"Book learning doesn't mean anything if you can't actually get out on the mats and do it."
That's the bowdlerized version of a quote from my brother--the original is profanity-laced and, perhaps, clearer in its rejection of the intellectual in favor of the actual. The key phrase there is 'get out on the mats and do it.' A handy imperative, and one that you should seek to fulfill at least twice a week. Because in the end, it won't be about what you've read or watched or listened to, it won't be what you've thought or talked about, it won't be dynamics or fitness work--your life will depend solely on what you have physically done on the mats.
You already know that getting a reaction partner and hitting the mats is important, but did you know it's so important as to be the only thing that matters? This singular importance hit me today as I was thinking about teaching, about what I knew--and I realized that the bulk of what I know came as a side effect of my mat time. No one taught me the things in the Source Book or the Striking Manual. What I learned were the base principles, the gist of which can be summed up in less than a page. The rest of my knowledge comes from computing as many iterations of those base principles on another human body in real-time. Everything I know is just memories of mat time.
Videos and manuals inform the physical training spectrum; the training spectrum (dynamics & coordination sets) is there only to inform your mat time. From the very beginning, everything is a pointer for your time on the mats.
Another way to look at it: there's getting ready to work and then there's doing the work. Hitting the mats is doing the work. Everything else is just getting ready. When done in equal measure--getting ready & then doing--you have a complete training system that will allow you to experience the highest grade violence possible, with your fist firmly on the grippy end of the stick (as opposed to the wet end). Doing the work without getting ready is fine, though a little on the rough side. Doing nothing but getting ready all the time means you're not doing any work.
And when your life is on the line all you will have is what you've physically done.
Your performance won't be about how much you got ready--it'll be about how much you did.
All I'm doing whenever I teach is reporting on what I've experienced on the mats. Anything I tell you is a distillation of subjective, physical experience. As such, most of what I know is of very little use to you; most of what I know applies only to me & how I have to move to get stuff done. What little I know that is useful to other people I share freely in the hopes that it will improve your performance on the mats and give you the keys to unlocking your potential so you can end up knowing what I know--but for you, and you alone.
"Get your ass on the mats and make it all mean something"
For that to happen, you have to do the work. You have to hit the mats with another human body.
Everything we say and do is to improve the quality of your mat time. So read, listen, watch, think, talk, do your dynamics & fitness work--but then get your ass on the mats and make it all mean something.
Slap a clown... everyone has a good laugh. But slap a killer... and you're likely dead. Let me explain.
The grainy black and white security cam footage is stark to the point of nausea. Like all murder, it's a kick in the guts how awfully stupid-simple killing really is. And, like the worst ones, it comes out of nowhere, sudden, final, and totally unexpected.
They don't even bump shoulders in front of the convenience store, just a casual brush of forearms, but enough to piss somebody off. The guy in the black sleeveless t-shirt turns and says something to the guy in the football jersey as he walks away. It probably wasn't nice. Football Jersey turns, probably answering the invective with a challenge. Black T saunters up, almost casual, and punches Football Jersey in the face. The blow does nothing more than rock his head back. Jersey takes a couple of steps away, though not from the punch. Because he wants to. There's an eerie calm about him. Black T swaggers toward him, slow, arms akimbo, body language questioning, "what now, coward?" In no particular hurry, Jersey pulls a nine-mil auto and empties it into Black T's head and chest.
The crowd breaks and runs, their backs strobe-lit by muzzle flashes.
What started as a usual Saturday night ends in death for the guy who, by all accounts, was on top of it. He was badass enough to insult people in public. He was confident enough in his fighting skills to throw the first punch. He was brave enough to push it and close distance to finish the job.
In the end, he lost his life not because the other guy had a gun, but because he slapped a killer. A mistake you usually only ever get to make once. He waded in, confident and in charge because every other time he did it he was slapping clowns. Every other time it ended in amusement for his friends as the clown laid down or ran away. This was obviously the first time he’d ever slapped a killer. And as it usually works out, the last.
This video is an ugly, awful reminder of how screwing around in violence can be lethal. Lethal for the confident, the skilled, the scrapper who's come out on top of dozens of altercations. Lethal for the competitor, the martial artist, the trained black belt. Lethal just that one, last time, the time you slap a killer.
If a killer kills someone... no one is much surprised. Likewise, if the killer is killed by his intended victim, that's understandable irony.
But if no one meant to kill anyone, and someone ends up dead, well, then it's cartoon exclamation points all around. Everyone, including the newly-minted killer, is surprised. Cries of "How could this happen?" and "But I didn't want to kill him!" ring out. In the end it gets labeled as an unfortunate accident.
But these 'accidents' happen often enough that when a new one pops up I can still recall the last one I read about. Primates have a territorial dispute, and begin vocalizing at each other to communicate their displeasure, then aggression in a sideways request that the other capitulate. When neither one backs down, it goes to blows, again to run the interloper off. Usually, this works out fine, as nature intended. But when it's bodyweight + brain + concrete, one can end up running their rival not just off their territory, but off this mortal coil entire.
These things happen often enough that I would suspect you're more likely, on balance, to be involved in this sort of situation than purely asocial violence. In other words, you're much more likely to get slapped at than outright murdered. Misery comes from confusing the two.
If you train to kill and think that means you're physically trained to handle the antisocial, it's the same as carrying a gun in case you get into an argument.
If you train to kill and think that means you get to ignore the antisocial, you're setting yourself up to be ready for the most unlikely event while ignoring the most likely. Chances are, you're going to get caught wanting.
Because we train to use our bodies to cause injury, it's easy for people to get the wrong idea -- on the surface, martial arts and combat sports look similar to what we do. And since martial arts and combat sports do a great job of preparing folks to navigate that antisocial fog-zone, then they tend to think we're training for the same thing, only in a 'super effective' way. That's like pulling a gun in a bar fight and 'shooting to subdue.' There's no such thing.
Still, people get all eager to lock horns. It's funny to me (funny strange, not funny ha-ha) seeing as how we can still end up with unintended fatalities. If you ask a gun owner, "How many gunfights do you want to be in?" the sane ones will all tell you, "None." The sane ones understand what goes on in a gunfight, and would never choose to be there if they didn't have to. If they should find themselves there, they will shoot to kill. But they don't walk around looking for gunfights.
This is painfully obvious when we talk about guns. But for some reason it's less obvious with the empty hands. Why? It comes down to expectations. We expect someone to die if a gun is involved -- that's what the modern handgun is for, killing people at close range. We don't expect someone to die from a standard, everyday session of monkey politics. And yet death is one of the possible outcomes.
Me, I expect someone to die every time violence is used, and then breathe a sigh of relief when everyone survives. I have absolutely no interest in going physical with monkey politics. I don't leave the house looking for opportunities to use my skills.
My aversion to violence runs so strong that it makes me something of a walking contradiction to my friends -- I will do whatever I can to avoid physical, antisocial confrontation and yet won't hesitate to stomp someone into the morgue in the asocial realm. I'm like Gandhi with a nuclear weapon.
For those of you feeling eager, or emboldened by your training, some advice:
You're all set for the asocial. If someone wants to murder you, you're well prepared -- knowledgeable, practiced, resolute. But don't forget to make sure you're prepared for the antisocial -- sharpen those social skills, actively think about how you want to be in those situations. Will you join in and play along? Throw fuel on the fire? Push until he either backs down or goes for you? Or will you go completely sideways on him, defusing the situation, seeking to reduce his fear and channel his anger elsewhere?
Know where your triggers are and puts lots of padding between them and the outside world. Work to recognize when you're being pushed into a corner. And remember that simply walking away could save your life -- or keep you out of prison.
As with the asocial, so with the antisocial: be prepared.
Chances are you'll go your entire life without anyone trying to kill you. I wouldn't make the same bet about some jerk calling you out.
And as the title explains ("The Art of Head Trauma: Dumps, Drops and Throws") these videos go way beyond merely tossing someone to the ground. Instead they break down every aspect of putting someone on the ground -- permanently -- into simple step-by-step movements you can execute the first time you see them.
Listen. During the past 2-3 years the hands-down #1 request for a new DVD product has been throwing.
And while we've wanted to get it out, the fact it involved people flying head-over-heels and landing in some pretty precarious positions required particular care.
But after a frustratingly long gestation, it's finally ready. And it's gonna knock your socks off.
Now, so you can get an idea of the unique nature of these DVDs below is a short video clip taken directly from the series.
What you'll notice is pretty well described on the back of the box the set comes in:
"While throwing (with its smooth motion and flowing arts) has long been regarded as the premier technical skill in the realm of fighting, the inherent fallacy with this is the almost complete focus on 'technique.'
"What you'll notice here is how this series dramatically re-focuses this powerful tool squarely on the one thing that truly matters most: results."
In this short video clip from the new DVD series, watch as Tim Larkin describes how 2 of his TFT instructors demonstrate the huge takeaway you'll get from watching this series ...a total focus on RESULTS!
That's the bowdlerized version of a quote from my brother--the original is profanity-laced and, perhaps, clearer in its rejection of the intellectual in favor of the actual. The key phrase there is 'get out on the mats and do it.' A handy imperative, and one that you should seek to fulfill at least twice a week. Because in the end, it won't be about what you've read or watched or listened to, it won't be what you've thought or talked about, it won't be dynamics or fitness work--your life will depend solely on what you have physically done on the mats.
Videos and manuals inform the physical training spectrum; the training spectrum (dynamics & coordination sets) is there only to inform your mat time. From the very beginning, everything is a pointer for your time on the mats.
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