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Writer's pictureShihan Dan Smith

When Things Don't Go as Planned




As a young martial artist, I spent years searching for the "magic bullet" that would give me the edge in any confrontation. I would have these grand imaginations of fifty ninjas cornering me in a back alley ready to beat me up and of my super secret kung fu moves that would make me near invincible as I defeated all of them like they were nothing. As fantastic and crazy as that silly daydream was, it was fueled by watching black belts and martial arts masters in real life making things that seemed impossible look easy. I worked hard trying to find that "magic" technique that would ensure my victory. I trained with several instructors and experienced some crazy stuff like being thrown like a Frisbee by my earlobe (true story), or being knocked on my backside from a simple pressure point manipulation.


Years later, I finally gave up that silly young man's quest as the answer finally stared back at me. There truly is no secret to martial arts mastery except for hard work and solid fundamentals. If I were forced to give away a secret skill to others that would give the most benefit, it would be to teach them how to fail and how to do it right. I don't necessarily mean that from the life skill perspective of perseverance, which is equally important, but from the viewpoint of what to do when techniques fail and how to do it in a way that benefits me and sets me up for greater chances of success.


Every technique fails. One thing that really agitates me sometimes are the internet guys that insist that no matter what technique they see or are shown, will swear that it does not work even if the evidence is hitting them (literally) in the face. There is no technique, weapon, or tactic that works 100% of the time. Nothing out there has a 100% success rate. Period. Not even something as crazy powerful as a nuclear weapon. As horrifying as it was, you can still easily find documentaries about the survivors of the Hiroshima bombing and the aftermath. People survive being shot. They survive being stabbed. They survive fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and more. How many pro fights have you seen that only lasted one punch? Not many for sure.


Every technique only has a certain success rate. Sure there are moves out there that have a pretty high success rate, but still not 100%. If the 100% effective technique, system, tactic, or whatever existed we would all have stopped and just trained that. No sense in practicing a thousand jabs today if you can practice a perfect move that never failed instead. The best fighters never depend on one move, but rather use the failures to set up other techniques that increase their success rate. A good example would be a boxer using a jab/cross combination to set up an uppercut. It could be a grappler setting up an armbar from a failed triangle choke. The list is only limited to your training and imagination.


After a martial arts student becomes very proficient in the basics, they should then begin to think about how to tie together their own combinations. Think about how an opponent could make a move fail, and what the most likely reaction from the opponent would be. Take a step back and analyze the new vulnerabilities that open up from their counter. Every move your opponent makes creates an opportunity, your job is to find it fast enough to take advantage of it. The best fighters use this simple thought process to probe an opponent and do some reconnaissance to gather information. Planning for your jab to be countered allows the freedom to set up traps, and other amazing combinations. Beginners are usually more concerned with trying to make the basics work. Intermediate fighters are stringing together complex combinations of basics, and advanced fighters are working toward countering and using failed moves to set up their next actions.


Use your sparring time to explore the endless possibilities. Get some constructive feedback from your training partners. The most successful people in life have re-framed their failures into growth opportunities that launched them to great levels of success. Maybe we should focus less on the results of our actions, and rather on what we can learn from them. So next time you see a martial arts move and read or hear the old "that wouldn't work" line, just smile and remember, they're right. Of course they are, just not in the way they believe.




Failure is just the set up to success.

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