¶ Martial Artist Philosophy
A good martial artist does not become tense but ready . Essentially , at this point the fight is over .
So you pretty much flow with the goal . Who is worthy to be trusted with the secret to limitless power ?
I'm ready so I had a conversation with the blue belt after we rolled yesterday , okay , and I shared a piece of feedback for him . That is something that I learned from a great teacher many years ago and I actually wanted to run it by you and get your take on this Intriguing . Let's go . Let me set the context . So , um , you know I coach a little bit .
Um , this guy is a like a really good blue belt , lovely fella I won't mention his name , he knows who he is , but , um , big guy , right , it's probably , I don't know , he's probably 100 kilos , 105 , something like that . Right , big , has a hard time finding people that he can go hard with , right .
And so we've established like , yeah , you can go as hard as you want with me . Um , and so I know that when , when we get to train , when I'm , you know , coaching him or at the same class , that he's going to want to roll with me yes and so it doesn't happen often .
And I finished the class , we wrapped it up and then like , hey , do you want to do an extra round ? And he's like . And he , as I was like saying to him , he's like yes , you know , and I was like fuck it . So we did a round . It was great , Super strong guy , you know , good , like good jits , coming along .
He , I passed his guard and then , you know , had him in side control for a bit and then eventually armbarred him Right Right . Now , six-minute round . There's one minute 30 seconds left on the clock . We come up from the tap , cool reset . And sorry , we don't get up .
He says to me what do I need to do there , Like that armbar , like what should I have done ? Right , Right , Very reasonable question , Fair . So I'm like , oh well , you know , it's me bringing the leg over the head . That's a real problem . So if you could be looking for a way to not let that , you know blah , blah , blah . And so you know , kind of .
And he's like , oh yeah , cool , and so let's just have a look at that . And fucking did a little push-pull and then it was over and it got me thinking . I was like , man , like that six minutes that we get is Like like you need to treasure that . It's precious Right , Especially given the context .
Yes , you don't get to see me often , Big guy , Go hard on me .
Here we are , let's do it yes .
And I said , while I think your question about defending the armbar is a great thing to ask , I don't think you should be doing that in the middle of us doing the thing . Agreed , I'm like you should just roll with me for six minutes . You should have just got up and like , okay , you unbarred me , I'm going to fucking get it back .
I'm going to fucking whatever . Go hard for the next 90 seconds and then let's have the conversation . Agreed , okay ?
Yeah , yeah . So the question is is that the right approach ?
Yeah , but then I thought , well , you know , maybe , maybe , and that's my approach . But then I thought , well , maybe that really cemented , like maybe I try an armbar him next time and it's really cemented for him , the defense on the armbar , Maybe now , because he did ask me immediately following the event maybe that's like really solidified for him .
So I was like , oh , I don't actually know . Then Maybe your approach was great as well .
What's your take ? Okay , so my take on that I believe there is actually some research that shows that the immediacy of the feedback is is important to the learning right . So , as soon as you can correct a mistake , that that then really gets it in the system potent moment . Yeah , that's when you're most receptive because you'd like what ?
Come , come on , solve my problem . But here's also , uh , the other side of that is learning and doing are not . Even though gee Souders might disagree with me , the learning and the doing are not the same . Like you shouldn't be learning when you're executing . There should be no thinking . Like in the moment of execution , it should just be no thought .
They're separate processes . Yeah , they are separate processes . So , as long as it's , maybe that's the conversation you've got to have with your man . He's like no , when we're rolling , we're rolling . I'm not teaching you at this point . The teaching is me beating the fuck out of you , bro . Like you , you get in this lesson , save your questions for after .
And because there is only a limited amount of time and in that time you've got to work . So , yeah , for me it's like trying to give someone feedback while they're squatting . That's distracting , that's not good , you know , even though it's obviously that's more rudimentary than the complexity of rolling Same kind of scenario yeah , you've got to .
In the moment of doing you need to be focusing on . There's so many variables that when you start bringing in questions and feedback , it just . I personally believe that that is not the time to learn Immediately . Post-training is money , but I believe that execution and learning , even though they inform each other , it should not be done at the same time .
Yeah , that's exactly my thinking and that brings me to . So that was the lesson , the rule that I learned , right , so it was from Ido Portal . He mentioned this at a movement camp years ago and he actually got it from . I thought I'd share this because it's quite fascinating John Cage's top 10 rules for students .
Okay , right now , I didn't know at the time who john cage was , but he was an artist , philosopher and an influential composer of the 20th century . Wow , he's credited for writing a set of rules for creativity purposes . Cool . So he's got these 10 rules , um , and I thought , okay , so you'll see , you'll hear the rule that is relevant to it .
But I thought let me just read them all , because there's some fucking cool ones in here , Some gems . Rule one find a place you trust and then try trusting it for a while . Rule two general duties as a student pull everything out of your teacher . Pull everything out of your fellow students .
Rule three general duties as a teacher pull everything out of your students students . Rule three general duties as a teacher pull everything out of your students . Rule four consider everything an experiment . Rule five be self-disciplined . This means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them . To be disciplined is to follow in a good way .
To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way . Rule six nothing is a mistake . There is no win and no fail . There is only make . Rule seven the only rule is work . If you work , it will lead to something . It is the people who do all the work all the time who eventually catches on to things . That's pretty cool , Nice .
Rule eight do not try to create and analyze at the same time . They are different processes , which is exactly what I said to old mate and what you just said . Rule nine be happy whenever you can manage it . Enjoy yourself . It is lighter than you think . Rule 10 , quote we are breaking all the rules , even our own rules . And how do we know that ?
By leaving plenty of room for X qualities . That's a quote from John Cage , Right ? Oh , helpful hints added to the bottom of that . Always be around , come or go to everything . Always go to classes , read everything you can get your hands on , Look at movies carefully and often save everything . It may come in handy later .
Nice , that's a pretty fucking cool rules .
Yeah , it's great . I think there's a lot to be taken from that for life in general .
I like , I like that . You know there's . There's a lot in that . Actually that speaks to what we've passed on , how we've responded in a lot of our Q&As , but that one find a place you can trust and try trusting it for a while . Yeah Right , it's like just find it seems okay , have faith , stick with it .
Yeah , the hardest thing for all of this is the time it takes to cultivate anything , whether it's a skill , a relationship , a physical quality . It's our ability to stay in it , even when the outcomes are not obvious . You know , there's a gestation phase in there yeah , so I mean off that .
I guess , like you know , say we're talking about that scenario that I had with my mate . There is something , there's a sacrifice , you're always sacrificing something . So for him to stop the roll and ask me the technical question he sacrificed whatever could have been experienced in the rest of the role . Yes , perhaps what he gained was more valuable than that .
Perhaps , perhaps right . But also , had he have just continued rolling , there was something to be gained from that , but he might've sacrificed the ability to learn the bit of technique that he really needed . True , so there it is . That that's nice , that's a good lesson hey , fam , get your hands on these bulletproof t-shirts . You can get them at fanwarecomau .
Bunch of colors , you get discount if you get multiple . Rep the tribe . We'll see you somewhere , peace you .