A Taxonomy of Training

The taxonomy of training has for some time now been on my mind. By this is meant the range of difficulties or problems likely to inhibit one’s fight game which can be foreseen and forestalled with a degree of preparation. A perfect example of such a foreseeable problem would be gassing out during a fight – exhausting yourself, and being unable to continue past the first minute, and thereby getting your ass kicked. A problem that would not fall within such a taxonomy may at first be difficult to name because in order to name it you foresaw it, and thus could, I suppose, prepare for it.

There is a point, however, at which an occurrence becomes so unlikely that to train for it seems rather a waste of time. One borderline example I recall was in Kenpo. We were taught to slide our feet across the ground when moving, rather than pick them up. The rationale given was that by sliding your feet you reduced the chance of stepping on something (an overturned bottle, perhaps,) which might disturb your balance. So their particular taxonomy of foreseeable problems was, in my opinion, a bit detailed, but I suppose if you are striving for degree of precision in technique that approaches science, (as they were,) why the hell not?

Yet who has time to focus on the tiniest details of advancing and retreating? My students need things which are so much more fundamental and all-encompassing than that. I suppose the person who has the time to focus on the smaller detail is the Martial Artist – the individual who has chosen to devote himself to his fight science until he reaches a degree of development sufficient that he can begin to intelligently customize the technique to his own body and skills, and further, give back to his art by contributing solid fight techniques, teaching techniques, and theory for both.

And suffice it to say, my current discipline does not attract martial artists, it attracts people who want the down-and-dirty of busting out physical confrontation with minimal damage, and then want to return to their normal lives in which krav maga occupies a couple of hours of their week, no more. Which, all things considered, is probably a healthier perspective on life, anyway, since real artists are often real pains in the ass.

So what are the taxonomy of problems which can be foreseen and forestalled by a bit of directed preparation?

Physical preparation

Cardio – put simply, most people gas out in under one minute. By gas out, I mean hit a point of exhaustion where they would rather just lose the fight now, so they could get back to breathing, or their muscles and minds simply stop working sufficiently well to continue in any sort of effective fashion. Since most boxers have (in comparison with us mere mortals,) amazing cardio, the three-minute/one round standard seems to be a nice stage to aim for.

Flexibility – the first thing that comes to mind when one mentions flexibility is Jean Claude Van Damme hanging around 3 meters off the floor, meditating while doing the splits, or amazing flying head kicks, or scorpion kicks, where the heroine (let’s imagine a chick, shall we? It’s just better that way,) her hands being occupied in front of her, swings her leg so far behind her that her foot emerges over her own head to smack the opposing person in the face.
Now forget about that. Most people need to have enough flexibility to land a kick on their opponents ribs, and that only because if you can do that, you can easily kick them in the crotch, or stomach, which is the highest you should ever kick. Unless you wish to show off for your friends, that is.

Balance – One of the things we are most likely to lose as we get older, and spend a greater amount of our time in soft supportive chairs, is our balance, our inborn, native sense of how far we can bend or stretch, with or without compensation, before we will topple over. Our ability to center our weight over one foot, or compensate for a degree of momentum or displaced weight – these are things which only long hours of kicking and jumping can teach us.

Body-hardening – this involves two aspects. First, and most critical, is the degree of pain your body registers when it comes into violent contact with something. The second is the actual damage your body receives when the impact occurs. The first of these is most critical because a moment of crisis is no time to have your mind occupied with secondary thoughts of “Ooooow – that hurt – don’t want to block with that arm again!” Since this aspect is largely mental, it’s best dealt with via practice at receiving the pain and learning that A. It signifies no lasting damage, and B. You are able to do that take that same abuse on that same spot another 5 times before it becomes “unbearable.”

The pain is likely to come in largest part, from your own body’s exertions – primarily from cardio, and secondarily from impacting the other person with strikes or blocks. With practice, two things occur – first, you learn to ignore the physical pain that occurs, and secondly, the actual amount of pain you feel decreases as your body, over time, develops tougher capillaries, denser bones, and . . . kills off nerves.

The pain that is inflicted upon you via successful strikes is another thing entirely, and largely falls under the mental, not physical, aspect.

Strength – strength is possibly the least important aspect, and most difficult to build.

Speed – speed develops as a result of learning correct technique, and practicing sufficient hours that A. Sufficient fast-twitch muscle fibers are developed, B. Your body learns how to correctly recruit the muscles it has, and thus C. the correct technique flows from your body with minimal thought interference.

Physical Accuracy, ie, coordination – a large part of success lies simply in learning accuracy – in learning, for lack of a better term, where the end of your arm is. I think we have all had the experience of looking at something sitting a little ways away, and wondering if we could move fast enough to grab it – and if so, how far would the whole body have to move, and how far could I lean over, and how far could I extend my arm, and furthermore, what hand position would be best to adopt to successfully snatch the item as fast as possible. Training teaches us, via a thousand small lessons a day, these things. How we move our body best to arrive at a particular configuration, and how to put your foot swiftly and reliably to the knee or solar plexus of another, we practice and practice and learn, until we develop the ability to move our body and extend our limbs with practiced confidence.


Mental preparation
Pain threshold – as mentioned above, there is nothing more crippling than having secondary thoughts running through one’s head which sap one’s morale by asking how close we are to breaking. Pain threshold is an important part of the cardio aspect – to learn how badly your lungs and legs can burn, and that the pain becomes X intense, but no more, teaches one to A. Continue despite the pain, and B. to not fear the pain, because one knows how to C. Distinguish between normal operating levels, and “Houston, we have a problem.”

As mentioned before, the pain from receiving a successful strike from an opponent is difficult to prepare for, but fortunately, much more of a mental hurdle than a physical one. Most strikes do not do extensive physical damage, or at least not of the sort that you need to be concerned with during the moment of truth. Furthermore, shock and adrenaline dampen the amount of pain you register at the time, which is a very good thing, since in a true physical altercation, you have bigger things to worry about than whether or not you have a broken nose.

Mentality or Attitude – Which leads us naturally to our next point – perhaps your nose IS broken. It’s bleeding on your shirt – dammit, that was a favorite shirt of yours – it will never be the same – maybe the blood isn’t on your trousers yet – perhaps your trousers can be saved – and while you are thinking about keeping your trousers clean, the other dude knocks your ass to the ground, steps on your ankle intentionally or not, thus breaking it, and incidentally also ruining your trousers.
There is no time for secondary considerations. When a physical altercation occurs, we must immediately prioritize in a manner quite different from a normal situation.

By nature of the occurrence of a physical altercation, it is clear that the normal rules that govern social interaction have been suspended – but to what degree? Is this a brawl of fisticuffs? Or will broken bottles and blades be used? I do not mean to encourage the sort of paranoia which often characterizes conversations of this sort, but stomping on the head of an unconscious person, while unusual, is not unheard of. I have even worked with a man who claimed that having been beaten down, his opponent then proceeded to run him over with a car, thus “jacking my back – for life.”

Given all this, when entering into an altercation, one must have the correct mentality, in which nothing but quick victory is important. Damage is accepted as inevitable. One’s clothes and watch and glasses are immediately forsaken as irretrievably damaged – a cost of doing business. Any blood that results is accepted not so much as an indication of physical damage, but as a warning that a particular technique was incorrect or insufficient.

This mindset of acceptance of the inevitability of physical and financial damage should extend so far as to govern our attitude and behavior going into the altercation. Since we will view this, in every way, as an experience in which hundreds of dollars of clothing, glasses, watches, etc. Will be damaged, and hundreds of dollars in medical bills will be incurred, we will naturally avoid, as much as possible, entry into physical confrontation, so that once being forced to enter in, we have no second thoughts or regrets, as we are certain we had no alternative.

Anxiety – fear is one of the biggest enemies, as it constricts one’s breathing, causes one to think less creatively, and encourages us to focus on the possibility of failure. Anxiety is always related to the unknown. How will it feel if I get hit? Am I capable of winning this? What will happen if I lose? Not only do these thoughts clutter our minds and inhibit our performance, but the accompanying stress and adrenaline often cause us to forget, or poorly execute, the techniques which we have learned. Fortunately, the best remedy for anxiety is constant practice, and lots of sparring. This gives us the opportunity to practice remembering to breathe throughout the encounter, teaches us to think under pressure, and innoculates us against fear as we learn what it feels like to be pummelled, and receive in turn the practice of pummelling someone else, and thus gain the confidence that comes from learning how to do it to good effect.

Technique – It is odd that something so important should be left until last – but absent the others above, proper technique will never emerge, or will break down in 20 seconds.

Accuracy of technique – the correct angle of delivery alone can render a technique devastating or utterly ineffective. How much more important is accuracy of technique, then, when we add to correct angle the further aspects such as speed of delivery, knowing the correct target, ways to generate instant momentum and force, proper weight distribution, and correct placement of feet and hands relative to the target? The lack of any one of these can drastically reduce to effectiveness of a technique.

Defensive Technique – these have to be practiced till protecting oneself is second nature. There will be plenty of strikes you never-saw-coming. If you are in a correct defensive posture to begin with, you will lessen the chances of the one you never-saw-coming being the one the finished it.
A few principles apply to intelligent defensive techniques. First, they should always maintain a good visual field. Of course we want to stay well-covered, but we always need to be able to see what is happening around us. Secondly, a good defensive technique will also inflict pain on the opponent, to discourage them, and allow for easy transition to offensive techniques.

Offensive Technique – three basic principles: maximum effectiveness or pain, (not necessarily damage,) minimum energy expenditure, and minimal exposure to risk of counter-attack.

Well – I hope no one ever reads this – if you do, feel free to point out anything I am lacking.