The Difference Between Being Fit and Being Capable
You can be fit and still not be capable.
That may sound strange at first. After all, isn't being fit the whole point of training? If you are strong, have good endurance, move well and can perform difficult exercises, surely you are capable.
Not necessarily.
Fitness and capability overlap, but they are not the same thing.
Fitness can be measured. We can measure how much you lift, how fast you run, how many push-ups you can do, how flexible you are or how long you can keep going before you get tired. These are valuable qualities, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to become stronger, healthier and more athletic.
But capability asks a different question.
What can you actually do when things don't go according to plan?
Can you move when you're off balance? Can you breathe when you're under pressure? Can you stay relaxed when someone is pushing against you? Can you get up when you fall? Can you change direction when something unexpected happens? Can you remain aware when your body is tired and your mind is under stress?
This is where martial arts begin to offer something different.
Fitness Gives You the Foundation
Going to the gym is a wonderful thing.
You can build strength, develop your cardiovascular system, improve your mobility and create a body that is healthier and more resilient. A strong body gives you options.
But most gym training takes place in a controlled environment.
You know what exercise you're doing. You know where the equipment is. You know how much weight you're lifting. You know what is expected of you.
There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, that predictability is one of the reasons gym training works so well.
But life isn't always predictable.
Neither is another human being.
A barbell doesn't suddenly decide to change direction. A treadmill doesn't grab your arm. A dumbbell doesn't push you off balance.
A person can.
That changes the nature of training completely.
Capability Begins When the Situation Changes
Martial arts introduce uncertainty.
You have another person moving with you. They don't necessarily move at the speed or in the direction you expect. They push, pull, grab, resist and change position.
Suddenly, strength isn't enough.
You have to coordinate.
You have to feel.
You have to adapt.
You have to pay attention.
This is one of the things I find so valuable about Systema martial arts training at FightClub. We aren't simply trying to teach the body a collection of techniques. We are trying to develop the ability to respond to what is actually happening.
There is a subtle but important difference.
A technique tells you what to do.
Capability teaches you how to respond when what you planned to do no longer works.
The Body Has to Learn to Think
We often talk about the mind and body as if they are two separate things.
In training, they aren't.
When you lose your balance, your body has to respond before you have time to intellectually analyse the situation. When someone moves toward you unexpectedly, your nervous system reacts before you can construct a perfect response in your head.
Martial arts give us a way to train this relationship.
You learn to become more aware of your weight, your breathing, your posture and your movement. You begin to notice tension that you didn't know was there.
You start to feel rather than simply think.
And the more you train, the more comfortable you become with not knowing exactly what is going to happen next.
That is an important kind of confidence.
Breathing Changes Everything
Watch someone who is frightened or overwhelmed.
Usually, you can see it in their breathing.
The breath becomes shallow. The shoulders rise. The body becomes rigid. Movement becomes smaller.
Fear changes the body.
The interesting thing is that the relationship works in both directions. How we breathe and how we hold ourselves can also influence how we experience pressure.
This is why breathing is such an important part of Systema.
We don't treat breathing as something separate from martial arts. It is part of movement.
When you're tired, can you continue to breathe?
When someone is putting pressure on you, can you keep breathing?
When you become uncomfortable, can you prevent your body from locking itself into unnecessary tension?
These are simple questions, but they aren't necessarily easy to answer.
And the answers have very little to do with how much you can bench press.
Learning to Be Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable
There is another lesson that martial arts offer which is difficult to reproduce in a conventional workout.
They teach you to become familiar with discomfort.
Not reckless discomfort. Not injury. Not punishment for its own sake.
Useful discomfort.
The kind that appears when you don't know exactly what to do.
The kind that appears when someone is close to you.
The kind that appears when you lose your balance or become tired or suddenly find yourself in an unfamiliar position.
Most of us spend a great deal of our lives trying to avoid these feelings.
Martial arts give us a safe environment in which to explore them.
You begin to discover something important:
You can be uncomfortable without falling apart.
You can feel fear without becoming controlled by it.
You can be tired without becoming helpless.
You can lose your balance and find it again.
You can make a mistake and continue.
That is capability.
Relaxation Is Not Weakness
The Difference Between Being Fit and Being Capable
One of the great paradoxes of Systema is that sometimes the harder you try, the less capable you become.
When people feel pressure, their natural response is often to tense.
They grip harder.
They hold their breath.
They tighten their shoulders.
They try to overpower the situation.
Sometimes that works.
Often it simply makes them slower and less adaptable.
Systema explores another possibility: relaxation.
Not laziness.
Not weakness.
Relaxation.
The ability to remove unnecessary tension so that you can move, breathe and respond more effectively.
There is tremendous strength in being able to remain relaxed while something difficult is happening.
That lesson extends far beyond martial arts.
The Difference Becomes Clear With Contact
You can practice movement by yourself, but another person changes everything.
Contact gives you information.
You can feel someone's weight shift. You can feel pressure. You can sense movement before it becomes obvious.
You begin to develop a kind of physical awareness that is difficult to acquire through machines alone.
This is one of the reasons adult martial arts training at FightClub can complement traditional fitness so well.
The gym can help you build the engine.
Martial arts teach you how to drive the car when the road changes.
You don't have to choose between the two.
In fact, I would argue that a strong, healthy body becomes even more useful when you know how to move and respond with it.
Capability Is a Form of Confidence
There is also a psychological difference between being fit and being capable.
Someone can look strong and still feel uncertain.
Another person may not look particularly intimidating but may have tremendous confidence in their ability to handle themselves.
Real confidence doesn't necessarily come from believing that you will always win.
It comes from knowing that you can respond.
You can adapt.
You can breathe.
You can think.
You can move.
You can recover.
And you don't have to prove yourself every time someone challenges you.
In many ways, becoming more capable can make a person less aggressive, not more.
When you don't constantly need to demonstrate your strength, you can relax.
What Are You Really Training For?
Perhaps this is the question worth asking the next time you walk into a gym or martial arts school.
What are you training for?
If the answer is simply to look better, that's fine.
If it's to become stronger, healthier and fitter, that's excellent.
But perhaps there is another goal.
Perhaps you want to become more comfortable in your own body.
Perhaps you want to move better.
Perhaps you want to learn how to deal with pressure.
Perhaps you want to develop confidence without becoming aggressive.
Perhaps you want to know that if something unexpected happens, you won't simply freeze.
That is where martial arts become much more than exercise.
From Fit to Capable
Being fit is valuable.
Being capable is different.
Capability is what happens when strength, movement, breathing, awareness and adaptability come together.
It is being able to use your body rather than simply possessing a strong body.
It is being able to remain calm when circumstances become chaotic.
It is being able to move when you're uncomfortable.
It is being able to adapt when your original plan fails.
And perhaps most importantly, it is developing a relationship with your body in which you trust it to respond.
That is what we work toward at FightClub through Systema martial arts training in East York.
You don't need to arrive already fit. You don't need to have previous martial arts experience. You don't need to be the strongest person in the room.
You simply need to be willing to learn.
Come and Experience It for Yourself
Reading about martial arts can only take you so far.
At some point, you have to step onto the training floor.
If you're looking for martial arts classes in East York, or you want to take your physical training beyond the gym, come and experience Systema at FightClub.
We welcome beginners, and you don't need previous martial arts experience to start. Your first class is an opportunity to meet the people, experience the training and decide whether FightClub is the right place for you.
Book your first trial class and come see what it means to train for something more than fitness.
Don't just train to be fit. Train to be capable.
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