Four Human Instincts That Martial Artists Can't Keep.

Four human instincts that martial artists can't keep.

1. I probably say this more than anything else to my fighters before, and during the fight hands up, chin down. Since, without a doubt, the most important goal in any fight is to stay conscious. protecting your chin is Paramont in a fight. Two of the main ways to do that is to keep your hands up, protecting your chin, and keep your chin down so that your shoulders can help protect your chin. Protecting your chin is so important you are doing both at the same time, your hands up, and your chin down. and there are many ways to practice these vital techniques, number one hold a small object like a bag glove between your chin and your shoulder, and hold it there with your chin, if you lift your chin, the bag glove will drop. Another thing you can do, it is to get into the habit of always touching your cheekbones with your hands. It just Hass to be done over and over, that's when your coach has to keep reminding you, because if they don't, you'll be reminded by repetitive punches to your face. A lot of these things will become second nature, but it's still a work in progress because it's natural to put your chin up and your hands down, so it has to be drilled often and consistently.
2. Don't telegraph your techniques, whether you're a wrestler or striker, telegraphing your technique will not only make it much less effective but it opens you up for dangerous counterattacks. If you telegraph a punch, that usually means pulling it back because you think it's gonna give you more power, and to be honest, if your opponent Couldn't move, it would give you more power; however, since most of us don't have the luxury of fighting stationary opponents, if you telegraph, they will take advantage and punch you in the face. If you are a wrestler and you telegraph your shot, not only, will your opponent simply move out of the way, you might also get countered because a sloppy shot leaves a lot of openings. There are many techniques to help avoid telegraphing attacks, and they must be learned and practiced continually and regularly.
3. Take one step back, then attack. This is another rule that my students get thrilled about. It's human nature to back away from danger, so if someone is aggressively coming towards you, instinctively we move backward, but you have to realize that if someone is moving forward while you are moving backward, They are much more dangerous, they can attack, much more effectively moving forward then you can move them backward. If it's one of my sport fighters, not only will they get attacked more effectively then they can attack, they are also showing timidity to the judges. If all other things were equal in a fight, aggressiveness would win out over timidity. In other words, the person moving forward in a fight is almost always beating. The guy that's moving backward. In a street attack moving backward would come naturally to most people, so it is an instinct that we have to break our students. It has to be drilled constantly. Some of my highest-level fighters still have to be continually reminded of that. If there's a lot of room and you want to create more distance, then you take one step back and then you can circle laterally either way, but my rule of thumb, especially for the street, because a lot of times, your fighting room is narrows down, so you're safer take one step back, and then you attack. Unless your name is Muhammad Ali, or Chuck, Liddell, you're not gonna be very effective fighting while moving backward. The person moving forward has much more power, speed, and agility than the person moving backward.
4. Hit hold or get out. A lot of times you'll see a fighter throw a combination and then stand there waiting for his opponent to react, and when he does you get knocked out. It's another weird instinct that people have when they're fighting is after they attack, whether it was effective or not, they like to stop and stare at their opponent, kind of like a deer in headlights. Whether you've thrown an attack, or your opponent has, and for whatever reason you are "in the pocket." The pocket is when you are in front of your opponent and close enough to be hit by them, or taken down for that matter. The pocket is not somewhere you want to hang out, unless you are striking, or actively going for a takedown. There's really no other reason that you should be in the pocket during a fight unless you are holding them or hitting them. Like I said, that's another instinct, that we as humans have, I don't know why, but it is very common, and you can see that during fights. To correct that, you just have to learn by getting either taken down all the time, or punched in the face all the time, but a better way would be you have a good coach who is very observant. That is definitely an instinct that we all have, that needs to be broken, if you want to be an effective martial artist.
Just the fact that fighters are getting punched, kicked, elbowed, need, slammed on the ground, put in painful positions, yet they're choosing to do it, sometimes even paying to do it, and having it done to them. Fighting is a very counterintuitive activity, and people, who engage in it voluntarily are not right in the head, but we all know that. With that said, since it is not a natural thing, there are many instincts that we have to break ourselves of if we want to be successful martial artists. So basically, martial artist has to spend most of their life making themselves of instincts that we were born with, to do something that hurts to train in it, or compete in, yet, for some reason, we love it so much, that we couldn't consider doing anything else, and even though there's a lot of pain, and putting yourself in uncomfortable situations, it's still our life, and will never stop.