When we think of any job that needs to be done, among the first steps is to get the tools together that will be needed. Think of any household project you've done in the past and you get the sense of the routine, you form a basic, or exact (depending on your nature), checklist of must-haves to complete the task. When we think of it, many times it plays out this way: you have the tools you needed to finish, you improvised with what tools you had in order to finish (ever used a wrench as a hammer?), or you were completely stumped when you didn't have the right set of tools (I'll do it tomorrow when I can borrow my buddy's power drill, etc).
In MMA it's much the same way. Each day you come to training you should be thinking of it as shopping at the hardware store. You think of what tools you want, what tools you've seen people use, what tools you were lacking before, and what tools you use constantly and simply want to upgrade. In any given position or situation you should be able to reach into that toolbox and pull out what you need (or can improvise with if it comes to it). Think it through, in many cases fighters will use the SAME technique over and over again all the way through to the highest levels of competition (find video of George St. Pierre's guard pass and you'll note how he's been using the same "simple" techniques successfully for years). Not to give away too much information, but I'm actually in the same mold as I've been using the same 3/4 guard passes for YEARS now--tailor made to opponents in my weightclass which therefore have mixed results with much larger opponents (for them I keep a few other tricks).
Another thing to factor in is that cluttering your garage is a viable extension of that metaphor. Literally, you can have too much junk. This makes it difficult to find what you need, leaves much technique around getting 'rusty', and let's not forget wasted efforts as you consider all of the tools you picked up that you never used--no matter how cool you thought they were. Keep it simple, keep it orderly, and in that way keep it efficient.
Try to work on that part of preparation and you too will have the ability to reach into your box and pull out a handful of trusty tools.
Tallahassee TMMA: Mixed Martial Arts
A Comprehensive School of Mixed Martial Arts Training
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The fungus among us
Sorry about that...
RING worm. It happens. It's a fact of a fighter's life. However, it's not unavoidable.
The first thing to do is educate yourself. I probably can't do it better then this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_worm
What I can do is give you the breakdown on some tips to help you prevent/treat the fungal infection:
Clean everything, your gear, your SELF. Don't come home after training and lay on your bed, sit on your couch or grapple around with your girlfriend/boyfriend/roommate/dog, etc. If you spread it to someone else, you just gave yourself another source of infection.
Wear clean clothes! Should be part of the first hint but it's one of the most overlooked forms of prevention. Some people will see their training gear as 'stuff that's meant to get dirty' and therefore not seeing anything wrong with it being dirty already. I'm not one to point fingers but in my experience at different camps, with different trainees I have seen everything from blood, to dirt, grease, and yes, food & alcohol-- this on clothing that people put on BEFORE training.
Clean the mats. At our gym the mats/bags/gear/etc is cleaned daily. However, take the initiative to keep things clean. Help out around the gym, you will benefit from it and it's not brown nosing.
TELL people. It's not something you should keep as a dirty little secret. Spreading ringworm is a no-no in training circles. If you have it, your instructors will help you keep training while avoiding transmission. Be considerate, if you have ringworm, don't rip off your shirt and go grapple everyone in sight. True, you might be the shunned member for a limited amount of time, but don't let yourself become THAT guy (even if you're a girl).
Watch your feet! Take your shoes off before entering matted areas. PUT YOUR SHOES ON when leaving the mats. If you're walking around barefoot to your car, think through and realize what you're doing. Keep your shoes and socks clean as well. If you're sticking your barefeet into dirty sneakers, you're not helping anyone. Basically any place that is shoes on, should be shoes on; any place that is shoe off, should be shoes off.
Lotrimin and other ointments are a first line of defense, but read the directions. Some medications require you to use the product twice a day for a month straight... not to doubt anyone's diligence, but their are products that are intended for just 7 days.
Dandroff shampoo is a good option as well. Use it as a kind of secondary shower gel. Use it as an ointment. Just make sure your skin can handle it. A tingle is OK. Burning is not.
A bleach SOLUTION can sometimes be used. It's a bit more of an old school method, but remember that even as hard as those old schoolers are, you should significantly dilute the bleach with water. Don't put bleach directly onto your skin... the chemical burn will be much worse than the ringworm (and can leave scarring).
There's plenty more to it, but this should get you started. it's not a death sentence to your training. If anything else, ask a more experience fighter and I assure you, they'll have ring worm stories for you. Mat Herpes on the other hand...
(that one's nasty, you find it on your own)
RING worm. It happens. It's a fact of a fighter's life. However, it's not unavoidable.
The first thing to do is educate yourself. I probably can't do it better then this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_worm
What I can do is give you the breakdown on some tips to help you prevent/treat the fungal infection:
Clean everything, your gear, your SELF. Don't come home after training and lay on your bed, sit on your couch or grapple around with your girlfriend/boyfriend/roommate/dog, etc. If you spread it to someone else, you just gave yourself another source of infection.
Wear clean clothes! Should be part of the first hint but it's one of the most overlooked forms of prevention. Some people will see their training gear as 'stuff that's meant to get dirty' and therefore not seeing anything wrong with it being dirty already. I'm not one to point fingers but in my experience at different camps, with different trainees I have seen everything from blood, to dirt, grease, and yes, food & alcohol-- this on clothing that people put on BEFORE training.
Clean the mats. At our gym the mats/bags/gear/etc is cleaned daily. However, take the initiative to keep things clean. Help out around the gym, you will benefit from it and it's not brown nosing.
TELL people. It's not something you should keep as a dirty little secret. Spreading ringworm is a no-no in training circles. If you have it, your instructors will help you keep training while avoiding transmission. Be considerate, if you have ringworm, don't rip off your shirt and go grapple everyone in sight. True, you might be the shunned member for a limited amount of time, but don't let yourself become THAT guy (even if you're a girl).
Watch your feet! Take your shoes off before entering matted areas. PUT YOUR SHOES ON when leaving the mats. If you're walking around barefoot to your car, think through and realize what you're doing. Keep your shoes and socks clean as well. If you're sticking your barefeet into dirty sneakers, you're not helping anyone. Basically any place that is shoes on, should be shoes on; any place that is shoe off, should be shoes off.
Lotrimin and other ointments are a first line of defense, but read the directions. Some medications require you to use the product twice a day for a month straight... not to doubt anyone's diligence, but their are products that are intended for just 7 days.
Dandroff shampoo is a good option as well. Use it as a kind of secondary shower gel. Use it as an ointment. Just make sure your skin can handle it. A tingle is OK. Burning is not.
A bleach SOLUTION can sometimes be used. It's a bit more of an old school method, but remember that even as hard as those old schoolers are, you should significantly dilute the bleach with water. Don't put bleach directly onto your skin... the chemical burn will be much worse than the ringworm (and can leave scarring).
There's plenty more to it, but this should get you started. it's not a death sentence to your training. If anything else, ask a more experience fighter and I assure you, they'll have ring worm stories for you. Mat Herpes on the other hand...
(that one's nasty, you find it on your own)
Sparring as part of the science
I know, I know... I'm guilty of slacking. I was on vacation and, well, I've been stuck on NHL playoff hockey (everyone has their vices).
But let's get back to it:
Sparring is perhaps one of the most incorrectly used parts of training in all combat sports. When beginners think of training they most often associate it with the chance to impress, maybe even beat more experienced fighters with tenacity, aggression, and toughness... that or proving that they can take punishment and somehow still come up ahead (Hint: Don't rely on the thought that "I can take 5-10 shots, but so long as I get in one good one..."). But let's be honest, you are always one bad round of sparring away from serious injury--some fighters can literally hurt sparring partners far worse then they would be in a match situation. It is truly one of those risk/reward scenarios I talk about in class. Is the risk of injury/KO/and frankly embarrassment worth the reward of the experience you will get?
Rather than whatever other ideas you have about sparring you should look at is as more of a football team scrimmage. What's important to remember is that before any type of scrimmage takes place, the offensive and defensive squads learn their respective playbook. A scrimmage doesn't happen until after a training camp. The scrimmage provides the opportunity to put game plans into action, at relatively close to 100%. The goal is not to injure teammates (NOTE: Your training is affected by who is able/is willing to train with you). The goal is not to compensate for mental errors or outright mental abscence with athleticism and toughness. The goal is to get things right and see how practical certain approaches can be.
In MMA we should take lessons from the above. You never want to go into sparring without an idea of what you want to do. An overall gameplan, or maybe even just a few techniques from your toolbox that you want to try (Another blog on this 'toolbox' concept later) will do you most benefit. You don't train wild, and so you shouldn't spar that way either. Putting unprepared fighters into sparring doesn't actually teach them anything. It's just a way of seeing what they have already. Putting prepared fighters into sparring allows them to learn much about themselves. It also allows coaches to dissect their work-in-progress. Sparring should be part of training and therefore you should always look to it as a way of improving. Train safe. Train under observation (a good experienced eye can help make the most out of sparring sessions as they relate what worked, what needs to be improved). Train smart.
But let's get back to it:
Sparring is perhaps one of the most incorrectly used parts of training in all combat sports. When beginners think of training they most often associate it with the chance to impress, maybe even beat more experienced fighters with tenacity, aggression, and toughness... that or proving that they can take punishment and somehow still come up ahead (Hint: Don't rely on the thought that "I can take 5-10 shots, but so long as I get in one good one..."). But let's be honest, you are always one bad round of sparring away from serious injury--some fighters can literally hurt sparring partners far worse then they would be in a match situation. It is truly one of those risk/reward scenarios I talk about in class. Is the risk of injury/KO/and frankly embarrassment worth the reward of the experience you will get?
Rather than whatever other ideas you have about sparring you should look at is as more of a football team scrimmage. What's important to remember is that before any type of scrimmage takes place, the offensive and defensive squads learn their respective playbook. A scrimmage doesn't happen until after a training camp. The scrimmage provides the opportunity to put game plans into action, at relatively close to 100%. The goal is not to injure teammates (NOTE: Your training is affected by who is able/is willing to train with you). The goal is not to compensate for mental errors or outright mental abscence with athleticism and toughness. The goal is to get things right and see how practical certain approaches can be.
In MMA we should take lessons from the above. You never want to go into sparring without an idea of what you want to do. An overall gameplan, or maybe even just a few techniques from your toolbox that you want to try (Another blog on this 'toolbox' concept later) will do you most benefit. You don't train wild, and so you shouldn't spar that way either. Putting unprepared fighters into sparring doesn't actually teach them anything. It's just a way of seeing what they have already. Putting prepared fighters into sparring allows them to learn much about themselves. It also allows coaches to dissect their work-in-progress. Sparring should be part of training and therefore you should always look to it as a way of improving. Train safe. Train under observation (a good experienced eye can help make the most out of sparring sessions as they relate what worked, what needs to be improved). Train smart.
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