Got a stripe on my purple belt last night. I think for guys who train 5-6 days a week or more, stripes are silly. I'm going to grind regardless and my belt is faded enough that no one who sees it thinks I just got my purple belt anytime recently. That being said, as my coach reminded me, "it's not up to you."Point taken.
At any rate, this weekend I return to competing after what, for me, amounts to a minor break from the training/competing regimen I've been at since I got my purple belt (competing 23 times: tournaments or superfights in the first 18 months at purple belt - roughly every 3 weeks for a year and a half).
I didn't stop training between mid-May and now, but had some weeks where I only trained 4-5 times and haven't competed since May 16th and have had weeks where I actually took consecutive days off and even a couple weeks where I took 3 days off in a row.
At some point diminishing returns is a real phenomenon and everyone from my coach to my girlfriend told me I was headed toward if not already in full blown burnout. Everything from general malaise to being tired yet unable to sleep and the range of emotional reactions to overtraining/exhaustion.
More than ever I can see the divide increasing between recreational training and guys training to compete. I know that even now there's more levels to how I can arrange my training and maximize the already substantial amount of time I'm grinding. If this is what it's like at purple belt I can't even honestly imagine brown and black belt. I'm no longer satisfied beating recreational competitors but rather now it's about looking around at the others in my division I can tell train with the frequency and goal(s) that I do.
With that, I'll leave you with two of my favorite quotes from the Miyao Brothers:
"The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants in life is merely the will to try and the faith to believe that it is possible."
&
"So you lost ? Shut up and train more."
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