Apply Upgrades (part two, mindset)

We train so many things, as we should, but often forget about mindset. Our day to day lives don't always necessitate the mindset which is of benefit to us in a fight scenario, sometimes it takes us too long to get in to the groove when training and sparring as a result.

When we look back on what was a disappointing sparring session we often fail to realise the reason for our lack of presence in the situation was mindset. Intention and conviction make a huge difference, I remember a turning point for me several years back was after watching multiple highlights and fights of the late Ramon Dekkers. His intensity was brilliant along with his control and awareness. I tried to flip a switch in my sparring session that night and it worked, something really clicked and it was the understanding between intensity and aggression, maintaining your resolve and being calm whilst moving with intention and conviction. Things I'm still always working on!


There are some fighters that repeatedly give dominant performances due to their intention to chop right through their opponent. People like Tyson, Fedor and Ramon Dekkers are examples of this resolve, intention and conviction. It takes a combination of many things to be a great fighter, enjoy the highlights of these greats!

See you in class, oss!

Apply Upgrades (part one, technique)

Hi guys,

These past few months have been great, training and reviewing everything to make necessary tweaks where they're needed. During this time I've noticed the same topics come up time and again at the gym and not just during class time. For this reason I will be putting up a post each week about some of these specific things that we've been talking about which are, rhythm, technique, mindset and body mechanics. Check back each week and you should end up with a little guide to upgrading the way you do things.

This weekend Weidman checked a kick with his knee to devastating effect against Silva now everyone seems to be talking about it. If more people were integrating from these arts it wouldn't have taken this long to be seen or talked about in mainstream MMA. 

People often get caught with things they don't know or do so why not think outside the box? I know I'm not alone in asking why don't we see more of the JKD approach in combat sports but especially Filipino Martial Arts/Silat? The answer may be because everyone is less likely to try out things that are new to them for fear of them being riskier than bread and butter techniques.

Working simple basics and principles and getting creative with them is something we should ALL be doing, but it's great to have some extras in your arsenal to plug in to them!

As an instructor, I love hearing guys tell me how they're having success in other classes against more experienced guys using things I've taught them.

Here's a clip of none other than Bas Rutten talking about kicking technique, it will all sound familiar to those of you I've been lecturing about turning those toes out to open up your hips!


Check out his Jun Fan Gung Fu hoodie, JKD has a longer presence in MMA than most may be aware of and is on the rise. Come along to the classes on Saturdays to train and try out things that are new to you!

Oss!

Seni Silat and Silat Toku

In 2012 I traveled to Malaysia and fell in love with everything over there, I was fortunate enough to meet a fantastic Silat master and talk with him extensively on Martial Arts and Silat as well as get some training with him.

This year I went back to Malaysia but my instructor was out in Brunei teaching the prince so I couldn't train with him. I was however, able to meet Othman Ayib and spend time with him discussing Silat and get several hours training with him.

Othman is a great individual who, like many Martial Artists, is very multi talented. In addition to being skilled in Silat, he works as a nature guide and snake handler and has won several awards in both fields. He holds Guinness world records for his work with snakes and has assisted National Geographic on projects as well as bio-mechanical engineers on their studies of flying snakes for aerodynamics.

Working with snakes requires great resolve, reflexes and movement, this is evident to see when you watch him move. Othman has developed a form drawing from Tai-chi and Silat from observing cobras emerge from hibernation.

Othman is a long time Student of Seni silat, author of Silat Melayu, Ku Ahmad bin Ku Mustafa. His beautiful children displayed some Silat and his eldest son, Idris, helped walk me through the first form of Silat Toku. Othman and I discussed the positions in the form and he showed me the applications and defences in them as well as the foundational aspects of Seni Silat and Silat Toku.

I am very pleased to have met Othman and spend time with him and his beautiful family and look forward to seeing them all again if I am fortunate enough to visit Malaysia again. Othman is teaching classes from his home 2-3 times a week. You can contact him from his website.

(The videos are footage of the more traditional forms, we discussed and drilled applications from these forms but they weren't recorded as we were having too much fun and my battery had died by that point. These were taken on my phone so apologies for the quality).

Terimah kasih!

Rounding off the year

Hi guys,

Despite the busy time of year, injuries and commitments on Dec 15th a keen bunch came together for a solid training session. We bashed pads and kick shields, worked some kickboxing combos and some techniques from the over/under tie up. We incorporated some things into it that we're also looking at in the Saturday classes. We finished off the day with some sneaky stick grappling. 

In addition we talked about the mental approach to training, the JKD mind frame of using everything at your disposal. "Intelligent Combat"

The session was free with the goal of getting everyone to come along and make a charitable contribution and with your kind donations we raised £180 to contribute to The Philippines.

A time when some are is already digging deep for presents it was great to have contributions from those of you who couldn't even take part on the day! Every little makes a difference and every penny will work towards making lives better for those who really need it out there right now. We enjoy the fantastic Filipino Martial Arts and we should give back where we have the opportunity.

A sincere thank you to all of you!

Classes will run as normal over the holiday period but, let's make 2014 a year of progression and growth!

Oss!

Developing your game

I remember something Guro Dan Inosanto said at one of his fantastic seminars I attended, where he was talking about techniques and having options. He said "You can have a 1000 songs on your iPod but only listen to one at a time".

The JKD mentality is one of efficiency, "do more with less" I've heard Guro Bob Breen say many times over the years.

With these things in mind I've recently been using a couple of analogies and examples about technique collecting versus learning via techniques. The first one will ring truer to those of us that still remember making our own mixtapes with 90min audio cassettes! We have a large music collection, maybe 100's of albums yet come back to the same few songs all the time, we go through 20 albums to make a playlist of 20 songs. We have experienced many to choose a few.

In much the same way you could be at buffet (sorry for those of you cutting weight or just starting that diet!). You pick up your empty plate, start to make your way through the buffet and try a small bit of everything on offer. Once you've tried it all, your second plate has less variety but more of the things you enjoyed the most.

With our training we try different things, train a range of different drills and techniques to meet different eventualities. Along the way you find things that really work for you and you keep coming back to them, this is how you get better.

It's very hard to pick everything up and get better at all of it together. You're shown different techniques in class where you try them out and drill them, pick the one you liked most and came easiest to you and practice that. Build on it, start looking for it in different situations and in sparring - it's a testing ground, you're safe, it's not a fight!

Soon you'll start to see your game improve, you've just added a tool, a weapon to your arsenal. Once you're comfortable, start concentrating on something new, something to support what you've just picked up! You had to listen to hundreds of songs to find the ones you keep coming back to and when you get bored of even your favourites, you seek out new ones or go back to give others another try. Now you start doing more with a few.

This is what Bruce Lee meant by absorbing what is useful and discarding what is useless. What is useful to one person at one time may not be to another, what's useless at one stage in your development may become useful later.

We don't go through techniques for the sake of it, there should be purpose to everything we do.

Lastly, I want to add that we are what we strive to be. Whatever it is you want in your life, keep working on it day by day, and you will have more of it in your life the more you strive for it. You will succeed a little bit each day and who doesn't want success?

See in you in class, Oss!