How do I feel???

Great question. It's funny I seem to go from one extreme to the next... At the start of training full of beans, eager to get amongst it, get a sweat up, burn some calories and learn something usefull at the same time and then at the end of training, squashed, twisted, cranked, yanked, bruised and battered!!! Did I mention squashed?? Now as silly as it sounds, this is all a very good thing. I'm not a spiritual person by any stretch of the imagination but I would say that these physical extremes strengthen your inner core. (Hope I'm not sounding like a wanker here??) That is to say it has always been my experience that when pushed physically where pain is involved more so than fatigue, the fight or flight response really kicks in. In an environment where there really is no escape from pain, ie: on the mat, you have to deal with it (borrowed from Jeroen). Now I'm not talking about tapping out (or being put to sleep) because if your at that stage, effectively you have lost the fight so the point is moot. What I am referring to is, as an example, someone significantly heavier and more experienced is knee riding your chest and although you believe at any moment your ribs will implode, you still have options! Now to the point of my ramblings. The more you experience this position the more comfortable, acclimatised, used to dealing with it you become. If you take "flight" in these situations, ie give up when you still have options, then it will be that much harder to "fight" when the pressure is on and therefore a number of things can happen. You'll get your arse kicked, you won't learn how to defend pain compliance attacks, you may lose the respect of your training partners but more importantly you will lose self respect as ultimately the truth is inside. A question I ask myself in a lot of situations is "what have I got to lose?" and the answer usually is, "it depends on what the wife says!!!" See you on the mat...