🧵 Training Principles
Anonymous at Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:23 UTC No. 181093
What are some training principles or pillars you follow or remember while training? Like cues for a weightlifter or calls for football players, just rules and words of wisdom you prioritize more than others.
For me, a fundamental truth or rule is head control.
Control and complete destruction of the primary target which is 9/10 times the head and neck. If they have no head or neck to use, they probably don't have anything. It's their greatest and most prolific weapon outside of an actual gun or knife.
Although I can't actually 'destroy the head' in practice, I can simulate just through control by going into clinches or assuming top position grips.
Anonymous at Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:59:27 UTC No. 181099
The value of perfection is that it is unattainable.
Anonymous at Thu, 28 Dec 2023 03:04:37 UTC No. 181104
>>181093
Slow makes smooth, smooth makes fast.
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Dec 2023 03:45:28 UTC No. 181191
>>181093
Love this scene btw, my dad showed to me when I was a kid and it filled me with a sense of mysticism and wonder for martial arts.
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Dec 2023 14:54:43 UTC No. 181219
>>181093
"Don't knock it till you try it"
Used to be a real hardass bout giving 'chink fu' a hard time. Don't get me wrong, still hate outdated monks trying to pretend like Shaolin forms are what you actually use in a fight.
But the skills transfer really well to, well, actual fighting. Are you going to use Qigong in a fight? No, but it's a nice warm up that helps you focus. Are you going to use straight Baji Quan in a fight, no, but the exercises can help build strength & accuracy.
>>181104
Are you going to use taichi in a fight? No, but the heightened familiarity with every link in your kinetic chain will bring you great power.
>>181191
Likewise. Bakmei is fucking badass & way more practical than given credit for.
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Dec 2023 16:39:29 UTC No. 181232
>>181093
>"Two on one, attack the hands."
Shocking how many times this comes up in grappling.
>"Win head position."
Might be just about all there is to it for clinch fighting. Not really, but it's amazing how important this is.
>"Hit with the floor."
Every strike starts from the feet and travels up. Hit with the whole body, every time.
>"Don't look away."
Control your impulse to turn your head away from strikes. You can protect your face just fine by burying your chin, aiming your forehead at him, and getting your hands up. Master that fear and shock. You can't defend something you can see, and you can't see what you ain't looking at.
>"Breathe."
When startled, it's natural to take a big inhaling gasp and then hold your breath. Don't do that, counter that by forcibly exhaling. Yelling your head off (kiai) is not a bad idea either, most people don't want to fight the crazy screaming guy. In training, your ability to control and regulate your breathing is intimately linked to your ability to manage both fatigue, and your emotional state. Just breathe, and don't get flustered. If you're trapped in a position, think about what's really going on and what you need to do. If you keep getting popped with the same strike, why? What's really going on? If this guy is just 1000x better than you and you feel like a useless klutz, that's OK, keep breathing, keep working, you probably won'tbeat him but make him work just 1% harder than he wants to. If you're so exhausted you feel like you might die, work on breathing deeper and slower, if you can control your breath you're probably not going to have a heart attack.
>"Where are we? What are we trying to accomplish right now?"
Contemplating this is pretty much all I do when rolling, lol.
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Dec 2023 16:41:00 UTC No. 181233
>>181232
Con't
>"Select superior weapons and targets."
Don't just grab air when you make a fist, fold each finger at each knuckle tightly so that the fist is nothing but flesh and bone with no gaps. Don't risk your hands on his skull, use elbows and knees. Your boot heels and your shin bones are probably a lot tougher than his thighs, calves, and insteps. Use the right weapon at the right range on the right target. Don't punch a guy in the forehead, hit him right in the goatee or the mustache, or the throat if it's available in a self-defense situation. Don't just bounce a fist off his sternum, rifle him right through the solar plexus. If his foot is the nearest thing to you, sweep it, stomp it, or kick his leg, why risk getting closer to him?
>"Do damage."
Don't worry about what he's doing, make him worry about what you're doing. Don't think about this or that technique, just locate a target and smash it with the nearest available weapon.
>"Don't worry about what you can't do, focus on what you can do."
I don't care about what you can't do. I didn't ask you what you can't do. I'm interested in what you CAN do, and what you WILL do. I didn't say, "do 1000 pushups". I said, do pushups, and try to do more than you did last time. I didn't say, "kick that basketball player in the head", I said, kick as high as you can without compromising your technique or your balance. Don't get discouraged if someone else is making faster progress than you, just keep showing up. What are you going to do today, right now, to get better?
And of course: "slow is smooth, smooth is fast." This is sound wisdom that needs no defense.
Thanks for reading my blog. Sorry, I am a verbose motherfucker, but this was a fun thought experiment/writing exercise.
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Dec 2023 21:20:26 UTC No. 181267
>>181093
>just be stronger and faster than the other guy
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Dec 2023 21:23:36 UTC No. 181269
The other guy cares how he wins, I care about pissing on the other guy's grave