. Whether you’re doing forms, weapons, techniques, grappling, or other exercise, you have now engaged your body’s proprioception through breath and awareness. If you are willing, you will be able to feel the partner there with you.
4. Use of Zoom. While we have all needed to participate in classes on Zoom during the pandemic, I have found this is even more difficult than imagining a
partner. However, we have all had to engage this two-dimensional reality. In Jungshin Fitness, we use sword sparring as a form of partner play on Zoom. The
power and speed and effectiveness are exactly the same as in person. The only part that we cannot imitate is the sound of the swords hitting. But that is ok:
sound, like proprioception and chi, can be sensed even when it’s not there.
5. Have fun! You are ultimately your best friend, in your body, with your mind, and your style. What better way to get to know one’s self, one’s shadow, one’s
best friend, then to work out alone?
