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Risk Management

The problem with ego isn’t that it drives us to achieve something – masculine grit and fortitude is actually the positive side of ego.  Its the blurring of goals and boundaries along the way that are the hazard.  Similar to Dave Camarillo’s remarks in the vid, it is okay to say, “Man, I want to smash everybody today; I’m not going to tap.”.  The line you need to walk is how far you’re willing to go to achieve that goal or maintain your self-perception as a tough-dude.

Remember, there are limits beyond which additional exertion become very dangerous.  When you “need” to smash all the guys you roll with, do you go ape-shiz with strength trying to get your submissions, even though you might injure them?  Would you do tactics (biting/gouging/etc) you normally wouldn’t just to the results you want?  It is okay to train with vigor and force – as long as you keep the risk-reward ratio set to a good level and never abandon your standards. At some point of exertion/tenacity, you leave reasonable behavior and hurt yourself or others.  Why would you trade a six month layoff due to a broken arm just for anything? If you were in the UFC and a six-figure payday were at stake, I might consider it. But for an extra nod from my Sensei saying, “Nice submission defense”,  I wouldn’t risk the medical bills.

Luckily, almost every injury I’ve ever had (or caused) has been after~2.5 hours of training. I failed to acknowledge my body’s dwindling motor control but kept the tempo and activities static.  (The other main failure is to not know how intense you are exerting yourself – since I’m not that strong nor angry, I typically don’t get this one.)  The likelihood of injury raises with the intensity and length of a training session. You want to find that sweet spot where you stay in control enough to keep injury probability low while still milking the training session for every ounce of improvement  you can get. My personal preference is to stay one or two steps back from that edge. Know these boundaries and be disciplined about keeping them. I feel that staying safe is the only legitimate long term strategy for perpetual growth.

(BTW, my rule on tapping:  joint locks I tap early, but chokes I wait a little longer.  Your brain probably won’t get destroyed that bad if you wait till the blood really starts to be slowed/shut off.  Your joints, however, can seriously get damaged by a 1% degree change in angle.)

Think about it this way.  If I told you that you could give up 2% of the skill you might gain in the next year with a guarantee that you would not be injured, would you do it? I would.

Likewise, this risk/reward interplay is applicable to personal relationships.  Yes, you could smash faces 100% of the time, but would this degrade your friendships with your training partners? I am a big believer of win/win scenarios and the tribal-health model of team building.  You get so much more out of your training camps and partners when they respect you, stay injury free and you keep to mutual goals and boundaries.  When one guy decides to get advantage by leaving those boundaries – like going way too hard while sparring – he might be getting a little extra juice out of the session but at the cost of the health of his teammate which will ultimately reduce his long term rewards within that team.

Altered States of Perception

I’m not going to get all Joe Rogan on you – so no need to start smoking the ganja to see the “real world”.  This evil of ego is straightforward to describe; when you have a bad ego, you see the world through colored glasses. Rose-tinted, dickish glasses. You lose a match but don’t accurately attribute the reason you lost to the outcome.  One of my buddies current peeves is when guys tell him that the 10lbs he had on them was why they lost the submission match.  Certainly, those 10lbs helped, but so did the 3+ years of skill gap. Moreover, when you have an unhealthy ego, you seem to automatically defend yourself perception instead of taking data for what it is. You just don’t see what is before you.

I’ve seen guys get injured because they didn’t know when to tap. Usually, these are either the guys with big egos or dudes without a lot of experience.  Once you’ve been around the block, you know how far you can go. You know the limits because you know the terrain so well. That perceptual gap of what you think is happening and what is actually is happening gets slimmer with alive training.

On a different note, I don’t really mind when guys know they are good. If its true, its true.  No reason to lie to yourself on either side of the spectrum. Again, its a boundaries thing.  Being good at fighting means what? That you can cut in line? That you can shout at police without consequence? No, being a good fighter means you’re a good fighter. The problem starts when being X parleys to getting some undeserved privilege in Y.  Because you’ve got the ego-glasses on, you see everything under the guise of “I’m good at X”. Everything gets interpreted, filtered under this belief.

The fix is generally to compete more, try to listen to your coaches and critics and not always defend yourself.  Take things for what they are.  Some dude trolls your youtube vid of your last amateur MMA bout?  So what?  Does his or her comment have merit – usable or actionable knowledge – or is it just, “you suck monkey turd.”  If someone’s right, their right. Get over it and adapt. Scientific type thinking will go a long way.  Looking at results objectively helps diminish that gap between who you think you are, who others perceive you as and the “real” you.

Your ego is much like a your physical body, or a trait.  It responds to training and modification.  Disciplined effort, over time, can shape it – just like your body can add muscle or lose fat – but generally your ego won’t change overnight. If you think you have a problem, go talk to somebody – a friend, a mentor, a coach.  If they really care about you, they’ll be able to help you shift your attitudes without needing to get in their own personal jabs just to wound you.

Bottom Line

Have an ego. Think of yourself as a tough dude. Don’t give up.  Balance that with a proper sense of risk-reduction – both for physical safety and maintaining your relationships. Try to do gut checks about who you are vs who you think you are. Keep those feet on the ground and strive to have a more empirical view of your identity and skills.

But enough of what I think – what do you guys and gals do to keep your ego in check? What is your take on the role of ego in training?

Disclaimer

Let me make this ULTRA clear. I am not a doctor.   Just as one does not receive a black-belt from watching youtube videos, one also does not get medical advice from a blog. If you have a health question or problem, go see a doctor.

Preamble

If you’ve been training for any serious length of time, chances are you’ve contracted ringworm or someone you know has gotten it. Gross, abnormal, itchy red rash thing.

If you’ve got it, DON’T TRAIN. Get it 100% resolved before resuming. If you have a reasonable suspicion that someone else has it, don’t train with them either. In fact, you should probably offer that they excuse themselves from training. One careless person can get a whole team of fighters infected. I’m not giving you permission to be a dick, but your health is important. MMA is dangerous and gross enough without ringworm.

What is it, exactly?

For many its called jock itch(tinea cruris) or athletes foot (tinea pedis). If it is  on your arms or legs, it can be called tinea corporis, but all of these are types of ringworm, which is general name for it.

Contrary to the name, it’s not a worm, but a fungus that lives on the top layer of your skin.  It is not immediately life threatening. Ringworm is part of a group of fungi called dermatophytes, which basically means that the fungus eats, lives, and dies on your hair, nails and skin.

The fungus really only hangs out on the top layer of your skin and doesn’t invade deeper, living tissues unless you’ve got really weakened immune system. The good news is that it isn’t burrowing down into your flesh like a creepy alien from an X-files episode. The bad news is that because it’s a surface dweller, it is easily spread and the ugly is visible to everybody. And yes, ringworm can scar your skin for good.

Identifying Ringworm

If you’re not easily grossed out, Google images can give you some fairly good pics. A word of warning though, many photos will be the extreme and rare cases, which you probably will never have and may serve to freak you out into a scratching frenzy. As I mentioned earlier, if you ever have a concern, go see a doctor. They can do a skin test and tell you what is going on.

The major identifiers are inflammation, redness, itchiness, and the tell-tale ring shape. The outer edge will be raised – making it look like a crater on the moon. What is happening is that the fungus is spreading out, like a ripple from a drop of water. The outer realm is going strong, but your body is fighting and killing the oldest instances of the fungus – the interior –making that crater.  If you happen to get it in your hair, you may go bald there. If you have it in the nails, it can make them colored, brittle, and weird.

For the most part, your first sign is a really persistent itch.

A word of caution though – in the early stages, ringworm and a staph infection can seem similar.  The difference is that ringworm is an annoyance, and staph, depending on the strain (MRSA), can paralyze or kill you. Often, staph infections will start off like a spider-bite.  Staph may (but not always) ooze a golden puss, get crusty, grow to be a huge pimple like swelling. They can be red, itch, and ache/throb. If you want to compare, check out MMA fighter Mayhem Miller’s staph infection on his neck. If there is any doubt, get thee to a medical professional.

In my limited experience, the difference was the puss and the pimple like shape (for the staph) vs  the crater/ring formation (ringworm).

What is the cause of ringworm? Where did I get it?

You probably got it from the gym.  Could be the dojo, public showers or the weight room.  It could have come from the mats or a person you came in contact with. To narrow it down further, you probably didn’t get it while you were outdoors. My father once told me I was going to get it by running around barefoot in the grass.  Thankfully, he was wrong, which brings the running total up to Dad:2,328, Son:5. Its also possible to get it from animals, but let me confine myself to the human to human stuff.

Its most likey that you got ringworm from skin to skin contact with someone who already has it. Since wrestling, MMA, and BJJ involve a good amount of this, ringworm comes with the territory. Don’t be surprised if you get it – it’s pretty common and non-life threatening.

Often, ringworm will take hold in a sweaty, warm place; webbing of your toes, armpits, groin. Other times it will find its on to you because you a weak spot on your skin – a cut, scar, burn, or zit.  If you’ve had ringworm in a spot before, that area can have a weakened defense and get it again later.

If you got it, it doesn’t necessarily  mean your a dirty, bad person or you train at an unclean gym (although this can be the case). Sometimes you just get it. There doesn’t need to be a “cause” – just the presence of the fungus.

Ringworm Treatment

I talked to three doctors, a nurse, a pharmacist, numerous bjj/wrestling coaches and players, an alternative medicine cultist and the internet. In general, there are two camps: the medical science and the natural alternative. Both can work, but if you want a more or less guaranteed fix, go with the medical science route.

A word about healing time:  It varies from person to person, but 2-4 weeks is pretty standard.  A moderately severe case can last 6-8 weeks. Severity is determined by the number and size of the patches;  two or more silver dollar sized spots is bordering moderately severe. Nail and hair infections last normal than their skin counter parts.

Another word about clothing, bandaging, scratching, etc.  You don’t want the ringworm spreading.  Bandage the infected area. If you’ve got athletes foot, put your socks on before your underpants as not to drag up ringworm into your crotch. Don’t itch the spot and then touch other parts of your body.  Wash your clothes. Wash your hands.

Traditional Medicine Options

Within this route, there are three choices. Anti-fungal topical Creams, powders/sprays, and pills. Many of these can be bought over-the-counter.

Name brands include, Tinactin, Micatin, Lotrimin-AF, Lamisil, or Monistat-Derm (not just for the ladies!).  You can find some of these on the cheap by their active ingredients, Terbinafine or Clotrimazole. If its athletes foot, go ahead with the athletes foot stuff. Otherwise, I’d go with the more specific ringworm stuff. If I had to choose just one, I’d go with the Lamisil, because I’ve used it and it worked.

For the oral prescriptions, you’ll need to go see a doc.  The meds may be something like Diflucan and Griseofulvin. From my understanding, the oral stuff is for more serious, widespread ringworm.  If you are really curious, go check out common ringworm medications via WebMD.

Whatever you go with, make sure to see it to the end. Don’t quit early and have the fungus return.

Alternative Medicine Options

Maybe you’d  like to go all natural with your remedies, or maybe you’re just poor. Maybe you’ve tried some of the regular OTC treatments and weren’t excited about the progress. You can always try one of the dozens of alternatives. I can’t say that they all work, every time; what I can say is that these ringworm treatments have worked for some people at least some of the time.

These treatments haven’t undergone the same kind of scientific rigor that the above mentioned cures have, but don’t discount them. I’ve done a few of them and personally seen the use of a dozen more , and they worked. To summarize: your mileage may vary.

Also, use common sense. If something seems to be unduly irritating your skin, or you are allergic to it, stop.  If you think more/less of the treatment is necessary, adjust.  Unlike the directions on prescriptions, I can only offer you sugguestions.

Vinegar/Lemon/Lime

The basic strategy behind this old school remedy is fungus can’t live in a hostile, acidic environment. Normally, your skin is slightly acidic anyway, and this amplifies that.  Use a cotton ball or clean rag to soak up your preferred acidic liquid, non-diluted, and hold it on the ringworm patch for 30 minutes. Some minor stinging may occur. Do this 2 times a day for a week or so.

Bleach

Yes, I know it’s not really “natural” in the same sense that these other ringworm treatments are. But it is do-it-yourself, cheap and effective.  I learned about it from a football coach, but have heard high school wrestlers use a similar approach.  The method is this:  Scrub the ringworm patch with a wet washcloth until the whole area gets pretty red (exfoliate).  Take a cotton ball, clean white rag, or q-tip soaked in bleach and put it on the ringworm. Hold the bleach on the patch for a few minutes. How long is up to you, but you should hold it there until it “burns”.    Since the ringworm lives just on the surface of the skin, it will get nuked by the bleach-bomb, if you hold it there long enough. I have heard reports of people taping a bleach-soaked cotton ball to the area and leaving it on all day, kind of like a band aid.

There is no definitive length of time for this treatment, but  2-3 applications a day for 3-4 days should probably do it.  Follow your instincts.

Yes, this approach hurts. But what are you, a wimp? (Says the football coach) The burning isn’t such a terrible thing, because there is a sense that the pain is a good thing,  a proof that you’re burning out the fungus. Be warned, the bleach actually does burn your skin, and can scar you.   If you burn too much, you’ve opened up a wound that can later get re-infected by the fungus.

Ginger Poultice/Garlic Paste

Both of these food items double as a natural anti-fungal. Ever notice how the out last other foods in the fridge from getting the moldy fridge fuzz?

Basic procedure:  before you go to bed, grind up the clove/root and put a small spoonful on the affected area. Hold in place with a band-aid or tape of some kind. Keep the poultice on all night, use the poultices for about a week.

Tea Tree Oil (Melaleuca alternifolia)/ Iodine

Use in a similar fashion to the aforementioned bleach remedy. The only suggestion I have is that the Betadine solution (pictured above) is a good choice from among the varieties of iodines.

Other Remedies

Green Walnut hull juice, from your local walnut tree.

UV lights, from a tanning bed or the sun. UV will often kill or deter fungal growth.

Aromatherapies: Lavander, Thyme, Myrrh, Tea Tree, Ginger.

Vics VapoRub.

Grapefruit, and grapefruit seed extract.  The fruit has anti-microbial mojo; can be eaten or put on topically.

Prevention, the best of all cures

Best of all, is to never get ring worm.

A few things will help you immediately. Wear a long-sleeve rashguard, and gi pants even if you are doing no gi.

Shower at the gym, if they have the facilities. Waiting too long can allow ringworm to take hold. It could be completely made up, but I’ve heard that you’ve got 30 minutes before fungus gets rooted in the skin.

On a granular level, there are two camps of how you should shower.  One is the super-scrub camp, the other is the let-the-water-do-the-work camp.  Depending on how old you are, and how vital your skin is, the super-scrub routine can make you worse off than before by habitually breaking down your skin, making it prone to attack. I talked to my personal doctor about this one, he says that you should use soap on the groin and underarms, but nowhere else, especially if you have to shower more than once a day.  Also, if you must shower more than once, make one of those cleanings a sponge clean, to minimize the wear and tear on your skin. You may be interested in looking up the limited or no soap philosophy, (“going animal”) online.

Although I’m not a huge fan, but some people swear by the use of Defense Soap to stave off the fungus.

In the shampoo department, Nizoral is the choice for your head.

Bandage up scars and wounds. Have a consistent shaving schedule.  If you shave erratically, your skin doesn’t adapt well and can be weakened, prone to infection. Also, enough with the shaving your whole body thing.  Forest Griffin sounds off about this in his book, Got Fight – leave the collar popping, fake tanning and shaved arms for the douche-bags at the local bar.  If you actually need the competitive edge that a slippery, hairless body gives you, I forgive you.  Chances are you don’t, so don’t be one of these guys below.

Eat well and sleep well. A healthy immune system helps keep this kind of stuff at bay.  In this regard, here are some diet tips. Avoiding sugars, refined wheat products, junk food, nitrates (bacon). Do eat garlic (crushed, and as uncooked as possible), no-sugar added yogurt, kefir, kombucha, any priobiotics in general (acidophilus pills), brown rice, lentils, raw nuts (sunflower, pumpkin and walnut), and eggs (zinc rules!). Don’t drink alcohol.

Get those mats clean, and keep them that way.  If nobody is doing it, volunteer to do it.  Bug management in a nice way. It has to be done.  Keep shoes off the mats. Separate the boxing part and the BJJ part – I’ve heard gyms doing this and pretty much eliminating ringworm problems immediately.  After you clean the mats, let them dry before putting them away.  Wet dark areas are happy spots for fungus and microbes.

Use a broad spectrum cleaner when washing the mats – a virocide, fungicide, disinfectant. I know KenClean and BioNet are decent stuff. If you have any question, find out what your local hospital uses to clean their floors with and use that.

Clean your GI for goodness sake! See my article on taking care of your training gear. Also, don’t share gear, razors, soap, etc.

You can use protective pre-workout spray, like KS Kennedy spray. The stuff is made specifically for wrestlers to help them NOT get the skin problems we’ve been talking about. Kinda pricey, but neat.

Wash your hands regularly and wash them right.  Do the S-grip beneath the finger nails scrub like doctors do. Lather for 20-30 seconds.  This isn’t rinsing, this should be washing.

One last note:  Many gyms have those alcohol hand sanitizer pumps available. I think they do help keep fungus at bay, but I don’t think its a 100% thing, especially for staph, which can be resistant.  From my knowledge, Hibiclens is a top notch, medical oriented hand cleanser.  If the generic stuff isn’t solving the problem, consider upgrading.

Waaaagh! Wrestlers. They’re a tricky sort, and as big names like Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, and Brock Lesnar have shown. The purpose of this article is to help fighters who have difficulties in dealing with wrestling based mixed martial artists. Certainly, I don’t know it all. Hopefully though, you’ll get some tips and ideas to take to the mat and gain an upper hand against wrestling MMA’ers.

In part 1, I discussed the basic wrestlers strategy, side control management, preventing the guard pass, and striking from the guard.

In part 2, I want to add some details about dominant positions, submissions from the ground and elaborate a bit about the standing striking game.

Get Dominant Positions

If you want to improve your chances of winning a match, focus on gaining and keeping dominant positions for greater percentages of your fight practice sessions. In jujitsu, we have a mantra that applies well in MMA: Position Before Submission – make sure you are secure in a dominant position with all the various technical points under control and the submission will be WAY easier. Instead of struggling to lock in your choke, transition to a more dominant position. Don’t fight strength against strength in neutral positions, focus on getting some place where you have a leverage and body advantage.

Part of what makes wrestlers such frustrating opponents is that they are good at putting you in disadvantageous positions. The take down, the guard pass, the ground and pound – it’s all about being on top, weighing you down, smacking you until KO or an arm/head becomes undefended enough to submit it with ease.

Your job is to do essentially the same thing. Get into a dominant position and work the techniques you know.

It makes sense when you review all the fights you’ve seen through your mind. How often does a fight get finished once one competitor takes the others back? 60-80%? It’s almost natural to just call the fight done when someone gets back mount because it’s so common to see TKO due to strikes or rear naked choke in a few seconds.

In striking realm, the essence of position before submission is no different. Beating down an opponent from the mount position is much more deadly than being restricted in guard and trying to grind out some ground and pound. Position matters.

Gaining dominant clinches assures that you’ll be able to get in some punches by controlling the body position and angles made between your body and your opponent’s. Randy Couture takes a good deal of time talking about this in his video on “Learning to fight and win.” Get a good single collar tie, step off to the side and land a straight punch to the face. Anticipating that an opponent will get wise to this, he’ll angle back toward you to try to defend. Respond by “swimming” to the other side, hooking the arm or head and keep the dominant position.

Create Angles To Land Strikes and Frustrate Take Downs

I love a still-photo that can capture the exact moment of a knockout punch in all of its sweaty head-snapping, rippled cheeks and fist to face glory. It’s a special moment, really (unless you’re on the receiving end). Just like in Sesame Street where today was brought to you by the letter Q and the number 7, there’s a big chance that the KO blow was brought to you by good attack angles.

It’s tough to over-state how useful proper angles are in fighting. Whether standing up or on the ground, moving position to get an angle on a opponent will open him up for nearly unblockable punches/submissions while simultaneously diminishing the strength of his attacks or obviating them altogether.

Leg take downs are initiated in a very linear manner. The wrestler drops his level and bursts forward. Upper body throws all have to be worked from a body clinch. Both are well countered by circling, angle movements.

It’s a deep and rich subject, one worthy of it’s own post, so I’ll keep it brief here and post a couple of specifics.

As you drill for take downs, one variation is to train as if you see the take down coming. Remain light on your feet and angle off to the side, push the head and shoulder girdle to the side of you, letting them go past you as you side step and angle off their attack line. If the take down is already underway when you notice it, you’re probably too late avoid it altogether, but you can still angle a bit as you begin to contact. As they close that distance, see if you can gain advantage via over/under hooks. See if you can notice which leg they try to grab first – either by intuition or fight videos – and get that leg back first. As you “retreat” that side, turn or pivot and parry their driving energy forward to that side behind you. Punch to the face or send a knee up to the head.

Watch the fight where Lyoto Machida defeats Tito Ortiz. It’s almost like Lyoto’s a matador, and Ortiz a charging bull. Ole!

When exchanging strikes, always trying to work your way out of the power zone of your opponent by circling around them. In a nutshell, that striking power zone is shaped like a round support pillar – imagine your opponent hugging a stone column, barely able to connect hands. Looking on the floor, the power zone can be seen as a circular arc between where their feet are pointing.

There is a good boxing DVD on the market that deals with attack angles specifically – see Fight Resources bottom of the post for the link.

Create Angles To Get Submissions

My Sensei summed up getting jujitsu with two words – hip movement. In this context, I’ll throw in an extra word – lateral hip movement. If you’re not a jujitsu player, this advice may be lost on you. If you are a jujitsu player, this advice might be beyond you. I certainly haven’t achieved that level of grappling nirvana where two words is all I need. Still, it’s the root of the idea and I’ll try to do my best describing it.

If you’re in guard, don’t let the guy get his posture. Even if you’ve broken your opponent down so you’re chest to chest, their body laying directly on top of you like the two hands of a clock at 12:00 is bad. In this case, you will always need to push or pull off on one side and try to isolate one half of their body – either an arm or the head and one arm.

Think of the omoplata submission; you start off in a twelve o’clock position but push off one hip to move your body to the side, going to a body position that’s about two o’clock. As you do this, you get your leg up the back of your opponents body and in front of his face, trapping his arm – you’re probably at three o’clock. Continuing on, you go into a jiu-claw position (six o’clock) and sit up and start tweaking the shoulder joint. Check out the article “Omoplata Omoplata Omoplata” here to see what I mean.

Angle off the body line and see how your opponent may expose himself to submissions. Additionally, one of the great pluses to this is that angling off gives less for an opponent to strike.

Fighter Resources

I’ve mentioned a few things you might want to check out.

First of all, if you didn’t catch Dealing With Wrestlers In MMA Part 1, check it out here.

The learning to fight and win DVD with Randy Couture is well worth the money. He breaks down the clinch game really well. As it’s a wrestler staple that he’s been using, you can use it to fight with or avoid it. To really know how to defend an attack, you have to know it yourself.

With all the talk of clinches, you’ll want to bring yourself up to speed on pummeling and the different clinch positions. The article Basic Pummeling, can be found here.

here

The other DVD I mentioned was the Title Boxing Attacking and Punching at Angles. It’s a solid video from some of the best in the business.

As for hip movement, I mentioned that it’s a tricky thing to describe. Instead, watch grappling guru Jean Machado perform his 5 favorite submissions. The armbar recounter (2nd shown in the vid) is very instructional on lateral-hip-movement. See it below, or click here.

Also, three posts in the archives were mentioned directly, or indirectly.

Omoplata instruction : Tons of omoplata variations and how to pull them off. Watch the hip movement!

Extra Bonus:

Here are some pics that show some good attack angles.

On this one (above) notice how Rich Franklin’s right foot is out side his opponnet’s left foot.

Above, Liddell is square up to Rampage. Both of Liddell’s feet are the same distance away from Jackson, “squaring” his shoulders and face for impact.

Side step and uppercut: It could equally be a failed take down attempt.

Note: My remarks were sparked by some thoughts given by Paul R Scheele in his incredible book, “PhotoReading“. If you’re into accelerated learning or speed-reading, check it out ASAP.

Also Note: This lion cub is totally submitting the other with the rear naked choke (mata leo choke, ten finger variation).  I’m totally going to make “grrrrrrr” noises next time I get this move.

Also Also Note: Fedor choked out Sylvia in the Affliction Banned event with this choke. You know, FYI.

Summary

Strict practice has it’s merit and place. Try incorporating playfulness to sparring or drills and being creative with your training methods. Keep your ego subdued – compete against opponents, train with friends, and have fun with a lifetime of martial arts.

The Human Animal

Man, as a species, is an unusual animal. We are the only animal that is not born with the innate knowledge of how to survive. When it comes to fighting, we may have the natural emotion and cause to fight, but we don’t intuitively know how to do it. Children have the inborn inclination to wrestle, but do so without technique.

This type of play-fighting is done by most hunting animals (lions, tigers, etc), and is an essential part of activating their abilities to stalk, strike, and kill. For humans it’s no different – playing is a big part of how we acquire skills.

Overcoming Ego

The biggest obstacle to becoming a better fighter is, quite simply, you. I’ve heard several UFC fighters say something like, “The gym I’m at is awesome. We leave our ego at the door, train hard, and help each other out.”  To me, this means that you don’t over push yourself. You don’t try to kill people by cranking your submissions.  In sparring, you tap out early and often. You don’t get competitive with your training partners. You don’t get angry after “losing”. You don’t get angry during practice.

Removing your ego means that you are in control of your emotions and body. If someone gives you a good training tip, no matter how advanced  you are, humbly consider it. If someone gives you un-helpful training advice,  don’t freak out and try to put them in their place. You resist the urge to help people just to show others how awesome you are ( I know this is hard). You let people learn at their own pace. You don’t force things.

Lion cubs have a natural sense of how hard to wrestle when playing.  Even though they are practicing biting throats out, they don’t get hurt. They let go and continue playing around. When training stops becoming fun and becomes a quest to satisfy a bruised ego (or fill a large hollow ego), it’s time to stop training.

Play Fighting

It’s fun to tussle with your friends.  For me, sparring is a place to activate techniques I’ve installed through focused, disciplined hard work. It’s not a time to try to “muscle in a technique”.  Ease up on the physical effort and see if your body mechanics are correct.

There is a time for boot camp drills, fighting for your life, competing and playing. Competition kills play, and it’s when training partners compete with their egos that people get injured.

Fighting Games

To get a boost in your training, play games that model elements of fighting.  Ideally, the fight games should be fun and have enough similarity to overlap so they can increase usable fighting skills.  I’ll mention only a few.

One of my favorite games is pseudo-sumo wrestling. You can have any rules you like, but I like these: you try to push your partner out of bounds or to touch the ground first with some body part other than the feet.   Start matches in a big arena and then shrink it down after each match. When it becomes too tough for two people up to stand up in the arena, game is over.  Be creative, emphasize learning. It is far more important to learn balance than to “win”.

Another “game” is to have one fighter punch some focus mitts held by another team member. While executing different combo’s, other 3-4 guys randomly whack the fighter with foam padded sticks. The fighter can block, parry or dodge them but he must continue throwing his striking combinations. Increase the speed and number of foam whacks until there is no way to evade all of them. The striker must learn to strike through the barrage and focus on his target.

Also, you can practice and play with your submission escapes by having one person completely sink in a submission or position on a relaxed opponent. Not tapping them out, but holding firmly, the relaxed person has to struggle to escape under the handicap. The “holder” doesn’t fight back but tries to retain the hold.

Explore Training Your Training With Creativity

Play with the moves you know – see how they work if your eyes are closed or if you can only use one hand. Try a submission from a new position – like an omoplata from mount.  Mix it up.  Over at Aesopian’s jujitsu blog, he has a article that embodies this kind of thinking called Rethinking Position.

Also, if you’re training with guys who have truly left their egos at the door, you’ve got an environment where you can learn new moves and tweak old ones.

For the formulaic, Paul Scheele (see note at top) discusses a mastery pattern called NOPS -Notice it, Own it, Play with it, and Stick with it.  If you get a chance, film yourself competing and sparring. Notice what punches land and ask your self why they hit. Figure out what submissions you pull off successfully and determine what factors made them work. Own your successes and really get into studying and performing them.  Mess with your success (Play with it) and keep practicing (Stick with it).

Epilogue

Have fun training. Enjoy what you do. I hope these ideas have sparked something in your brain to be a better fighter.