Bruce Lee’s Secret to Winning Fights – You Fight Like You Train

You fight like you train. That’s it, that’s all. I could stop this article right now. But, I won’t, because this is such an important topic that I will continue to talk about it.

Myelinization And The SAID Principal

This is a theory that the more you do something the more myelin covers your nervous system making the transmission of electrical impulses to fire quicker. Therefore your reaction time is much faster, to the point where you don’t have to think to get a technique out (I could get into Bruce Lee’s theory of the 4 stages of learning, but I won’t get into it in this article). The SAID principal stands for “specific adoption to imposed demands”. As one of my mentors said, “Your body gets good at stuff.” Now that’s not proper English, but that’s the truth about it. The more you practice a certain way, the more you’re going to fight that way when a situation comes out. Take for example the way I do a one legged squat. I taught myself to do it Pavel Tsatsouline style, with one leg out to the front. At the APEX Certification I went to, they taught me to leave it an inch off the floor and right next to my other foot. Suffice to say that I had a lot of trouble doing it! My body, operating on the practice (stimulus) I had given it, lifted my leg out more to the front (not all the way, but it felt more comfortable to do it that way)!

This is why Bruce Lee called kata practicing “dry land” swimming. There’s nothing wrong with kata’s but when you don’t spar, you do not know your techniques very well yet. You do not understand how to use them in movement, you must learn to use your techniques in a safe environment where you won’t get hurt.

Static Practice Will Get You No Where

All training should be pointed at the end result. Movement when the real fight comes up. Every practice must be moved along a logical progression more and more towards sparring, until finally you are. The truth test of a technique is its applicability in the field, and that’s why Bruce Lee was such a stickler on sparring. How do you find out how applicable it is? Well, by having your friend box you (hand techniques are the most likely thing in a real fight, it’s generally not natural to kick for most people), or getting into real fights. I sincerely hope you don’t opt for the other choice, because if you aren’t trained, you might as well get ready for a massive butt kicking.

Conclusion

Train with a progression towards boxing, and only (and I repeat) only train static in the beginning when you are learning and then learn to fight under conditions similar the ones your demanding yourself to fight under. Then, you’ll be on your way to learning to be a fighter who can survive in the real world.

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