Martial Artists, whether for sport or for real combat, need to be cool, calm and collected to stay focused, fight through pain and not get intimidated or thrown off of their game.
Combat athletes need to be focused to make quick decisions and the correct decisions at that.
So why do most martial arts schools basically have people glove up and senselessly hit the punching pads, bags or each other?
You would NEVER see an elite level athlete like Tiger Woods go to the golf course and whack his golf ball as hard as he could with his clubs with as much effort as he could muster until he was exhausted… NEVER!!!
You would see him deciding which skills he needs improvement on, he would go to the appropriate area whether that be the putting green or sand pit or whatever. He would pick the right club, think about what is the best way to improve his shots and then he would practice, slowly at first to ensure proper motor control and then faster as he gained mastery.
Yet Martial Arts schools seem to be all about effort, emotion and ego.
Well, frankly… that is why there are not a lot of great Martial Artists around.
Sorry but it is true.
Bruce Lee took the Tiger Woods approach to his Martial Arts training. The Gracie family takes the Tiger Woods approach to their training.
If it is good enough for them then it is good enough for you. Step into the gym, check your ego at the door and practice to master your own body based upon the situations thrown at you. You can only do that with a cool, calm head.
Practice your techniques and tactics in slow motion with and without a partner until you can do them flawlessly. Now speed it up just a little. Now a little more. Now go full speed. Can you still pull off the technique or strategy? GREAT! Now add some element of surprise, different stimulus, different size opponent. Can you still pull it off? GREAT! Now spar with your new found abilities. Can you make them work in a sparring situation against different people with different methods of attack?
Now you are starting to become a Martial Artist instead of a Martial Effortist.
Watching a true Martial Arts master fight is a thing of beauty. They make it look effortless, maybe not pretty depending on the style, tactics or techniques used but definitely they are in control of their own body and usually their opponent’s body as a result.
If you aren’t in control of yourself in a fight, someone else soon will be!
Train to be cool, calm and under complete control. Train the mental aspects of combat as well as the physical.
The legendary undefeated Samurai Miyamoto Musashi wrote about this in The Book of Five Rings. Musashi survived over 60 duels to the death using his cool head to outwit his opponents. He fought an entire clan of rival Samurai who jumped him, literally he was supposed to duel with one man and the entire school attacked him. He killed nearly half of them before the rest ran away. This man had the mental game of combat figured out and was cool headed. In fact his main tactic was to get his opponents emotional and using effort and anger as he remained calm and collected.
Musashi wrote about two states of being in combat. The first state was acting timid, unsure and defensive on the outside while on the inside being like a caged tiger ready to pounce on an over confident attacker. The second state was acting like a crazed lunatic on the outside to intimidate your opponent while on the inside actually being very calm and collected.
If it was good enough for the greatest sword fighter who ever lived… I’m sure it is good enough for you.
So, approach your training as a true master, with a cool head and with the intent of improving specific aspects of your fighting ability; not as an amateur, with lots of wasted effort, tension and emotion.
Brian
