Coach Jones
08-30-2006, 12:12 PM
The Goal In Fighting Is'nt To NOT Be Hit, Thrown or Submitted. The Goal IS To Make Yourself Hard(er) To Be Hit Thrown Or Submitted.
Recently, I posted the above blanket statement in the FlowFighting™ athletes assesments and I just want to make sure that everyone understands EXACTLY what it means and why I posted it.
It may seem like a simple thing, but if you can really wrap your head around this it will ramp your fighting up exponentially almost instantly!
The way that the majority of martial arts/self defense classes are structured lends itself to the notion that getting hit equals a failed technique. That there is something the athlete is doing "wrong" because if it were done "right" they wouldn't be gettting hit.
The trouble with this line of thinking is that, whether you're involved in a self-defense or combat sport situation, getting hit or not getting hit is NOT within your control.
Read the above again...getting hit or not getting hit is NOT within your control.
If your attention is narrowly focused on not getting hit, you are effectively pushing yourself into a Downward Performance Spiral.
I remember, many years ago sparring with a much more experienced boxer. My coach at the time took me down to a community center so I could get some sparring time in with some new fighters I wasn't comfortable with.
They put me in with a wirey little kid they called "Sweet Pea" (No, it wasn't THE "Sweet Pea"). He was several notches below my weight class, but he also lapped me at the time in experience and years of training.
The match was hardly even. He was so fast and accurate that he'd pop me in the grill with two, three or even four punch combinations and be gone before I knew what happened.
Did I mention this guy was much smaller than me?
Every time he smacked me I got more and more upset. If I could have hit him, I would have broken him into...IF I could have hit him.
The more I focused on not getting hit, the less I was able to focus on hitting him. That was the reason I was there, right? With no offense coming from me, he was able to hit me even more...which made me even more frustrated...which made me try and get hit less...which......you get the point.
So, if you shouldn't focus on not getting hit, what should you focus on?
Making yourself harder to hit!
If you're fighting, you're going to get hit. Accept it. Deal with it and get over it. You have to move, to be elusive. you have to use lateral movement. You don't move only in response to your opponent strike, you move to make yourself harder to hit. A moving target is harder to hit, especially if you don't know where the target is going to move next.
Trust your position!
At the seminar, we talked about your "stance" as being a movement base rather than a static structure. We talked about hand position and keeping the hands up.
Coach Wilson said repeatedly, "Trust Your Position".
There's a reason he kept saying it. It's important. It's vital. If you don't trust your position, you're defense will immediatly regress to backing away. If your defense regresses to backing away, you can't initiate an effective offense. You've now dug yourself a hole. The less effective offense you can muster up, the more the opponent will (should) be on top of you. Now you back up more and the cycle continues.
Your hands are up for a reason. To protect yourself. If you don't trust them, and your defense is predominantly retreat, you need more sparring - bottom line. Remember, work your sparring like you work everything in CST. Incrementally. Softwork to Hardwork and back again.
Shock Absorbtion - "The Flowfighter's Advantage"
While there are a million things that make FlowFighting™ stand out, Shock Absorbtion is definitely high on the list. Like we talked about at the seminar, this is not the purposeful response or defense to your opponent's attack. Rather, the secret lies in the training of the attribute rather than trying to turn it into a skill.
When you practice your CST, Intu-Flow®, Prasara, etc., you are training the attribute of Shock Absorbtion. When you work drills with a partner, remember it's an attribute NOT a skill. When an opponent strikes, you don't intentionally absorb. In the frey of combat/competition the attribute simply IS it's not something that has to be done.
I hope this helps clarify the points above. Like I said, if you can really wrap your head around it, your performance will skyrocket.
If you're still hazy on any of this, please say so.
Recently, I posted the above blanket statement in the FlowFighting™ athletes assesments and I just want to make sure that everyone understands EXACTLY what it means and why I posted it.
It may seem like a simple thing, but if you can really wrap your head around this it will ramp your fighting up exponentially almost instantly!
The way that the majority of martial arts/self defense classes are structured lends itself to the notion that getting hit equals a failed technique. That there is something the athlete is doing "wrong" because if it were done "right" they wouldn't be gettting hit.
The trouble with this line of thinking is that, whether you're involved in a self-defense or combat sport situation, getting hit or not getting hit is NOT within your control.
Read the above again...getting hit or not getting hit is NOT within your control.
If your attention is narrowly focused on not getting hit, you are effectively pushing yourself into a Downward Performance Spiral.
I remember, many years ago sparring with a much more experienced boxer. My coach at the time took me down to a community center so I could get some sparring time in with some new fighters I wasn't comfortable with.
They put me in with a wirey little kid they called "Sweet Pea" (No, it wasn't THE "Sweet Pea"). He was several notches below my weight class, but he also lapped me at the time in experience and years of training.
The match was hardly even. He was so fast and accurate that he'd pop me in the grill with two, three or even four punch combinations and be gone before I knew what happened.
Did I mention this guy was much smaller than me?
Every time he smacked me I got more and more upset. If I could have hit him, I would have broken him into...IF I could have hit him.
The more I focused on not getting hit, the less I was able to focus on hitting him. That was the reason I was there, right? With no offense coming from me, he was able to hit me even more...which made me even more frustrated...which made me try and get hit less...which......you get the point.
So, if you shouldn't focus on not getting hit, what should you focus on?
Making yourself harder to hit!
If you're fighting, you're going to get hit. Accept it. Deal with it and get over it. You have to move, to be elusive. you have to use lateral movement. You don't move only in response to your opponent strike, you move to make yourself harder to hit. A moving target is harder to hit, especially if you don't know where the target is going to move next.
Trust your position!
At the seminar, we talked about your "stance" as being a movement base rather than a static structure. We talked about hand position and keeping the hands up.
Coach Wilson said repeatedly, "Trust Your Position".
There's a reason he kept saying it. It's important. It's vital. If you don't trust your position, you're defense will immediatly regress to backing away. If your defense regresses to backing away, you can't initiate an effective offense. You've now dug yourself a hole. The less effective offense you can muster up, the more the opponent will (should) be on top of you. Now you back up more and the cycle continues.
Your hands are up for a reason. To protect yourself. If you don't trust them, and your defense is predominantly retreat, you need more sparring - bottom line. Remember, work your sparring like you work everything in CST. Incrementally. Softwork to Hardwork and back again.
Shock Absorbtion - "The Flowfighter's Advantage"
While there are a million things that make FlowFighting™ stand out, Shock Absorbtion is definitely high on the list. Like we talked about at the seminar, this is not the purposeful response or defense to your opponent's attack. Rather, the secret lies in the training of the attribute rather than trying to turn it into a skill.
When you practice your CST, Intu-Flow®, Prasara, etc., you are training the attribute of Shock Absorbtion. When you work drills with a partner, remember it's an attribute NOT a skill. When an opponent strikes, you don't intentionally absorb. In the frey of combat/competition the attribute simply IS it's not something that has to be done.
I hope this helps clarify the points above. Like I said, if you can really wrap your head around it, your performance will skyrocket.
If you're still hazy on any of this, please say so.