The Mindset of Sparring II - Sensei's Challenge

Considering the popularity of the previous article, I thought it best to extrapolate a bit upon the subject.
Projection.

One thing that I believe many, if not most of us do, is project and assume our own methodology of dealing with the world, onto each other.

What do I mean by that?

What I mean, is that thoughtful people tend to expect others to be thoughtful.  Creative people tend to expect others to be creative.

Insecure people assume they're always hurting other people's feelings.  Arrogant or caustic people always assume people are tough skinned.  Angry people tend to expect others to be angry, and so on.
We all have the same needs, of course.  Its our beliefs on how those needs are defined and met, and our projected value upon them which make us all so different.

In a nutshell, its hard for any of us to believe that everyone else isn't exactly like us.

I mean, why wouldn't they be?

We're clearly the best possible option and collection of feelings and methods of interacting with the world, right? (otherwise, why would we do them?)

And yes, we all tend to think this.  (But we can't all be right, now can we)

The other day, a student mentioned how their partner got angry with them when they were sparring, and I thought "how strange.  I've never had a partner get angry with me during sparring." and started looking at things from my perspective on what it would take for me to have an angry partner.

It was then that I was reminded of one of my favorite analogous stories, the house of mirrors.
Perhaps all those sparring sessions in which one of my partners was trying to get out of my back control weren't them simply enjoying the challenge and opportunity for growth.

Perhaps whenever I tagged someone in a game of freeze tag as a child they weren't immediately looking for a potential solution and were in fact plotting revenge.


All we have, is our own set of filters from which we view the world.  And, with considerable effort (at least at first) we can attempt to remove, or, at least temporarily replace our filters with others'.

Are they really angry at you, or are they frustrated with themselves for having fallen for an old trick?

Are they really angry, or are they loving the challenge and rising to meet it?

If you go into sparring looking for growth, looking for a lesson, then you find it; regardless of the outcome of the match, you will still grow and still find a lesson (and thus "win").

If you go into a sparring session looking to win or lose, then those are the only two outcomes.  Either one has a loser.  And who likes to lose?

Sensei's Challenge:  Play with your filters.  Everyone thinks they're right.  It is a fun and exciting challenge to see things from other perspectives.  Take the exercise in problem solving to a whole new level:  See the world through this person's eyes...  before the sparring match... after.... or even... during!

Sensei Ono, Shinka Martial Arts

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Video Games Good For Martial Arts?

A student of mine asked me the other day on weather or not playing UFC: Undisputed (2009) on my XBOX 360 would improve my (or their) Jiu Jitsu.


(for a good price, check out best buy. 2009 seems pretty wicked, I haven't tried 2010 yet)

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Its an interesting premise, is it not?

On the one hand, yes, Jiu Jitsu, like all martial arts, is a combination of mental and physical.

Jiu Jitsu especially, is often compared to chess, only the rules/moves keep getting reinvented every time you play (probably why our green belts are always so happy)

If I had to assign percentages to my own ground game, I would place myself somewhere around the 70% "feel" of my training partner, and 30% planning/strategy.

Could this (rather fun, by the way) video game enhance a Jiu Jitsu practitioner's mental planning of the game via removing the physical sensations?

I say... Yes!

I know that I've gotten ideas off of it, and, the repetitive nature of the moves has perhaps helped facilitate the moves.

I've also noticed an increase in my wrestling ability from watching UFC live.

Also, when I played Fight Night, I know for a fact, that it helped improve my boxing in "move availability" and timing.

So, maybe I'm wrong - maybe it doesn't help.  I'm still a relative newbie to UFC 2009, and I could simply be projecting these results as an excuse to play!

What do you think?

Sensei Ono, Shinka Martial Arts
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The Mindset of Sparring - Sensei's Challenge

Collaborative sparring mindset is difficult to attain, but the results are astronomically different than competitive sparring.


What do I mean by that? 
If you look at any world class athlete, they always surround themselves with people better than them, in order to learn.


The learning is often in the losing moreso than in the winning.

Being challenged and being forced to grow is a harder road, but, a much more opulent one.

Think of your own sparring (of any type).  What is your sparring mindset? 

Are you analyzing them for strengths & weaknesses and teaching them to improve, or, are you simply hoping to win?

Are you seeking to create challenging situations for yourself and them, or, are you hoping to win?


I often say that how you spar with a child, is how you should spar with an adult.

Treat it seriously, but without fear.  Challenge them, help them improve, and learn.  If the focus is on the learning, you'll always improve.

Now, does that mean that every now and then you aren't going to grunt towards a specific outcome?  Of course not.

But winning, isn't winning.

What?  No, really:  Winning isn't winning.  I've grunted towards a specific outcome, and that outcome was a student landing in side control so that they would learn that specific transition.  I talked them through it, and helped them land there, and, as a result, they learned a new transition, and I got to defend myself from side control.

That's the point that is so hard for people to understand.  The winning is in the learning.  If you believe that you, or your partner will learn something from getting tapped out, then do so.  If you want to be on the ground, someone needs to be taken down to get there.  You don't learn as much waiting for an opportunity as you do from trying one out (regardless of outcome)

Pride, and competitiveness is what holds so many of us back.

Let's take an example where you are a large person partnered up with a small person, both with moderate skill.  Let's say that the large person has the advantage due to reach.

Could they remove that advantage by imagining that their faster, smaller partner had a knife, and that one hit, blocked or not, could be fatal?

Or, in that same example, could the large person learn from the smaller person's techniques, both in how to do them, and, how to counter them?

Or, again, in that same example, could the large person observe the body language of states (ie attack/defense) or study offensive offbalancing, range, timing, fakes etc etc etc.

If the large person was simply trying to win, they might have done so.  But how much did they improve?
We must always remember, that, in a collaborative school, we aren't training to beat each other - we're training to improve each other, so that if we were ever to use our skills in the real world, there would be an increased likelihood of success on our part.


Train as though tomorrow may bring danger to you, or your sparring partner, and you want them, and yourself, to be as ready as possible.


Communicate with your partner.  Saying something simple like "how can I take you down?" or "How do I get out of this?" will open up so many windows, as well as bring down any aggressive energy that may unintentionally erupt.

On the flipside, seeking to help your partner grow "try to take me down like this, see?" will open up windows as well.

Treat each sparring session as a lesson with two teachers, and two students.  Seek to grow, learn and train, not to win or lose.


Observe and acknowledge the use of new and innovative strategies and techniques, and inquire as to how they were done.

Learn, grow, train.


Sensei's Challenge: Find someone you are afraid to spar, spar them, and communicate with them as described above.

Learn from the experience and see if you can teach them as well!

Sensei Ono, Shinka Martial Arts
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Martial Arts: Cure For Depression?

For years, many physical activities have proven to reduce depression and fatigue in people struggling with chronic illness as well as just help with coping with a bad day.  But why?  How does moving your body move your mind?

Some studies indicate that this effect may stem from an individual's sense of mastery over (or belief in his or her ability to achieve) certain physical goals.  A "can-do" attitude conquers the blues.

Does this mean that someone could sit in a dark room, watching sad movies, reminiscing about their horrible childhood and get cheerful simply by doing all these activities while using a grip trainer, or Dr. Ho's muscle activator?

I think not.

Which means it isn't just the exercise.  As a Sensei for Shinka Martial Arts, my theory is that it has more to do with state change.  That is, a change in the person's movements.  Their physiology.

There is a certain posture, and facial expression that our brains associate with depression, or fatigue.  And that posture is vastly different than the posture required to move around and do martial arts.  Your brain simply doesn't know how to be depressed as long as you don't engage the physiology to do so.

If you don't believe me, sit up totally straight, put a big stupid grin on your face and breathe nice excited breaths.  Move around a little bit and skip like you just won the lottery.  Shake your firsts and yell "woo hoo!"  And get depressed without changing your body's posture, without slacking your facial muscles and without changing your posture.

The reason I like martial arts, is that it's proactive.  You aren't running away from your depression, or hiding under the water from depression; you're actively confronting and overcoming it.  It seems altogether more positive.

Sensei Ono, Shinka Martial Arts
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Martial Arts = Higher Grades!

Science backs up Dojo's claims! 


For a long time now, various martial arts schools have mentioned that martial arts improves their student's self discipline, which, indirectly, has been responsible for them getting higher marks in school etc.

Recently, however, Shinka Martial Arts has upped the proverbial ante with the incorporation of "Neuro-Tech" (Neurodevelopmental Technology) which, they claim, improves the brain's aptitude by an average of 33%.

Intrigued?

They actually have run clinical trials, with actual brain specialists and doctors!
As amazing as it sounds...  Their students back up these claims.  Every student who attends class regularly, has had their grades skyrocket.


Sensei Ono, Shinka Martial Arts
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The Secret All Amazing Martial Artists Share

The Secret All Amazing Martial Artists Share?


Go to class. 


Train hard when you're there.

For years, I thought this was a given, and wouldn't mention it to students.  One would think "of course, people would know that the secret to getting good at anything... is to practice it with intensity!"

Not the case.

So many students who show up to class infrequently don't understand that the people they see when they do attend class, are also there on days that they are not.  Which is why they are getting better "faster".
We all tend to assume that other people are just like us; so, it stands to reason that people who attend class infrequently and inconsistently, would assume others were doing the same.

Conversely, people assume that attendance alone will improve their abilities.  If one person is coming ever day, but only giving 20% effort, and another person is coming in three days a week and consistently trying to increase what their 100% is, who would you bet on?  If you practice your 20%, you will get good at giving 20%.  If you practice your 100%, your 100% will get good.


If you practice your 101%...  Your 100% gets better.

People who consistently give 20% in life also assume that others are the same as them.  As a result, they are often heard saying that others are just "naturally better" than them.  If you go back a few years, and look at the 'naturally better" students, often times they were the ones who really struggled at first (even if not in martial arts, in some form of their life previous)

Overcoming challenge is a habit.  A skill.


One of the things that teaching at Shinka Martial Arts has taught me, is that people who exceed their maximum on a consistent basis, always exceed those with any amount of natural skill.  


Always.  


Growth is about momentum.  So is apathy.  Growth is a habit.  So is apathy.

To students who look for the secret to an amazing body, to students who look for the secret to an amazing martial skill, to people who are wondering how to get better at eating poorly, complaining, or watching TV, the answer is the same:  Do it often, and exceed your previous records.

Anything you push yourself to improve in, you will.  The question is, what do you want to improve?


Sensei Ono, Shinka Martial Arts
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How to pick a martial arts school 2

Okay, so you've decided on hard/soft, internal/external, and competitive/cooperative.

What about:
Transparency:  Secretive vs Open

• Secretive styles are often mysterious and appealing to those seeking "forbidden knowledge", and view questions as impolite.
• Open styles are often up front about their curriculum, and are open to answering questions.

Use: Sport vs Self Defense

• Styles intended for sport are often competitive, and teach sport fighting.  Sports are filled with rules to ensure the safety of the fighters, which means that you are effectively learning to strike areas of the body which will do the least harm.
• Styles intended for self defense can be competitive or cooperative.  Self defense can be taught just as safely as a sport style, but its application can range from neutralization of a threat to outright termination.

Character:  Students & Staff
Just as you can observe the body type of the majority of consumers of various food outlets, from organic groceries to McDonald's, so too can you observe the mindset of a school's students.  Ask yourself, are these people more, or less, like how you want to be?  Are they happy?  Are they determined?  Disciplined?  Make sure that where you're going is filled with students and instructors who walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Sensei Ono, Shinka Martial Arts
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How to pick a martial arts school

Everyone should take martial arts. 


The question is... Which combination works for you?

Many people do not know that there are different types of martial arts, or different ways of teaching them.

As training in the martial arts has been described as the biggest decision people have made for themselves and their children, I strongly urge you to make an educated choice.


Method: Hard vs. Soft

• Hard styles are "hard' because they focus on the joining of objects through speed, power and strength.  Often times they will put emphasis on sparring.
• Soft styles are "soft" because they focus on the manipulation of pre-joined objects through redirection & leverage.

Development: Internal vs External

• Internal styles are "internal" because they focus upon breathing & meditation techniques, and often incorporate flowing movements and skeletal alignments.
• External styles are "external" because they focus more upon cardiovascular development and strength training.

Mindset: Competitive vs Cooperative

• Competitive schools will often have "fight teams" and focus on winning/losing, competitions and trophies.  (Sport application)
• Cooperative schools will focus on helping each other train, improvement of self esteem and aptitude.  (Self defense application)

All of the above examples can, of course, be merged together.  There can be hard and soft styles, internal and external focus etc.  The important thing, is to find your perfect mix, or have a professional help you find it.

(See part 2!)
Sensei Ono, Shinka Martial Arts
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Glasses & Martial Arts

"Can I take martial arts if I wear glasses?"

Yes!  A good school will focus on protecting your noggin, not floggin' your noggin.

Having said that, there will be the occasional time when it would be a good idea to take them off.


Clinching, for example, is a method of holding someone which involves squeezing the sides of the head; this would be uncomfortable if you were wearing glasses.


But, for the most part, glasses are a very common sight in the dojo. 


If you are sparring, I'd recommend taking them off.  Not so much for your safety, but for the quality of your training.

A partner is likely going to be hesitant about throwing side-impact strikes (ie a hook) if you wear glasses, which will give you two dimensional, biased sparring scenarios.

Basically, if it looks like there's going to be the chance for any head contact, even light, take off your glasses.


The rest of the time, keep them on!


Some arts are less glasses-friendly.  Jiu Jitsu, for example, is a contacts-only martial art.  (or, at the very least, some sport-goggles).

Conclusion:  Do not let glasses be your excuse, nor your crutch.  Get in there, and kick some butt!


Sensei Ono, Shinka Martial Arts
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