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