Better Weapons, Conditioning, 50 Reps

 

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You’re almost always surrounded by objects that are more lethal than you

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At any given moment, you’re surrounded by weapons that are easier or more effective to use than your fists, feet or submissions.  Where I’m sitting right now, I’ve got access to kitchen knives, salt & pepper shakers, chairs, cooking pots, rocks, a glass blender and tons of other objects that would be easier to stop someone with than my striking or grappling skills. If nothing else, just throwing them will cause damage or make an attacker run for cover. 

Most of us assume we’d punch (or submit) an attacker, but our hands and fists break very easily on someone’s skull. And, they’re not really even that powerful of a weapon. If you start seeing objects around you as weapons, you’ll realize you are always armed and will be even more prepared for a confrontation than you are now.

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The fight often goes to the person who simply has better endurance and can “turn it on” as the opponent’s getting tired.

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My experience has always been that if I could outlast an opponent, I could pretty easily beat them.  It was most evident in the boxing ring, where an opponent would become noticeably slower, weaker, drop his hands and be unable to defend himself.

Also, part of being able to “turn it on” is mental. You might feel just as fatigued as your opponent, but if you’ve mentally trained yourself to push harder when you’re tired, you can do it. A great exercise for this is using a boxing timer for training and “turning it on” for the last 15 – 30 seconds of every round. 

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If it’s worth doing once, it’s worth doing 50 times!

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It takes at least 50 repetitions of an action to make any inroads into building muscle memory, which is key to skill building.  Practicing something a few times does very little for you.

In that case, you are pretty much wasting time if you don’t do enough reps. It’s a good idea just to commit yourself to doing 50 reps of your techniques anytime you train… that both gives you a goal (50) and ensures you’re going to make some decent progress with building muscle memory.

 

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Keep training! 
Bob