One of the problems faced with people who wish either to learn self defence from scratch or have it as an addition of their current MA studies is the idea of muscle memory. This is when the brain learns how to move the muscles automatically, thus cutting down on thinking time. The major draw back of this, is that if you use your techniques in light to semi contact during training, this will then translate in the defence situation. So instead of striking through a target, you strike close to your mark, but in a controlled manner as you would in training. What are your thoughts on this? How do you train for this? Do you think this theory is really valid? Budo.
I think your theory is quite valid. I have often wondered the same thing myself. What helps to counteract that is practicing the muscle memory on your strikes full force on a bag that way when you perform the techniques for real involving said strikes you will throw them with full force and proper technique. We have saying that goes something like, "If you practice not hurting anyone then you won't" Make sense?
I'd have to say that once correct "muscle memory" is learned through repetitive training of VERY simple basic sd techniques, the correct response is automatic. In a sd situation there is less time to think, everything happens very quickly and thus the body has to move quickly. I feel you must keep sd training simple and at a level that you can feasibly master. In the panic of a sd situation your mind will not be able to recall complex procedures and it won't do anything "automatically." Unfortunately be it known that every move a muscle makes is based on a thought process. It doesn't just happen. You may not be able to explain why you do something, but the muscle can not respond without a thought process. Our thinking processes are very limited under stress although each one of us is unique in the way that we handle ourselves, We have really two ways to resolve such situations ... either to reduce the amount of information we process K.I.S.S. as far as learning sd techniques or to rely on our given instincts and hope for the best.
while in a fighting u hav to tell urself that u r going to punch him really.. then u need more practice... u should aim to practice respondin according to situation not reacting to situation... n believe me ur mind is quite capable enuff to judge the situation in 1000th fraction of second n respond/react acc to u... just train ur mind. -TkdWarrior-
you wanna fight, practice fighting, you wanna play, practice playing... the basic ability about sd is the capebility of fighting. you can´t fight without fullcontact, so you can´t do sd without fullcontact... so you can´t practice sd without full contact
There are two main methods we use to mitigate this in training (both self defense and in out TMA classes). The primary one is to use speed to control our techniques rather than extension. When we practice, we practice techniques fully. In the case of using speed, we are going slow enough in practice that we don't "blast" our partners as we strike them. But we do make contact, with fully realized intent and follow through. Making contact is critical because it also manipulates the person's body opening and closing targets based on how you hit. Also it helps our partners begin to understand the path of attacks. This practice of utilizing slower speeds to perfect techniques is common in the Chinese Martial Arts. The internal MA's are all great examples of this. Also RBSD systems like Blauer tactics use these types of exercises in their drills regularly. The critical aspect is the full extension and intent at slow speed. The benefit to using full extension at slow speed as opposed to "pulled" extension at fast speeds is that this programs positive muscle memory. The adrenaline of a SD situation will cause you to involuntarily uptempo, and thus you don't need to worry that you might respond in "slow motion." However, in order to be sure about that, the second aspect of this training is that you do gear up and go at faster speeds from time to time. Our training mix is slow->medium speeds about 85% of the time and full out 15% of the time. - Matt
I think that muscle memory is a serious worry for translating mainstream q-TMA into reality self-defence. A similar issue is points sparring which conditions you not to follow-up. Matt, I've never tried the speed rather than extension way to 'pulling' punches. My gut reaction was that it sounds too slow to be realistic and might have negative impact on your timing ability. But I hear what you say about adrenaline counteracting it. I'd assume that the full-contact training element is vital therefore as you infer. 15% 'heavy' contact sounds very sensible. But the safety equipment needed reduces options. If I had all my own way in training, I'd do 50% of my 'live' time on 2 person 'drills' with increasing resistance, 30% on medium-continuous sparring with grappling gloves and 15% of free sparring heavy contact with boxing gloves. The other 5% on novelty stuff. The specific SD element is in the drills. Hopefully that sort of a breakdown would nullify the negative 'muscle memory'. What do you think.
Build a training dummie I think that it is true that muscle memory would have that draw back .. you don't want to break your dummies . Why not build one.. martail arts magazine had instructions on building one and I also found on the web a training dummie head so maybe find on the web not only the head plans but the body too then you can strike that like crazy. Hey if you have 700 bucks or so just floating around (lol shyeah right I know) theres this really rad dummie called M.A.S.S he's so cool he's like a big doll that you can flip and kick and punch. I want one ( big girl still playing with dolls lol) I wrote the websites down and I will post them when I find them later.
Muscle memory is real, I've done blocks that have saved me without having to think, pure reaction. Speed is nothing but a volume control ****, you turn it up when you need to. Besides, the key to speed is cutting out wasted motion, you can do that practicing slow. Have you ever heard a gunshot and ducked? Did you have to think about ducking? No, it just happens, pure reaction. You can train this reaction into your body thru muscle memory. After about a thousand reps of a movement, it becomes engrained in your muscle memory thru your neural pathways. That's why my Grandmaster always says," practice your thousands". If your training requires you to think before acting, you're :woo:not going to survive when someone's trying to kill you!! :woo:
Right now my muscle memory stops me from pushing through because I am learning to control myself and not just rip through a man. I think that a dummie that I could shred up and go at like a mad woman would be fun and not to mention put into my muscle memory " DESTROY HIM" As a woman I am less likely to have a guy come up on me in bar and start a fight with me so I can bounce him around. I know that there is always the chance when I go out that a guy will try to grab me but usually my boyfriend or one of his buddies is there with me and barks at the guy for looking at me too long. So I need to get into my muscle memory to "DESTROY HIM" just in case I am ever alone and some silly foolish boy tries to do me damage.Once I have that muscle memory....
This is what I prefer to do when training and teaching women. The slow movement allows your body to feel what is happening and allows for you to constantly make contact. This is a big aspect, contact. Not too many people are used to having a fist/hand/palm in their face, and vice versa most people aren't used to making contact in this manner. Remember, without protective gear this is slow movement with light contact. I know there are many TMA that stand at kicking range and through a punch with the arm locked out, it just isn't realistic and it trains bad habits. I don't mind light sparring or anything of the sort, but at some point you have to make contact and use the best training methods for what you are training for. Ken
Actually, the opposite happens. Once you eliminate speed all you have left is timing and position. That's one of the advantages of this type of drilling. If our punches are travelling at the same relative speed, it's the closer person (or the one who fired first) whose technique lands. Another benefit is that it gives you time to observe "pre-contact cues" or how the initiation of a given technique influences someone's posture. Now of course, part of this type of drilling is an instructor/observer who makes sure that both participants maintain a constant relative speed to each other. And there are variations in speed. For example, if done correctly, while a punch or kick is performed slowly, there still an acceleration to the technique. Bottomline: in a perfect world everything is done at full extension and with slower movement. You need to train at all speeds and under all circumstances. sometime heavy contact is done with Boxing Gloves like you suggest. Or with MMA style open fingered gloves and eye protection. However we're also lucky enough to be able to employ Blauer High Gera suits. These are amazing: they are light, allow for full range of motion and are impact reduction (so you still feel where you were hit). Far better (and more expensive unfortunately) than Macho gear or most of the other full suits out on the market. That's a great combination. And from a pure self defense/street perspective, it's probably a little more practical than our mix. I fully admit that some of our sparring work is designed to prep us for interschool competition (though not point sparring). So in that respect it's more of a cooperative drill and learning tool than a "shut down" tool (though we also train for the "Shut down fight"). But one of the tenats of our school is to train for both the modern app and the classical/cultural app. - Matt
