Has MMA Infuenced Your Training?

[MartialDirect.com]

Just curious if the sport of Mixed Martial Arts has influenced your training at all and to what degree.

[jukado1]

In my case the answer is no, The old time martial arts instructors taught more of a full range of fighting skills, Only in the late 50's did we go the specialization route, The level of skill is MUCH HIGHER, But what we were taught in the late 50's early 60's was no different than what I see now. My instructor was primarily a judo/jiu jitsu man, Bruce Tegner, Bruce taught that fighting was its own style, It included what ever was needed to survive/win in what ever situation you found yourself in, From a distance we could use footwork and kicks, From long/medium range, Punching, Knees and shin kicks, And from close range we had punching, Elbows, Knees, grabbing twisting, Clawing, Head butting and whatever else is available, We also had throws and take downs, And once we had our attacker down we could stomp the ouch out of them, Plus we had holds and locks for less violent attacks. A lot of words to say this stuff isn't new, Just newly advertised.

[MartialDirect.com]

But what we were taught in the late 50's early 60's was no different than what I see now.

What about your training methods? Were they different?

I think what makes modern MMA effective is their training methods. The dangerous techniques have been eliminated so that you can go full speed and near full power when training. In grappling, you can do everything with the power and intensity that you would in a match. Striking, you obviously can't go full power all the time.

This insures that they are always training with resistance, which in turn promote a more rapid development in skill. My opinion, of course.

[jukado1]

From MD.
""What about your training methods? Were they different?""

Not really, We did pure judo training including randori, Which is judo freestyle or competition style,  We did karate training including tag sparring, We would put on gloves and do some light boxing, And we would put it all together in jukado sparring, Like MMA but much lighter, While training we would use a sport mentality, BUT in the back of our minds be aware that the front hand punch we threw could be turned into a finger poke, Our lunge round kick could be a side kick to the knee, I've always felt that to really understand fighting, Both physically and mentally you have to do the drills that install the ability to use real street techniques in the real world, But you have to have felt what a fight can feel like, That's where the "sport" type of training comes in, Unless you really fight you can't really know how you will react under pressure, But sport training is the closest we can get to taking our abilities to there highest levels.

Unless you want to go out and fight for real, Then you have two situations you could face, You could find some fool to train on, And find out this fool can't fight, But as your telling him just how bad your going to beat him,  HE PULLS A GUN AND SHOOTS YOU, Or as your kicking his tail the police show up and don't know that your just practicing, Than its by by jail bird.

[MartialDirect.com]

Sounds like a good training method. Very similar to MMA.

I remember watching George St. Pierre training a few years back. He trained each area separately. He would train each art by itself. (i.e.- wrestling with the college wrestling team, boxing with amateur boxers, etc.)

This seemed like a really good method for him. He basically worked each area with top competitors to push his abilities.

I believe he now adds in an MMA aspect to this where everything is combined. I believe this is done with Greg Jackson and his team.

His results speak for themselves.