Peak Performance in Martial Arts

Whatever sport we practice, most of us perform at a level much lower than what we could. In general, trainers tend to be people who have learned from another trainer or two, who learned from another trainer or two, and so forth. Following the lines in which they were trained, most trainers teach us the old fasion way, which is the same way their trainers were taught, becoming the traditional way. This is, therefore, traditional training!

Traditional training has some good benefits, but it is standardized according to old criteria that do not lead in most cases to the maximum performance of each individual. In fact, professional athletes are constantly seeking new ways to develop better skills, while amateurs continue working in traditional ways. The typical dojo, for instance, continues teaching students to perform repeatedly the same task as they advance in a straight line, mindlessly counting in Japanese or English. This happens after one third or one half of the session has been spent in calisthenics.

However, there are many drawbacks to traditional training. First, repetition may be good. But mindless repetition leads only to perform at a steady level, the level at which we repeat it. Thus, if we are already tired, we are performing one task after another, and we continue, getting more tired, we will end up repeating the task at our bottom performance. Continuous mindless work leads to develop endurance, but nothing else. Additionally, repeating basic techniques and combinations of techniques in large groups, without someone correcting our work frequently, we end up performing with many small mistakes that we accumulate and carry all the way to our black belts. In fact, there are many martial art experts that look very good practicing their advanced katas or forms, but look terrible when performing in combat or other circumstances. Traditional training allows them to learn to perform advanced techniques very well, but their basic techniques are terrible. For instance, a side kick may be excellent in the kata, but it sucks otherwise.

A very common mistake many traditional training instructors make is to enphasize stretching as a part of the warm up. Stretching cold muscles can cause weaknesses and micro scar tissue. Stretched muscles can also tear and rip more easily than non-stretch muscles. Additionally, many instructors push for high kicks, leading students to focus on beautifully high and stylish kicks. Yet, good kicks should be so fast that they are almost invisible. Good kicks should hit somewhere between the person's shin and his face, not any higher than that. Good kiks should be produced without having to move the rest of one's body,. Good kicks should not be telegraphed, so they should pop out of whatever position one is fighting, not out of a nice looking stand.

Good training should focus on precision, reflexes, use of periferal vision, tension - relaxation combinations, solid stance shifting, and speed. Some traditional instructors may work on some of these aspects of performance. But too many don't.

To achieve peak performance, one has to practice as close as possible to the peak. This requires not to be tired when practicing. Consequently, large numbers of repetitions will get you tired and result in average performance.

Therefore, practice should be distributed as follows:

• Warm up your body using the muscles you will need in the practice. Do your sit ups and aerobics after the peak performance work is complete, if you still need to do aerobics.
• Stand on your styles basic stances for a while, performing punch and defense movements accurately, distributing the tension along the movements in a logical way. The maximum tension in your muscles should be in the last moment of the movement. Focus on tensing only the muscles that are required by the operation. Ensure that the only part your body moves is the part you need to use. If you punch, your arm needs to move, not the rest of your body. If you want to add torsion, only your hip needs to move, not your torso or shoulders.
• Stand in preparatory position. I like to start from any of my favorite karate stands. I find it important to alternate my preparatory stands often to imitate realistic conditions. Focus on your body. Practice your kicks one at a time. Start performing the kick slowly, focus on the parts of each movement. Kicks are not single movements. Each portion of your leg performs tension at different times. A kick has a tow, ankle, knee, and hip component. Perform your kicks focusing on the right part of the body in each part of the moment. Then, switch to performing them fast. Fast practice requires emptying your mind before each individual kick. Repeating kicks many times, counting them may give you a sense of great accomplishment. But it will not give you accuracy and speed.
• Concentrate totally on your next movements. This can take two forms. Either you imagine the movements completely before performing them, or you let your mind go to a total blank. A great idea is to perform an imaginary series of attacks and defenses until you remember it perfectly in your mind. Then, practice it in the real world, just as you had imagined. Many times, as you perform it physically, you realize you have to modify it. This will give you an additional dose of reality to your thinking.
• Organize your drills and shadow sparring exercises so that there is a natural flow from one movement to another. This will train you to perform continuous attack with ease. It will also increase the speed with which each movement you make follow another. Speed is not just the instantaneous speed in a punch or a kick. It is how you perform patterns of movements.
• Isolation of movements is essential. When you can isolate every movement you do not telegraph. Practice relaxing completely fin your favorite fighting stances. Then, without any other movement, and without tensing any muscle that does not need to be used, through a punch or a kick. Do this very often. You will seem so much faster to your adversaries when you are able to do this well.
• Practice seeing. Learn to look with your peripheral vision. do not look at details. In fighting, you only care about movement. Oscillations, tensions, shoulder movements, and hip shifts are the indicators that a punch, a kick, or a change of position is coming. These indicators tell you when to attack. Practice looking at these in your dojo or gym. But do not let your friends know you are doing this or they will trick you.
• Videotape yourself practicing. This will show you all your mistakes. I like to videotape my students and discuss with them the best forms to correct their problems. I also videotape myself and use the videos to correct my mistakes and improve.
• Use force or acceleration sensors. They help you improve what can not be seen externally. Measuring the strength of your hits is a great way to correct. I also have my students hit my hand and I can correct many things this way. On my hand I feel more than just the strength. I also feel the direction and the hesitation in the punch or kick.

 We all want to be the best we can be. This is how I have improved my performance and my students' performances. I just hope that whoever reads it will get some benefit from it.