Only the good stuff

Aren’t you sick tired of it sometimes? I for sure am. It’s been a long time in the fitness industry, people telling how they had a great workout and then pour loads of numbers on you – sets, reps, poundage/kilos lifted etc. But when you actually go and see them train, you cringe at their form and movement. I have notices similar occurrence in martial/combative circles, especially related to the solo training sessions…hundreds of punches, kicks, breakfalls…whatever. Even partner drilling is too often based around the notion of “X repetitions one side, then switch and X reps the other”.

The humankind’s obsession with its own technological advances got really perverted, to the degree where we are trying to imitate the machines we had made. Hence my disdain for the above terms like “industry” when used in certain phrases. Nowadays everything is about quantity, to the expense of quality. But it should not be. After all, in the martial training we strive (well, we should) for the technical proficiency, as it is the aspect that enables the grace and flow that puts the ART in the martial art paradigm. Yes, I still believe the effectiveness should come first, but it has never meant that efficiency is not important. Quite to the contrary.

Let us think for just a brief moment, who are typically the people whose performance provides inspiration for so many of us in the fighting “universe”? Is there anyone out there who sincerely believes that the likes of Muhammad Ali, Kyuzo Mifune, Rickson Gracie and other greats of their ilk had become that by the sheer amount of their training? No, they did not just train more (if they did train more than their rivals at all), but they sure did train better!

Take a look at the previous video and tell me if Rickson seems even remotely concerned about the numbers – reps, miles, sets, rounds – or is it more about the quality of what he does? Well, if one is in this for the long run, then we better follow his lead.

OK, so how to make sure you train well, not just a lot? Obviously, it demands presence and focus during the sessions. In order to maintain the necessary level of concentration, start by doing your activity (drills, techniques, forms) for time periods/rounds and not preset number repetitions. Go as slow as needed to prevent technical degradation. Make the rounds short and alternate between the rounds of two or three unrelated skills. This sort of interleaved practice keeps the nervous system operating better, thus yielding the better retention in the long run.

Next, be sure that everybody involved in the training understand that resistance does not equal competition, and that you can’t win a drill. Training partners are there to help each other grow by presenting challenge, not to impede one another by boosting the ego. It is possible to training both hard and smart at the same time.

Making periodical video footage of you training sessions does not only provide great feedback regarding the potential flaws and problems to work on, but also motivation when comparing the progress made over the course of months or years. This is particularly handy in those schools and systems that do not use those extrinsic “measures” such as belts, grades etc.

Don’t get me wrong, there are times when “hard facts” rule, and our training needs to be as precisely measurable as possible, but for crying out loud, do not let statistics take over your life, because numbers and papers will never be more important than people.

Hidden in plain sight

Isn’t it strange how people will occasionally pick a single aspect of a phenomenon to interpret as its essence, and then mock or argue another person for doing the exact same thing, only with a different aspect? We have all seen (maybe even been part) of those endless arguments over minuscule details in martial arts – is the hand held horizontally or vertically when punching; is the front foot in this or that stance held at the angle of 35 or 38 degrees; the supporting leg carries 55% or 60% of the weight..? Some training approaches, such as those common in Russian martial arts universe, don’t get stuck so much with the technical details, being declaratively based on principles, and will see the above debates as childish and the waste of time.

However, some of those schools will embrace one (or a couple) of those principles and concepts as their staple, other schools another one or few, and lo and behold – the debates and bickering are raging again! For example, on one end of the spectrum one may find schools that are almost entirely devoted to the work on the psychological and emotional equilibrium, breathing, maintaining composure and so on, in hope of being able to take advantage of such mental state and come up with physical solutions on the spot, in case of an unfortunate situation when they may need them. The other far end holds the belief that if the practitioners have a firm grasp of the mechanical principles, steeped in scientific foundations, it will in turn instill the deep sense of confidence and calmness, hence the ability to deal with the same potential calamities with efficiency. There are, of course the schools and methods that find themselves somewhere along the middle portion of the continuum, in hope of getting the best of both worlds. Interestingly enough, all those training avenues share the same problems.

Admittedly, I had spent time in both camps, and got something useful from each. Still, there was a missing element, and unfortunately either approach tends to be condescending on the exact portion of the fighting world that may hold the answer. But, let us see the main challenge first.

In their (often earnest) quest for the sound combative effect, so many of those schools and their practitioners spend their entire time and effort working on themselves, i.e. how to improve their own perceived efficiency and effectiveness in combat. Naturally, there is nothing wrong with such goal, but it is just one side of the equation. Years ago, I learned about the training dichotomy used in certain JKD circles, and it presents two different, and at the same time complementary, vantage points – self preservation and self perfection.

If I have managed to get my point across with any success, it is clear that the problem of most RMA systems is the almost exclusive dedication to the latter part. Having that in mind, they work for the most part in the learning/discovery environment, with slow movement and drills, but rarely in the practicing and functionalization mode, with resisting partners who are actively looking to hinder the attempted actions. Even when working with some commitment and considerable energy, they usually lack the intention. The related aspects of this problem have been already discussed on this blog, so I will move the part that seeks the solution.

Again, if you read the description of the challenge in the previous paragraph, some sort of criteria for the “cure” starts emerging – resisting partners (NOTE: we are still talking training partners, not opponents or enemies), effort to hinder the action, in order to actually take over the advantageous position. I don’t know about you, but it sounds very much like sports to me. That said, it bears saying right here: I do not think it is necessary to compete and get involved with the entire dominance/hierarchical paradigm. Adding that segment of training methodology to your work is very much needed. Finding the right balance should enable the trainees to reap the benefits of such training, without getting bogged down with the injuries, frustration, overexertion and other maladies often associated with serious competitive training.

Be the fulcrum - hold balance

Why is sportive approach useful? Well, it puts you in touch with the fundamental part of any combative training – the other. And I mean it in more than a simple prop, something to deal with or an object for your techniques/action. The training partner is not just the helper (as important as that role is), but also the measure of your training, pushing you toward your goal, maybe even challenging and redefining that goal.

In the end, don’t be superficial on a different surface, but believe you are better than those who are unable to dig deeper on another. Look for the building blocks of any training methodology, past the visual, technical and/or ideological differences; avoid becoming entangled in the terminology and go for the substance… It can only help you grow in training.

Profiting from your training

Really, how do you profit from it? Well, I'm sorry to say, but the answer starts with "it depends"... First and foremost it depends on what do you want from being involved with this whole martial arts and fighting/combat thing. I have already discussed one's motivation elsewhere on this blog, and that is usually fine to begin with, but in order to stay with our training we also need some sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, right?

When there are no external "symbols" of progress (yeah, belts/grades and similar "carrots" to chase) it can be easy to lose sight of all the benefits practitioners may be reaping from the regular practice. Heck, when there ARE those extrinsic rewards, they will often distract you from seeing what truly matters.

It's all relative 

Remember why you first came to that club or training group? Was it for conditioning, fun, self-defense, discipline, sport? Well, did you get any of that, and if so, did it make you feel good? If yes, then you have already got something very valuable from training. 

Still, there may be, and probably is, more, but you ought to take a deeper look into the overall situation. Let me tell you my take on it.

I have been recently asked what is the most precious thing I got from close to three decades of doing martial arts. It got me thinking, and to my surprise, the answer came to me rather quickly and with firm certainty - meeting so many great people along the way and becoming friends with some of them! Had someone asked me back then about my expectations, I certainly would not have even dreamed of getting to know so many people, located from Australia, China, Philippines, through Russia and most European countries, all the way to USA and Canada, and even from South Africa to Siberia. 

Just thinking of all the great and mind-growing conversations and interactions wit hall of them makes my heart warm and my face smile, not to mention all the brilliant training I had along the way. Even in this day and age of technological means that allow us to be anywhere at any time, it is still my years of martial training that "guides" me in choosing those places and times. 

And let me tell you - it was all worth it, so I'm looking forward to the decades of training to come!

Walk the talk - review of Rodney King's book

Today I’m writing about a strange book…or better said, reading it was a strange experience for me. See, I have been familiar with the name and work of Rodney King (just in case – we’re talking the renowned martial art/fighting instructor from South Africa) and his no-nonsense approach and clear presentation of his creative kickboxing and clinch material, developed as Crazy Monkey Defense program, was very appealing to me. Rodney has all the traits of an excellent instructor: he knows his material and curriculum inside-out; has good eye for seeing what needs to be worked on with his students; knows how to bring a point across efficiently and succinctly; his students demonstrate those qualities in their own performance. For a few years in mid-2000’s he was among my Top10 video instructors out there.

And then, something happened. At some point, King changed his “game”. He started using the term clients instead of fighters/students, and stuff like life performance instead of functional skill etc. In short, the entire paradigm turned a bit too corporate sounding for my taste. Yet, his training material remained top notch, so I kept my eye on what he has to say. This year, he published a book titled Full Contact Living. Preparing You for the Martial Arts of Every Day Life. 

book cover

Uh-oh…so now it started sounding new-agey, too. Life coaching and things of that sort. Still, Rodney was teaching good and practical, hands-on fighting stuff all the time, so I read the book. At first I was confused – there was plenty of excellent info, albeit packed in a language that is not particularly inviting to me. The focus of the book is on the mental training and preparation, be it fighting or other situations that require performance under stress, and that is fine, I did not expect the book on how to punch and kick in the first place. No, it was the writing style that threw me off. Where was the “good ole’ high-speed low-drag” Rodney King?

And then it dawned on me! I read through his preface again, as well as other articles, interviews and blogs on the web to see what is going on. Admittedly, I had usually concentrated on the man’s technical and tactical material, while neglecting his background and philosophy (yes, shame on me). Once giving his story a bit of thought, it became obvious why he wanted to do away with a lot of his earlier ways of doing things. OK, but how did Rodney end up where he is now? Illumination no.2 – not being in any of those “action” professions, such as military, law enforcement etc., he is actually much more in line with his martial teaching than the majority of us.

You see, the phrase “martial arts as the way of life” is a much (ab)used and thrown around, with glaring inconsistencies between one’s training and daily practices. In that regard, King has actually taken the steps to really put his fight training experience in this daily life, and being that he lives in a modern social-economic paradigm, like most of us, this new approach actually makes a lot of sense. The vocabulary in use is adequate for the book’s intended targeted reading public, so even if you (like me) do not necessarily perceive yourself as a member of that public, there is still a lot of good stuff to be gained, but just understand that the literary style may not suit you. Then again, Rodney has put out a manual, not a novel.

Finally, to the contents of the book. After presenting the readers with his background (which gives the man substantial authority on the subject), Rodney divides his presentation into seven components – six principles and one meta-principle, given in a logical and pertinent order, even if they all work together.

1.      The wabi-sabi of peak performance is about what to strive for and how to keep sight on the objective and act on it, without getting lost in what could be distracting details.

2.      Buddha mind, warrior body deals with the ever important topics of focus and presence of mind, the crucial aspects of trying to achieve anything.

3.      Body attitude maters shows the often neglected interrelationship between body and mind in a fairly practical fashion, with some very good advice on how to improve in that domain, and this may be of special interest for the people actively competing in combat sports.

4.      Surf the edge of chaos could be my favorite chapter, as it pertains to the widely misunderstood way of dealing with change and thriving in the environment that may otherwise be intimidating to many.

5.      Exhale-take charge of your breath gives you the deceptively simple tools to facilitate the changes we are trying to accomplish, particularly in all sorts of performance under duress.

6.      Roll with the punches underlines that we all have to deal with setbacks and less than ideal circumstances, occasional failures and hiccups in our quest for whatever it may be, and how to deal with it.

Finally, the meta-principle of becoming an IGAMER fuses all the previous ones and discusses how in this case the whole may be greater than the simple sum of its parts. This is the section that glues all the pieces of your model together.

Again, I assume quite a few of my readers might be less than happy about the writing style in the Full Contact Living, but if you understand it as the packaging, you may still end up liking the contents and substance it has to offer. 

Restart!

While we all, more or less, strive to train year round, it is a widespread practice that when you train in a club/group, there is usually the divide between season and off-season. In competitive sports the difference is quite clear, but in all other activities, martial arts included, it mostly means that a "vacation" is taken during summer, and then the regular training regimen resumed in September.

As instructors, we are then faced by a repeating question - where do I (re)start this time? Over the years, I have tried various approaches, with varying degrees of success. For a while I settled on emphasizing the conditioning aspect to some degree, as it achieved several things: most trainees (especially the recreational ones) tend to neglect that portion of their training when left to their own devices, plus, people seem to value training sessions more when they sweat; if there are new people to the group (especially beginners) it allows them to fit in easier and feel less awkward or behind the group; prepares the body to better cope with the demands of technical work.

according to Laurent Vidal

However, for the last couple of seasons, I have been opting for another avenue. Namely, when on vacation, even if doing some solo training, it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, i.e. what we are training to achieve through our practice. Therefore, in my training group we spend the grand majority of time in the first few sessions doing various kinds of scenarios, drills and games without too much prior instruction in the technical domain. I will often just describe the task for each of the involved parties and let them come up with the best means of accomplishing it. There will be some hints and coaching during and between the rounds of activity, but it is kept to minimum in order to maintain the pace and the overall mood.

Such an approach offers some rather useful insights for the instructor(s) and trainees. For the instructor it diagnoses at the same time the fitness level and the degree of maintained technical skill among the practitioners/students, thus enabling better planning for the weeks and months to follow. The trainees are put into the activity on a more holistic level, which helps them understand the context of their technical training that will ensue, as well as appreciation for the needed physical attributes and the work it takes to develop them.

For those exact reasons, similar blocks of training sessions ought to be repeated at least a couple of times throughout the season, hopefully with increased intensity and resemblance to the "real thing", whatever it may be, depending on the training goals and motivations.

Challenges in training - congruency

Do you ever ruminate on how many various aspects have impact on the way you train, and down the road, possibly, on how effective your training is? Obviously, certain approaches to training dictate the manner of doing it, but how far/deep do we really ponder on those things?

Let me explain MY meaning behind the term congruency as used here. It would be - training in the way that most closely resemble the circumstances of the performance that the training process is meant to prepare us for. May sound obvious, but is it really? Let's see how far I can take it...

But of course...

For the purposes of this writeup, I will focus on the "functional" motivation for training in combative/martial activities (be it competition or self-protection), thus leaving out those driven by the aesthetic urges. What I will be saying here may also apply to the primarily traditional and historical students of martial ARTS, albeit in a slightly different manner.

So, for the above declared purpose of functional training, things could look fairly simple on the first sight - make sure to train with partners that resist enough to present the adequate challenge, while adhering to the governing rules of the event we are preparing for (where applicable). In sports...well, is there anything more to it that needs being mentioned? Let me put it this way - I remember reading an account of Royler Gracie training his students at the academy for an upcoming competition. Namely, the students were complaining about having to train with air-conditioning turned off and windows on the gym closed, in the heat of the Brazilian summer.  Royler's response was something along the lines of: "You will understand once we get to the venue - a stuffy, crowded arena without AC"! See, it makes sense, right? It is now easy to understand that all the people who trained in those nice, ventilated and cooled gyms would have more things to deal with.

By the same token, still in terms of sport-related activities, do you always train in the same conditions, simply because that is how things are in your training place? What if the competition hall will have much brighter or dimmer lights? Different mats maybe? Will you take it for granted and try to "go with the flow" or maybe try to somehow emulate those differences in training?

Now, we move on to the "real world, self defense" side of  the tracks. Obviously, the sheer number of all imaginable situations is impossible to be replicated in training, but there are some common denominators that are very important. For starters, do you even train always in the same place? If so, does it dictate the kind of clothes you will wear during the sessions, or even more importantly, the footwear? Let's say there are no such "house rules"...but let's say it is an indoor location. So, do you always work out in the clothes that are most comfortable for you? You know, the sport shoes, sweatsuit, shorts, t-shit... But what if you spend most of your days wearing jeans, boots, maybe a vest and a helmet? Yeah, construction worker of sorts! Would it make a difference"?

How about stepping out and actually trying a change in the training environment itself? I have already written elsewhere about uneven surfaces, disproportionate force etc. But there is more to it. If we address the issue of fighting with and against weapons, mixing it up with different "tools" is not the only concern... How do you choose your training weapons/facsimiles? Is it simply the matter of availability/price, or do you actually try to make it as close in looks and feel to the one you carry on you daily? Do you even carry? If not, you probably hope for using what happens to be at hand in the case of "may you never need it" going down the drain. But then, are you diversified enough? Maybe somebody may think that if you spend some time with a good FMA group it would cover quite a wide scope of options - after all once you are handy with an eskrima/arnis stick and knife, it is easy to adapt. Hm, not to burst anybody's bubble, but from experience I can tell you that a lead pipe or a baseball bat behave differently, and require some time spent on getting acquainted with. But moreover, could you use a brick or a rock with some effectiveness? Flexible implements like chains and belts? Hey, let's go back to our construction worker! Can you handle a hammer combatively?

With all that off my chest, I hope to get a bit more coherent now. The point of this article was not have you lose focus in training or "spread you thin", depending on the available time for working on your fighting ability. Obviously, we need to look at things from the possible vs. probable perspective and in line with Pareto's law find out what techniques and methods will give the most bang for the buck...especially for a beginner or someone on the early stages of training.

No, my message was - DON'T get complacent and stuck in a rut! If nothing else, there are some ides here to entertain and play with during the summer vacation ;-)

Teaching vs. coaching

The title reflects the subject I've been pondering lately, but to get something right right now - I do not think the two processes/roles are actually conflicting or in some sort of opposition. As it often is, most phenomena happen in some kind of continuum but for one reason or another, a lot of people will only see the polar extremes of that continuum. And that, of course, offers a distorted view of how things are 99% of the time.

So, let us begin with what the differences are between a teacher and a coach...in my own view and for the purposes of this article.

The essential role of the teacher is to present a subject of choice in such a way that the students will understand the matter and become able to approach the practice (hopefully), with the goal of mastering/internalizing/functionalizing that knowledge. The coach, on the other hand, is concerned more with the latter part, i.e. the practice and its results. In other words, in the more specific physical training context, the teacher works on the technical material/curriculum, while the coach works on the practitioner/athlete.

I have already written about teaching and what makes a good teacher, so this time I'd rather turn toward the other side, i.e. coaching.

For the visual types, and not my own design

In the world of martial arts and general combative training, I do not see enough coaches, in comparison with the percentage of teachers. Especially so in the so-called traditional or classical styles, where the heavy emphasis in training is on learning the curriculum, which means making sure that some "sacred knowledge" is not lost or deteriorated in some way. In those circles, the focus of performance is on whether something looks adequately or seems proper. The principal criterion here is often visual, so the student may be told that something is done "like this, not like that", but when asked "why", the teacher typically answers that it is the right way of doing it. That, of course, is not an explanation at all.

To the coach, the main issue is not whether whether any technical element is done this or that way, but - does it work! And the work part means in the circumstances it is meant to be used in. That is why in most fighting sports we only discuss the individual styles of a fighter, not so much in the term of "lineage". Take a look at boxing...there are definitely styles in it (peek-a-boo, Texas slip 'n' slide etc.) but the bottom line is whether a boxer can hold his or her own in the ring. And that is also why you see different types of fighters coming from the same gym - the coaches work on each one's personal strengths and weaknesses to optimize their performance.

My most recent encounter with the dichotomy of teaching and coaching (which peaked the inspiration for this article) happened during the seminar with guro Roger Agbulos of the Astig Lameco school, a couple of weeks back. Namely, his approach to conducting a seminar is different to most other instructors I have met, being that he will keep harping on the same technique or principle for longer than the majority of other. On top of that, guro Roger will usually spar a lot of participants of the seminar, and then also have them spar among themselves, while offering tips from the side.

When asked about it, he said he would rather spend three hours on a couple of techniques than go over a lot, because it enables him to coach the practitioner in real time. More specifically, it gives enough time to see what are the problems/mistakes that the individual trainee will exhibit, and then work on correcting them. It also means the coach will tweak and adapt the material to suit the particular trainee, not the other way around. Ultimately, to a committed coach, what counts is the result, not the amount of technical knowledge or the size of the arsenal.

The author being coached by Roger Agbulos

Naturally, in order for the process of coaching to take place, it entails certain prerequisites. There has to be continuity in working with one coach/trainee; fairly high level of mutual trust is needed, too; both sides have to be aware of their roles and responsibilities in the process, and so on. Of course, when an instructor only does occasional seminars in particular places, and with a group(s) of people who do not show up repeatedly, the above conditions are absent. In that case it is very difficult to be a coach. Add to the equation that some folks are naturally more inclined to one role or the other, and consequently you have two broad categories that could be described as a "seminar instructor" and a "club instructor". 

And yet, these aspect do not necessarily exclude each other. Remember, most things happens are somewhere on the continuum line, hence consisting of various degrees of both extreme polarized values. 

As my friend Mladen Jovanovic rightly preaches, the best results are usually accomplished through the complementary approach, where you choose the right tool for the task at hand, instead of upholding a dogmatic attitude of things are done. 

In conclusion - know your goals; know your tools; know your trainees... An then mix and match the ingredients in a deliberate and attentive way for the best results.