Running up the Down escalator
Technique, flexibility and fitness decay if you don't keep them fresh. Use it or lose it! Karate training is like running up a Down escalator - a steady pace will keep you where you are but you have to push if you want to get higher. This means training regularly, and never accepting that there's something you can't do better. It means doing things in your own time to support the dojo training. It means if you miss some sessions you have to work harder to catch up. So which is easier, striding steadily up the escalator or easing off and having to start at the bottom again?