"Why don't you guys train a mind-set or philosophy?"

This was the essence of a question I received recently in an email.

The writer was pleased with the physical side of our training, but was curious as to why we didn't provide a psychological or philosophical component to tie it all together. He argued, and rightfully so, that mind-set training can have a positive impact on performance. Something along the lines of 'think hard, be hard.'

I agree that mind-set training can be beneficial (my previous posts on Building and Being the Better Monster are essentially speaking to this), but only across a longer timeframe. In the here and now, especially for people who are going to train once or rarely, it's of very little use.

It's far more important that they practice the correct physical realities of violence than work to get themselves wound up into a meat-eating lather.

Look at it this way: If someone accidentally trips and falls into another man such that the impact breaks that man's knee, we end up with a very interesting situation. We have a 'fight-ending' injury that results from nothing more than physics & physiology. No mind-set required. In fact, part of the definition of an accident like this one is an absence of malice.

This is the cleanest possible example of why mind-set doesn't matter. We'd all like to think it does, to get ourselves psyched up, to give ourselves some kind of mental yardstick to show whether we are ready or not--but in the end it's going to come down to biomechanics. Period.

After all my years of teaching I've come to the conclusion that talk of mind-sets gets in the way of what has to be done--injuring another human being.

I can't tell you the number of times I've watched someone work beautifully on the mats only to have them ask me afterwards, "Do I have killer instinct yet?"

It's far more useful to talk about intent, or, simply 'the willingness to get it done.' This is what the sociopath has--no training, no practice, but scads of intent. They just want to do it. And that want drives the physics forward into the physiology.

It must be said that there would seem to be little difference between the two, intent on the one hand and a particular mind-set on the other. But the difference is this: While we talk about cultivating a mind-set and believe we are being clear, it ends up being a Mystery (with a capital 'M') to most people. A mystic state, like Enlightenment, to be sought after. Yet, somehow, the sociopath lucks into it naturally and without the effort of mental gymnastics.

Instead of TALK it's much more powerful to DO--that is, physically model success in violence serially, over and over and over again until it's easy. Second nature. Out of that physical experience you can organically grow your own confidence in your skills and, consequently, the intent to drive it home.

In other words, physical work will do far more than philosophy to prepare you for actual violence.

We can, of course, get into a 'chicken & egg' debate on this--mind-set training to drive the physical forward or physical training to give rise to intent? Over the last 20 years I've done it both ways, and while they each (eventually) arrive at the same endpoint, pushing the physical first has produced the best results. 'Results' here being minimizing training time while maximizing survival.

Or, more concretely, having someone attend a 1-Day Seminar--or view a single DVD--and then take out someone who meant to do them harm. Not merely surviving, but winning in the biggest way possible.

This would have been unthinkable in the days when we pushed mind-set training first.

Chris Ranck-Buhr
TFT Master Instructor

Labels: intent, mind-set, self-defense training