Technique and Concepts- MMA Workouts, Training and Conditioning

Think about the basic jab. The technique itself is simple and can be adopted quite will in a short time, even by a novice. However, the actual application of the technique is quite a different matter. At this point, you need to do much more than perform the technique itself; you must also engage all the attributes that allow you to apply the technique under combat conditions. For example. you must time the blow correctly and throw it with accuracy. Failure to do so results in a failure to hit the target. In addition, the blow must be thrown with adequate speed, or an opponent will easily evade it. Should you lack conditioning, fatigue soon sets in, destroying your ability to perform the technique correctly. You can clearly see, then, that the actual application of a technique involves much more than the physical movement associated with ti. Rather, proficient execution involves the technique itself combined with an array of attributes that make for successful application.

Herein lies the great weakness of martial arts that train only with kata, because the techniques they teach cannot be preformed safely in a sparring match or sporting competition, they can only be taught by repetitive drilling on a cooperative partner. Such kata training never develops the attributes that are required to accompany the technique if the fighter is to successfully apply it under combat conditions. In other words, kata simply builds technique, not attributes. This imbalance is the great failing of the traditional martial arts and one that has been readily exposed in MMA combat. Combat sports, on the other hand, allow the students to apply their "safe" techniques at full power, application of technique possible. This rationale explains the irony of how an art limited to "safe" techniques can regularly defeat arts packed with deadly or dangerous techniques. Once the distinctions among techniques, concepts and attributes are clearly spelled out, the wisdom of Kano's training method becomes clear.

Modern forms of jujitsu, most notably the Brazilian style, have taken the same approach. Limiting the techniques to those that can be made part of a safe sport, the modern forms of jujitsu have broken away from the classical schools in the all-important area of training method. This trend also applies to the striking aspect of contemporary jujitsu, which is based around Western and Thai boxing, which have both utilized the idea of limiting technique to that which can be made part of a safe sport. Just like modern practitioners of jujitsu, boxers develop the necessary attributes far more proficiently than do classical martial artists because boxers and modern jujitsu fighters can both train the same way they fight.

In fact, there is an axiom of martial arts training that everyone ought to know; The way you train is the way you will fight. Martial arts that allow you to apply your technique at close to full power in daily training and sport allow you to constantly use those very technique in almost exactly the same way during a real fight. This consistency creates a tremendous familiarity with the technique and with its real-world application.

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