So you want to be a fighter. Good, start training today! Because remember; there can be only one!
This is the second post in this series about self-defence vs fighting. I will be focusing on fighting basics, concepts, training, and mentalities so you can better understand what it means to train for the ring or competition.
Fighting for sport, or status in the social hierarchy, has been part of human behaviour for as long as we have known. Fighting for status can be seen throughout nature and fighting for sport is depicted on millennia old artefacts from ancient Greece. Humans (Animals) have a need to assert dominance over each other on various levels, whether it’s simply a test of skill and athletic ability to determine who is “the best,” or whether you are trying to show off so you can have the best selection of mates.
This is, in many ways, the foundation of why we fight in non-life-and-death situations in the arena that we call sport.
The ancient Greeks knew that if in training all their warriors always fought as though it was real life-or-death, then there would be no one left to defend everyone else. Thus competitions of strength and athleticism were developed for exercise and to mimic battle, such as wrestling, Pankration, and eventually the Olympic games. The idea behind these contests was that city states could compete for top spots without actually having to kill each other in war whenever tensions got to high. Enter sports as a means to diffuse tension, acting as a semi-peaceful political tool. According to legend the Spartans refused to attend the original games because they were not allowed to poke eyes, fish hook, and probably grab some dicks (they wrestled oiled and naked in those days). That is because for the Spartans if training wasn’t meant to prepare for real battle, employing the same methods, then there was no point. But for everyone else, and for the rest of history, most people agreed that finding non-life-and-death methods to keep training and find out who is “the best” is probably a good way to go.
The logic is simple, “Training should feel like bloodless battle, so that battle feels like bloody training.” The sentiment of “reality-based training” is very appropriate.
Over time, and especially in recent history, modern sports and fighting have become more a source of entertainment for the masses rather than honing skills for “king and country” or real-life battle. This means that the efficacy of styles and what works has shifted to the world of non-lethal combat, which definitely changes the parameters of what is taught and practiced, both tactically and technically. Not to mention all those rules…
Training to Fight
The first step in your fighting journey is deciding what style you want to learn or compete in. I would say there are 3 general categories of styles; Stand Up, Grappling, and Mixed Martial Arts.
Within those categories you have styles that are physically competitive and considerably more aggressive (kickboxing, boxing, wrestling, judo, BJJ, mma). These are styles that have done a good job of making sport combat a little more realistic and less constrained by rules.
Then there are styles that are much more about technical prowess or skill, while trying to minimize harm to the other opponent (though it still happens), this is accomplished through the use of forms/kata competitions or point-based sparring, as seen in Taekwondo or Karate. These styles, though they have origins in real combat, have been altered so children and less athletic adults could more easily and safely compete. (Lets be honest here, in modern times, training to do Katas or forms is not actually training to fight anymore… sorry, not sorry.)
Regardless of the style and type of fighting your are preparing for, one thing is for sure; you will be competing for top spot, so you need train, train often, train smart, train hard, and, perhaps most importantly, train consistently. You must understand the ruleset, understand your body, and understand your style. You must become a refined gem, both technically and physically, s