mma training strategies

8/13/2019 Mma Training Strategies

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction .................................................... 3

2. Striking ...........................................................5

3. Grappling ...................................................... 24

4. Mental / Spiritual............................................ 38

5. Teaching ....................................................... 44

6. Self-Defense .................................................. 50

7. Motivation & Longevity .................................... 52

8. An Ending Note... ........................................... 56

9. Resources: .................................................... 57



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IntroductionRead This First!

his eBook is a sampling of the questions from a

recent survey of MMA practitioners about their"biggest question regarding MMA training."

Most of the questions I received had answers that could

simply be found on Google or by studying some MMAvideos. Many people wanted “the right (or best) way

to...” do whatever.

If you've been around long enough, you'll realize there'sno such thing as a universal “right or wrong way”.

Rather, it can be only be right or wrong for YOU. If it

works for you, it's right... if not, it's wrong.

The idea of right & wrong is rampant in MMA. Just readthe MMA forums and YouTube comments from people who

rage against someone teaching something the “wrong”way.

However, by definition, “right” or “correct” means

conforming to an approved or conventional standard... inother words, the way everyone else does it.

So, that means that to be the best, you should do things

exactly the way everyone else does it...

...try telling that to Mohammad Ali, Mike

Tyson, Helio Gracie, Eddie Bravo or anyoneelse who really made a name for

themselves as an innovator.

The common response I hear to that is “Bob, surely there must at least be a “right”

way to do a basic arm bar.” Again, referring back to whatI said above... does it work for you? Great... then it's

right.

After years ofteaching and

training, I'velearned the

majority ofmartial artists

feel thattheir, or their

instructors, isthe right way.



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But if that “right way to do an arm bar” DOESN'T work foryou... how can it possibly be right? There simply is no

such thing as a universal right or wrong.

Based on this, what I feel is needed is not a book of “HowTo Do Technique X” ... but rather, one that's closer to

“How To Approach Learning MMA”

My goal with this eBook is to tell you WHAT HAS WORKEDFOR ME & THOSE I'VE TAUGHT... and to be honest, that's

all anybody can really teach you of value. Everything elseis speculation.

Your job is to look at it... consider it... try it out LONG

ENOUGH to determine whether you can make it work foryou... and then either implement it, or forget about it fornow. If it doesn't work for you, it's not right or wrong...

it's just wrong for you.

I've chosen to answer only the questions we received thatI really have something unique to contribute... somethingyou probably won't find with a simple search on the web.

One more thing...

If you're serious about grappling, you owe it to yourself tolook at an online grappling learning tool called the

iGrapple™ Online Grappling Trainer. We spent 1 ½ yearscreating it, and hundreds of grapplers across the world

are using it every day.

Originally intended for my personal use and

that of my students, I had so many peopleask to get access to it that we eventually

opened it up to the public. You will

understand its effectiveness after using itfor just a few minutes.

Just try it. If you think it's “wrong” for you... get a refund.Less than 0.5% of the people who've tried it asked for a

refund, so I think you'll find it helps your grapplingtraining... a lot.

http://www.igrapple.com/





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StrikingHow can I simplify the process of learning striking?

Keep in mind that “learning striking' has many meaningsbecause there isn't just one method of striking, and, like

any art, there is no end to the process because your skillswill always evolve as you discover or create new concepts.

The way to simplify anything is to have organization and

systems in place to learn it. Otherwise, you have a jumbled, hit-and-miss approach that will often leave you

frustrated.

One good general process to get your BASIC skillstogether is:

Step 1: List all the basic strikes, combinations and otherskills you want to master, for example:

lead jab

rear cross lead hook

shovel hook lead uppercut

rear uppercut lead front kick rear front kick lead round kick to the leg

rear round kick to the leg footwork

slipping and ducking

etc...

Step 2: Work through the list, performing a set # of reps

on each to build muscle memory of the tactic. In myexperience, 50 reps of an action is a minimum to makedecent inroads into building muscle memory. Over time,

you will eventually have performed thousands of reps ofeach.



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Step 3: Learn, then list, some timing applications forthose basic skills you've developed (when it applies).

For example, when are the best opportunities to use...?

lead jab

rear cross lead hook

shovel hook etc...

Step 4: Using a training partner to simulate that timing,

cycle through those timing applications (again, performingeach a minimum # of times required to build the reaction

and muscle memory.) For example:

1. Opponent throws a jab ---> you slip and counter

with a lead to the body (50 times)2. Opponent throws a hook ---> you duck and hook to

the body (50 times)3. Opponent throws a high round kick ---> you kick-

block & follow with a round kick to thigh (50 times)4. Etc.

Step 5: Once you are applying the strikes in coordination

with a training partner, have your partner slowly begin tomix the order of the above so you learn to SPOT the

opportunity to use your strikes, with the goal of itbecoming a reaction without thought.

There's much more to being a great striker than this, butmany fighters never get beyond Step #2 of simply

practicing repetitions of their strikes for speed andpower...

…never exploring the proper times for applying them, ortraining those applications to the point of reaction withoutthought.



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How can I improve my timing when striking?

Timing involves coordinating your strikes with your

opponent's strikes or body movements to ensure thatyour attacks land into an unprotected area while

maximizing the impact of your strike.

An effective strike is often described as one that combinesgood form with proper timing. So timing is 50% of the

equation of a good strike.

You can always spot fighters in the ring that haven'tdeveloped timing at all. They’re often the ones that keep

chasing their opponent around the ring, trying to force

their attacks on the opponent, and the opponent alwaysseems to be just out of reach. They’re expecting theopponent to be there to get hit when they want them to,like a heavy bag.

Timing can be a complex subject, but there is a simple

way to make sense out of timing. Here it is...

First, recognize that the timing of a strike is always inrelation to whatever action your opponent is doing.

Timing has no meaning without the opponent.

So, if timing is in relation to whatever your opponent isdoing...

… there are only 3 times you can strike in relation to

your opponent's actions, and those are BEFORE his

action, DURING his action, or AFTER his action. Those arethe only 3 times that exist – before, during or after his

action or attack. And the after and before times overlap – because after one attack is before the next.

Every strike you will ever throw at an opponent will be

thrown during one of these three times.

So, to develop your timing, you can first determine all thelikely attacks an opponent would ever throw at you...

Those arethe only 3

times thatexist –

before,duringor after

his action orattack.



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...then decide upon, and train with high repetitionsagainst a training partner, the best attacks (or counters)to use BEFORE, DURING and AFTER each those times.

For example:

If an opponent's attack is the left jab... you want todetermine what your best attack (or counter) is to use

BEFORE, DURING or AFTER his jab.

Sample attacks you could use:

Before –> simply use your own left jab. Obviously,before he's thrown his attack, you don't necessarily know

what he is going to throw, so “BEFORE” often refers to:

- catching an opponent flat footed or with hisattention slightly faltering so you can hit him beforehe can react.

- hitting the opponent as he's preparing to attack(stepping, shifting his weight, etc.) but before he's

actually launched it.

During –> slip the opponents jab and simultaneouslycountering to his body with your own lead jab

After –> simply parrying his jab and returning with a

right cross afterward

There are specifics about, and benefits to, using each ofthose 3 timings. Some of those are:

Immediately Before -

1. You want to try to “sense” the moment that youropponent is about to throw... and beat him to the

punch.

2. These attacks will usually be the ones you feel youcan fire like a hair pin trigger on any little

opportunity that he gives you. What you’ll probablyfind is that the one strike that fits this the best is

your lead jab because it's closest to the target, isthe most likely attack that can beat him to the



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punch, doesn't commit your body very much andallows you to recover faster without beingcountered.

Unless you’re much faster than your opponent,

there’s a good chance you're not going to landattacks with your rear hand or leg during this

timing that your opponent can't react to it.

3. It can often have the effect of “shutting off” manyof your opponent's attacks. Just as he’s thinking

about or preparing to throw, you throw. That forceshim to go momentarily defensive and takes away

that “beat” or space in time that he was going tothrow on.

4. After you've cultivated the ability to sense that youropponent's about to attack and can beat him to the

punch, it’s going to make you seem faster to youropponent, like you know his intention before he's

able to act on it.

During -

This is timing your attack to hit during your opponent'sattack, once he has physically committed to an attack.

1. Adds power to your attack. Your opponent has his

weight moving toward you, causing a collision. Itadds the momentum of the opponent to your strike.

2. Your opponent can’t simply move away or evadeyour attack because he’s committed to a

movement. He can’t redirect in the middle of it, soyou know right where the target is going to be.

3. It can turn your opponent's attempts to hit you intoopportunities for you to hit him... there’s aguaranteed opening. Any time there is an attack,

there must be some open target on the body. If youtrain your counter frequently enough in advance, it

will come out easily when the opponent throws thatattack.



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4. Once developed, this timing can make youropponent more tentative about throwing at you

because, at least on a subconscious level, he’slearned that he may get punished for trying.

A key point here – this becomes easier if you keep

enough distance from your opponent that he mustactually step and commit himself to an attack. Why?

Because it gives you more time to react, and it forces himto commit rather than fake or feint you.

After -1. Once his full attack is completed, whether it’s a

simple one-part attack or a combination, theopponent is not throwing at you. If you’ve survived

his attack, then there’s a brief point in time where

he’s not throwing at you and you are relatively safeto attack with less chance of being countered.

If you condition yourself to throw during that time,

you’re more likely to land with less risk.

2. The opponent is less likely to have quite as tight ofa defense after his attack as he is before. He has tobe really well trained to pull his hands and legs backinto a good defensive position instantly after his

attack.

Attacking after the opponent's attack implies that you’vedealt with it either by evading it, blocking it, or redirecting

it, so be sure to develop those defensive maneuvers as

part of training this timing.

How can I prevent my opponent from attacking atwill and dictating the tempo of the fight?

Here’s a drill you can do to learn hitting your opponentbefore your opponent can get his attack off. It has the



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effect of “shutting off” many of your opponent's attacksby causing him to go defensive just as he's preparing to

attack.

Have your training partner repeatedly circle around you,and then step in to hit you. You’ll find that he will often

“set” or prepare his body position slightly as he's about tothrow (it's necessary for power).

When you sense him EITHER preparing to hit you OR

stepping in, fire a LEAD JAB (or 2 or 3) to upset his “preparing” to hit you and cause him to go defensive at

the moment that he had intended to attack. (For self-defense training, you might also do the same with your

left lead side kick to his knee, if you are comfortable usingit that way.)

In time, you will find yourself “sensing” his intention toattack and denying him of it by attacking with your lead a

split second before his attack

How can I improve my fakes & feints to create

openings?

There's 2 areas I suggest you consider...

1. Making your feints more convincing, and...

2. Varying the target of the “feint” attack from the

target of the “real” attack. I'll explain both...

Your feints have to look “real” enough that they draw theintended response from your opponent. Most of your

feints are either going to be with your “hand” or your “body.”

If your goal is to open up a lower target on your opponent(ex. mid-section), you will generally use a high lead “hand” feint to pull his guard upward, exposing the lower

area.



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For example, extending your lead jab high to pull hisguard up, followed by a rear cross (or rear leg front kick)

to his mid-section

If your goal is to open a high target on your opponent(ex. chin), you will generally want to use a “body” feint

low (not the same as a “feint to the body”).

For example, with your left forward, you may do a shortstep forward and lean your upper body to the right side

(without extending your punch) to create the illusion ofthrowing a lead to his midsection, drawing his guard down

to open the chin.

The key to making hand feints convincing is to extend itfar enough that the opponent feels the need to react. Thisis generally about 50% of the distance to the opponent.

Less may not be convincing enough, more will increasethe time it takes for the “real” attack to reach the target,

decreasing its chance of success.

The key to making a body feint convincing is to make thebend deep enough, and the movement “abrupt” enough

that the opponent feels the actual threat and instinctivelybrings his guard downward. One of the benefits of a body

feint is that it's convincing enough on its own that youdon't need to extend your arm... meaning you can throw

the “real” attack with either arm.

The second area of consideration in feinting, as I

mentioned above, is varying the target of the “feint”attack from the target of the “real” attack.

The reason is that you don't want to feint, and draw the

opponent's guard, to the same area your “real” attack is

going to land. If you do that, you're drawing youropponent's attention (and guard) to the area you intendto attack, rather than away from it.

One way to ensure your attacks are OPENING an area

rather than CLOSING it is to divide your opponent's bodyinto 4 areas... high left, low left, high right & low right.



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Basically, you're just putting an imaginary cross on hisbody, creating those areas.

Then, ensure that when you initiate a feint, it is in adifferent area than the final “real” attack. There is one

exception to this...

...when you notice that your opponent lifts his guardagainst a high “hand” feint, then drops it immediately. In

this case, you may want follow the feint with the realattack to the SAME area as the feint, with the intention to

land it as his guard lowers.

Keep in mind... you aren't trying to put together thesefeint / real attack combinations on the spot during a fight.

They are something you develop during your training,doing thousands of reps against a training partner toensure that the feints are convincing, that they actually

DO open the desired target area, that the “real” attackcan hit with power...

…and that the only “thinking” involved is to spot whereyou want your final attack to land, letting your musclememory do the rest.

I can never hit my opponents. They always seem tobe able to move slightly out of reach. Any advice?

This can be due to several reasons... I'll discuss two ofthe most common one's here.

#1 Many fighters inadvertently cause their opponent tomove AWAY from them by constantly moving toward

them. Then, when they throw an attack... the opponent just accelerates their momentum away, and the strike

lands lightly or not at all.

Two solutions here are to either A.) Stop moving forward,causing your opponent to stop moving away, or B.) Movebackward with progressively shorter steps. This inducesyour opponent to move TOWARD you at a constant rate

while your rate of moving away is decreasing. This can



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make your opponent step inside your range briefly so you

can land an attack.

#2 This is the case where you AREN'T making the abovemistake of chasing your opponent away by moving toward

him. Rather, this is when he just has a superior sense ofdistance and can retreat just enough to make your

attacks fall short.

In this case, a good option is to ENCOURAGE youropponent to throw an attack, which you are fully prepared

to counter WHILE his attack is coming at you. The reasonthis is effective is that...

...when your opponent attacks, he is committed to aforward movement. That forward movement ensures he

can't retreat to evade your attack. (It also adds hismomentum into your counter, causing a “collision” that

adds more impact to your counter.)

For the brief moment that your opponent's attack iscoming at you, you know exactly where his body will be

because he is committed to his forward momentum... you just have to be able to capitalize on that.

One good way to ensure that you WILL be able to

capitalize on your opponent's forward momentum is...

...rather than letting him choose what attack he wants to

throw, ENCOURAGE him to throw a specific attack thatyou have prepared an effective counter to (i.e. have

repped out thousands of times in your training.)

For example, if you have an effective counter to a lead

jab... leave an opening that encourages his lead jab. Ifyou have an effective counter to a right cross...encourage his right cross.

In doing this, you are essentially TELLING your opponent

what to do... then punishing him for doing it.



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What is the best way to overcome a disadvantage ofheight & reach when striking?

In this case, you are usually going to want to get in close

to your opponent. That takes away the superior reach &leverage advantage he has at a distance and puts you

(with shorter limbs) at an advantage. So, that begs thequestion of “How do I get in close?”

I believe many trainers would tell you to slip & duck your

way inside (ala Mike Tyson). I'd like to add an additionalinsight for you to consider...

...keep in mind that there is only one “optimal” distancefor your opponent, and that is the distance where he CANreach you, but you CAN'T reach him.

Anything FURTHER than that range offers no realadvantage to him (he can't reach you), and anything

CLOSER gives you the advantage.

That means there's 3 possible distances... and only one ofthem gives him the advantage. Consider doing whatever

it takes to spend ALL your time in the other 2 ranges(very far or very close), negating his advantage as much

as possible.

How can I have a harder jab?

First... a short story.

Several years ago (too many!), a boxer / sparring partner

with several amateur fights once told me I had hit him

with the hardest punch he'd ever received, causing him togo down momentarily.

Of course it sounds like I'm bragging here, but the point Iwant to make is... it was my lead left jab… not a rear

cross.

...keep in mind

that there isonly one optimal

distance for

your opponent,and that is thedistance where

he CAN reachyou, but youCAN'T reach him



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Training partners at that time also commented on thepower of my jab and, as far as I could tell, it was hitting

just about as hard as my rear cross. Pretty unusual,considering that the rear cross USUALLY has much more

power to it.

The reality is, I had been working hard for monthsSPECIFICALLY to develop power in that jab. This was

validation that it was working.

This method of developing a power left was taught to meby another fighter who had serious power in his left, so I

know it's worked for at least 2 of us.

I don't know if other trainers will agree with thisapproach, but as with anything, I can only say that thishas worked well for me, so take it for what it's worth.

Here's what I did...

It's loosely based on Jack Dempsey's concept of the “drop-step” punch (at least, the way I interpret it.) Inever met Dempsey, so I don't know if this is even closeto how he meant it to be used, but it works for me.

The goal here is to throw a stepping jab and have your

jab hit the target BEFORE your foot hits the ground.Here's why...

...if your foot hits the ground first, then all your weight is

going INTO THE GROUND... not into the target.

Conversely, if your fist hits the target BEFORE your foothits the ground...

...all your weight goes into the target. So, if you weigh

160 lbs., you're putting all that 160 lbs. into your

opponent, rather than into the ground. Hitting the groundfirst is wasting all that mass... sort of like putting “thebrakes on” before the impact.

Get it?

The reality is,I had been

working hard

for monthsSPECIFICALLY

to developpower in that jab.



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The drill I did to learn this was to:

1.) Stand a short distance from the heavy bag, lift my

lead foot so I'm falling toward the bag, and throwmy jab so it hits the bag BEFORE my foot hits the

ground. Really exaggerate it to begin with.

2.) After getting that down, add in a sharp twist of theupper body so you feel your triceps “bounce” off

your lat, pushing it into the punch

3.) Once the first 2 are natural, focus on driving hardwith your rear foot to add additional power into the

punch.

Keep in mind, this is a VERY committed type of jab,

almost like a kick that commits your entire body weight tothe motion. Boxing coaches may say this “overextends”

your body & reach, putting you at risk of being countered,and I agree. However…

…your opponent's going to knowhe got hit hard, and, even if you

only hit his guard, he's going to bea lot more hesitant to attack or

expose himself once he feels thattype of power coming from your

jab.

It's just one of the jabs to have in your arsenal. It's not a

“feeler” or “fly swatter” type. However, you can mix it inwith those types, especially when you see some daylight

between your opponent's arms and a straight line fromyour fist to his chin.

If you develop that serious full-body-weight power, you'vegot a shot at a possible knockout or knockdown with the jab.



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How can I improve my reaction time in striking?

The first thing I can recommend is to make sure you havedefined EXACTLY what reaction you want to have to

whatever action your opponent is likely to make. Forexample:

- Opponent throws a left jab – your reaction is...

- Opponent throws a right cross – your reaction is...- Opponent throws a leg kick – your reaction is...

If you haven't already defined these, then you're having

to make it up on the spot... that's much too slow.

After you've defined WHAT you want to do for each, youhave to rep them out with a training partner 1000's oftimes so it comes out without thought. Anything less,

and it won't be a “reaction”... but rather something thatyou have to “think” about... again, too slow.

And, when repping with a partner, I suggest you pad him

up as much as possible so you can make contact withdecent force (if you're striking to the chin, have the

opponent either lift his shoulder so you make contactthere, or hold a focus mitt with his other hand tucked

close to where his chin SHOULD be).

If you DON'T do that last step, you may be buildingmuscle memory for PULLING your strikes (i.e. not hitting

with power)... and that's a very real concern.

I've personally made this mistake in training. I had done

thousands of reps of a counter to a right cross on atraining partner, pulling my counter so as to not hurt my

training partner. I ended up in a self-defense situationwhere the opponent threw a right cross.

I targeted that exact counter perfectly on my opponent...but was so conditioned to throw it “light & with control”(not wanting to hurt my training partner) that that's

EXACTLY how it came out as a reflexive reaction.



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And, it took months to “re-condition” my muscle memory

so it hit with power and follow-through as a reflexiveaction.

The 2nd thing I can recommend to improve reaction time

is to try to find ONE tactic that can be used (with littlevariation) against SEVERAL of your opponent's different

attacks, rather than having a unique tactic to defendagainst each.

Having a unique counter for each of your opponent's

attacks means you have decisions to make... your brainhas to process more information (even if on a sub-

conscious level). The more you can LIMIT the decisionsyou need to make, the faster you can react. For example:

If you have one counter to an opponent's lead jab...another for his lead hook... another for his rear cross...

and another for a rear (haymaker) hook...

…then here's the process you have to go through:

Perceive WHICH hand attack he's throwing ---> Chooseone of many possible responses ---> Respond

But, if you have ONE counter that works against all 4 of

those, then here's the process:

Perceive THAT he's throwing a hand attack (easy) --->

Respond (with that ONE counter - no decision to bemade)

It's much faster. Basically, the more you limit choices your

brain has to make... the faster your reaction time.

Even if you can't find ONE tactic to use against (forexample) ALL hand strikes... you may find one that works

against anything thrown with his left... and another thatworks against anything thrown with his right.



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That still limits what you need to perceive (simply, is itleft... or right?) and the processing your brain needs to

do.

You will have to discover your own “1 size fits all”counters based upon what skills or training you have. (It's

also difficult for me to explain them in written form).

However, a self-defense example of this could be a simpleside kick to the knee as your opponent steps toward

you... it potentially could be used against all 4 of the handattacks mentioned above. There's also some good boxing

tactics that can be used almost REGARDLESS of whichhand attack your opponent is throwing, just by angling

the tactic slightly.

How can I land more punches while standing?

In my experience, the key to landing punches is toimprove your counter-punching... particularly counters

timed to hit AS your opponent's throwing, rather thanafter. Here's why...

When YOU initiate an attack on an opponent who is

standing back looking at you, he has the ability to moveLEFT, RIGHT, BACK, FORWARD or even DUCK, and evade

your attack.

However, when your OPPONENT initiates the attack, he isphysically committed to moving FORWARD... he can no

longer simply move left, right or back to evade your

counter. That means, if you have a good simultaneouscounter... he WILL be there to be hit.

Even if you can't counter AS your opponent's throwing,

countering immediately after his attack increases yourodds of landing, as well, for either of the following

reasons:

1. He's less likely have as tight of a defense after hisattack as before (often the hands drop, balance is

off slightly, or he's over-extended)



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2. If his attack is TRULY completed... then he'smomentarily done throwing. That means there's a

brief moment of time that you can attack with lesschance of being countered yourself.

Of course, being a good counter puncher (or kicker)

implies you've spent many hours developing the reactions& muscle memory required to respond rapidly enough

with those counters.

How can I improve my accuracy with spinning back(side) kicks?

This is one that SO many fighters have a problem with.You'll see them train it on a heavy bag, but when they tryit on a live opponent, it always just seems to “glance” offthe opponent's arms or body, never making solid contact.

They know that it can hit with power and has potential...but they just can't make it work in a fight.

If available, I'd recommend you take a look at old PKA

clips of a fighter named Tommy “The Tornado” Williams.Not much with his hands, but his spinning back kick was

deadly... accounting for 19 knockouts. I don't believethere's anyone currently in MMA using it that effectively.

I can see two reasons he was so effective with the kick.

One was the angle, the other was the timing.

Regarding the angle - unlike the way many people throw

it, he did NOT simply jump straight up in the air and spin.Rather (with left side forward), he jumped simultaneously

FORWARD and TO HIS RIGHT as he spun.

First, going to the RIGHT put him out of his opponent'scenter line (away from their punch)... a safer position for

him. It also caused his leg to hit at the same angle as a “hooking” punch, rather than a straight side-thrust. Thatkeeps the power and momentum of the hips rotation inthe kick.



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Second, the FORWARD motion meant all of his weight was

going into his opponent... rather than straight up in the airand back into the ground. He'd connect before landing,

transferring all that weight into the impact.

Regarding the timing – he rarely ATTACKED with the kick,unless the opponent was up against the ropes and couldn't

retreat. Rather, he nearly always timed it as aSIMULTANEOUS counter to his opponent's jab or cross.

When you attack with it... your opponent can see it coming

and either cover with his forearms or evade just enough todissipate the force. (I believe that's what most fighters

who try to use it and fail are doing differently thanWilliams.)

However, by timing it as a simultaneous counter to apunch...

First – the opponent's body is open, as is always the casewhen an arm is extended.

Second – the opponent's body weight is committed tocoming forward toward you... he can't simply evade right,

left or back to avoid it. AND, his momentum adds impactto the kick.

If you want to develop that type of timing with the kick, I'd

suggest two drills:

1.) Train it on a swinging heavy bag, timing the kick to

hit as the bag is moving toward you.

2.) Put VERY thick padding on your training partner,

then perform high reps of the kick, making contactAS your opponent steps toward you with either hisleft jab or right cross. Teach yourself to AVOID using

it as an attack, but rather, saving it to be used as asimultaneous counter to his attack.



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It's important you train yourself to throw the kickWITHOUT taking a step to prepare. Taking a step

significantly increases how long it's going to take for yourkick to land, and the opening that occurs when your

opponent steps and throws a punch at you will be gone.



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Grappling

How can I simplify the process of learning grappling?

Bearing in mind that “learning grappling” can meandifferent things depending on your ultimate goal, I canrecommend a couple approaches for you to try. It's up toyou to decide which of these fits your personality (if it

doesn't... you'll never use it) and what “level” of learning

grappling you want to accomplish.

The first approach I recommend applies when you have a

goal that is NOT specifically “grappling better.” Thesecould be something like:

getting a belt ranking, or knowing more techniques

If you're totally honest with yourself, you'll recognize that

these could possibly be accomplished WITHOUT necessarilybeing a much better grappler than you are right now,

right?

Those are generally about KNOWING more... but knowingmore doesn't always guarantee you'll grapple better...

although, it often happens.

So, IF those are your goal, then you'll see that the core ofthese all come down to ORGANIZATION of what you wantto learn. To that end, try a simple 2 step process...

Step 1: Define specifically your goal (is it one of the

above?)

If you don't know where you want to go... you'll NEVERhave a feeling of having arrived.

Step 2: Organize the material you need to learn to get

there.



25

Here's some simple examples of how to use organization toattain the above goals:

Examples:

To get a belt ranking...

Step 1: Define your goal = “Get my

purple belt”.

Step 2: Organize the material = youmust politely INSIST that your

instructor define EXACTLY what he isexpecting you to learn.

If your teacher isn't following a structured curriculum,there's no organization to your learning & you won't know

where to put your effort and you are going to feelconfused.

Try to get a list of techniques, concepts and anything elsehe expects you to master. If he can't give it to you, he isdisorganized in his own thinking, and that's going to make

learning grappling more difficult. Many BJJ schools arenotorious for not having a set curriculum.

Know more techniques...

Step 1: Define your goal = “I want to commit 30 new

moves to memory in the next 60 days”

Step 2: Organize the material = Simply create a list of

techniques you want to learn, and rep them out to buildmuscle memory (As mentioned about... no guarantee you'll

grapple better simply from learning more techniques).

Now, if your goal is SPECIFICALLY to become a bettergrappler, here's an approach that should work for you.

And, back to your original question, yes, it should simplifythe process as well.



26

The goal of this approach is, rather than searching for newtechniques to learn, instead, find your WEAKNESSES,

then eliminate them. Here's the reasoning behind thisapproach...

...we all have at least SOME natural ability to grapple,

right? After all, you wouldn't just lay on the floor and donothing if you had to fight.

Within that natural ability, you're going to have some

strengths, and some weaknesses. With that in mind, is itbetter to focus on adding new techniques... or getting rid

of weaknesses?

Well, think about this. Theoretically, you could know 1000moves, but if you have a glaring weak area, for examplean inability to prevent your opponent from mounting you,

you're going to get beat... A LOT.

On the other hand... if you only know 5 submissions, butyou have absolutely NO weak areas for your opponent tocapitalize on, you can still be pretty tough to beat, right?

It's just a subtle perspective shift, but justby changing your emphasis to getting rid

of weak areas, rather than thinking “I wantmore techniques,” you immediately start

down a better path in your training.

O.K., so let's look at a step-by-step approach to

eliminating your weakness, so you make significantimprovement every single time you get on the mat.

Step 1. The next time you grapple:

Keep a pencil and paper right next to the mat. Then, thesecond you find yourself in a position and you don't know,or can't quickly recall EXACTLY what you should do in that

situation... stop.

Write the exact position down. It's just like going to thegym to lift and writing down how much you lifted, so you'll



27

know what to do next time.

Then continue grappling until the next position where youdon't know what to do and repeat.

Step 2. Before practice (every session):

Set your goal for the session. If you don't have any goal,

you're totally wandering and can't realistically expect toachieve much. Just take a minute to decide what you'd

like to accomplish BEFORE you practice.

And, one of the main goals you set for that session has tobe to learn what to do in the weak area positions you

wrote down last session, and then rep out thosetechniques.

Doing this shouldn't take more than a minute, and yourpractice is going to be much more productive than if you

just ask your training partner “Well, what would you like towork on today?” or just working on whatever comes to thetop of your head.

Step 3. During Practice:

a. Drilling – this is where you are trying to achieve yourgoals, mostly through repetition and evaluation of the

techniques you need to learn for your weak areas... thepositions where you didn't know what techniques to use

last time.

b. Grappling – just grapple, letting your new techniques

come out when the opportunities occur.

Using this method, when you train, you will use your

strengths and only stop once you reach a point ofuncertainty... a weakness. That weakness defines EXACTLYwhat technique, move, etc. you can learn AT THAT

MOMENT that will improve on your natural ability the most.

That one specific move that gets rid of the weakness you just uncovered is guaranteed to improve your grappling.



28

You will pretty much HAVE to be a better grappler than youwere before you fixed that weakness, and certainly moreso than if you merely learn random new techniques.

Take that protocol, apply it and watch how much forward

progress you make. And, watch your confidence get betterbecause there's less and less situations where you're

ending up feeling helpless because you don't know what todo.

How do you raise your ability to ''see'' an

opportunity for a technique faster than youropponent can defend?

I like this question because it points out something that Ibelieve is very overlooked by many grapplers... having “fast reactions.” That's often considered the domain ofstriking, but not considered so much in grappling.

The process here is similar to the training that a boxer

goes through to be able to “see” (and counter) anopponent's attack with nearly instant reaction time. It will

help if I explain the process that boxers go through... you'llthen see its equivalent in grappling.

In boxing, you first define everything that you want to be

able to “see”. That would include your opponent's jab,right cross, left hook, right hook, etc.

Then you decide what technique / counter you want to

have for that action...

Examples:

Jab – counter with Technique ARight cross – counter with Technique B

Left hook – counter with Technique CRight hook – counter with Technique D

Then you do 1000's of reps of each counter in response toyour training partner's respective attack to develop the “reaction without thought. “



29

Finally, your training partner mixes different attacks,throwing them at you while you learn to “see” the

opportunities and simultaneously respond with the correcttechnique without thought.

So, in grappling, you go through the same process.

However, there's a LOT more things your opponent coulddo that you need to be able to “see.”

First, you break each position by all the likely moves your

opponent could do from that position. For example:

You have Guard positionOpponent puts his hands to your throat to chokeOpponent puts hands on your biceps, pins your arms

Opponent puts his forearm to your throat to chokeOpponent posts his hands on your chest to pass

guardEtc.

Next, you find an appropriate technique to each of those

positions.

Then, you do large #'s of reps of each technique inresponse to your training partner putting that position on

you (to build the reaction without thought).

Finally, your training partner mixes up the various positions

while you learn to “see” the opportunity, letting thereaction come out without thought.

If you've never trained like this before, you'll be very

surprised at how quickly you see results, and your training

partners will notice a significant difference in how fastyou're “hitting” your moves.



30

***BTW, I originally developed the iGrapple™

specifically to be used for this process by myself andmy students, not intending it for the public.

We broke each position down into its sub-positions,

then filmed clips of the grappling techniques that couldbe used from each... nearly 1200 of them, and created

a software program that made the connectionsbetween the positions, sub-positions and techniques

fast and seamless.

The whole process took 1 ½ years. Its effectivenesscaused several people to ask to purchase it, and I

eventually made it a commercial product accessible toeveryone.

Am I wasting my time by trying to make up new

grappling moves?

There's a pretty good chance that you won't createsomething totally unique that's never been thought of

before, particularly if you're not advanced. However, thereare good reasons to keep trying to create them anyway.

First, when you try to create something new, it's usually a

variation of something you already do. Rather thancreating, it could be described as exploring... going deeper

into the original technique or concept. You very likely will

develop that “area” more than your opponents who haven'texplored it, giving you a much better command of all its

possibilities than your opponent has.

And, because of that, if you get your opponent into that “area”... there's a good chance you'll dominate because

you've explored options and subtleties he's neverconsidered.

Secondly... anything you create has a good chance of being

very effective for you... even if it doesn't work for anyone







31

else. Here's why...

Recognize that your brain is a “goal seeking” mechanism...

its job is to accomplish goals you set for it (read anythingon Psycho-cybernetics).

With that in mind, when you attempt to create something,

you've given your subconscious a goal. Your brain is goingto be working to find a way to attain that goal... using bits

and pieces of material you've already learned, reorganizingand modifying it into something that's tailor made for

you... even though its composite parts aren't really “new.”

The outcome will often be, although you appear to bedoing nothing special... you'll put your moves together in a

way that's more effective than someone else is likely to beable to teach you. And that was YOUR creation.

Finally... creating or discovering something that gives agood bump to your skills is probably one of the most

exciting moments you can experience in training. Thatalone can provide the motivation to keep you training,looking for that next “Aha!” moment of discovery.

What is more important... good cardio & strength or

knowing an extensive amount of grapplingtechniques (large repertoire)?

I feel this question deserves a response since it's debatedso often.

First of all, having a large repertoire can be fun, but justbecause thousands of techniques exist, it doesn't mean

you need to know them all. It doesn't guarantee greatgrappling skills.

And, there's an argument to be made that the more

techniques you try to keep in your “bag of tricks”, the lesstime you'll have to perfect each one. You're likely to haveslower recall of each one, as well.

As an excellent instructor once told me... “The less pebbles



32

in your basket, the lighter your journey.”

I'd recommend focusing on having a good command of

ENOUGH techniques that you are able to alter slightly touse in multiple situations, developing your ability to spot

opportunities to use them quickly, and then working toeliminate any weakness that your opponents can capitalize

on.

Regarding the conditioning vs. technique issue...

We all have anecdotal stories about great technicianswho've dominated far more powerful fighters. And, I

personally know of very powerful fighters with minimaltechnique who dominated far better technicians... what's

that tell you?

The real question here should be “Why the debate?”

Develop both. However, there's a little more to consider.

It's a continual “balancing” act. Depending on your currentlevel of fitness OR technique, you'll find that improving oneNOW will help you more than the other. That's the one toput the most emphasis on.

For example, you may be a technical wizard, but not very

powerful. Improving your technique even more right nowmay not give you as much “bang for your buck” as adding

strength.

Decide which one will give you greater gains in your overall

fighting ability NOW... then focus on that until you reach apoint of diminishing returns... then focus on something

that will provide bigger gains for your time invested.

What's a good strategy against an opponent who hasstronger grappling skills than you do?

If an opponent has better skills in every departmentINCLUDING strategy, then of course you can't reasonablyexpect to dominate and the only realistic approach is

simply to continue improving your skills.



33

Otherwise, your goal should be to find your opponent's

defensive weakness and put all your energy into attackingthat area, never giving up until you are successful (or

beaten). It forces your opponent to fight away from hisstrengths, puts him on the defensive rather than looking to

finish you, and at least gives you a shot at catching him.Anything else is probably just delaying the inevitable.

To help you do this, here's a mental “trick” to use on

yourself that I learned from a high level grappler, and havefound to very profound in its power. It is...

...when you feel you are CLOSE to getting the upper hand

(a submission, dominant position, etc.), absolutely “insist”to yourself that you succeed. Literally say the word “insist”repeatedly inside your head. Here's why it works...

In situations where you are close to success, but your

opponent's resisting, it often comes down to who mentally “breaks” and gives up first. If your opponent isn'tINSISTING to himself as much as you are at that time… he'll probably give in first.

Mentally INSISTING to yourself that you're going to go

after that weakness until you've successfully exploited itsignificantly increases your chances of doing just that.

How can I improve my flexibility for grappling?

It's out of the scope of this eBook to try to show you

stretches. However, you don't need for me to tell you HOWto stretch... there's hundreds of books, DVD's and other

resources available. What's needed is a way to make sureyou actually DO the stretching.

I've developed pretty decent flexibility (better than most),and I've trained some people who've done the same, so Ican tell you what's worked for us.



34

Here's some of the things that I've done and taught overthe years that have been effective for getting, and staying,

flexible:

1. To ensure consistent progress, schedule a time tostretch. I'd recommend ½ hour minimum to hit all

the areas, and not feel rushed. Rushing is counter torelaxing, which is required for stretching.

2. My favorite – never sit directly on the couch to watch

TV... if you're going to watch TV, first sit on the floorand stretch for at least a half hour. Make this a rule

for yourself and you'll increase your time stretchingsignificantly.

3. Stretch at night before going to bed. You'll find yourmuscles are more relaxed than earlier, and you'll

make more progress. If you combine it with #2above, you'll actually look forward to stretching while

catching the evening news before bed.

4. Always arrive ½ hour before everyone else totraining, & spend the time stretching. (Making a

habit of “doing more” than everyone else usuallyleads to success.)

5. If you stretch at training, always do an additional

pre-stretch before you leave home to go to training.You'll find the 2nd stretching session becomes even

more effective.

6. Wear double layers of clothes for ½ hour before and

during your stretch to warm your muscles. Simplyput on an extra pair of sweat pants and sweater over

your training clothes.

7. Always focus on deep breathing as you stretch.There's clearly a relaxation mechanism involved in

deep breathing.

8. Get a full stretch twice a day, or more, for noticeableprogress. Once a day is a minimum.



35

9. I can't guarantee the accuracy of this, but I've beentold by a physiologist that a muscle maintains its

“looseness” for about 4 hours after you've stretched.

So, theoretically you could stretch once every 4hours for maximum gains. I've done it, and have

seen very fast progress.

10. Watch yourself stretch in the mirror. If you seegrimacing or a strained look on your face, you are

tensing up rather than relaxing.

11. Add some PNF stretching for additional fast gains(look it up.)

12. Don't be shy about stretching in public, or aroundfriends in your home... they'll get used to it, and

may eventually start to join you. When it's time tostretch, just do it.

I once saw a musician strip down to his briefs andstretch during a sound check at a bar... in front ofwaitresses and bartenders! Sounds extreme, but

he's now the most flexible person I know.

13. Learn to do barre stretches similar to what dancersto. You'll find your flexibility develops in ways that it

doesn't when you do floor stretching alone.

For what it's worth, I learned my stretching methods from

professional dancers. Dancers are all about flexibility, andit's of utmost importance to them that they don't injure

themselves in the process, so you can learn a lot fromthem.

You may be able to find a local dance school that will letyou participate in the stretch / warm-up portion of theirclasses until you know their stretching routine well enough

you can do it on your own.



36

What is the best way to transition your sport jiu-jitsu

into MMA (and avoid the striking from positions that

work when you are doing sport jiu-jitsu?)

First, you may want to find an instructor that deals ONLY

with MMA grappling, rather than sport jiu-jitsu. That can behard to do if you feel intense loyalty to your sport jiu-jitsu

instructor, but here's why you should consider it...

...it's impossible to be the BEST at everything. There's onlyso many hours in a day. So, if your current instructor is

great at sport jiu-jitsu, it's because he has put most of his

focus on that. However, that means he HASN'T put mostof his focus on MMA... and it's likely that you may findanother instructor who HAS put his focus on it.

That other instructor will have already eliminated ormodified those positions and submissions that aren't

effective in MMA, and discovered others that are moreappropriate. You might as well benefit from his experience,

rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.

Otherwise, I'd recommend modifying your grappling toinclude many of the following:

1. Starting with just one position (ex. Side control),

explore all the available strikes you can do from thatposition (hands and elbows, knees & head for

street).

2. Practice them on training partners while they try to

escape the position, reverse you or strike back toensure you maintain control and position during

striking.

3. Learn to spot the new opportunities for submissionsthat occur BECAUSE your opponent is defending fromyour strikes.



37

4. Learn also to spot the new opportunities forsubmissions and position reversals that occur

because your opponent is throwing strikes.

5. Practice these same positions & strikes on a groundand pound bag to develop power and endurance.

6. Instruct your grappling partners to do their best to

find opportunities to strike you during grapplingwhile you learn to defend against them. This will

cause you to naturally modify your grappling todefend against strikes and force you to stop using

any sport tactics that may get you in trouble in MMA.

7. Spend a LOT of timedefending againstground and pound style

striking from your guard

8. Conversely, spend a lot of time learning ground andpound style striking in your opponent's guard whileavoiding submissions & reversals.

9. In particular, many sport jiu jitsu guard passingtechniques aren't viable in MMA. Explore

alternatives, including striking to open and pass theguard.

10. Spend time learning to use and defend wrestling

takedowns that may not be part of your sport jiu-

jitsu training.

11. Grapple with wrestlers, and consider training withthem for their excellent conditioning.

12. If you don't have standing striking & kicking skills…you're going to need them. They will take a while todevelop, so in the meantime practice using distance

to avoid strikes & kicks while shooting takedowns.



38

Mental / Spiritual

What are ways to avoid freezing in a fight if you havenever fought before?

This is also called the Stress Reaction, or the Fight, Flightor Freeze response.

You are right for thinking that this is something you

probably need to address. For many people, this reaction isso powerful that it just decimates their ability and renderstheir training useless.

There's several approaches to dealing with this. You need

to train them just like you train your skills if you want to be

successful with this. Here's some of them...

1.) Practice “experiencing” stress reactions.

This means actually putting yourself through it. The goal isto learn what an adrenaline dump feels like. And then

once you know what it feels like, you can manage it so it

works for you rather than against you.

To do this effectively, you have to train using scenarios that

will induce your adrenaline response. Doing this will helpyou learn to deal with that rush of adrenaline that you are

going to feel.

This gets it into your head that you can survive the stress

reaction you are experiencing in an actual fight like you doin training. Because you are going to practice feeling the

stress reaction, you will realize that, although it feels

terrible, you are going to know at a deeper level that youcan survive it.

So, using this method, you want to build the experience ofthe occasional stress reaction into your training so you feel

yourself “continuing to perform” while you are actually



39

feeling the stress reaction. The more aware you become

of these effects, the more accustomed you become tothem, the more you are able to continue to perform while

you are experiencing it, because you begin to expect it.

You start seeing this as normal rather than having thestress reaction become an additional stressor on its own,

just because you weren’t mentally prepared for it.

2.) Mental Imagery

The principle here is similar to #1, except that you areIMAGINING yourself to be in a fighting situation,

experiencing the stress reaction and getting accustomed toit.

To be effective, you need to generate an emotionallypowerful image in your mind and actually FEEL the

emotion. Don't try to feel yourself staying calm initially.Ultimately you do want to practice feeling yourselfremaining calm, but initially you have to have a reallypowerful image that is going to tend to scare you or to

cause you a lot of stress.

For example, you picture yourself in a confrontation withyour biggest nightmare, maybe it is a biker type, maybe

it’ s somebody who has bullied you in the past. Choosesomebody who you would just be terrified to fight now.

Then, picture yourself keeping cool (regardless of theemotion) right up to the moment where you make your

move with the opponent, or that he backs down. Just do itthrough the entire scenario.

3.) Getting “In The Ring”

Another technique that you can use

for helping you to get in control ofthe stress reaction is what I call

simply “getting in the ring”.



40

Literally just get in a boxing ring and do some sparring, orif you want to do cage fighting, you can do that as well.

What it does is “desensitize” you to the threat. You get a

feeling of “No big deal… I’ve been hit plenty of timesbefore” because if you’ ve been in the ring fighting, you

have been hit.

So, in a confrontational situation, you've already developedthis deep gut level feeling that you have been through

battles many times before, and this probably isn’t going tobe too much worse.

How does spirituality and mental discipline apply intoday's MMA world?

Even though many martial arts styles have a strong root in

philosophy and spirituality, if you're seeking spirituality,recognize that MMA is primarily a sport.

Similar to football or boxing, mental discipline is required

to truly excel. However, spirituality is generally not goingto be emphasized by the instructors, many of whom have

never trained in any traditional martial arts and have nobackground in the spirituality often associated with them.

MMA bears the competitive traits of any other modern

sport, both good and bad. If you're seeking the spiritualityassociated with traditional martial arts, you'll most likely

either need to find an MMA instructor with that in his

background (who has maintained it in his teaching) or seekit out on your own and incorporate it into your MMA

training.

If you choose to seek it out on your own, there are books& courses on the different eastern philosophies, meditation

and other practices in general, as well as some excellentresources that have been written on eastern philosophyspecifically as it relates to the martial arts.



41

Does MMA training build a better person as well as abetter fighter?

Again, MMA bears both good and bad traits of any other

sport, and there's so many variables that we can'tgeneralize that it will always be a good or bad experience.

It's unrealistic to expect the act of simply throwing a kickor doing an arm bar to build a better person on its own.

However, the act of repeatedly going through rigorous

physical training, without giving up, often develops astronger personality, discipline and will power all on its

own. You will find similar personality traits developed even

outside MMA when people endure difficult tasks repeatedly.

Some of the biggest factors determining whether it's goingto build a better person often come down to:

- Influence of the instructor as a role model for you

- Influence of the other students on you- Your own desire to develop yourself into a better

person

I've personally trained with instructors who wereastonishingly powerful life-long influences for the better.

I've also trained with ones who went drinking and got intobar fights with students after class. Both taught me how to

fight, but their impacts on my life were otherwise verydifferent.

The Karate Kid story of the dojo with the bad teachercreating bullies and Mr. Miyagi creating a “better person”

really isn't that uncommon. We're all influenced by thosearound us, so it's wise to choose those influences carefully.

The first thingto consider is

that ourbodies and our

minds are twoends of thesame thing.

When youcondition your

body, you areconditioning

your mind as

well.



42

What approaches to training my mind will improvemy MMA training?

The first thing to consider is that our bodies and our minds

are two ends of the same thing. When you condition yourbody, you are conditioning your mind as well.

If you have incredible physical stamina, of course your

willpower is going to hold out longer in training, and in anactual battle.

And conversely, if you quickly have extreme fatigue, every

fiber of your being is going to be screaming for you to

stop... making the job of your mind much more difficult.

So, start by improving your physical conditioning, andyou'll see improved mental capabilities as well.

Secondly, add exercises into your physical training that

directly condition your will-power by pushing you past thepoint that your will-power would ordinarily give out.

Initially, this is probably best done by having a trainer or

training partner standing by, forcing you to keep goingwhen you reach that point where your mind is saying to

stop... that will teach you that your mind can push furtherthan you previously believed it could.

Similarly, I'd recommend using a

timer in your training, and

conditioning yourself to END yourrounds (for example, the last 10

seconds) by increasing the intensityof your output

This will teach you how to draw on

that will-power, mentally & physically “turning it on” whenyou (and your opponent) would ordinarily be windingdown.



43

Having that ability to “turn it on” when you'd otherwisewant to stop is very valuable when you spot signs that

your opponent is fatiguing. It will certainly demoralize youropponent further (he'll think you're in MUCH better

condition than him), and possibly even allow you to endthe fight.

Also, from a purely self-defense perspective, keeping your

mind clear and aware at all times is invaluable, sorecognize that alcohol, weed, lack of sleep, stress and

overwork all dull your mind and slow your reflexes andaffect your judgment

Weed in particular is a double edged sword... it has the

potential to temporarily help your creativity and get yourmind “out of the way” in training, which could be usefulwhen used for that purpose.

However, it also slows signals to the brain, which

significantly decreases your reaction time... not a goodthing if your fighting method relies on having fastreactions.

Besides the above recommendations, I'd suggest learningabout, and practicing, meditation. Its purpose is to silence

the “inner talk” that goes on in your head, keeping you “inthe moment.”

That's helpful for preventing the self-doubt that can come

either from yourself , or from your opponent's words,

appearances or reputation... and keeps your mind on thereal task at hand, which is handling the person in front of

you.



44

Teaching

I've trained for quite a while. Should I become ateacher, and if so, why?

There are pro's & con's to being ateacher. Here’s the pro's:

First, teaching something you know

reinforces it for you. When a student asksa question, you really have to thinkthrough exactly what the best solution to

his problem is before responding...

…and if you don't have an answer, you have to find one.

That helps to expose any weaknesses in your ownknowledge, allowing you the opportunity to fix those

weaknesses.

Secondly, it does (or should) cause you to organize yourknowledge in order to pass it on in an effective manner.

That gives you more clarity, really defining exactly what it

is that you DO know.

Although your knowledge will always expand and evolve,

defining exactly what your current set of skills are allowsyou to practice those skill in an organized way, which will

always produce better results than a haphazard approach.

Third, teaching is a strong motivator to keep your skills

up. As a student, you will most likely eventually part wayswith your instructor for various reasons (job, relocation,

the school closes, etc.). If you are advanced, you may not

want to join another school as a student. That's usually adefining moment for your future in MMA... “What do I doNOW?”

It's somewhat rare for a person to have a level of self-

motivation that causes them to seek out training partners



45

and keep progressing on their own for years to come...…when they had previously relied on the school for thatmotivation. However, having a group of students relying

on YOU to teach them for years to come can provideexactly the motivation you need to keep going.

Personally, one of my goals in teaching has always been to

groom students to become quality training partners formyself in the future.

Now, some of the cons:

First, to be an effective teacher, you've got to focus on

your students while you're teaching... meaning that youaren't training. So, you have to spend plenty of extra time

outside of class to train, increasing your timerequirements.

And, unless you're willing to allow your students to be yourtraining partners, you have to find training partners outside

of your school to help keep your skills up.

Secondly, when you're a student, you have an instructorpushing you to train harder and achieve more. As an

instructor, you don't necessarily have anyone pushing youto achieve.

Third, your reputation and ego becomes more of a factor.

As a student, there's no shame to being defeated intraining, competition or an actual fight. However, as the

instructor, your students often see you as unbeatable...

and that can be a pretty tough reputation to live up to.

When you lose, any embarrassment or damage to the egoyou feel as a student may be multiplied when you are the

teacher. Not to mention, if this is how you make a living,

your livelihood can be affected by your reputation.

Additionally, if you open an MMA school, your hobby and

passion now becomes a business. If you end up notenjoying the business side of things, you may associate the

stress you feel with MMA, and lose some of your love forthat as well.



46

Having a passion for training (or anything else, for thatmatter) is valuable, so it's important that you protect it.

How can I be a better instructor?

Being a “good instructor” can mean a lot of different

things, and most people will tell you their instructor is “great.” Keeping that in mind, here's some things to

consider based on quite a few experiences I've had as botha student and instructor.

Generally, you could break teaching into:

1. The INFORMATION you want to convey to yourstudents

2. MOTIVATING your students to learn that information

If either one is weak, it will negatively impact the other.

Here's some things to consider...

The Information you teach:

1.) Organize what you'll teach.

If you're unclear about what to teach, your studentswill be even more unclear about what they need to

learn.

2.) Set goals for your students. Just like any college

course, define a minimum you expect your studentsto learn.

Then, test your students to make sure they've

accomplished that goal. Cause them to go home andSTUDY... just like they would for any other course.

3.) Have as broad of knowledge as possible, evenlearning things that may not suit you personally.



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Students have different physical & mental attributes. Themore you know, the more different types of students you

can help.

Motivating your students to learn:

1. If your students don't show up or quit, they won'tlearn.

Create an environment and vibe that makes them

HATE to miss training. This is partly the physicalenvironment, and partly the interpersonal

relationships between them, their fellow studentsand you.

2. When you walk into the training room, consideryourself to be “on stage.”

If someone's learning from you, it's partly because

they want to be like you... at least as far as yourskills are concerned. They watch you closely forclues as to how to do that. They don't know whatyou've gone through to develop your skill... they only

know what they see you do in the training hall.

From the moment you walk into the training area,give off an aura of focus, discipline and hard work

ethic. Set that as the standard, and the students willtend to live up to it.

3. Be their teacher, not their friend.

Your job is to be their MENTOR, sharing theknowledge, skills and perspective you've learned

over the years. They aren't coming to you to as a

friend.

In my experience, many students who become “best

friends” with the instructor end up not going as faras those who maintain a bit more of a student-

teacher relationship. The idea behind “Familiaritybreeds contempt” and “A prophet is without honor in



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his hometown” often rings true here.

Although there's exceptions, many people have morerespect for someone if they don't know their faults.

You'll inspire people much more by setting a shiningexample of discipline and hard work for them during

training... rather than going out for a beer with themafter class.

I've been training grappling for years and I'd like to

teach. However, I don't feel confident as a teacher.What can I do?

If you don't feel confident as an instructor, it's likely

because you have holes in your knowledge that you feel

may be exposed in the course of your teaching.

Here's an approach to use that should remedy that

situation.

Step 1: Create a list of all the different main positions:

Mount (top)

Mount (bottom)Guard (top)Guard (bottom)

Etc.

Step 2: Then, create a list of all the “sub-positions” thatare likely to occur in EACH of those positions:

Mount (top)Opponent has your waist wrapped

Opp's protecting his neck against the chokeOpp's attempting to bridge you off

Etc.

Step 3: Finally, find & list one or more techniques that canbe used in each of those sub-positions. Learn them.



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This 3-step approach can improve your teaching becauseyou not only have techniques to TEACH from the main

positions, but you also have quick SOLUTIONS to offeryour students for the specific problems they'll face in all

the variations (sub-positions) that can occur inside thosepositions.

This will boost your confidence and impress your students

with your knowledge and the ability to quickly “troubleshoot” their grappling problems and questions.

This is also likely to improve your own skills significantly,

as you'll spot these “sub-positions” more readily in yourown grappling, and know exactly what to do when they

occur.

If you feel the above is the approach you want to take, I

encourage you to purchase the iGrapple™ which Ideveloped specifically for that purpose. It has already

done the job of defining the positions and their sub-positions and categorizing nearly 1200 techniques intothose sub-positions with short video clips of each.

Besides being tailor made for this approach, it also allowsyou to quickly call up a position or sub-position and review

it in just a couple minutes right before class to make sureyou're confident regarding the material you're about to

teach.







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Self-Defense

How can I adjust my MMA training to make itappropriate for self-defense, not just the cage?

MMA training is certainly a good part of self-defense, butthere's some modifications and additions you can make toimprove its self-defense application.

Here's some things to consider:

1.) You don't have protective wraps on

your hands in self-defensesituations, giving you a much higher

chance of breaking your hand on

your opponent's skull.

Look for ways around this, possiblyincluding training to target only the body with your

closed fists (you can still feint to the head to openup the body) or relying on kicks or grappling more.

2.) Self-defense training generally involves being awareof your surroundings much more than is typicallytrained in MMA. Consider using drills to help “wake

up” your senses and become more aware.

3.) Train against opponents who have a weapon(grappling and striking).

4.) Learn to use those weapons yourself in ways thatmesh with your current MMA skills (rather than

learning an entirely new fighting style with the

weapon).

For example, if you pick up a stick... rather than

suddenly becoming a “stick fighter”, learn tobecome an MMA fighter using a stick in a way that

supplements your MMA skills. You may be holding



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a stick... but you still have your kicks, takedowns,chokes, slipping & ducking skills, etc.

5.) Realize that the outcome of a confrontation is often

determined by the first strike.

The person I know who has “won” the most streetfights had absolutely ZERO training. He simply hit

his opponents first... before they were quite “ready” to fight, allowing no time for preparation or

defense on their part.

Yes, of course this brings up the fine line betweenself-defense and aggression and requires judgment.

As bad as this sounds, a “sucker punch” doesn'thave to be limited to use only by the personprovoking the confrontation... it can be a self-

defense tactic, as well.

Either way, it isn't something you're likely to havelearned to utilize, or be prepared for, in your MMAtraining.

6.) Haymakers... trained MMA fighters rarely throwthem. Untrained fighters throw them all the time.

For self-defense purposes, train your reactions tothem.

7.) Keeping it to yourself. In the world of MMA,

fighters often want to get known and develop a

reputation.

However, I've seen this lead to challenges fromothers who want to boost their reputation and ego

at your expense... especially in public places where

the liquor is flowing freely.

For self-defense purposes, you may be better

served to stay “under the radar” as far as yourMMA skills are concerned.



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Motivation & Longevity

I keep going in and out of MMA training. What can Ido to stay consistent AND have longevity in my

training?

Everyone has different motivations for training, so I can'tsay what will motivate YOU to stay consistent. However…

…I've managed to keep learning and training regularly for40 years with very few breaks, so I can offer you somethings to try. Maybe some of it will “strike a chord” and

help you keep consistent, as well.

1.) A realistic training schedule... too much, and you'll

burn out or tire of it. Too little, and you'll lose interestor not progress.

I know a group of guys who've trained together

consistently for the last 35 years... impressive byanybody's standards. I believe the reason they've been so

consistent is that they only train as a group 1 TIME PER

WEEK.

Before you say “that's not enough...” realize that they also

train at home, ON THEIR OWN during the week, onwhatever schedule their lives permit.

Very few people would be able to commit to 3 to 5 nights aweek at a school for the next 35 years! However, the

1 x week group meeting is a do-able schedule they canhandle, working the rest of their training around work,

dinner and family life.

2.) Use the principle of “commitment & consistency”on yourself. Research shows that when you PUBLICLY

COMMIT to something about yourself...

...you'll feel subconsciously compelled to be CONSISTENT



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with whatever you've declared about yourself.

In other words, say things to people close to you like “I

train every day...” “I'll never stop training...” “I'm a life-long martial artist...” etc., and you'll feel compelled to live

up to what you've said.

3.) Look at training as an INVESTMENT. You've spenta huge amount of time (and money) getting your skills to

this point. Why would you ever want to lose what you'veworked so hard to get?

4.) Consider teaching... even if it's just a few people in

an informal setting. When you have people showing up atthe training area expecting you to teach them... you'll be

there.

You'll notice that students (of anything, not just MMA) tend

to come and go quickly. However, teachers tend tocontinue teaching. It creates an identity. It's what they do

and who they are.

5.) Recognize that there is NO GOOD REASON TOSTOP.

A great motto to pin up on your wall is:

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the painof discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is

discipline weighs ounces, while regret weighs tons.”

I've either taught, or trained with, hundreds of people overthe last 40 years. I've heard a lot of people say they wish

they kept up their training. But, I've NEVER heard anyone

say they were glad they stopped.

6.) Don't just train at the MMA school... train regularly

at home as a daily routine.

You want to make training a part of your daily life, just likebrushing your teeth. If you only associate training with



54

your school, you're likely to quit when the school becomes

inconvenient, unaffordable or unenjoyable for whateverreason.

7.) Refuse to miss training sessions for any reason.

Habits are hard to build... and easy to break. Once

you've developed the habit of training, you need toprotect it like your life depends on it.

I'd suggest going to training sessions EVEN if you can't

train. In that case, just sit it out and watch or helpteach. Just the act of showing up will help keep the

habit of training.

How can I have longevity in my MMA training?

First, longevity means you haven't stopped training, soconsider what I said in the previous question and answer

about motivation.

Probably one of the main things to give you longevity is toAVOID taking long periods off from training. It is SO mucheasier (physically AND mentally) to keep your strength,skill and health...than it is to try to get it back.

The saying “A swinging gate doesn't rust” is very applicable

here. If you want to be able to keep training... keep

training. You won't understand how true this is until you'velost your ability to be athletic, then try to get it back.

Each time you stop, you have to “climb that mountain” toget it back... and the next time you stop may be the timewhen that mountain feels just too high to climb.



55

Secondly, choose your training partners carefully. Find

ones who:

1.) Are extremely conscientious about injury

prevention.2.) Motivate and inspire YOU to keep training

3.) Make you enjoy and feel good about training

Be very protective about your training. If someone makes

you feel bad about it, risks your body, or does anythingelse that's not good for your training and motivation, avoidthem like the plague. Most people with longevity already

do this.

If you have difficulty finding the right training partners...create them. Offer to teach people who you feel willultimately make great long-term training partners for you,then groom them to be exactly what you're looking for.



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An Ending Note...

If you were to look at everything I've studied over that last40 years, you'd laugh. On top of closets full of fighting

books and videos, I've got boxes of notebooks filled withmy hand-written notes dating back to 1973...

…including notes I took literally in the very first self-

defense lesson I had as a child.

Would you believe that after ALL that study, I only use asmall, core group of concepts in my training? However,

without all that study, I would never have come around to

refining it all into those core concepts that I use daily.

And, that's where the excitement is...

...searching, studying and experimenting until you havethat big “Aha!” moment that takes your skill to the next

level. And then using it successfully, or sharing it withsomeone who says “How the hell did you ever come up

with THAT?!!”

I don't know about you, but I live for those moments.Anyway, as I said at the beginning...

“Your job is to look at it... consider it... try it out longenough to determine whether you can make it work

for you... and then either implement it, or forget

about it for now. If it doesn't work for you, it's notright or wrong... it's just wrong for you.”

I hope you found some ideas that are “right” for you. Idon't expect that you'll use, like, or maybe even

understand, much of what you read here. However, that's just the nature of learning... some things will resonate withyou, some won't. Hopefully, a few ideas here have donethat.

I hope youfound someideas that

are “right” for ou



Resources:

The iGrapple™

Online Grappling Trainerhttp://www.igrapple.com

Submission Master™ Grappling Dummyhttp://www.grapplingdummy.net

For more MMA training advice & tips like you

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