Fighting Stress

Looking back over the tournament, I think we learned alot about how to make the Heartland Team Tournament better next year, and more organized.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a great event, but it was our first one, and there is always room for improvement.  Before the tournament, however, and at the beginning of the tournament, I was very stressed.  Stressed about some of the teams arriving late, about not having enough referees, about trying to make this a good experience for everyone.  My 1 am night before was already catching up, my head hurt, and I was very irritable (just ask my kids).  But when I started my matches, as soon as I stepped on the mat, I could feel the stress leaving my body.  By the end of the day, and 7 matches later, I felt very relaxed.  Of course, the tournament was over, and I got some good feedback from the majority of the competitors, but the mental and physical relaxation I felt was largely due to my time on the mat.

It has been proven time and time again that excercise helps the body deal effectively with stress.

Biologically, exercise seems to give the body a chance to practice dealing with stress. It forces the body’s physiological systems – all of which are involved in the stress response – to communicate much more closely than usual: The cardiovascular system communicates with the renal system, which communicates with the muscular system.

Judo is one of the highest calorie burning excercises that you can do .  You can check your weight and other sports here.  There are great cardio and strength benefits from a good judo workout.  And for stress, it can’t be beat.  Judo often puts one in situations that tend to “panic” one both physically and mentally moreso than other sports or workouts.  Being choked out, for example, often stresses one more than, say, scoring a goal on the soccer field, or making a free throw.  In fact, you’ll be suprised how much newaza (groundwork in judo), specifically, prepares your for future stress in your daily life.  In newaza, your body is put in the most stressful situations during a judo match.  Chokes, armbars, and believe it or not, pins are the worst.  25 seconds in a good pin can seem like a lifetime.  I was told by one instructor long ago that newaza would help in pursuit situations as a police officer, both in foot and in car pursuits.  After my first high speed pursuit which I was by myself for nearly 40 minutes at speeds over 120 mph, I believed him.

Here is another good article on “The top 10 reasons sport judo is effective for combat and self defense”.

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