The Hidden Benefits of Martial Arts Training

I recently did a Q&A video on my Patreon site on the hidden benefits of martial arts training. I mentioned many different aspects, but there was one in particular I didn’t go into. Explaining it properly would have made the video too long, so I write about it here instead. It’s in my experience a critical concept to evolve and grow not just as a martial artist, but also as a human being:

The ability to recognize your mistakes and then correct yourself.

By definition, this includes a willingness to receive corrections from others, usually your teacher.

When you start your martial arts training, regardless of the style, it is normal to constantly make mistakes. Your teacher then comes over and corrects you as you learn your basic punches, kicks, and all other new techniques. This is simply a part of the process, and almost every student accepts this without resistance.

Another aspect is how this process never really stops. You learn to accept high levels of skill take a long time to achieve and continuous effort: you don’t instantly become a black belt by attending class once or twice a week for a few months. Black belts or advanced students didn’t get there by accident: it took years of hard training, which included being corrected over and over again. In fact, advanced students are often corrected just as much as beginners, typically every single class. The main difference is that their errors are usually smaller than those of beginners and a lot more nuanced.

Providing you want to get good, you usually progress to where you make self-correction a habit. You become your own critic and adjust when needed. Sometimes that can be frustrating, other times, it gives tremendous joy when you finally get the hang of a technique or drill that gave you trouble.

This dynamic is not limited to martial arts, it exists just as much in combat sports: walk into a boxing, Muay Thai, or MMA gym, and you’ll see students working in the ring or the Octagon while the coach closely monitors their training; he constantly gives feedback:

• He might tell you to stop dropping your rear hand because it leaves you wide open.
• He might remind you to return to a proper fighting stance instead of ending up out of position.
• He might correct how you retract your punches, telling you to pull them straight back to your on‑guard position instead of letting them drop on the return.
• He might point out you’re not exiting the pocket correctly, making you vulnerable to counters.
• Etc.

The feedback is non-stop, a continuous stream of minor and major corrections. That doesn’t mean you’re doing everything wrong; it simply means there is always room for improvement. You can always refine, adjust or correct something you’re doing and that process never truly ends.

Case in point:

Demetrius “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, one of the all‑time greats of mixed martial arts, once mentioned in an interview that after every single fight he wins, he immediately asks his coach:

What did I do wrong?

Even at his level, there is always something to improve.

If one of the greatest fighters to ever step into the Octagon is humble enough to think like this, then you and I can adopt it as well. That mindset is what this article is really about.

Receiving corrections inevitably becomes completely natural to martial artists and combat sports athletes.

Hold on there…

If you’re a long-time reader of my blog, then you might say “Duh!” because you know this already from your own training.  Understood, but that isn’t my point; this is:

You’d think this would then be easily transferable to other aspects of our lives.

This is where the waters get murky.

There is plenty of scientific evidence suggesting that most practitioners could transfer skills and mental attributes acquired through their training. However, it is not a given or an automatic process:

• These skills need to be taught explicitly and understood, instead of being something you subconsciously pick up over time.
• You have to actively reflect on them to see their value outside of a training context, how they might be useful elsewhere.
• Then comes a phase of trial and error in which you implement the transferal, until you succeed. This might take some time.

This leaves out questions of your individual psychological makeup, as we all know martial artists and sports fighters with massive egos that leave little room for self-reflection.

There is also the reaction from the environment to consider. It can derail the process through a lack of support or even a negative reception.  But the potential is there, only waiting for you to use it.

Conclusion.

After almost 40 years of training, I can honestly say it has given me much more than I ever thought possible. Being open-minded and willing to be wrong and corrected is one of these benefits. It’s embarrassing to say it took me a while to figure it out, though, but I had to accept that too. Mind you, I am still (and likely always will be) rather opinionated and stubborn. But I did learn a few fundamental things along the way and make a continuous effort to apply them:

• It’s OK to be wrong. You can’t be right about everything.
• It’s OK if others know more about something (including your own field of expertise) than you. It doesn’t invalidate you at all.
• More than one thing can be true at the same time. It all depends on perspective or point of view.
• If you get emotional or defensive about being corrected, you have lost control and aren’t thinking clearly.  It’s a human reaction, but one we should try to master. Because it blinds us from reality and truth, making it inevitable that we’ll be wrong some more.
• You, me, and everybody else will fail at this, no matter how hard we try. The goal is to fail less often and never stop trying.

In these polarized times, applying this is challenging, but from where I stand, absolutely worth it.

For more on this:

• How to discuss rationally
• Single variable thinking
• The fracturing of Western societies
• From Polarization to Deradicalization – Pathways Out of Extremism for a Fractured Society