You may have (read:never) wondered what my dreams and aspirations may be. Recently, I had this crazy dream where Steven Seagal was lecturing a group of NBA players on martial arts – all the while playing ping pong with one arm because his other was holding a basketball signed by Lebron James. He was actually kicking butt at both the ping pong and the lecture – I’ve set a goal to be as baller as dream-Seagal.
The point? I have bizarre dreams and so do you: you want to become a professional fighter. And I think that’s awesome. I know enough about the sport and profession to dissuade most interested persons from pursuing a career in fighting … but you know what? If you have the spark to go for it, DO IT. Dreams are a starting point of greatness; they’re an itch that need to be scratched.
What about the fear of failure? What if you’re not cut out for life in the pros?
So what? Who gives a crap?
Sure, you’ll get knocked out and choked out and tired out from trying – but you’ll be more hardcore than 99.9% of the couch-dwelling mouth-breathers out there.
Your dream is a starting point to a journey and not every dream is the finial destination. If the dream wasn’t exactly where you wanted to go, maybe you’ll discover a better-suited goal along the way. Or maybe you find that your dream is exactly where you want to go.
Either way, I’d like to see more people set sail into the deep water. Enough with the second guessing and the excuses.
Go out there, do your thing, see what happens.
Tags: amatuer fighting, amatuer mma, dreams, goal setting, Steven Seagal
Let me formally introduce you to a most righteous dude, Sir Isaac Newton. You may think of Sir Newton as the fellow who spent a lot of time chilling under apple trees pondering the nature of gravity, the inventor of calculus*, or a high-level enlightenment philosopher.
What you didn’t know, is that he was into mixed martial arts in the early days – he had Tapout bumper stickers on his carriages before it was cliche. In consequence of his love for MMA, Newton postulated three fundamental laws of fighting, which his later works – laws of physics and thermodynamics – were built from.
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(Above, Newton is chilling with “the Iceman” Chuck Liddell; insiders state that Newton’s law of cooling played a large part in Chuck’s nickname.)
#1 Law of Inertia
A fighter in motion tends to stay in motion and a fighter at rest tends to get knocked out.
This law tells us to always be moving, cutting angles, circling. It also hints at the fact that the more aggressive initiator is generally the winner in exchanges; it is easier and faster to act than to react.
When you stay up on your toes, keeping good head movement and shifting your guard hands slightly, you’re ready for anything. Starting from a dead standstill takes extra energy – when you’re dancing, you’re nimble. Much easier to adapt while you’re moving; also, you’re harder to hit.
“Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. When a fighter is in a state of perpetual motion, he can seamlessly attack and move. Once he sits upon his heels, it takes energy to re-start the motion and overcome this sloth – such a fighter is likely to get KTFO’d.” – Newton
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#2 Law of Power
Force = Mass x Acceleration
To hit hard and knock opponents out, you need to know how the classic equation F=MA. While it may have been murder in Physics class, it will be your salvation in the ring.
The most straightforward observation from this law is that bigger is better; or rather, heavier (mass-ive) is better. Bigger fighters hit harder. It behooves you to be at the top of your weight class than the bottom. You create more force just by having more mass.
The second observation is two-fold and relates to the generation of power punches and how you should train to create power punches. You want to have your body geometry down, so you can put as much “back-up mass” into punches and kicks. Many refer this as “getting your body behind your punches.” This helps out with the “mass” part of F=MA. For the acceleration part of the equation – you need to get that body mass up and moving… quick!
Please note the difference between velocity (speed) and acceleration. A distance runner might have a very fast top speed but it takes a while to achieve it; an Olympic sprinter can get to top speed in two breaths. The name of the game, when it comes to power generation, is acceleration.
Some things to check into if your interesting in developing that hard hitting power – plyometric training : jumping, medicine ball throws, sprint starts; its all about accelerating. Here are a couple of resources to get your started in that regard.
Beginner plyometric text:
Intermediate DVD+Book combo:
MMA specific plyometrics with Jens Pulver (upper body, lower body):
“Ladies and gentlemen – particularly the ladies – I will finally put to bed the debate if bigger is better. If one wants appropriate force, one needs to be massive. All fighters doth feel they know the root of force and power; I have only added structure and precision to their intuitive conjectures.” – Newton
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# Law of Response
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
For many, it is a natural response to push back after you’ve been pushed. If you watch fighters on the cage, clinching, one will “discover” foot stomping and the other will follow suit thereafter. Fake low, get a response, go high – fakes/feints will get opponents to drop their guard and then you capitalize on their reaction.
No matter what you do, there is a response. Typically, as mentioned above, you will try a tactic/move and your opponent will attempt to neutralize it with a counter. It is uncommon to be able to get the first move, whether in striking or grappling. The first move is the set up to the next.
If you watched UFC 130, you saw Matt Hamill’s takedowns attempts get shut down repeatedly. On thing that may have made them more successful would be to set the takedown up with a striking combination first; BJ Penn’s book calls this striking for the takedown.
“It is useful to consider how one’s actions are creating reactions in others -in fighting and in life. If you become successful, you invariably will attract haters. As thou knoweth, haters are going to hate; but it is ours to perpetrate; fist to face in the third degree. ”
* The classical scientist P4P rankings list Leonardo Da Vinci as #1, Isaac “The Force” Newton as #2 and Gottfried Leibniz as a distant #24th. Please don’t even start with that “Leibniz was the true inventor of calculus” crap. Seriously.
Tags: Chuck Liddell, Isaac Newton, Newton, physics
After a short, intense sprint this evening, I sat in my car with burning lungs and reflected upon my level fitness (or lack of it). I’d like to be much more … everything. I have a number of excuses to allay my dissatisfaction; I have been seriously ill, under pressure, injured, switching jobs, blah blah, blah and blah. All of these things are quite reasonable explanations, and its not like I’m angry at myself for finding ways to cope with my challenges or put food on the table.
At the same time, I’ve harbored a secret chip on my shoulder against all the guys who have beaten me because they are better muscled, bigger, and in superior physical condition. I can almost hear the nagging ego explanation now. “If I were 15lbs heavier, had the free time to waste my life away at Golds Gym, or were genetically gifted, of course I would pwn these noobs. I’d have a flipping protein shake IV injecting fuel into my biceps 24/7. But I’m better than them, they’re just stronger.”
This, of course, is an lie. The bottom line is that your body’s strength, endurance and flexibility are under your control. Just like your favorite submission, your fitness is a technique. You make decisions to spend time enhancing it. It takes discipline to take it to the next level. You use it to defeat opponents.
This hit home while was reading 20 Tips to improve your grapling, where it stated that your cardio was one of your techniques. I can’t use my conditioning as an excuse to explain away my troubles as if it is somehow more honorable to lose because of a strength difference than a technical one. Have to man up and see the truth.
Your fitness is a technique. Sharpen it accordingly.
Tags: conditioning, fitness
I really enjoyed watching UFC 129 -it had a lot of fun fights for me. The icing on the cake, however, was Lyoto Machida knocking out Randy Couture with the jumping front kick, karate kid style. I pretty much had a karategasm on the spot.
As for the naming convention of the move, the metropolitan intellectuals over at Sherdog pretty much nailed it – the “Segalian Dragonkick of Destiny” is it’s correct correct title (cred: Nihilism). Other acceptable (but not fully correct) names include the jumping front kick, the crane kick, and foot-to-face retirement sender. Personally, I don’t care what you might call it; I could watch that kick a million times and still enjoy it.
Of course, added joy comes into play with the fact that Steven Seagal has been chumming around with Lyoto and Anderson Silva, giving them his fighting tips. The post fight interview with Seagal is kinda fun, due to his nuttiness and the fact that he must only have one outfit – black leather jacket, yellow sunglasses. (In that spirit, I highly recommend you watch “Every bone Steven Seagal has ever broken.“ Poster wolffood7 astutely points out that breaking bones must make you fat.)
But one thing Seagal does strike true about is the deceptiveness of the kick. The magnum opus isn’t the kick, but the set up. Lyoto had landed that fast rear leg knee to the body, and Randy was leery of it. When Machida did a little hip shuffle, it distracted Couture and then the coup de grace spanked Randy’s brain into unconsciousness.
With Karate back in favor, you can wax nostalgic and relive some of your misspent childhood by watching the original. Just remember to sweep the leg.
Tags: front kick, lyoto machida, Steven Seagal, ufc 129
