How's it going?
Ando here from SenseiAndo.com and Happy Life Martial Arts.
Speed and power.
Power and speed.
These are the two topics I get the most questions about.
Well, I already made a video about power, so today, let’s talk about speed.
I’ve got three quick tips for you, but then stick around for one major reality check.
Three quick tips.
Here we go.
Tip #1: Don’t wind up.
Look.
If my fist needs to travel from Point A to Point B, I don’t take a detour to Point
C. That might actually triple the distance that my fist is traveling.
I mean, look.
Instead of just going from here to there, my fist starts here, goes back there, has
to return to Point A, then it goes there.
That’s triple the distance.
So, even if you're just winding up a little bit, you’re still adding time to your technique
and that's dangerous.
Don’t do that.
No winding up.
Tip #2: Stay loose.
If you lose your temper and get angry, I know that feels powerful, but it's slowing you
down.
Some of your muscles are trying to do their job, the rest of your muscles are actually
holding you back.
So, if you want to be fast, keep your emotions in check and stay cool.
Tip #3: Practice.
Once you lose all that tension and once you stop winding up, then you've got to train
yourself to just use the muscles you need to throw your techniques.
Always make it a goal to be as efficient and as economical in your movement as possible.
Okay.
So, those are your quick tips.
Now, for the reality check.
The fact is no matter how cool you are or how much you practice, you can't just keep
getting faster and faster.
At some point, you're going to hit your limit.
And as you get older, you’re going to be horrified to find out that that limit starts
to decrease.
Rapidly.
Trust me on that.
But don't worry, because even though you can't keep getting faster and faster objectively,
you can increase your speed subjectively.
What the hell does that mean?
Take a quick look at my logo and I’ll tell you.
Quick story.
I was rolling around the other day with this young whippersnapper.
And when I say young whippersnapper, of course, I mean, dirty #$%. So, we slap in and I’m
doing a really good job of keeping him off of me and controlling the distance.
And right when I was feeling so proud of myself.
AGH!
He jumped up and popped my elbow with an arm bar before I had time to tap.
It’s taken me two months to get this elbow to stop clicking.
Oh, that young whippersnapper.
How did that happen?
I mean, It’s not like I don’t know what an arm bar is and it’s not like I couldn’t
have been moving faster to keep up with him.
But I didn't.
Why?
Because I didn’t think I had to.
I was hypnotized.
I got tricked into thinking that we were going to keep moving at one fixed speed, but when
that speed wasn't working fro him, why that young whippersnapper jumped it up a notch.
In this case, recklessly, but effectively.
My bad.
But just to be clear—the secret to his success wasn't the armbar, it was his manipulation
of time.
Here’s the good news.
You can do that, too.
If you want to make your best move seem even faster, well, then set it up by moving slower
first.
It's like a snake... hypnotize the other guy into thinking this is as fast as we're going
to move, then explode.
This is what the pros are doing when they talk about setting the pace of a fight or
breaking rhythms.
They're just manipulating time.
So, maybe you set someone up with a lazy jab, then you pop in that number two.
Or maybe in self-defense, you try to keep things cool, like, "Hey, man.
I don’t want to fight,” then you pop that fool in the face.
The point is if you mix up your timings, you can mix up the other guy’s mind and that
will make it seem like you're faster than you really are.
So, when it comes to speed, don't just focus on how fast you can move, focus on setting
up your moves so the other guy doesn’t see them coming.
Because the truth is no matter how fast you are, if you're always moving at one speed,
well, you become predictable.
And predictable means beatable.
My recommendation is to take your favorite combos and try mixing up those speeds.
Maybe you start off slow, you set a rhythm, then change that rhythm and speed up.
Or maybe you attack really fast, then hold back, then go back to fast.
You don't want to be predictable.
You want to be a master of manipulating time.
Think of it this way—your goal is not to just be as fast as you can be, your goal is
just to be fast enough to get the job done.
Believe me, as you get older, it's crazy to keep focusing on speed and power.
The smarter bet is to focus on becoming clever and tricky.
Diabolical, even.
So, train yourself to be a master of setting rhythms, breaking rhythms, and manipulating
time.
Hypnotize your opponent and you should have all the speed you need.
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over on SenseiAndo.com.
Until next time, stay tricky, my friend, and keep fighting for a happy life.