Getting Hit
Taking a Punch
When you get hit, it hurts; that goes without saying. However, how much pain you will perceive depends upon many things, what is hit, how hard it is hit, and how you process pain. If you are a person who fears and avoids pain, the strike will hurt more than it would if you were a person who deals with pain on a regular basis and has learned to ignore it.
Pain is the body’s way of alerting you to an injury. Some minor injuries are very painful, such as kick to the testicles, while a major injury, such as gunshot wound, may not even be perceived due to the flood of adrenaline in the body due to the stressful situation. Most pain received during a fight is temporary and will go away at some point.
Ignore the Pain
If you ignore the pain, you will be able to “shake off” the effects of a strike and recover very quickly. However, if you focus on the pain, it will consume you until you are unable to defend yourself effectively. Train yourself to counterattack instinctively when hit, so you will not continue to get hit while you are recovering from the first strike. For intense pain, just as is taught to expectant mothers, rapid breathing in through the nose and out through pursed lips may help ease the pain.