Author: White Dragon Warrior Society
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Our 1st Caribbean Training Camp
We are very excited to tell you about our 1st Annual Caribbean Training Camp!
It is going to be absolutely awesome.
We will train in one of the most beautiful places in the world – Montego Bay, Jamaica!!!
I am offering some top notch seminars in the rarely taught ‘Wind & Water Chi Kung of Pai Lum Tao’.
This curriculum is perfect for bettering your health and fitness while enhancing your martial fighting skills and self-defense.
There will be plenty of time to enjoy the beach, mountains and beautiful culture that is celebrated around the world.
I know that you all will not want to miss out on this incredible opportunity.
Please contact me ASAP to reserve your spot now.Don’t miss out on this opportunity to be a part of our 1st Caribbean Pai Lum Tao Training Camp!!!
Grandmaster Glenn C. Wilson
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San Shou Tip of the Month
TRAINING TIPS:
- Stay calm and punch lighter on the bag so you can last more rounds, keep your form together, and punch sharp. This will allow you to get in more minutes of quality bag work. You want to have energy to hit the bag with correct form and keep your punches snappy, instead of spending most of your bag work panting and huffing to show that you have “heart”. Don’t waste energy showing off on the bag – nobody cares.
- Don’t workout till complete failure. Get tired, break a sweat, and just push yourself a little more each day. If you go until failure every day of the week without a reason, you’ll probably over train and quit training very soon.
- Drink lots of water. One cup every hour minimum!
- Make friends in the school, be humble, and ask your trainer for fighting tips. When another fighters beats you, ask him how he did it; you may be surprised at how helpful he might be at showing you your own weaknesses.
PUNCHING TIPS:
- Turn your whole body into the punch. If your feet are slow, (most people have slow feet at first) you will find that punching a little slower actually hits harder than punching faster. So in other words, punch as fast as your body can turn so you won’t sacrifice power. Again, use your whole body instead of just the arms to punch.
- Throw short hooks, short uppercuts, and short rights but long jabs.
- You don’t always have to throw one knockout punch after another. Combo light and hard punches and use head movement to fake out your opponent. Remember that the harder you try, the harder they will counter, and the harder you will get hurt. Calm down and throw the hard punches when you know they’ll land.
- Never forget to go to the body. Try a jab to the head, and right hand to the body. When you’re in real close, lean your head inside to smother him and throw 2-3 body punches.
- Throw 3-5 punch combos maximum. You don’t need 10-punch combos – all those do is sap your energy and leave you open to counters. Don’t even practice these for now.
- Breathe out when you punch and always look at your target when you punch. Don’t hold your breath and don’t look at the ground. Learn to keep your eyes open during the heat of the battle!
- Let your hands go! Don’t wait around forever to let your opponent hit you all day. Throw something even if it doesn’t land. Keep him thinking and keep your eyes open for more punching opportunities.
DEFENSE TIPS:
- Stay calm and never stop breathing. If you’re starting to panic, ask the other guy to slow down so your mind and body can catch up.
- Hold your hands high, elbows low, and move your head.
- Don’t waste energy running around the ring, just take one step and pivot out of the way if your opponent is overly aggressive. Think of yourself as a matador pivoting out of the way as the bull misses. Don’t forget to hit him back.
- Don’t lean back and don’t take your eyes off your opponent when you’re taking punches (this is especially hard for most beginners). Establish your ground and defend it with hard counters. Pivot so that you don’t get countered.
- Don’t always wait for your opponent to finish punching before you start punching back. Interrupt his combos and hit him! Too many speedy fighters get caught up in trying to block all the oncoming punches that they never get to counter. Let your hands go!
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San Shou Fitness Training Tip
Fitness training is vital to maximize performance during fights. The number of rounds a fighter will fight depends on their category of the fight they are competing in, and it’s important to ensure that you have the stamina to perform until the final round. It also helps burn calories. Warm up your muscles and tendons before training to increase their flexibility and prevent injury. Spend at least ten minutes warming up. You should train at least three times a week to see an improvement in your fitness. Make sure you keep hydrated during training.
San Shou Fitness Training Tip #1: Mind Set
Fitness training should be performed with consistency and dedication. Set aside time for fitness training and focus on the exercises, making sure that you have no distractions. Find ways to motivate yourself, such as making arrangements to train with a friend.
San Shou Fitness Training Tip #2: Sleep
Make sure you get enough sleep. This allows your muscles to recover from training. It also helps increase your concentration and performance during training. Eight hours of sleep a night is the recommended amount.
San Shou Fitness Training Tip #3: Nutrition
Take care of your body and eat the right foods to ensure good health. Good nutrition gives you energy to participate in a vigorous fitness training program. Consuming the right amount of calories is important, as excessive fat will inhibit your fitness training.
San Shou Fitness Training Tip #4: Preparation
Wear comfortable clothes and footwear that are suited to your workout. Prepare all equipment and remove distractions. This will help your mental fitness and allow you to focus on training.
San Shou Fitness Training Tip #5: Jogging
Jog 3 to 5 miles at a steady rate. Sprinting at the end can help increase fitness and improve your technique. This will help you have a burst of energy at the end of rounds to perform at your peak. Occasionally increase your runs to 6 to 10 miles.
San Shou Fitness Training Tip #6: Interval Training
Interval training recreates the demands of a fighters round. Begin by warming up, which can include jogging, skipping and sprinting. Run for 600m, and then have a 1 minute break. Repeat 3 times. Run for 200m at an increased speed and then rest for 30 seconds. Repeat three times. Perform interval training twice a week. Other interval training can include fast sit ups, pushups and squats with short intervals between them. Another exercise is a workout on the bag or with a sparring partner at a high intensity, with one minute intervals. This helps mimic rounds and increases fitness and stamina.
San Shou Fitness Training Tip #7: Skipping Rope
Skipping burns calories and helps increase fitness. It also strengthens calf muscles, which is essential to fighting. Skipping helps improve balance and increases coordination. Skip for 3 minutes, with 1 minute intervals. A variety of techniques can be used. You can jump using both feet firmly planted on the ground after each jump. Another technique is jumping using one foot while keeping the other foot off ground. Another option is to alternate between which foot is held off the ground. You can increase the pace by turning the rope twice for each jump.
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Fight Game Plan : Part 1: Identify Fighter Type
Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the face.” While that is excellent advice for a novice fighter preparing for their first fight, it should also be noted that every one of Tyson’s losses came at the hands of a fighter who entered the ring with an effective fight plan. The fact is, whether you’re competing in boxing, kickboxing, or even point sparring, a carefully thought out game plan executed efficiently will result in success. Fortunately for the Pai Lum Tao practitioner, fighting philosophies and formulas are just as much a part of the training as conditioning. This post will be the first in a series on developing a strategy for either a San Shou or point sparring fight. Today we’ll look at identifying a fighter’s “type.” Future posts will cover exploiting a mismatch while playing to your strengths, fighting a mirror of yourself, and pre-fight mentality and demeanor.
Fighter Type Grid
Every fighter has strengths and weaknesses. While Pai Lum Tao is a deep, well-rounded system – and we should all strive to be great in every area – we’re all still training and learning. Thus, there will be elements we pick up quicker than others. Even a well-rounded master will likely have one area they prefer over everything else, and one thing they may do well, but it would not be their first choice in combat. In addition to their strength or preference, every fighter will have a style that they gravitate to. This style is a reflection of their level of aggression in the ring and what kind of pace or tempo they want the fight to go at.
A fighter’s arsenal can be broken down into 3 categories: punching, kicking, and grappling. Some would argue that this is splitting hairs and that punching and kicking should be lumped as stand-up. Others would take a more liberal approach and say that elbows, knees, and throws should be their own category. However, as you’ll see in a few moments, looking at fighting through these three categories will build a stronger eye for identifying mismatches.
Fighting style can be broken down into two distinct categories: aggressive and defensive. Neither is correct or incorrect, and as mentioned earlier, an experienced fighter will learn how to use both. However, we’re all going to have a natural tendency to one or the other. An aggressive fighter is an instigator – they’re swinging as soon as the bell rings. The aggressive fighter will apply pressure and stay on the offensive. A defensive fighter is exactly what it sounds like. They let the opponent come to them and react accordingly. To the casual observer, they may look like they’re backpedaling at times, when in reality, they’re luring the opponent in for a devastating counter. While there are many other nuances in each fighter’s style, one of these two characteristics will be most prevalent in them.
If we were to look at the three primary methods in vertical columns and the two styles as horizontal rows, we end up with a grid that can easily identify what a fighter’s type is. See the chart below:
Style/Method Puncher Kicker Grappler* Aggressive Aggressive Puncher Aggressive Kicker Aggressive Grappler Defensive Defensive Puncher Defensive Kicker Devensive Grappler *It’s important to note that the definition of “grappling” will change depending on the rules. Some San Shou fights will allow for ground fighting. Other San Shou fights and some point sparring matches may only be limited to takedowns, but that still qualifies as grappling. Even clutching can fall under this category. When prepping for a fight, the first key for developing a game plan is identifying where on the above grid both they and their opponent fall. After that, they need to be mindful of where both are most vulnerable. It should be noted that pinpointing a fighter on the grid does not necessarily pigeonhole them in that spot – they could be effective in other areas. Conversely, identifying your weakness does not mean scrapping that element. In future posts, we’ll explore the need to step out of your comfort zone to augment your strength. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at each one of these fighter types:
- Aggressive Puncher. This fighter brings to mind the phrase “punches in bunches.” They have fast hands and come with a minimum 3-4 punch combinations. This fighter is effective at using their jab to bridge the gap and set-up follow-up punches. More often than not, they have a heavy rear hand.
- Defensive Puncher. This fighter is a great counter puncher. They’ll fluster their opponent with ducks, covers, and intercepting hands. They will use their jab to create space and keep their opponent at a distance.
- Aggressive Kicker. With this fighter, it’s almost a given that they’ll lead with a linear kick. Expect a barrage of combination kicks and changing target zones. Their round kicks have knockout power.
- Defensive Kicker. Like the aggressive kicker, the defensive kicker will use the lead linear kick, only it will be to hold off an opponent’s advance. The defensive kicker will also use their legs to intercept or stuff incoming kicks, then follow-up with a counter kick.
- Aggressive Grappler. The aggressive grappler wants to get inside their opponent’s reach. Their goal is to keep the opponent close enough to grab. They won’t hesitate to go for the takedown when the opportunity is there, and if ground fighting is allowed, they are scrambling for advantageous positioning and the submission.
- Defensive Grappler. This fighter is looking for their opponent to leave themselves vulnerable when attacking and go for the takedown. If ground fighting is applicable, they will exercise great patience, allowing their opponent to wear themselves out and capitalize on a mistake.
If you’ve ever competed in any level of fighting, some of those points may have resonated with you, while others make you cringe. Those are some early tell signs of where you fall on the grid. When studying an opponent (either as a spectator or in the ring – we’ll cover that more in the next post), these are clues you want to key in on when developing your strategy. In order to develop a successful fight plan, it is essential to understand both who you are as a fighter and who your opponent is.
Over the next month, take some time to reflect on your strengths and areas for improvement and see if you can identify what your fighter type is. Try to watch some fights as well – either on TV, at a local tournament, or even just sparring matches at your school. See if you can recognize what kind of fighter each competitor is. In the next post with this series, we’ll breakdown what happens when each type of fighter squares off.
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Fighters – Drop Your Hips!
How does dropping the hips (your center) help a Fighter?
Punching
Without a doubt, you need to drop your hips if you want to throw more powerful punches. Dropping the hips will ground you, giving you more balance and power. On the other hand, lifting the hips will make you lighter and decrease your balance and power. Raising your hips during a punch will make your punch less powerful and also leave you vulnerable to being pushed off balance.
Defending
Dropping your hips while defending can help you ground so that you don’t get pushed off balance. If you’ve fought a trained fighter before, you might notice that they become very heavy when blocking your punches. And that sometimes you even felt like you were being pushed back when you threw at their guard. They’re able to push you back because they were heavier than you were. You can become heavier while blocking by dropping your hips so you can push back your opponent using his own arm.
Moving
Dropping your hips while moving will make you more grounded, allowing you to move with more balance and control. Being more grounded allows you to change directions easily if needed, and always be ready to attack or defend. On the other hand, floating above the ground leaves you vulnerable to being pushed off balance and you can’t attack or defend.
How to Drop the Hips
Many people misunderstand what it means to “drop the hips”. They think it means lowering the hips and so they end up bending their knees too much and taking too long to throw the punch. The right way is to drop your hips slightly just as you land a punch, or drop the hips right as you block a punch, or right as you move.
- First release the hips
- Relax your hip muscles the same way that you relax your arm at the initial phase of a punch.
- The hips are being relaxed as you exhale during the movement (for a punch, block, or footwork).
- Catch the hips
- “Catching the hips” means to tighten your hips for a split second right at the end of the release.
- You tighten your hip muscles for just a split second right at the moment of impact (the same way you tighten your fist at impact).
- Use very little energy and very little movement
- It’s about relaxing and releasing more so than it is about tensing and tightening.
- The hip drops maybe an inch or a centimeter at most, it shouldn’t be an actual “drop” that you can see.
- The moment of tension is only for a split second.
Exercises to help you drop the hips
Drills to try:
- Jumping rope without “jumping” your hips too high.
- Slipping and rolling punches without lifting the hips.
- Shadowboxing without letting the hips gets too high. (Watch how Pacquiao shadowboxes, you will see that he always appears to be pulled down to the ground. He moves quickly, but doesn’t fly off the ground).
- Do footwork drills while focusing on keeping the hips heavy.
Common mistakes
Many people think dropping the hips should mean to feel as much weight as possible in their hips. This visualization can be incorrect as they relax the hips too much that it shakes around and doesn’t connect to the core. Or that the hip becomes too loose that it’s always tilted forward, backwards, or sideways, which reduces balance and power.
You should also be careful that the “drop” is simply the release of the hips. It doesn’t mean to actually try and lower your hips to the ground or to walk around with constantly bent knees. Your knees should be slightly flexed but not bent to the point that it’s tiring to stand.
The ultimate goal of “dropping the hips”
Learning how to drop the hips is something that takes time to master. Beginners will end up using a lot of energy or a lot of movement with very little effect. Whereas a skilled fighter can drop his hips even just a centimeter and generate so much more power out of it. Advanced fighters might not seem to move at all, but I can assure you, they are creating power within their body!
The best punchers will be able to punch without lifting their hips, and can even throw multiple punches without lifting their hips. When done right, you will feel like dropping your hips gives you faster power because your hips are always grounded to punch. Whereas if you lift your hips during punches, you have to wait until your hips come back down in order to punch again.
Dropping the hips isn’t only going to make you a better boxer; it’s going to make you a better athlete. You will be a phenomenal mover and power generator in any sport you choose to do as long as you learn how to keep your hips grounded. Jump, run, move, and twist your body any way you want…as long as you drop your hips!
Quote Of The Month
“We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training. Bleed on the floor, not on the streets”
“Train Hard, Train Smart”
Sigung Patrick Finneran - First release the hips
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What is fear?
No matter how skillful or fit a fighter might be physically, this will count for nothing if the fighter is not prepared mentally. Many fighters underachieve because of the demons swimming around in their heads, from the weeks of buildup to sitting in the changing room waiting to get gloved up then the long walk to the ring.
But what causes these very uncomfortable feelings? And more importantly, how can we handle them and use them to our advantage and not let them drag us down feeling like cowards? Well first thing I must stress is that everyone, no matter who they are, gets the exact same feeling as you before a fight.
The difference between a champion and a coward is the champion can control his feelings, let’s look at the different causes of these feelings and what they mean.
Fight or flight syndrome
This is the most common feeling a fighter will experience leading up to a fight, it is the brain telling you to run away to survive or stay and fight. It would rather you not face the fear because survival is its main aim and there is a better chance of this if you don’t hang around. Adrenalin is released into the blood stream getting you ready for action (this makes you stronger), you will sometimes feel sick and need to go to the toilet, and you will get the shivers and sometimes stutter. Another name for this is FEAR.
Eustress
This is a type of stress that has a positive effect, the fighter will actually seek the stressful situations and thrive on the feelings associated with them, they will get fight or flight but they use it to their advantage.
Stress
Is seen as being the result of the performer perceiving an imbalance between what is being demanded of them, and whether they think they are capable of meeting that demand i.e. “am I good enough to be in the same ring as him?”
Anxiety
It’s seen as being a negative emotional state usually associated with feelings of apprehension and worry. This is caused by over arousal, to a person being stressed. Anxiety is usually therefore associated with feelings such as nervousness, worry and apprehension.
Arousal
It’s seen as a general internal state of physiological activity and alertness varying from deep sleep to intense excitement.
Now we have had a quick look at the different types of feeling a fighter may go through, let’s look at ways to overcome the negative aspects and become more confident.
Imagery
This is often used with relaxation techniques in order to reduce arousal. The fighter imagines the circumstances and feelings associated with being relaxed. Imagery can also be used to practice something; this is known as mental rehearsal. The fighter can ‘run through’ his performance in his mind, deciding how to cope with tactics. This type of training is thought to enhance performance to a great degree if used correctly. Ten minutes a day is good! Just lie in a dark room and imagine you’re at the fight, you feel scared, you can hear the crowd. Imagine you’re getting gloved up then walking to the ring and getting in, imagine yourself performing well and handling the fear. Try this before training, imagine sparring etc., it’s no good doing it on fight night. You need to practice, that’s the only way you get good at it. Did you know the brain struggles to tell the difference between reality and imagery (if done properly)?
Relaxation
You can use tapes and such to wind down after training, one widely used method is progressive muscular relaxation (PMR). This involves tensing and then relaxing groups of muscles in turn over the whole body. Boxers can devise their own techniques along these lines, and practice usually enables the athlete to relax effectively in a very short space of time. Other types of relaxation: Meditation, Hypnosis. You can listen to music, this is a great relaxation method used a lot, whatever feels good for you.
Goal setting
Goal setting can help the fighter focus away from the source of stress and on something achievable. It should focus on performance related goals rather than on outcome related goals. Fighters can be helped to focus on a particular, achievable, goal during performance which can switch attention from external factors which may create arousal and worry.
Self-motivation
One way to do this is to give yourself buzz words, or a quote of some sort you read every time you go training or to a fight. This type is effective because it releases self-confidence and give you that something extra in training/fighting. An example could be a note hand written on a piece of paper that you keep with your training gear and read when using it. It could say something like “today I will train like a champion, so tomorrow I may become one”
Self-talk
The ability to perceive arousal and to maintain a problem focused attitude before and during performance has a positive effect on performance. Self – talk helps the fighter to see arousal as positive. Self – talk can be used to change your perspective of the situation. You could tell yourself “I’ve trained so hard for this fight that no one can stop me”.
Conclusion
Fighting is a draining sport, both mentally and physically. Don’t underestimate the power of the mind, it is a powerful tool that can make or break you. If you use these suggestions I am certain you will see some improvement in your performance, but you don’t have to believe me. Try them out for a while and see how you get on, but not just in the ring, it has to become part of your mindset.
Quote of the Month:
Never give up, which is the lesson I learned from boxing. As soon as you learn to never give up, you have to learn the power and wisdom of unconditional surrender, and that one doesn’t cancel out the other; they just exist as contradictions. The wisdom of it comes as you get older.
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Watching out for Uppercuts
Uppercuts are not as commonly thrown as the other punches (like the left hook or right cross)…but should you ever run across an opponent with deadly uppercuts, they can be your biggest nightmare. They’re actually quite hard to see and don’t telegraph as much as boxing coaches would have you believe.
Sure, anybody can see a loaded uppercut from a mile away. But up in close-range, in the middle of an exchange, you don’t realize you got hit with an uppercut until about 3 seconds later. It’s like you’re safe in your guard and then *BOOM!* your jaw hurts for no reason.
Here’s how you get away from that tricky uppercut!
Watching out for Uppercuts
Uppercuts are not usually a serious problem. For me, the more threatening and most annoying punches have always been the jab, the right cross, and the left hook. More fighters are more skilled and versatile with those punches and so they tend to be more of a problem. It also happens to be that if you’re getting hit with uppercuts, you’re probably getting hit with the other punches, too.
But every now and then, you WILL come across a guy with a great uppercut and knows how you to use it. And if you’re like me…you’ll panic…because great uppercuts are hard to see and a bit tricky to defend against. They don’t come straight into your line of sight and the body doesn’t seem to rotate as much. So you have less visual indicators to go by.
The worst part about suddenly finding yourself vulnerable to uppercuts is that your opponent now knows you have an extra chink in the armor. And you’re suddenly exponentially more vulnerable when he mixes up his angles of attack.
So what can you do?
1. Don’t lean forward
Unless you’re able to see incoming uppercuts, you shouldn’t be in that position in the first place. Don’t get caught leaning forward. Any time that your upper body is leaning over you’re basically giving him a huge target to arc his uppercuts into. And he’s not going to miss and he’s also not worried about your counters because all you can see are his balls anyway. You won’t see his uppercuts coming and you won’t even know if they’re going to the head or the body.
Leaning forward gives your opponent the perfect angle to throw uppercuts at you without being vulnerable to your counters.
How to avoid getting caught leaning forward:
- Don’t bring your head in with the jab. Keep it behind the shoulder, or tilt it down to the side.
- Don’t lean in with your torso when you throw the right. It’s easy for him to shoulder roll and counter you this way.
- Don’t tilt your body over so much when you slip. Keep the slipping motions subtle.
- Don’t leave your head in front of his chest for too long. If you’re slipping through, make sure you pull it out quickly.
2. Uppercut defense techniques
Lean away from the uppercut
Yeaup! If you lean back, there’s no angle for his uppercut to come under and hit something. He’ll miss wildly and you’ll get a huge opportunity to counter. Now I wouldn’t suggest for you to be leaning back all the time but instead to not leave it forward all the time. Anytime that you have your upper body forward for too long, make sure you pull it out. It’s kind of like head movement…keep it moving when you know it’s at risk of getting hit.
Hit him or push him with a straight punch
In theory, a straight arm is longer than a bent arm. So if you’re keeping the distance and using the jab or pushing him back with your jab, you’ll never be in range of his uppercut. This isn’t a guaranteed principle because he could still lunge and catch you anyway but at least you know to use distance to avoid uppercuts.
Shoulder rolls the uppercut
If you can tell which side the punches are coming from, you can avoid them easily by rolling your shoulders perfectly in rhythm. Uppercuts are easily defended when you turn your side into them because they’ll end up hitting your arms. Obviously, the uppercut angle is only good at coming straight up the front of your body, whereas hooks and crosses can be thrown at your side because they can get over your shoulders.
Block the uppercut
Yes, the good old trusty block always works. There are a couple risks that come with relying on blocking for defense. One is that you might not be able to see punches. It’s not so much about the gloves covering your eyes but more so about your awareness skills not being able to detect incoming punches. Even if you block, it’s important that you keep your eyes active to look not only for incoming punches but more importantly, for counter-punching opportunities! The other risk is that you don’t want your opponent to force you into a defensive shell. By then, it’ll only be a matter of time before something gets through.
Now if you do block the uppercut, try to do it with your elbows (instead of with your hands). This will hurt his hands and also still keep your hands in ready position to punch back. And if you can’t catch it with the elbows, try to catch it on your forearm.
Defend the uppercut by: leaning away, countering with a straight punch, rolling it, or blocking it.
3. What NOT to do
Blocking with the hand
First off, the hand is too weak to stop the uppercut power completely. The power will still penetrate and you’ll take damage. Even if you’re not hurt, you might be distracted enough to eat follow-up punches. The other problem with trying to block the uppercut with your hand is that you might even lower your hand to stop the uppercut and risk exposing yourself to follow-up punches. It’s actually a common tactic for fighters to throw uppercuts to make their opponent’s block low, which then exposes their heads for the left hook.
Slipping by bending forward
Unless you’re seeing the uppercut perfectly, and know exactly what you’re doing, slipping is not a safe way to avoid the uppercut. Even if your head gets out of the way, your bent over body is still perfectly exposed to the uppercut.
Now you can slip by bending back, sure, that’s fine. But bending forward to evade uppercuts…that are very scary.
Closing up into a shell
This is usually the default move when fighters realize they don’t know how to avoid a certain punch. They just close up completely in hopes that it will protect them from everything. But in reality, making yourself completely defensive is only going to invite more attacks, not prevent them.
While I think it’s important for you to become more defensive if you feel yourself being extremely vulnerable, its better that you don’t close up completely. Try to be defensive in other ways. Perhaps be more cautious of his right arm or his left arm…or be more cautious of punches coming from the bottom rather than the top. But try not to close up completely.
OR…you could also try to exchange with him. If you know you’re going to be hit anyway, then at least you can focus on making sure you get some hits in, too. Perhaps hurting him with a good shot is the best way to make him back off. It’s my preferred option, too.
Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. – Sun Tzu
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How to Prepare the Mind in Martial Arts – Part II
Train for yourself, not for others. When you feel you have to impress others your focus is not centered, your true feelings are not at work and your true martial arts abilities cannot be expressed.
Train to expand yourself spiritually, mentally and physically. The true training comes from learning to train the emotions that result from our life experiences. The discipline of the mind is vital to becoming physically disciplined and skilled.
Train to better your life and all it has to offer. Every time we train, we teach ourselves how to overcome life’s day to day difficulties. To hurt people is easy, to understand life is hard.
Focus on developing intention and technique. The mind is the weapon, and it should control the body, not the other way around. If you have no control over your mind and spirit, you have no control over your body.
Be proactive, not reactive. Don’t think about what is going to happen, feel what is happening. He who looks can only see, he who feels can only better himself.
Study meditation techniques so that you can learn to concentrate. Concentration is mind conception, mind acceptance and mind application. Use these tools to train your mind to stay one step ahead of your opponent by anticipating his next move, processing it, and deciding your response in a split second.Adopt the mindset when you train of thinking as if you or your loved one is about to die, otherwise your response is meaningless and futile. Training your mind to visualize real danger will naturally result in more power and accuracy in your moves.
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How to Train Mentally for a Fight – Part I
Train the body so that certain actions become instinctual. Fighters that have to determine if a kick or punch has been thrown from too far away to land, for example, are wasting their mental focus. It is imperative to train so that blocks and certain counters are performed without thinking.
Purchase equipment such as gloves and trunks that appeal to the fighter. A fighter should not borrow equipment. They must be as comfortable in the ring as an executive would be in their office. Encourage fighters to inspect any new ring before a fight so they are familiar with the rope tension, size and even any loose spots in the flooring.
Establish that pain is merely a message. Fighters must train mentally to accept that pain is a warning from the body, acknowledge the message and then disregard it.
Create a mental comfort zone by selecting music that inspires the fighter. It is best if the music is associated with a movie character they admire or has some other secondary meaning attached to it. Play the music at the beginning of every training session and periodically while training. By playing it before an actual fight, they will associate the music with not only the original inspiration but also the relative comfort of training. This will also reinforce the long hours of preparation they have endured and reassure them that they are ready to compete.
Spending time every day visualizing victory will help the fighter train mentally for a fight by making them accustomed to the idea of victory. A fighter must believe they can win before they are able to win. However, it is even better if the fighter trains to believe that they will win after extreme effort.
Choose a motto for the fighter to repeat to himself while training. This mental slogan should reinforce the idea that they will emerge victorious and should be used as a rallying cry during training. It should be extremely simple, yet hold meaning for the fighter. “I am the champion” or “You cannot beat me” are good examples of this type of phrase.
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New Pai Lum Tao Book Announced!
This is Chin Kon Pai Meditationby Glenn C Wilson
This is the first book ever written on this most enchanting form of meditation, health and enlightenment. We learn of the history of meditation traveling from India to China to Japan and then eventually shared worldwide. Go deep into the psychology of meditation and what it really is. Understand the wide spread misconceptions of meditation and discover what it means to so many people throughout the world.
The reader will be guided through Chin Kon Pai meditation practice and discover the countless benefits to all. We truly are who we choose to be and through meditation we can discover the path to a beautiful journey of peace and joy as well as enhanced overall health. Find your own balance of mind, body and spirit. For centuries millions of people have felt the benefit of meditation now you can understand what Chin Kon Pai may do for you. This enlightening book has 198 pages with a hundred plus photos to assist you on your journey’s path.
