Archives for March 2010

In the previous part of “Respect in the Mixed Martial Arts“, I focused mainly on the negative side, the lack of respect many MMA fighters show and why it hurts their progress. But there are many more reasons why giving respect, bowing or saluting are important. Here are some of them:

• Safety. When you train full contact, there’s always the chance of something going wrong because fighting is inherently dangerous. In training, you sometimes need to crank up the intensity but the goal is simulating your upcoming fight and not injuring your sparring partners. Bowing or saluting both before and after each round/exercise/whatever is a way to avoid those injuries. It clearly defines when you can both start throwing techniques and when you both agree to stop. This makes it a powerful safety protocol. Think of it like wearing your seat belt in a car or a helmet when you walk around on a construction site: it doesn’t mean nothing can happen to you; it means the odds of you getting seriously messed up go down a bit.
• Keep your ego in check. This relates to the previous bullet: when you train with hard contact, tempers easily flare. You might think the other guy is hitting way too hard for the drill you’re doing or he might think you’re messing it up on purpose and are trying to hurt him. Either way, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment, crank it up a notch and turn things into a real fight.  Touching gloves or bowing before you begin reminds you why you’re there: to learn and increase your skill. Both goals require you to keep your ego in check. Showing respect helps you do just that and in turn helps you train better.
• Focus. A key component of winning a fight is the mental game, your mindset. Even if you’re the strongest, fastest guy around, you can still lose if your head isn’t screwed on right. Your ability to focus and concentrate is therefor one of the most important things you have to train. A practical and easy way to do that is saluting your training partner at the beginning and end of the round/drill.  You can make the physical act of touching gloves, slapping a high five or bowing your head a powerful mental trigger. One that helps you focus entirely on the task at hand and drive out all other thoughts, worries or concerns: as you salute, you narrow the world down to just you and your partner. As with all worthwhile skills, you need to train this hard before it actually works. Saluting or bowing every time gives you plenty of opportunity to practice…
• It keeps you human. I know this sounds weird but bear with me. Non-teamsport athletes are some of the most egocentric people in the world; I know because I used to be one. When you compete, everything is about you: your training, your upcoming fight, your season, your recuperation, you, you, you. Living like that for years on end can easily turn you into a selfish bastard, one who uses his career and fights as an excuse to do as he pleases in all other aspects of his life and therefor treats his loved ones unfairly. I wasn’t as bad as some guys I knew but, once again, I speak from bitter experience. You become so used to everything being organized around your person that you take it for granted. Do that long enough and you turn into an asshole. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a flaming asshole (“Too late!” some people will say. :-)). Showing respect to other fighters and your trainer is a way to stay humble and human. It reminds you you’re not the only one who matters in this world.

There are even more reasons than that but I don’t want to dwell on it. You get the point.

Before I go on, some other thoughts: [Read more…]

Here’s a pretty cool clip from Erik Paulson. He talks a little about respect in NHB and MMA.

I couldn’t agree more with everything he said. Especially about the getting old part. I’m only a few years younger than Eric but feel the same way: I used to be part of the young generation and now I’m one of the “old guys” .

By the way, one of the ways I first noticed this was when my younger students weren’t getting some of my jokes anymore. For instance, when one of them moved their head first and then turned their body, I told him “Don’t move like RoboCop” and then showed what they did wrong. Most students understood right away what I was talking about. Now, they just look at me with a slightly confused look on their face.

Eventually I looked it up and it turns out the movie came out well over 20 years ago, way before they were even born. Proof positive I’m getting old… Anyway, back to the respect thing.

I noticed the same thing Erik did: When I started training, the teacher’s word was law and you did what he said, period. You didn’t question him, you didn’t talk to him like one of the other students, none of that. I would never have dreamed of interrupting my teacher or asking questions while he was busy with somebody else. You just didn’t do that. Today, I have students yelling for me from across the room…

Up to a point, this is normal. Society always changes and social conventions along with it. So it’s only normal today’s youngsters are different from when I was their age.  But I still make them do the palm/fist salute at the beginning and end of class. And also when they start and stop working with somebody else. Simply because  there are some compelling reasons to keep giving them a sense of respect during the training. There are so many more but to make sense for the typical MMA-testosterone loudmouth(*) , I’ll limit myself to this: [Read more…]