The One, Little-Used Training Principle That’ll Leapfrog Your
Combat Fighting Progress

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"The way to avoid what is strong is to strike what is
weak."
– Sun Tzu
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When most people think of martial arts training they
envision a class arranged in rows going through
various punching and kicking drills.

Form is emphasized to an incredible degree. I
remember early on in my martial arts training being
told by a master that until I had performed a movement
1,000 times (in this case it was a traditional reverse
punch) I would not be able to understand, nor properly
use, this strike.

So for much of my youth I would spend hour after hour
performing the various punches, kicks, and techniques
I’d been taught, until I acquired ‘proficiency’ in my
performance of these movements.

Often QUANTITY was emphasized over QUALITY. In fact
looking back on these training experiences I believe
the main goal was FATIGUE.

This often produced humorous results. Whenever I was
able to sneak a glance around the room, I’d notice the
agony on the faces of my fellow students as they
executed say, a high roundhouse kick, for the umpteen
time, — a kick that now barely rose above knee
level!

The instructors were very SPECIFIC when it came to
form. Everything had to look just so — and you were
judged by your ability to reproduce this look. You
were instructed in use of your natural body weapons
but the emphasis was on form rather than function.

The subject of whether or not this particular strike
was effective or even biomechanically correct was
never addressed. Any such questions were dismissed
with some vague reference to the art being this way
for 1000’s of years, blah, blah, and blah…

Here were just some of the questions I had about
those methods:

1. What was the purpose of these drills? To make me
a better fighter? And if so, how?

2. What was the point of doing a drill to fatigue?
What did I learn from that? Did it make me better at
that drill?

3. How did the movements I learned work under the
stress of a real fight?

4. Why are some of the ways you’re teaching me to
use my body seemingly more prone to hurting me than my
attacker?

Unfortunately I got nowhere asking these and other
similar questions. It took me many years of WRONG
training to find out how to correctly train my skills
for maximum fighting effectiveness under stress.

The difference is dramatic … as are the results.

When you train with me, especially those with
extensive martial arts training, you’ll be surprised how
little I correct you on ‘form’. I’ll rarely have you
performing ‘drills’. And I never instruct you to
‘memorize’ a technique.

But I am very strict on whether or not you are using
your body weapons to correctly strike the targets on
your attacker. I am also a ’stickler’ on the proper
biomechanical use of those body weapons you use to
execute your strikes.

Why?

Because the ONLY thing that matters when you are in a
real fight is that you — HIT YOUR TARGETS!

The focus is not "how you look" when you execute a
one-knuckle punch to your attacker’s temple, but…

— DID YOU HIT THE TEMPLE?

How you look when you strike is a very minor concern.

I do address how you look in training but in a very
specific manner. One that helps you to more
effectively hit your targets while generating the
MAXIMUM amount of force with each of your strikes.

Still, one of the most difficult things for me to
‘unlearn’ from a trained martial artist or fighter is
the formatic drills their prior training inculcated in
them.

Often I’ll watch as a highly trained individual
executes a picture-perfect kick or punch during a
training session, a blow that rightfully sends the
partner reeling backwards due to the force. Then,
however, I watch them stand in place (again, often in
a picture-perfect stance) rather than DYNAMICALLY
moving with their attacker.

With my training you won’t make the same mistake.
Focus on what your goal is — DESTROYING the other guy.
In order to do that you need to ensure you hit your targets.

If you can focus on that FIRST, I’ll help you look
good doing it later.

Until next time,

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

PS. In just one weekend you can learn to defeat any
attacker using the Target Focus Training system. See how at:
http://www.targetfocustraining.com/livetraining