Move that body baby...

Hey, good news! The article that used to be here can now be found over at my friend (and brilliant coach) Mladen's site  http://complementarytraining.net/category/free-content/
The text is pretty much the same, but the video attached as illustration is a bit better, so I hope you will enjoy it. 

In the meantime, also feel free to search Youtube for the clips titled pelokinetic fitness in order to see more material of the same nature, as well the page of the same name on Facebook.

Enigmatic issues

Every once in a while, you are in a situation to say or think “he (or she) just beat me to the punch”, and in a good way…no bleeding noses or anything. You know, when it feels great to find out that there is someone else out there who happens to be on the same page as you are in certain regards. I have had that sort of experience recently.

A lot of people over the years have asked when I am going to write a book on martial arts. Admittedly, I did entertain the idea but could not pin down the exact topic to approach, so this blog was an attempt to somehow compensate for that. Well, someone else wrote that book!

I first heard of Chad McBroom a few years back, as one of the regional representatives for the Libre Fighting System, one of the most dynamic and popular modern fighting systems, especially focusing on the use of knives. Regardless of that, McBroom is a practitioner of high level in a vast variety of other martial and combative methods as well, and his book Solving the Enigma: Insights into Fighting Models offers excellent insights into the fundamental principles that that will make or break any particular fighting style.

Get it, read it!

In the days when pretty much everybody is involved in some kind of cross-training, reading this book should be almost mandatory, depending on your goals in training. But even if you are into it just for fun, having this information could be invaluable in shedding light on some important aspects of training that may not even cross your mind. If you have read this blog previously, you probably have noted that, as opposed to some many people concerned with WHAT and HOW of martial arts, I am almost always pondering the WHY of many training approaches. So, if you are wondering about the latter question, Solving the Enigma will do just that – provide solid answers to help the readers and practitioners understand the inner working of their chosen system, no matter which one it could be.

The book dissects all the relevant factors that dictate the functioning of any martial art, from the geographical origin, through designated effect, to impact of garments/armor etc. Once you have understood those (and other) aspects, it is much easier to figure out what is the right fighting school for you, or which ones would mix and match well or not at all. Now, we are not looking at a huge elaboration here, there is about 80 pages of text and pictures, but the material is really in line with the goal of McBroom's work – distill the fundamentals and make them work.

If you are wondering whether it works, just take a look at the different martial methods that the author has managed to fuse and teach under his banner of Comprehensive Fighting Systems. Of course, the mere list of systems he trained in would be meaningless if it weren’t for the fact that McBroom happens to teach his stuff successfully to the number of professionals who rely on it in their line of work.

Whatever your motives for being involved with any sort of fighting training, do yourself a favor and read this book. It will make the pieces of the puzzle fit much faster, thus making your training that much enjoyable and meaningful. 

Ouch!...and then what?

We all get injured at some point of our training, and not necessarily in training. Still, even if the injury is a result of some accident or actions in our daily life, it still affects our training efforts. So, how do we deal with it?

Of course, ideally we had done everything to avoid and prevent such problems - training smart, having good general fitness level etc, but we all know life is never ideal. I think the first important thing is to acknowledge the issue. In the field where the macho attitude is still highly valued and whining discouraged (rightfully so), it is easy to be somewhat reckless. Nobody likes to deal with the type of people who are moanin' and bitchin' at every little inconvenience and the first sign of discomfort. It is crucial, though, to be able and tell the difference between discomfort and actual pain - the first is a message from your ego, the second from your body. Learn to differentiate between the two and know which one to listen to.

Next, get to learn as much as possible about the problem (but keep it pertinent, you don't need a medical degree), and what is the right course of action...if any. The thing is, sometimes the right thing to do is to do nothing, whether it means to just keep training as usual or literally do nothing - total rest. Refrain from using the former approach as an excuse to be stupid, and using the latter as an excuse to be lazy.

Finally, learn how to train around the injury, if at all possible. When you do that mindfully, it could teach you a ton of stuff. About your body, about your character, about the tactics, techniques and mechanics of your chosen fighting system and  so on. Compensate for any lack of physical training by reading and researching, digging deeper into the "software" portion of your training. This is when you analyze your performance to find out what went wrong and lead to the injury in the first place, but also how to prevent similar things from happening in the future.

Make sure to begin the rehabilitation process as soon as possible, but NOT too soon. Such decision requires certain maturity from the practitioner and responsibility from the instructors/coaches. When pondering the situation, keep the long-term goals in mind and err on the side of caution.

Most of us normally only think of injuries when they happen to us, especially at younger age. While that is probably normal and expected, it is unacceptable to not learn the lessons contained in times of trouble. It is those exact lessons that will help you most in the long way and enable your training to continue in progress for a long time to come. 

Embracing mistakes

Here is a quickie - how do you deal with mistakes in training? How do you perceive them, even?

Obviously, it depends on the kind of mistake, but in general we can see the mistakes as a source of frustration or as a source of learning. Naturally, one should strive to reduce the former attitude and cultivate the latter.

The mistakes that occur in isolated fashion, once or twice, especially if far between, do not really require much attention. They may be more a matter of circumstances and personal disposition on a given day than the result of some training omissions. It is the repeated/regular ones that demand attention and pondering.

The first step that ought to be done is diagnostics - why do these particular mistakes happen? When? How? Where? If we investigate these questions and find the answers, the plan to fix it should already start emerging. An important notice here - sometimes the glaring mistakes are actually consequences of less perceptible, smaller ones. If that is the case, correcting the "source" mistake might lead to the auto-correction of the bigger one. Another thing to consider is whether the mistakes stem from the failure to implement the training procedures properly, or maybe from the inadequate training procedures themselves.

Be as it may, as long as you don;t lose your mind and get overly emotional over mistakes, it will be possible to actually gain precious information and lessons from them. Such an attitude will also encourage you to try new things and experiment with fresh ideas, hence eliciting more joy from one;s training.

There it is...now go train in an environment that is challenging enough to make you make some mistakes :-) 

Bird view

Funny think struck me the other day. Not really an epiphany, but more like finally finding the missing part of the puzzle sort of reasoning. "About what?" you may ask...

Well, I have never been a kind of guy who desperately needs ostentatious recognition and/or ceremonies within a hierarchical organization in order to feel valued or as a confirmation of whether my training and effort had been worthwhile. Yet, it does not mean I feel disdain or other negative attitude toward various organizations (let's stay with martial arts here) per se. Some of them are functional, serving the purpose of making things easier for the members, some are unfortunately their very own raison d'etre, but it is not really any different than in other fields of life. Anyway, I did notice that some of those associations I liked better than others, and sometimes wondered why.

Sometimes I would think it depended on their administrative setting, other times I thought it had to do with the training methodology, maybe declared philosophy. mission etc. But no, there is another decisive factory.

We now get back to the beginning of this post. I received the latest book, War Hawk, written by Fernan Vargas, and got into a brief correspondence/conversation with the author. I was familiar with some of his earlier works (hence my initiative for obtaining this one), and our exchanges confirmed the impression I had of Mr Vargas. His demeanor showed a humble and honest man, always eager to learn more and new things, shying away from the pretentious status of grandmastery and other related aspects. On the other hand, his actual high level of expertise on the matter he teaches and does is evident in the process of sincerely sharing the knowledge he had accumulated over the decades of practice.

And so, as the birds of the feather flock together, Vargas seems to be gathering a colorful band of people of the similar ilk in his Raven Tactical International in a loose structural organization, but with the tight bond of common values. Finally, this is where I had my light-bulb moment - it is the fraternal feeling of non-enforced tribal belonging that some organizations have that I tend to appreciate. In such cases, even if I don't share the same views and interests of the said associations, there is still the tendency to enjoy the company of their members, relieved of any need to prove something to the rest of the world, content in belonging to where they feel at home.

Another nice commonality in such organizations is that their members tend to be ready and willing to learn from each others and help each other grow, regardless of their previous experience, background or "level" in the group. It is the supportive and not fiercely competitive atmosphere that enables the development to mean true growth and maturing, and not just plain expansion for the sake of numbers.

The aforementioned published works of Fernan Vargas and his associates are a nice example of this attitude. They all start with some very important notions and clear ego-check points that are too often either taken for granted or ignored altogether. Oh, and when it comes to the value of the contents, one would be severely challenged to find a better ratio of the proverbial bang for the buck.

Naturally, the Raven bunch is not the only crew of that sort, or worth mentioning in this light (Systema Homo Ludens of Alex Kostic, Astig Lameco of Roger Agbulos, Libre Fighting of Scott Babb, Combat Systema of Kevin Secours, to mention just a few), but being that they happened to be responsible for my "moment of insight" I devoted the space to them.

Liking other types of organizations and their inner workings is absolutely fine, as long as you find what you are looking for in them. It is just my personal preference to gravitate toward certain types of communities, and I am he author of this blog, so...

NOTICE: I am in no way and by no means affiliated with the RTI or Mr Vargas. This entire piece of writing was completely unsolicited by any of the mentioned parties. It represents my honest opinion, based on my personal experience with those subjects, so take it for what it is.

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.