Are You Learning To Fight... Or To Dance?

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"In our peacetime tactical training we should use
difficult, highly imaginative situations and require
clear, concise and simple orders. The more difficult
the situation the more simple the order must be. Above
all *** Let us Kill everything stereotyped; otherwise
it will kill us ***"

- Adolf von Schell, Battle Leadership, 1933

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I saw a commercial for one of those dance instruction
programs that guarantees you'd be able to dance as
well as any member of the most popular boy-bands.

The program showed a group of students following the
instructor step-by-step to learn some pretty complex
moves, choreographed to perfection. The result was
that by memorizing the steps and combining the moves
you could mimic the formerly difficult routine.

It reminded me of watching a Wushu team practice their
show. For those of you that aren't familiar, Wushu is
a Chinese martial art that is delivered via a stage
performance. The fights are very elaborate and it
takes a great deal of practice to put on a convincing
show.

As I watched the team practice it was interesting to
note that whenever someone wanted to screw around all
they had to do was execute a move different from the
routine. Literally you would be watching a fight scene
you'd swear was pitting two highly trained fighters in
mortal combat when all of a sudden one of the guys
would move differently... maybe slap the other guy in
the face like the Three Stooges used to do.

Everyone would laugh, then take a break.

But that slap also woke me up out of the dream state I
was in as I watched the performance.

I realized that this was exactly the method in which
most martial arts or combat sports are instructed.

Especially when they train "self defense".

Basically there are set patterns you memorize in
response to various staged attacks. Memorize those
responses and you can look pretty impressive.

But what happens if you vary the attack?

Most students freeze.

Why?

**** BECAUSE THEY WERE NEVER TAUGHT TO FIGHT ****

Nope, they basically were taught to 'dance' and as
long as everything went according to the 'routine' you
could do okay. But we all know things never go exactly
as planned.

Fighting is no different -- whether you are on the mat
at your training center or on the street locked in
mortal combat with the other guy(s). The only
variation is that when you fight with your training
partner you don't actually maim, cripple or kill. You
still target and simulate those exact strikes, just at
a pace your partner can handle.

If, however, you're operating in a 'training' mode
where you are memorizing a 'set' response to an
attack, you are learning nothing but a 'dance' move.
In TFT such training is viewed as "coordination
training" not fighting.

If you don't know the difference, you can easily fall
victim to the "now it's for real syndrome". That's
where you face an imminent attack yet hesitate... as
your brain tries to accept the fact that "this is for
real".

Contrast this to the well-trained fighter who simply
sees all this as merely fighting and proceeds to: 1)
find his targets and 2) strike. The only difference to
the fighter is the fact he can now strike with full
power.

That's because the well-trained fighter never sees
himself as 'training' -- he's always fighting.
Understand this concept and you'll always be
prepared... no matter what the situation.

Until next time,

Tim Larkin
Creator of Target-Focus(TM) Training
http://www.targetfocustraining.com

S: To quickly learn what I've covered in this newsletter and
the entire TFT system you need to join us at a live training
session. In just 2 1/2 days you walk away capable of
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