Will Power Training: Crafting the 'Human Weapon'

The goals of a martial enterprise influence its training methods.  In studios which place a premium on will power, training is likely to revolve around pushing limits and increasing one's force of will.

In this way, will power training treats martial techniques like weapons.  Punches, kicks, grabs, locks, and throws are treated in the same manner as gunshots.  In fact, training in this setting can feel like visiting a gun range to throw some lead.  The trainee is primarily concerned about power, speed, and accuracy, but may overlook application, precision, and discretion.

Still, will power training makes good sense for soldiers, police officers, and others who will use their bodies as weapons.  The capacity to weather austerity and remain motivated has great application to the martial way.

Due to the necessarily physical stresses encountered in the course of will power development, the trainee's body will develop muscle, tendon, and bone durability to greater degrees than in softer arts.  Weightlifting and calisthenics, which are merely supplementary in the soft arts, become obligatory to sustain progress and prevent injury during will power training.

Conceptually, the weaponry metaphor is complicated by the necessity of building the weapons of students (power of techniques) concurrently with learning when to use them (tactics).  While an artist well trained in awareness and technique would criticize such a method as useless when the student does not know under what conditions to use techniques, the will power martial artist would counter that a student needs powerful enough weapons to make tactics relevant.  Weak blows delivered halfheartedly with perfect technique and flawless tactics are still weak, unmotivated blows.  This dilemma was present in the Pacific Campaign of WWII where Japanese with superior tactics and martial spirit were outgunned by sheer American firepower, however begrudgingly.