Some people call MMA a "bloodsport" and I suppose it is by definition.
The whole idea of punching the crap out of someone is quite primal and
calls up our dog pack instincts. Imagine the junk-yard dogs gathered
around watching two mutts tear each other apart. As much as we try to
think we are above the animals and so much more civilized, we have not
changed very much at all.
1. Check out Richard Nikolai's blog "Free The Animal" he clearly sees himself and all other humans as the animals
we are and embraces his genetic heritage with vigor.
2. Look at
any war zone and tell me that we are better than dogs or monkeys. We
blame the individual soldier or terrorist for their behavior but very
few people would act any differently in the same circumstances.
3.
The movie "Natural Born Killers", to me was a commentary on the human
instinct to violence when the normal filters and constraints of civilization are not present.
4. At a moments notice all hell can
break loose; just look at all of the "brawl" videos on Youtube where
shit goes down at the drop of a diss!
5. There is an area in Winnipeg
Manitoba where at certain times of the night the bars empty and
the people all spill out onto the street and start a mass rumble. No-one
is fighting about anything in particular, they are fighting for the sake
of fighting!!
6. The movie - "Needful Things" by Steven King showed
how with a little subtle manipulation an entire town can implode into
chaos.Here is a scene from the movie where 2 normal women turn into blood thirsty savages from a letter sent by a third party (the devil).
My point is that the violence is in all of us and to deny it
is, I think, more dangerous. I have found that fighters are some of the
most well-adjusted individuals as they get all of their aggression out
on the mat and in the ring or cage.
Maybe if we settled political
disputes this way things might be better, we could keep the civilians
out of the battles and save lives and money; or maybe I'm full of shit!
The thing is, when I hear people say that the combat sports I love are
just some sort of gladiator fantasy and that we are a bunch of
neanderthals, I think to myself; "Yah, so what?". Go ahead and cage all
us animals up and try to keep us civilized and one day we will go off
like a ---
Friday, June 8, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
3 components of good standup fighting / Don't eat the sand
There was an expression going around at the audio engineering school I
attended that was sort of a nice way of saying "Don't be an idiot!" ;
the expression was "Don't eat the sand!" You know when you are sitting
there in an exam, scratching your head, trying to come up with the
answer: then you realize the answer is right there in the question?
Remember when you used to play in the sand box at the park and your mama
would yell out "Don't eat the sand!" Well, both of those scenarios are
similar.
Most of the time we over think things that would otherwise be simple and put unnecessary pressure on our selves. I had a student once tell me another expression - "Don't try to reinvent the wheel man!" He was referring to how I would get stressed out about trying to come up with brilliant new techniques to dazzle the students and not trusting my already comprehensive repertoire to satisfy their quests for knowledge. In my ongoing search for better training, diets, and mental and athletic performance enhancements I sometimes over think things.
I have seen so many fights where one of the combatants is throwing bombs and combinations and rarely landing a shot.
I have also seen amazing talented fighters using minimal effort but connecting with every blow. A great example is a brilliant fighter from Leone Italy by the name of Giorgio Petrosyan. If you watch video of his fights you will see how he gets his opponents to charge in and how he perfectly sets up his counters. It is not magic, this is the result of hours of intelligent training and thoughtful practice.
At Carlson Gracie MMA in Maple Ridge British Columbia we are very strict with the process of training a fighter and learning new techniques. I often get asked to teach spinning flying kicks and other fancy moves but these fundamental building blocks of stand-up fighting are crucial and without a strong foundation, you can not build the top floor!
Three components of good standup:
1. Timing
2. Distance
3. Accuracy
1.
When it comes to timing there is only one way to train and that is with a partner. When your partner throws a punch, for example, you parry and counter with your kick or punch. This takes hours of training with partners to develop your reflexes but staying strict with your technique and slowly but gradually increasing your speed will get you amazing results in a short time.
I FEEL A STORY COMING ON!
I recall one student who had been training his basic head movement and it saved his eye or maybe even his life. He was at a pub and as he walked outside to head home, he witnessed a fight taking place in the parking lot. Two guys were laying a beating on a smaller guy and my student, being a good Samaritan, tried to break it up. He yelled "Hey, come on guys you're going to hurt him!" and as he stepped toward the group, one of the guys pulled a knife and threw it right at my student's head! He slipped to the right and the knife cut his head along the temple but missed the eye. The point is that, through hours of drilling you can create new pathways in your brain and "muscle memory" that will not only improve your reaction time but also condition you for the correct response.
2.
Distance can be learned, at least in the beginning, by bag work. Moving away from the bag after every combination and coming back into distance to land the next will teach you the optimal landing place for the front foot. The problem with the bag is that it doesn't go anywhere which is unrealistic compared to a real fight. Working the pads or training with a partner also helps to train your distance. The main thing to pay attention to while doing any drill is, where your front foot lands. For boxing punches, it should land directly in the opponent's center line (point your toes at his nose).
3.
You don't need me to explain accuracy. Landing a punch on the "button" is more effective than any one technique known in martial arts and combat sports! ( http://neurology.about.com/od/Trauma/a/Treating-Traumatic-Brain-Injury.htm )
A great way to train your accuracy is to place small pieces of athletic tape on strategic spots on the heavy bag. Try hitting the mark on every jab and right cross that you throw to improve your accuracy and eye/hand coordination.
Hitting the focus mitts also helps, provided you try to hit the dot in the center of the mitt with every punch.
Most of the time we over think things that would otherwise be simple and put unnecessary pressure on our selves. I had a student once tell me another expression - "Don't try to reinvent the wheel man!" He was referring to how I would get stressed out about trying to come up with brilliant new techniques to dazzle the students and not trusting my already comprehensive repertoire to satisfy their quests for knowledge. In my ongoing search for better training, diets, and mental and athletic performance enhancements I sometimes over think things.
I have seen so many fights where one of the combatants is throwing bombs and combinations and rarely landing a shot.
I have also seen amazing talented fighters using minimal effort but connecting with every blow. A great example is a brilliant fighter from Leone Italy by the name of Giorgio Petrosyan. If you watch video of his fights you will see how he gets his opponents to charge in and how he perfectly sets up his counters. It is not magic, this is the result of hours of intelligent training and thoughtful practice.
At Carlson Gracie MMA in Maple Ridge British Columbia we are very strict with the process of training a fighter and learning new techniques. I often get asked to teach spinning flying kicks and other fancy moves but these fundamental building blocks of stand-up fighting are crucial and without a strong foundation, you can not build the top floor!
Three components of good standup:
1. Timing
2. Distance
3. Accuracy
1.
When it comes to timing there is only one way to train and that is with a partner. When your partner throws a punch, for example, you parry and counter with your kick or punch. This takes hours of training with partners to develop your reflexes but staying strict with your technique and slowly but gradually increasing your speed will get you amazing results in a short time.
I FEEL A STORY COMING ON!
I recall one student who had been training his basic head movement and it saved his eye or maybe even his life. He was at a pub and as he walked outside to head home, he witnessed a fight taking place in the parking lot. Two guys were laying a beating on a smaller guy and my student, being a good Samaritan, tried to break it up. He yelled "Hey, come on guys you're going to hurt him!" and as he stepped toward the group, one of the guys pulled a knife and threw it right at my student's head! He slipped to the right and the knife cut his head along the temple but missed the eye. The point is that, through hours of drilling you can create new pathways in your brain and "muscle memory" that will not only improve your reaction time but also condition you for the correct response.
2.
Distance can be learned, at least in the beginning, by bag work. Moving away from the bag after every combination and coming back into distance to land the next will teach you the optimal landing place for the front foot. The problem with the bag is that it doesn't go anywhere which is unrealistic compared to a real fight. Working the pads or training with a partner also helps to train your distance. The main thing to pay attention to while doing any drill is, where your front foot lands. For boxing punches, it should land directly in the opponent's center line (point your toes at his nose).
3.
You don't need me to explain accuracy. Landing a punch on the "button" is more effective than any one technique known in martial arts and combat sports! ( http://neurology.about.com/od/Trauma/a/Treating-Traumatic-Brain-Injury.htm )
A great way to train your accuracy is to place small pieces of athletic tape on strategic spots on the heavy bag. Try hitting the mark on every jab and right cross that you throw to improve your accuracy and eye/hand coordination.
Hitting the focus mitts also helps, provided you try to hit the dot in the center of the mitt with every punch.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Low carb diets
People with Diabetes milletus are constantly testing, using a blood sugar meter to track changes in their blood glucose levels because they have lost the ability to control it naturally. I like to say that a blood sugar meter also works as another kind of BS meter. You can't BS about your diet when you are reading the effects of it on the BS meter! What this means is that if you test a type of food or diet regimen, you could wait for the results - a big belly or loss of same - or you could easily check your blood sugar with a meter and know without a doubt how you are affected by it.
How is this useful to people without diabetes?
The mountainous volumes of information gathered on the effects of various foods on our blood sugar has given rise to things like the glycemic index. The "GI Diet" and any other diet that reduces your consumption of carbohydrate will lower your dependance on insulin, raise your sensitivity to insulin, along with other hormones like leptin and adiponectin which regulate the hungry or full signals.
Here is a summary: (Ultra-simplified)
We know that sugar in all forms, including starches and the so called "complex carbs" spike our blood glucose, thereby spiking our insulin. We know that insulin is a fat storage hormone. We know that at no time in history have we ever had such a multitude and availability of food and refined sugars and starches. Put these facts together and try to understand that what we think of as a "low carb" diet is, in evolutionary terms, still a very high carb diet. Now take into account that over consumption of carbs in any form breaks down the beta cells of the pancreas and desensitizes the insulin receptors throughout the body creating a higher need for insulin production. The vicious cycle begins and you set yourself up for a rough time. We evolved to do this, it is not an accident. Picture yourself in a frozen wilderness, subsisting on small animals you can drag back to the cave. You need a tremendous amount of stored energy; like the hump of a camel or a bear fattening up for hibernation, to get you through the winter. In the fall when you are hunting and you run across a huge berry patch, every cell in your body tells you to eat all you can before you move on. Bring that forward to today and you walk to 7-11 and snag the legendary "Big Gulp" with your great hairy hands gripping its neck like a saber-tooth on a wild boar! Red liquid running down your chin like the blood of your fallen prey!! You tear the wrapper off your snickers bar with you teeth and pieces of its nougat skeleton crumble under your bite! Thing is, you can do this three times per day and the average store is within a block of the average couch!
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The 7 Steps To Learn How To Fight
We have so many tools at our disposal in the gym to work out
each technique or combination. Every tool that we employ lends different
dynamics to the training. At some gyms I have witnessed people doing
countless hours just hitting the bag, some gyms jump the student right into sparing
and others just working the shit out of the pads. At Carlson Gracie MMA in
Maple Ridge, we use a progression from Coach Toby Combat Systems, which I
developed from my studying under Sifu Hon Lee and attending many martial arts
schools, Muay Thai gyms and Boxing clubs. I apply drilling methods using
different strategies adapted from years of music training and my study of how
the brain works and how we learn using cognitive learning principals from
DeBono and Erikson. As a coach it is my job to communicate with the student and
transpose the knowledge between their body and brain; easier said than done! A
structured process is absolutely necessary. (learn to box here)
Whether you are learning to fight or teaching a class, try taking a technique and put it through this formula.
Whether you are learning to fight or teaching a class, try taking a technique and put it through this formula.
The 7 Steps To Learn How To Fight:
1. Basic instruction: This is usually not so basic, as there are so many elements to a particular technique. The instructor can spend time correcting all of these pieces of the puzzle before bad habits set in and make sure that the student is strict with their execution. Show the student exactly how to do the technique properly and make sure they understand.
2. Mirror: The student, looking in the mirror, will try to mimic the posture, hand and foot positioning and movement patterns of the instructor as well as the more advanced students. A side benefit to punching and kicking the air is that it teaches you how to balance and control your trajectory in the event that you miss your target. As you get to know the proper way to do each technique, you can begin to self-correct. I often call the mirror "the other coach in the room".
3. Bag: The stationary opponent is great to work out your reach from one position and striking an object that provides resistance will teach you to compensate for the stopping of your movement when you do connect in a fight. The more advanced training on the bag will work your angles left and right. Remember, bag work is not about how hard you hit it. Pounding the crap out of a heavy bag will only accomplish joint problems, besides, there aint no judges there to give you points and it’s very hard to knockout a punching bag.
4. Pad-work: Now we have the dynamic of unpredictable movement and forward and back that we never had on the bag. The pad man can call out combinations and throw punches and kicks to work on some defensive skills and reflexes. This method will teach you timing and distance much better than a punching bag! Also, hitting focus mitts and Thai pads are very different. I like using the Thai pads to train powerful punches because there is a weight to them that is similar to hitting a chin and if you practice carrying your power through the target it will give you that leverage you need for that knockout punch.
5. Specific, one-on-one drills: This is not sparing but we are getting close. An example would be; one student punching and the other countering with a kick. Another would be, slipping and countering with a jab. Now we are drilling a single technique but we are under pressure to defend and while remaining composed. This method will teach you timing and distance better than any other form of training in my opinion, partly because you feel safe enough to execute your technique in good form while the pressure is minimal, therefore you have less chance of developing bad habits!
6. Single technique sparing: The students begin, usually by jab sparing to establish timing and distance, then add one technique at a time to teach them how to pull off that punch, kick, take-down or combination while in danger of getting hit. It is important mentally to be able to pull off the technique in real-time; otherwise you will never feel confident enough to use it in competition. Use this strategy for learning a ground technique while the opponent sits up and throws punches at your head, try to set up that submission. It is a much better time to do this while in the gym than wait until you are in the cage on the receiving end of “ground and pound”!
7. All in: For Boxing or MMA this will look different but the idea is to put all your skills to the test. The trick with this stage is to have several levels of intensity which are agreed on by the students. One way to do this is to use percentages i.e.: 50% intensity would mean that you are not hitting very hard, mostly working your technique and timing. Closer to a fight you might want to build it up to 80% or more to prepare you mentally for the battle. If you or your students spar full out all the time they will develop bad habits, particularly getting "punch shy". They will lack the confidence to “do their thing” and, instead, work off instinct; which we know is the wrong way to fight against a trained competitor.
As a coach I watch closely all of the students and fighters to make sure that they are keeping composed. If/when I see their stance and proper technique start to fall apart, I stop them and bring them back to basics then slowly work everything else back in piece by piece.
1. Basic instruction: This is usually not so basic, as there are so many elements to a particular technique. The instructor can spend time correcting all of these pieces of the puzzle before bad habits set in and make sure that the student is strict with their execution. Show the student exactly how to do the technique properly and make sure they understand.
2. Mirror: The student, looking in the mirror, will try to mimic the posture, hand and foot positioning and movement patterns of the instructor as well as the more advanced students. A side benefit to punching and kicking the air is that it teaches you how to balance and control your trajectory in the event that you miss your target. As you get to know the proper way to do each technique, you can begin to self-correct. I often call the mirror "the other coach in the room".
3. Bag: The stationary opponent is great to work out your reach from one position and striking an object that provides resistance will teach you to compensate for the stopping of your movement when you do connect in a fight. The more advanced training on the bag will work your angles left and right. Remember, bag work is not about how hard you hit it. Pounding the crap out of a heavy bag will only accomplish joint problems, besides, there aint no judges there to give you points and it’s very hard to knockout a punching bag.
4. Pad-work: Now we have the dynamic of unpredictable movement and forward and back that we never had on the bag. The pad man can call out combinations and throw punches and kicks to work on some defensive skills and reflexes. This method will teach you timing and distance much better than a punching bag! Also, hitting focus mitts and Thai pads are very different. I like using the Thai pads to train powerful punches because there is a weight to them that is similar to hitting a chin and if you practice carrying your power through the target it will give you that leverage you need for that knockout punch.
5. Specific, one-on-one drills: This is not sparing but we are getting close. An example would be; one student punching and the other countering with a kick. Another would be, slipping and countering with a jab. Now we are drilling a single technique but we are under pressure to defend and while remaining composed. This method will teach you timing and distance better than any other form of training in my opinion, partly because you feel safe enough to execute your technique in good form while the pressure is minimal, therefore you have less chance of developing bad habits!
6. Single technique sparing: The students begin, usually by jab sparing to establish timing and distance, then add one technique at a time to teach them how to pull off that punch, kick, take-down or combination while in danger of getting hit. It is important mentally to be able to pull off the technique in real-time; otherwise you will never feel confident enough to use it in competition. Use this strategy for learning a ground technique while the opponent sits up and throws punches at your head, try to set up that submission. It is a much better time to do this while in the gym than wait until you are in the cage on the receiving end of “ground and pound”!
7. All in: For Boxing or MMA this will look different but the idea is to put all your skills to the test. The trick with this stage is to have several levels of intensity which are agreed on by the students. One way to do this is to use percentages i.e.: 50% intensity would mean that you are not hitting very hard, mostly working your technique and timing. Closer to a fight you might want to build it up to 80% or more to prepare you mentally for the battle. If you or your students spar full out all the time they will develop bad habits, particularly getting "punch shy". They will lack the confidence to “do their thing” and, instead, work off instinct; which we know is the wrong way to fight against a trained competitor.
As a coach I watch closely all of the students and fighters to make sure that they are keeping composed. If/when I see their stance and proper technique start to fall apart, I stop them and bring them back to basics then slowly work everything else back in piece by piece.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Sport Specific Training For MMA
Over the last few years we have been pelted with thousands of posts, articles, books and lectures on "sport specific training". I want to take a minute to hash out some of my ideas on this subject. Of course, a lot of "my ideas" come from studying other people's theories and putting them to practice. ("Theory To Practice" I even stole that from Keith Norris. Theory To Practice ) after all, we are the sum of all the people who influence us and our experiences.
The basis for doing extra-curricular training is to somehow make ourselves super-human; to gain an edge over our opponent through scientifically superior methods. We are striving to work "smarter not harder".
There is always room to improve our physical strengths, coordination, endurance and skill set. I'm not opposed to finding new ways of doing this, in fact, this is my mission for the most part; to find the fastest and most efficient ways to improve and build a fighter from the ground up.
I often use examples of my music days and how my journey to become proficient at lead guitar playing parallels my search for skill building methods in martial arts. An example would be doing specific exercises to strengthen your fingers without playing any actual music or practicing scales and arpeggios over and over to improve your speed.
Of course we have to prepare in so many ways to train our muscles, nerves, bones and brains to be ready to fight but we need balance in our schedule. We lift weights and run miles, ride the Aerodyne and roll our shins; anything to build the machine! We use tools like punching bags and focus mitts to drill one particular combination at a time which we need to gain the muscle memory to pull it off in the ring but nothing beats sparing and fighting to make you a better fighter and get you into fight shape.
Next I'll give you 3 reasons why doing "sport specific training is a good idea and 3 reasons why its not. Make sure to weigh these variables as you put together your training camp.
3 Reasons why it IS a good idea to incorporate "sport specific training":
1. Overuse injuries: If you are punching bags or jumping and kicking pads for thousands of reps or in the case of a sport like football hitting the tackle dummy a billion times, the chance for repetitive stress injuries goes up substantially.
2. Pre-hab: Doing loaded stop and start as well as rotation and anti-rotation type training not to mention strength training can prepare you for unexpected, violent movements and lessen the damage caused by these events. You can also correct imbalances like those caused by being in your stance for hours and turning your punches and kicks out always the same way.
3. The over-load principle: Doing something like adding weight to the body, hands and feet while shadow boxing as well as wearing an elevation mask or doing under-water running can add load to your cardiovascular system training and cause an over-compensation effect to give you an advantage in endurance. Here are some great trainers who have worked out fantastic programs to improve the fitness of fighters:
MMA FITNESS TRAINING AND CONDITIONING
THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE COURSE ON MMA SPECIFIC TRAINING!
3 Reasons why its not a good idea:
1. Time limitations: You have a limit to the amount of time in a day so training your skills as part of your conditioning work will kill the proverbial "two birds". If you have 5 hours per day to train, BJJ, Boxing, Muay Thai, Wrestling you aint got time to do no Crossfit!
2. Risk of injury: Any strength or power lifting exercise has the potential to cause injury. Even doing ladder drills or aqua fit can have their hazards! The lead up to a fight is fraught with perils and you have already won that contest if you make it to the ring.
3. The best reason: Nothing approximates the sport like the sport and nothing prepares you to do a particular movement like actually doing it.
Next I'll give you 3 reasons why doing "sport specific training is a good idea and 3 reasons why its not. Make sure to weigh these variables as you put together your training camp.
3 Reasons why it IS a good idea to incorporate "sport specific training":
1. Overuse injuries: If you are punching bags or jumping and kicking pads for thousands of reps or in the case of a sport like football hitting the tackle dummy a billion times, the chance for repetitive stress injuries goes up substantially.
2. Pre-hab: Doing loaded stop and start as well as rotation and anti-rotation type training not to mention strength training can prepare you for unexpected, violent movements and lessen the damage caused by these events. You can also correct imbalances like those caused by being in your stance for hours and turning your punches and kicks out always the same way.
3. The over-load principle: Doing something like adding weight to the body, hands and feet while shadow boxing as well as wearing an elevation mask or doing under-water running can add load to your cardiovascular system training and cause an over-compensation effect to give you an advantage in endurance. Here are some great trainers who have worked out fantastic programs to improve the fitness of fighters:
MMA FITNESS TRAINING AND CONDITIONING
THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE COURSE ON MMA SPECIFIC TRAINING!
3 Reasons why its not a good idea:
1. Time limitations: You have a limit to the amount of time in a day so training your skills as part of your conditioning work will kill the proverbial "two birds". If you have 5 hours per day to train, BJJ, Boxing, Muay Thai, Wrestling you aint got time to do no Crossfit!
2. Risk of injury: Any strength or power lifting exercise has the potential to cause injury. Even doing ladder drills or aqua fit can have their hazards! The lead up to a fight is fraught with perils and you have already won that contest if you make it to the ring.
3. The best reason: Nothing approximates the sport like the sport and nothing prepares you to do a particular movement like actually doing it.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
4 steps to POWER!
I'm going out on a limb here and assume that every fighter would want to have powerful punches, kicks and take downs; that on the ground they would want unbeatable submissions and un moveable positions. The process that any athlete uses to go about increasing the power of anything from a right cross to a power-snatch, a paddle stroke to a high jump is the same. When asked how to get "power" in a punch my coach Hon Lee gave this very concise formula which can be used in any sport but is essential to the fighting arts:
1. Technique
2. Flow
3. Speed
4. Power
1. Technique: Absolutely every technique we use must be mastered before we try putting any force behind it. Take an Olympic lifter for example, imagine violently throwing 300? Pounds over your head without knowing how to properly execute the movement! The process that most lifters work through consists of going over the steps of the lift many times, sometimes for months, with only a broomstick. Throwing a punch is also risky but for different reasons, still, the process is very similar. How many times do you practice a punch, first in the mirror, then on the bags and pads before the coach lets you spar with actual people? Make sure that every aspect of the technique is perfect, the turn of the foot, the torque in the hips.
2. Flow: The next step in the process is to make the technique flow. Weather you are throwing one punch or a combination; weather you are pulling a triangle or using it as a set-up for an arm-bar, you need to learn how to seamlessly flow through the movements keeping your defense tight. The smoothness of your movement also adds to your momentum which leads us nicely to the next step. "We want to move efficiently because it gives you higher performance, its energy-conservative and ultimately its safer. If you want to move often and more frequently you've got to be efficient with your movement to maintain safety and maintain that quality. That's why these skills, techniques and efficiency principals are so important." Clifton Harsky
3. Speed: A car traveling at 100k will do a lot more damage to a person than a bus traveling at 3k. Likewise, a fighter who has speed in their hands will cause much more havoc than a slow one, even if they are bigger. As long as we keep the technique sound and flow from one to another, adding some speed will automatically generate the power for step 4!
4. If you followed the last three steps you have already arrived here! Power is some thing we shouldn't be trying to do, it comes as a result of using you body with the most efficiency, hitting the target with accuracy and committing to our technique without reluctance. In my observations of hundreds of people training in the fighting arts I see similar patterns recurring often related to this. One of these is the way a fighter will slowly revert to instinctive reactions like pulling away from danger. If you think of fighting like placing your hand on a hot stove; holding the hand to the fire goes against our base human drive and we will do anything to remove it from pain. In order to have success in a fight we have to put our face, head and body into a dangerous situation in order to be in position to do damage to our opponent. I see this withdrawal in every fighter as the sparing heats up. In a class setting I am always aware of that and pull the students back to basic movements and get them to focus on technique, timing, distance and posture. Does this sound exactly like what a strength trainer would do? Any athlete that thinks that they are too advanced to revisit the basics will never advance!
1. Technique
2. Flow
3. Speed
4. Power
1. Technique: Absolutely every technique we use must be mastered before we try putting any force behind it. Take an Olympic lifter for example, imagine violently throwing 300? Pounds over your head without knowing how to properly execute the movement! The process that most lifters work through consists of going over the steps of the lift many times, sometimes for months, with only a broomstick. Throwing a punch is also risky but for different reasons, still, the process is very similar. How many times do you practice a punch, first in the mirror, then on the bags and pads before the coach lets you spar with actual people? Make sure that every aspect of the technique is perfect, the turn of the foot, the torque in the hips.
2. Flow: The next step in the process is to make the technique flow. Weather you are throwing one punch or a combination; weather you are pulling a triangle or using it as a set-up for an arm-bar, you need to learn how to seamlessly flow through the movements keeping your defense tight. The smoothness of your movement also adds to your momentum which leads us nicely to the next step. "We want to move efficiently because it gives you higher performance, its energy-conservative and ultimately its safer. If you want to move often and more frequently you've got to be efficient with your movement to maintain safety and maintain that quality. That's why these skills, techniques and efficiency principals are so important." Clifton Harsky
3. Speed: A car traveling at 100k will do a lot more damage to a person than a bus traveling at 3k. Likewise, a fighter who has speed in their hands will cause much more havoc than a slow one, even if they are bigger. As long as we keep the technique sound and flow from one to another, adding some speed will automatically generate the power for step 4!
4. If you followed the last three steps you have already arrived here! Power is some thing we shouldn't be trying to do, it comes as a result of using you body with the most efficiency, hitting the target with accuracy and committing to our technique without reluctance. In my observations of hundreds of people training in the fighting arts I see similar patterns recurring often related to this. One of these is the way a fighter will slowly revert to instinctive reactions like pulling away from danger. If you think of fighting like placing your hand on a hot stove; holding the hand to the fire goes against our base human drive and we will do anything to remove it from pain. In order to have success in a fight we have to put our face, head and body into a dangerous situation in order to be in position to do damage to our opponent. I see this withdrawal in every fighter as the sparing heats up. In a class setting I am always aware of that and pull the students back to basic movements and get them to focus on technique, timing, distance and posture. Does this sound exactly like what a strength trainer would do? Any athlete that thinks that they are too advanced to revisit the basics will never advance!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Boxing, Kickboxing for MMA, defense Low bobs and rocks.MPG
Both the "bob" and the "rock" can be used in many different applications. In this video I show you how you can use them for setting up low body punches or to use a s defense against an attack and thereby countering with the low punches. There are many other punches, kick and takedowns that can be set up using them, largely up to your own imagination. I will give some of these examples in the upcoming videos.
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