10 Things I learned from Royce Gracie

By Grandmaster Ted Gambordella

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I had the privilege of attending a seminar by Master Royce Gracie last night at Master Guy Mezger'sLions Den Sports Club in Dallas, Texas. The event was extremely well run and over 55 people of allages worked out with Master Gracie for 2 hours. I can assure you they learned some significanttechniques that they will use the rest of their Martial Arts lives.

Royce Gracie is a Living Legend in the World of MMA and is the person who is directly responsiblefor the incredible growth of the UFC and Ultimate Fighting. His complete dominance of men twicehis size and strength in the first 4 UFC competitions, propelled the UFC into the public eye andcreated the enormous following that MMA has today.

It was truly an amazing when the people of America and the World saw the first UFC competition.No gloves, no weight limits, no time limits, NO JUDGE. You fought until someone was the Winner,and there was never a doubt of who the winner was, since the loser was usually unconscious, ordisabled. It was violent, bloody and incredibly exciting because of the first time on TV you saw a"real fight" with very few rules and a decisive winner. For the first time you saw smaller menfighting other men who were much bigger, stronger and "meaner looking" than them. Master Graciedefeated people you wouldn't want to meet in an alley, even with a gun, and he did it with relativeease and simplicity. Not overpowering his opponents, but by using superior technique from asuperior street fighting style Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

Last night I got to meet Master Gracie for the first time in person and watch him teach a seminar. Itwas an amazing thing. Here is a man who is now 42 years old, looks like he weighs about 170pounds and doesn't have any real noticeable muscle bulging from his body. Yet this man has beatenpeople who outweighed him by 300 pounds, Akibono the great Sumo Champion, and men who werehuge muscled up, tattooed, black belts and street fighters with ease and grace, or should I say"Gracie". And last night at the seminar I learned why.

I have been training in Martial Arts for 46 years now and am a Grandmaster, author of 38 books, 24DVD's, and for the first time in my life I saw why and how a man who is "smaller and weaker" caneasily beat a man twice his size. I learned 10 things and 10 Techniques from Master Gracie I want toshare with you over the next few weeks and 10 techniques that you can use to overpower youropponents with Grace and Ease

The first thing I learned from Royce Gracie. You can control any fight with Grace and Ease.

The First thing I learned from Master Gracie is that he can control a room with gracie, and ease.From now on I will use the word "gracease" I mean, the "gracie" way of doing Martial Arts, with easeand technique, not power, and force. He controlled he room with "gracease", just as easily as hecontrolled his fights with grace and ease. Please let me explain.

When you have a room full of people who are training in MMA, you usually have a room full of noise,disruptions and violence. Master Gracie immediately took control of the room by making it clear thatif you wanted to hear him, you had to shut up and listen, because he wasn't going to talk any louderand wasn't going to scream to get you to stop your training noise and movement to continue theclass. If you wanted to learn, you had to be quiet, listen and pay attention.

When the room started getting a little "rough", Master Gracie took control by pointing out that hewas not from here, didn't have a car, wasn't going to take anyone to the hospital if they got hurt, andwasn't going to feel bad about it, because he didn't know them. He suggested that this was"training" not a fight and that they should "slow down" and work the technique, and not try tooverpower, or overcome their partners with power, speed and strength, but with "gracease". It was agreat lesson and one that Martial Arts teachers and students should learn and follow in at schools.Too many times I have been to a Martial Arts Class or school where students were too noisy,disruptive and going much too hard with their partners. Almost immediately someone would gethurt, or the class would break down into little groups of noisy, inattentive students. Controlling aclass with Grace and Ease (gracease) is the first thing I learned from Royce Gracie.

The 2nd thing I learned is you have to be ready to fight anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Master Gracie was showing a technique to a student who asked to see how to escape the mount.During the demonstration of the technique the student struggled very hard with Master Gracie, whodid the escapes anyway. But after he had done so, he asked the student, if he wanted to learn thetechnique or if he wanted to fight, and he was very serious. He repeated it again and made it veryclear that if he wanted to fight he was ready, willing and able.

He also told stories to illustrate his point, about how when he was training with another black belt,the other black belt told him he was going to stop teaching techniques because he wasnâEUR(TM)tsure if they worked. So he was going to go into the streets and try the techniques out. I rememberThe Golden Greek Demetrius Havanus telling me the same thing. When he was training with AllenSteen in the 1970âEUR(TM)s he and a few other students would learn a technique and then go intothe streets that night to see if it would actually work in a fight. If it did, they continued to practicethe technique, if it did not, they didnâEUR(TM)t practice it anymore.

The point Master Gracie was teaching and the point that probably escaped most of the people inattendance is that you must be prepared to âEURoeprove itâEUR anytime. You donâEUR(TM)tget mugged and then set up a date 90 days from now to fight. You donâEUR(TM)t get into anargument at a bar and then step outside to arrange a date to âEURoefightâEUR(TM) 120 daysfrom now, after you get your training in. If you have to get ready o fight, if you have to be in shape tofight, if winning the fight requires that you train for 90 days, then the system you are learning isbad. It wonâEUR(TM)t work in the real World because you donâEUR(TM)t get to âEURoesetupâEUR fights in the real World. You get into fights, and you either win or lose with what you haveand what you bring to the fight during the actual fight. Techniques you used to know but haveforgot, techniques you canâEUR(TM)t do correctly, techniques that donâEUR(TM)t work,wonâEUR(TM)t win any fights. You have to be practicing and learned techniques that will work in areal fight that might actually happen when you walk out of the dojo. And if you are practicingMartial Arts to learn to fight, then you better be prepared to fight, anytime, anywhere againstanyone.

Goggle âEURoegracie fightsâEUR and you will see dozens of instances whereâEURoechallengersâEUR from other schools, styles, or systems came into Gracie schools andchallenged a Gracie to a fight. There was no time for preparation. No time to go train with your

coaches, no time to get into shape. There was a challenge and then there was a fight. And theGracieâEUR(TM)s always won. Why? Because the style they practiced taught them how to win astreet fight against bigger, stronger, faster opponents without having to prepare for weeks for thefight.

If you are taking a Martial Arts and if one of reasons you are taking the Art is to learn to defendyourself. Then you have to actually try using the techniques you are learning in a fight. You can dothis in Class, you donâEUR(TM)t have to go into the streets, and I certainly donâEUR(TM)trecommend that you get into street fights, but I certainly do recommend you practice your style insuch a way that you will actually Know if what you are learning Works.

So the 2nd thing I learned from Royce Gracie was to be ready, willing and able to fight anywhere,anyone at anytime and prove your system of training works.

The 3rd thing I learned is that Fighting and the MartialArts are very mental.

I asked Master Gracie who was his toughest fight and hesaid it was his âEURoemindâEUR. Then he asked mewho was my toughest opponent, and I hesitated until hepointed out that my opponent was in my mind. Hesuggested that if he were to tell me that he intended to

fight me tomorrow I would not sleep that night due to the mental anxiety. And I couldnâEUR(TM)tagree more. How could you sleep if you know that Royce Gracie was going to whip your butt thenext day? And that was the entire point.

ItâEUR(TM)s the mental aspect of âEURoefear, anxiety, apprehension, worry, concern,confusionâEUR that is the real fight. With all the anxietyâEUR(TM)s associated with thepossibility of being in an imminent fight, you canâEUR(TM)t relax, you canâEUR(TM)t train right,you donâEUR(TM)t eat right, you canâEUR(TM)t sleep right. Your entire training and preparationprogram is confused, diffused, and destroyed by your âEURoemindâEUR. It is only when youovercome the mental anxiety associated with being in the fight that you can control the actual fight.

You fight with your body and your mind. Your body works by âEURoemind controlâEUR. Yourhands and feet canâEUR(TM)t do what they are trained to do if they are not getting the correctsignals from your mind, and you mind canâEUR(TM)t send the correct signals if it isâEURoeconfused, excited, anxious, neuroticâEUR. You must have a calm relaxed mind to fightwell and your mental conditioning is just as important as your physical conditioning.

My son Teddy is a Champion Wrestler and he worked very hard mentally and physically to become aChampion. He trained 5 to 6 days a week, 2 to 4 hours a day for 10 years to become a Champion. HedidnâEUR(TM)t just train 1 hour 2 or 3 times a week, like so many Martial Arts Students do. Hetrained 10 times as much as the average Martial Arts Student for 10 times as long, and he trainedhis mind to enable him to achieve his full potential. When he first started wrestling, he was much toonervous and anxious to do his techniques right. He went too fast, too hard and was out of breath,and exhausted if the fight went pas the 2nd period. It was only when his âEURoemind gotrightâEUR that his âEURoewrestling got rightâEUR. Once he learned to control his mind helearned to control his opponents.

Many of the guys he wrestled never learned that. One in particular comes to mind. He was probablythe best âEURoepractice wrestlerâEUR I had ever seen. No one took him down in practice, andhe dominated almost all of the other wrestlers at the elite camps, even those who outweighed him by20 to 30 pounds. He was calm, cool, and efficient. He never got tired and never made stupid moves.But when it came time take the fight to the mat, he was a different person. He became confused,nervous, anxious and soon lost control of his mind which lead to loss of control of his breathing andthen control of his muscles and finally control of the match.

One particular example comes to mind. He was wrestling in the Greco Roman Wrestling StateChampions and so was my son. In Greco wrestling you can earn a lot of points with a few moves andif you get up by 12 you win the match. My son got trapped after a bad shot and his opponent began aseries of rolls and switches that got him up 11 to 0. Teddy held on the last 10 seconds, only becauseof his strong mind and refusal to lose. At the break, he turned to his opponent and said thatâEURoehe was in trouble nowâEUR. Think about it. This is a wrestler 1 point from losing theState Championship and he is telling his opponent he was in trouble. And he was. When the 2ndperiod started this time TeddyâEUR~s shot was perfect. He took the guy down and immediatelypinned him for the match.

At the same tournament the other wrestler I have been talking about was also in trouble do to a poorshot and was soon down 8 to 0. At the break, he turned to the coach with a look that basically said,âEURoeI quitâEUR. And in the second period he did just that. He quit trying and was pinnedalmost immediately, by a guy who he beat daily in practice with ease. How and why did he lose? Helost in his mind. He became confused, anxious and lost control of his mind which in turn caused himto lose control of his techniques and then lose control of the match. When you canâEUR(TM)tcontrol your mind, you canâEUR(TM)t control the fight and you almost always will lose.

Master Gracie was exactly right he said the toughest opponent was in his mind, and it is true for youtoo. Learn to control your mind and you will learn to control the fight. You canâEUR(TM) win witha âEURoeweak, confused, nervous mindâEUR. You will win with a âEURoecalm, determined,powerful mindâEUR.

The 4th thing I learned is You donâEUR(TM)t have to be stronger to beat a stronger opponent.

Now everyone has heard that before many times at their Martial Arts school, but until you haveactually done it in a real fight, you donâEUR(TM)t really believe it. Think about it. The UFC hasweight classes, professional boxing has weight classes, real wrestling has weight classes. Why?Because they donâEUR(TM)t think a âEURoesmaller, weakerâEUR man can usually beat aâEURoebigger, strongerâEUR man, and they are usually right.

But that is exactly why Helio Gracie started Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Helio was a very small, rather weakman. I think he was about 5âEUR(TM) 6âEUR, and about 150 pounds, yet he fought and defeatedmen that outweighed him by 50 to 150 pounds. He even challenged the World HeavyweightChampion of Boxing to a fight. In his last interview shortly before his death he told the reporter thathe was unhappy that people think that if a man is bigger and stronger, he was going to beat you in afight. He said he âEURoeinventedâEUR the techniques of Gracie Jiu Jitsu to allow smaller, weakermen to be able to defeat larger stronger men, and he, his sons and 1,000âEUR(TM)s of studentswere proof it worked.

In the first 3 UFC Championships, there we no weight classes and no time limits. You fought anyoneof any size until someone won. And that was the opportunity for the World to proof that Gracie JiuJitsu needed to prove that a smaller man could beat a stronger, larger man. Royce defeated men

much much bigger and stronger than him and he as subsequently even defeated Akibono, who is6âEUR(TM)8âEUR, 450 pounds. You canâEUR(TM)t get much bigger and stronger than that.Yet Master Gracie was able to defeat him. How, and why?

Techniques, confidence and years and years of actual fighting experience proved to Royce that whathe was learning worked and if he simply remained calm and did the techniques right. He woulddefeat anyone in front of him, no matter their size and strength. It is really a remarkable thing to seesomeone defeat someone who is larger and stronger than them, but it is an altogether different thingto actually do it.

You can talk about smaller weaker men defeating bigger stronger men all day with your teacher, butuntil you actually start fighting bigger stronger men and defeating them you wonâEUR(TM)tbelieve it. I have done that 100âEUR(TM)s of times in class teaching ground jiu jitsu techniquesand in some fights and it never stops amazing me when I do it. How I do it is with technique.Technique that doesnâEUR(TM)t rely on being bigger and stronger, but being better trained anddoing moves that actually work to stop the bigger stronger opponent. It doesnâEUR(TM)t do youany good to practice techniques that look great, but donâEUR(TM)t work. It doesnâEUR(TM)t doyou any good to work on moves that are flashy and donâEUR(TM)t work. It doesnâEUR(TM)t helpif you can punch 10 times and kick 10 times in 20 seconds. It does matter if you kick the man in thegroin. Break his arm, or destroy his knee.

What makes you defeat a bigger stronger opponent without using size and strength are techniquesthat go against his balance, coordination, joints, vital organs (like the eyes, ears, throat, groin). Youcan only weigh 100 pounds but if you kick him in the groin, he will not continue fighting. You canonly weigh 100 pounds but if you bend his 20 inch arm over your leg and snap the elbow, he will quitfighting. You can only weigh 100 pounds but your finger will go deep into his eye and he will stopfighting. And my friend that is the secret of beating a bigger stronger opponent. You fight to win.Not to impress.

The reason we have weight classes are several. One it makes the fight legal and if they fighters aretrained equally, it makes the fight competitive. But the most important is that it makes the fightLegal. And by that I mean it has rules. You canâEUR(TM)t punch him in the eyes, snap his fingers,kick groin, and break his neck. If you could, you could easily beat him, but the beating would resultin permanent damage. You canâEUR(TM)t have a competitive fight league if you have rules andregulations. You wonâEUR(TM)t have any fighters left after a few months if you do.

Master Gracie knows he can defeat a larger and stronger opponent because has done it many timesin fights with no rules, no weight limits and no size limits. If he has rules, regulations, time limits heis really limiting his ability to win the fight. In the street he doesnâEUR(TM)t have to abide bythese rules, regulations and time limits and he will win.

The techniques of Gracie Jiu Jitsu are specifically made to work against bigger stronger men becausethey attack the joints and use balance, movement, coordination, angles, and leverage to destroy theopponents ability and will to fight. They can break his elbow and he will quit, or they canâEURoeproveâEUR to him that they can easily break his elbow and he will quit because he knowsyou will do it. They donâEUR(TM)t attack the eyes, groin, throat, but they do attack the joints,neck, and breathing. And they rely on stamina and technique to allow them to totally wear theopponent out and make him easy to defeat. If you make your opponent totally exhausted they haveno chance to win the fight. You can do that easily with proper use of jiu jitsu techniques.

The 5th thing I learned is: The best way to escape a dangerous situation is to not get in it.

Master Gracie was asked several times by different people at the seminar, âEURoeHow do you getout of arm bar?âEUR âEURoeHow do you escape from a rear naked choke?âEURâEURoeWhatâEUR(TM)s the best escape from a kumara?âEUR And his answers were ratherprofound, but perhaps not understood and thus overlooked by many of the students at the seminar.

One of his replies was, âEURoeHow do you let Mike Tyson hit you in the jawâEUR? TheydidnâEUR(TM)t seem to understand and asked again âEURoebut how do you escape from an armbar?âEUR, and he once again replied. âEURoeHow do you get ready to let Mike Tyson hit you inthe head?âEUR He went on to explain. There are a lot of things you can train for. You can train forspeed, endurance, techniques, specific attacks and escapes, but you really canâEUR(TM)t dotraining that would allow you to let Mike Tyson hit you in the jaw. There is no realistic way for you tolet Tyson hit you and for your to survive.

And that is the point. When you are âEURoein an arm barâEUR, when you are âEURoein a rearnaked chokeâEUR, when you are in a âEURoekumaraâEUR there is not realistic way to escape.When these moves are applied correctly and you are trapped in them, your arm will break, you willgo to sleep. It is that simple. There is no practical escape from a properly applied finishingtechnique.

I learned his the hard way about 30 years ago when I was doing a âEURoehard KIâEURdemonstration to a group at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. One of the partsof my demo was to allow someone from the audience to come up and hit me full power in the ribs,the stomach and the throat. I picked a 250 pound man to come up and he proceeded to pound awaywith great abandon. I felt no pain, because there was no injury due to my âEURoeki flowingâEUR.Then I asked him to choke me with both hands viciously around my throat. Again no matter howhard he tried, he could not choke me. Then he asked if I could be choked with a deep Judo rearchoke, applied with the GI? I said âEURoeof course notâEUR and proceeded to let him apply adeep rear naked choke with the GI. This did not go as planned. You see I can not be choked withhands due to the fact that I use my KI and I make my AdamâEUR(TM)s apple float backwards intomy neck muscles, protecting it. This has very little to do with protecting yourself from a GI choke,which is a âEURoeblood chokeâEUR. It cuts off the blood to the head and you go to sleep, which Iwas about to do when I asked him to stop, and start again. This time, when he started, I escaped thechoke.

This is a great example of Master GracieâEUR(TM)s maxim. The best way o avoid a dangeroussituation is to not get in it. If you let someone apply a âEURoeblood chokeâEUR, if you letsomeone sink in a âEURoedeep arm barâEUR. If get caught in a kumara and they are applyingthe pressure. You are out of luck and out of the fight. The thing you want to do is not get into thissituation, and by proper training you can learn dozens of ways to escape the situation that would putyou in the arm bar, the chokes, the kumara, etc.

When I first started training with Master Carlos Machado, the first 6 months of daily 2 hour a daypractice was literally nothing but Escapes. We didnâEUR(TM)t learn any finishes, wedidnâEUR(TM)t learn any moves. We didnâEUR(TM)t learn any attacks. We learned to Escape.And when we finally began to learn some move, attacks and finishes, we found they were mucheasier to do if you could escape any attack from your opponent. Master Machado is MasterGracieâEUR(TM)s cousin, and they grew up training together, so they both learned the lesson ofâEURoenot getting into the dangerous situationâEUR as the best way to avoid the dangeroussituation.

Too many Martial Arts Schools start teaching there studentâEUR(TM)s attacks and finishes from

the first day, and these students are usually easily defeated by a good jiu jitsu player who knows theescapes as well as the finishes.

ItâEUR(TM)s the same thing your parents have told you since you were little. DonâEUR(TM)t gothere. DonâEUR(TM)t hang with the bad crowd. DonâEUR(TM)t go to that drinking party. Theyknow all too well that the best way for you to not get in trouble is to not go to places where this istrouble. The same thing applies in the Martial Arts. The best way to avoid a dangerous situation is tonot get in the dangerous situation.

The 6th thing I learned is: Martial Arts Mastery is a life long program.

Master Gracie is only 42 years old, but has been practicing Gracie Jiu Jitsu daily for 40 years. Fromthe time he could walk, and maybe before, he was on the mat learning techniques, practicing andperfecting. He has not stopped his training for 40 years. I am 61 years old and started my dailyMartial Arts Training when I was 15. So I have been practicing for 46 years. If you were to ask me orMaster Gracie if we âEURoeknew it allâEUR or âEURoehad learned all there was toknowâEUR, we would both immediately say No!

Martial Arts Mastery is a life long program of continual learning, training and perfection. In themodern times, you can become a Black Belt at some schools in 2 year, 3 years max. And theseâEURoeblack beltsâEUR are some of the worst Martial Artists I have ever seen. It took me 6years to become a Black Belt and in Gracie Jiu Jitsu it takes 7 to 10 years to become a Black Belt.They keep their standards incredibly high, even though it is definitely costing them$1,000âEUR(TM)s of dollars in promotional tests and fees if they would only promote thesestudents in 2 to 3 years. They simply refused to promote unless you earn it. I believe in that kind ofpromotional system too and have made a lot of students and parents mad when I refused toâEURoepassâEUR their children to a higher rank, due to the fact that they did not know thetechniques âEURoeperfectlyâEUR. I donâEUR(TM)t believe you can make but 1 or 2 mistakeson a Black Belt Test. If you do, you donâEUR(TM)t pass. Why? Because in a real fight, if you make1 or 2 mistakes you will get hurt or killed, and so I donâEUR(TM)t believe in promoting someonewho in a real life situation would get hurt or killed.

Martial Arts Mastery is a life long program of learning, practice and perfecting your techniques. Youcan learn new techniques for a life time, but that doesnâEUR(TM)tâEUR(TM) mean you need tokeep adding more and more techniques to your program. You donâEUR(TM)t need to. You can inreality never perfect the 1,000âEUR(TM)s of techniques you have already learned.

So many students think that Martial Arts is just being able to beat someone up and when you are tooold to beat up someone you are too old to be a teacher, or you are too old for students to actually payattention to you.

I believe that this way of thinking is caused by simple ignorance and the modern trend to only knowwhat is âEURoecurrentâEUR and âEURoehappening nowâEUR. Whatever someone did 10years ago doesnâEUR(TM)t mean anything. Because they canâEUR(TM)t fight in the UFC now,they donâEUR(TM)t deserve the respect that the current UFC fighters get. And when theyâEURoeloseâEUR they donâEUR(TM)t deserve that respect any more. This is the âEURoepopcultureâEUR definition of respect that so many students seem to have or give to theirâEURoeteachersâEUR.

When Royce fought Matt Hughes a few years ago, Hughes was very disrespectful of Maser Gracie.Saying that the sport had passed him by, and he didnâEUR(TM)t have any respect for someone

who didnâEUR(TM)t know all the things he knew and couldnâEUR(TM)t win fights anymore.After the fight Matt apologized, saying it was only for âEURoeratingsâEUR that he had said that,and I believe that is true. Matt Hughes is a gentleman who knows and understands the tradition ofMartial Arts and realizes full well that Royce Gracie is directly responsible for the entire UFC beingin existence today. If Royce had lost the first 3 UFCâEUR(TM)s to some back street fighting punkpuncher, then there would be No UFC. The UFC exists today because Master Gracie defeated streetfighters with technique and precision. Not because he out punched, kicked and beat them withâEURoemade up systemâEUR of street fighting techniques (Kimbo Slice is a prime example ofthat. He was famous as a street fighter, but when he had to fight people who actually Knewsomething, he got his butt kicked. And because he got his butt kicked so fast and decisively, heactually destroyed the Only Prime Time MMA show on TV. The same thing would have happened tothe UFC if Royce had lost).

I can tell you that as you get older and you are still practicing Martial Arts you literally will haveforgotten more than 90% of your students will ever learn. Grandmaster Pat Burleson was teaching arather smart mouthed student some technique and the student appeared to be acting like hedidnâEUR(TM)t really want to learn his technique from this âEURoeold manâEUR who justhappened to be the First International Karate Champion in the World. Grandmaster Burleson toldhim in no uncertain terms, âEURoeSon, I have forgotten more techniques that you will ever learn,and you better pay attention if you donâEUR(TM)t want to see some of the more deadly ones onyour head right now.âEUR The student began paying strict attention and so did the class.

Now the point isnâEUR(TM)t that Grandmaster Burleson, Master Gracie, or I GrandmasterGambordella can beat you up. The point is that we have been practicing 40+ years and are stilllearning and teaching and if you want to become a Master you need to continue your learning,practicing and perfecting for the rest of your life too! Like the old Zen saying âEURoea cup can befilled up a single drop at a timeâEUR. You can become a Master a little at a time. A little more eachyear. Martial Arts Mastery is not a âEURoesprintâEUR but a âEURoelifelong marathonâEUR.

The 7th thing I learned is: Confidence is created by proper training.

Everyone knows the importance of training, but most people do not train properly. Please let meexplain. The average Martial Arts Student goes to class 2 times a week for 1 hour, sometimes theymight even go 3 times a week. During a typical class they might spend 10 minutes doing warm ups,20 minutes doing basics, stances, blocks, kicks, counters. 15 minutes doing new techniques and 10to 15 minutes sparring or doing kata. These times may vary by teachers and students, but this isabout the usual. A 1 hour workout is typical and it actually is effective in making most students getbetter....to a point. Please let me explain.

I mentioned before that when my Son Teddy Gambordella was training for his wrestling team, hetrained 5 to 6 days a week, 2 to 3 hours a day, at least 250 days a year. His high school team wonState all 4 years he was in high school, and he went to State all 4 years. When I went to the OlympicTraining facility in CO to do a seminar on injury prevention, way back in 1980 the wrestlers theretrained 4 to 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, 360 days a year. They won several Gold medals and hadlots of wrestlers win World Champions. My friend Brandon Slay, and Olympic Gold Medalist is nowthe new coach of the USA Wrestling Team, and he intends to go back to this vigorous trainingschedule for the team, after some rather disappointing recent Olympics.

A friend of mine, a great Martial Arts Teacher and an Olympic Diving Coach Grandmaster BryanRobbins of SMU, trained his diving team 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening 5 to 6days a week, 300 days a year (or whatever the school year was, including summer school), and he

produced Olympic Champions. Another friend of mine and the only person ever to be a World BoxingChampion and a World Full Contact Karate Champion. Master Troy Dorsey trained 4 to 6 hours aday, 360 days a year to get ready for his World Championship fights. Master Gracie when growingup spent 8 or more hours a day on the mat and still spend 4 to 6 hours a day on the mat.

All these great champions and great teachers train hard and train very long. They also train very"properly". And by that I mean that they trained techniques that worked, in situations that theywould actually have in a real fight, or competition. So many schools spend their 1 hour training theirstudents in techniques that have no practical value in the real World. Their students would getbeaten in a real street fight and usually get beaten in the tournaments they go to. Why? Becausetheir training was not "proper". Proper training involves intensive training. Proper training involvesintensive workouts. Proper training involves intensive real World scenarios. Proper training involvesworking harder than your ever have and pushing yourself to the limits on a daily bases.

When you train properly you get "confidence". You Know you won't get tired, in a short fight, or tiredin a long fight. You know you will be in better condition than your opponent. When you trainproperly you will know what to do in 90% of all situations you will find yourself in during a fight.There will be no surprises. You will know all the techniques you need to know to stay out of troubleand to take control of the fight. Master Gracie said he knew a "million techniques", and while thatmay be an exaggeration of an actual number, what he does know is a "million" times more than hisopponents do. His proper training has taught him 100's of techniques for every possible scenariothat might come up in a real fight. There will be No surprises for him in the ring or in the street. Hehas been there, done that. Seen that and overcome that, and this "proper" training has given him aconfidence that is justified. He knows he can do it in the ring, because he has done it 1,000's oftimes in class under realistic fighting conditions.

Proper training in your Martial Arts School will produce the same confidence for you. I don't believeyou can become a Great Martial Artist if you only train 1 hour a day, 2 to 3 times a week. You haveto work harder than that if you want to be great in anything. You have to practice at home, you haveto do 2 classes a day, or help with another class. You have to get a training partner and practicebefore and after class. You have to go to other schools and practice with other people. You have tobuy, or rent, or watch online training video's from great teachers and practice the moves they areteaching. You have to have a library of books and videos at home you study on a daily bases. Youhave to keep a record of your training and what you learned and write it down, or video it for futurereference. Remember in my last article where Grandmaster Burleson said "I have forgotten morethan you will ever learn". Well that is true. Grandmaster Burleson did not have the use of videocameras to record all his training and classes on a daily bases. You do. You can record all yourlessons, or record what you learned in your lessons and keep them on file in your computer. If youcan't record, then you can take photo's of new techniques you learn and keep them on file.

I am the author of 38 books and 24 DVD's and I honestly see things in the books every time I look atthem I forgot I knew. But because they are in the book or in one of my DVD's I remember them againand can start practicing or teaching them again. You can do the same thing. With Proper trainingyour confidence will grow and you can become a Martial Arts Master.

The 8th thing I learned is: Don't be in a hurry to start or finish your class or fight.

I arrived at Master Mezger's school about 45 minutes before the seminar and found Master Gracieand Master Mezger standing and talking in the middle of the mat. They were relaxed and joking andwalking around the room shaking hands and taking photos. Master Gracie was kind enough to takephotos and take time with everyone who asked, and he even went up to students who were just

looking in "awe" and said hello and shook their hands. He was kind, considerate, relaxed andappeared to be in no hurry to get started and more importantly after the started the class he appearsjust a calm, relaxed and considerate and did not appear in any hurry to finish his seminar, and that isa great thing I learned from Master Gracie. Don't be in a hurry to start of finish your class or a fight.Please let me explain.

Several times when I have been at a seminar the teacher seems rushed, worried, harried andanxious. It often seems that he can't wait to get started and get finished and get out of there and onto the next seminar or class. If you will start noticing these things I am sure you will agree. The nexttime you watch a MMA fight on TV or in person. Notice the fighters are any of them anxious.nervous, worried and when the fight starts do they seem to be in a hurry to start and finish the fight.Rushing around, punching and hitting wilding and without precision. These fighters will invariablybe worn out in a few minutes and 9 out of 10 times they will become exhausted and lose the fight orbe knocked out. Why? Because they were in a hurry to start and finish the fight and so their worriedcondition reflected in their techniques and they did not perform at their best.

It is the same in the real World. Do you run around in nervous, excited and in an anxious condition?Always trying to get the class over, the job over, the situation over as quickly as possible. If you arealways in a hurry to get started, so you can get finished and get out of the job, the school, or thesituation, you will not do your best. You will not be your best and you will never achieve you fullpotential in Martial Arts or the real World.

You will see this "relaxed, confident, no hurry" look and approach when you see any great Jiu Jitsufighter. Master Carlos Machado is my friend and teaches in Dallas, TX, where I live. I have beentraining with him for the last 12 years and never once during that time have I ever seen him in ahurry to get the class started, or finished. And more importantly I have never seen him in a hurry ina fight to get the fight started or finished. When he is "rolling", if you look at his face, he is calm andrelaxed. There is No tension in his face or in apprehension in his eyes. He is in no hurry to finish thefight. He takes his time setting things up and moving very precisely to the next move to set up thenext finish.

One day I was at Master Machado's class when a 300 pound guy, wearing fighting shorts, no shirtand sporting a tattoo that said "pain" across his entire stomach walked in obviously looking fortrouble. He stalked around the floor for a few minutes telling everyone who would listen "I amlooking for Carlos Machado and I am going to whip his ass". Master Machado calmly walked up andsaid, "you found him", and just stood there calmly waiting to see what was next. The guy proceededto tell Master Machado about how he was this great fighter and had heard about him and was goingto whip his butt to see prove that he was better than him and everyone else. Master Machado nevergo nervous, not got in a hurry and calmly said, "let's go over here and we can roll". He took the guyup to the corner of the mat and proceeded to teach him a severe lesson in jiu jistu. After only a fewminutes the guy was tapping and almost crying. He was afraid and was trapped and he had no wayout unless Master Machado decided to give it to him. Now Master Machado is a gentleman and aGreat Martial Artist and would not hurt someone just to prove a point, so he did not break the guyselbow, but he did teach him a severe lesson in humility. And he did it not being in a hurry to start offinish the fight. He was confident he could beat the guy and there simply was no need to be in arush.

Master Gracie told the people at the seminar that his longest fight was 1 hour 30 minutes andMaster Mezger was actually on the same card and told everyone how incredible it was to see 2 greatMartial Arts Masters rolling hard for almost 2 hours. Master Gracie said the fight was 6 rounds of 15minutes and after the first 30 minutes he was thinking to himself, "come on, let's get going. I am

ready to go the distance". He was not nervous, and in no hurry to try stupid techniques or takestupid chances to finish the fight. He really fights the same way in all his fights. He is never in ahurry to start or finish the fight. He takes his time, sets his opponent up, tries the finish, and if itdoes not work, rolls to the next set up and the next finish. Cool, calm and collected. Never in a hurry,never rushing around, never trying stupid moves. Relaxing, taking his time and getting the job done.Master Gracie is never in a hurry when fighting, or when teaching and his relaxed confident style isvery comforting and assuring to his students. He appears relaxed and confident because he isrelaxed and confident and he wants you to feel and act the same way. Relaxed and confident. In nohurry to start of finish your class or a fight.

You can do well to remember that in your training and in your life. Relax, take your time. Don't be ina hurry to start of finish the class or the technique. Take you time, do it right. Take your time, learnit right. Take your time, practice right and you will become a great Martial Arts Master.

The 9th thing I learned is: When the technique is done right it works.

It is an amazing thing to watch so many fighters trying to make a bad technique work They will wearthemselves out with incorrect techniques done improperly and wonder why they lose the fight or thematch. A technique that is done wrong will simply not work. You can wear yourself out trying tomake it work and your opponent can wear themselves out using poor technique to defend you poortechnique. It is like watching a train wreck. Nothing good is going to come from it.

The UFC is incredible to watch, when the techniques are done right, by fighters who know andexecute proper techniques. It is boring and ridiculous when the technique is done wrong by fighterswho don't know what they are doing. I am sure you will agree that too many times recently the UFCfights are really example of "bad boxing" rather than good MMA. They don't throw any goodpunches, kicks and never go to the ground, and if they do go to the ground their technique is worsethere. They roll around trying insane moves and missing obvious opportunities to finish becausetheir techniques are so poor and so poorly done. And these are the "best MMA fighters in theWorld". It is much worse at the local fights where you see even more ridiculous crappy techniquesdone by people who don't appear to know anything but "brawling" and have won most of their fightsbecause their opponents knew even less than them.

Master Gracie during his seminar made it a point that the technique is done right. He also explainedwhen and how the technique is done wrong and how to avoid making these mistakes when you aretraining. I went to a seminar with John Smith 2 times Olympic Wrestling Gold Medalist and as in allseminars he demonstrated a technique and asked some students to come up and do the technique hejust taught. Now in 90% of all the other seminars I have ever been to, when the students come up,they try the technique, the instructor corrects the a little, lets them try again, and corrects them andthen let's them go sit, and moves on to the next technique, The students never really demonstratethe technique properly but they try and that seems enough for the teacher.

It was not allowed by John Smith to the students in his wrestling seminar. When he called up 2 highschool students to demonstrate the technique and they got it wrong. He said in a firm voice, "do itagain". He told them what they did wrong and told them to do it again. When they did not do it right,he said in a firm voice, "do it again". This went on for 2 minutes until the students did the techniqueright. Not almost right, but right. He would not let them practice wrong and he would not acceptthem doing the technique wrong. He is the same way teaching his Wrestlers at OSU, and that is whyOSU has won 5 US National Championships in the last 8 years. He expects and demand that alltechniques are done Right at all times during practice. He will not allow or tolerate techniques beingdone wrong. He teaches and expects perfection and his wrestlers seldom if ever get beat because

they are doing techniques wrong. They do all their techniques correctly. Practice all their techniquescorrectly and when the fight in on, they do the exact same thing. All their techniques are done rightand when done right a technique will work.

Too many Martial Arts teachers allow their students to practice techniques that are done wrong, andthen they wonder why their students don not win in local tournaments. They don't seem to realizethat if your allow your students to practice technique that is almost right, you will not get the sameresults as when you only allow your students to practice each and every technique done right.

Master Gracie knows that if a technique is done right it works, and if it is done wrong it won't work.He has real World experience in real fights that prove the technique done right works, an thatassure him that the technique done wrong doesn't work. When you do a jiu jitsu technique right, thesize and strength of your opponent do not matter. When you do the technique half right, the size andstrength do matter and when you do the technique wrong, the size and strength matter completely.Do the technique right and the elbow will break, or he will tap out. Do the technique wrong you willspend a lot of time and energy to try to muscle the finish. Do the technique completely wrong, andhe will escape, reverse you and beat you.

The 10th think I learned is: You don't plan a fight, you win a fight.

One of students in the seminar asked Master Gracie what was his favorite technique to win a fight?And he replied, "the one that wins the fight". He went on to explain that he did not plan a fight. Hedid study film, if he had it and had the time, and he did have specific moves for certain times that heintended to use and to try at various times during the fight, but he did not make a plan of attack inhis head and try moves that were not working or techniques that would not work against a particularopponent and try to do them anyway.

I asked him how St. Pierre beat BJ Penn last week and he said that St.Pierre took BJ out of his gameplan. Every time BJ tried a certain move or expected to be able to try a certain move or implement aplan of attack for the fight. St. Pierre did something to take him out of his game plan and nullify theresponse that BJ intended to do. I remarked that I was surprised that BJ, who is so great on his backand on the ground was in fact on his back and on the ground almost the entire fight and was beatenso badly by a man who in no way can be considered the "ground jiu jitsu master" that BJ Penn was.And Master Gracie said, that was because every time BJ tried to do a move or a technique that hehad planned, St. Pierre stopped it, countered it and proceeded to beat BJ to a pulp.

Master Gracie went on to explain to the class that you don't "plan" a fight, you win a fight. You dopractice and work on techniques that you think might be good for a particular opponent, but whenthe actual fight starts you have to use techniques that your opponent is giving you, not techniquesthat you are determined to try anyway, even though your opponent is fully prepared for them andwill stop them. Master Gracie said that you adapt the techniques you know to the particular fightand the fighter you are fighting.

He also went on to point out that most of the times in the real World you do not have a video of youropponents old fights. You do not have 6 months to get ready for the fight and so 6 months to learnand practice techniques that you fell will work on that particular opponent. In all the street fightsMaster Gracie had been in, and he had been in 100's, he only a few seconds of a few minutes to getready for the fight and did not have any time to prepare a fight plan. And if you ever find yourself ina street fight you won't have but a few seconds to a few minutes to get your mind and body ready forthe fight.

What you have to do is "go with the flow". Take what your opponent gives and you and use thetechniques that you know that will stop what your opponent is doing, nullify his attack and allow youto control the fight, control the events in the fight and win the fight. You might be a great kicker, butif you are on your back, you won't be able to use your kicks. You might be a great puncher and hardjabber, but if you are held against the wall, you won't be able to jab and use your punches. Youmight be great on your right side, but find your opponent has held you from your left side. You mighthave a great guard, but find yourself caught in the mount. You might have some great chokes, butfind yourself being choked. So all your "plans" and all the techniques you think you are good at oreven great at, might not be able to be used because your opponent is not allowing you to do them.

You have to be able to change your techniques to techniques that will work against that particularopponent at that particular time in the fight. I can tell you from experience that you have to beprepared for anything. Master Guy Mezger is one of the greatest fighters to come out of Texas in thelast 30 years was a UFC Champion, Pride Champion, Kick Boxing Champion and even wrestlingchampion. Master Mezger has some of the strongest and best kicking techniques in the World andhas used his viscous kicks to win many fights, but if he can't kick and winds up on his back, he isalso a great jiu jitsu fighter and can beat you on his back. When I ask him about what technique heused to defeat a certain opponent in a certain fight, he will go into great detail about what and howhe did it. Some of his fights he won with a side kick, some with a round house, some with a rightcross, come with a rear naked choke, some with a knee bar, some with a arm bar. The more wetalked about the fights the more and different ways he told me about the fights he won. He alwaysadapted the techniques he used to that particular fight and changed whatever he needed to do toallow him to win that specific fight. He was constantly adapting the the changing conditions in thefight and using and changing his techniques that will is using in the fight to win that particular fight.You can and do the same thing.

You must learn to practice all aspects of your fight game. You must become great in punching,kicking, throws, chokes, hold downs, wrist locks, joint locks, combinations, strength training, diet,mental training, etc. You can not just be a good boxer and win all your fights with punching. You cannot be just a good kicker and win all you fights with kicks. You can't just be a great ground jiu jitsuplayer and win all your fights on the ground. You have to be good at everything. You have to train inall aspects of the fight game and be prepared to make adaptations to any particular fight at any timeduring the fight with easy and confidence. If you don't adapt and change as the fight progresses. Ifyou just keep trying the same punches, kicks, take downs and attacks you did in round 1, into round2 a you probably wont' make it to round 3. You have to be prepared to change the way you arefighting and defending to what your opponent is giving you. When you learn that, and when you havepracticed enough to know what to do in any particular situation, you will become a great fighter anda Great Martial Artist.

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For more info: Grandmaster Ted Gambordella is the author of 38 books and 24 DVD's. For more info:http://www.blackbeltinabox.com

For the best MMA training in Texas try Guy Mezger's Sports Club, Dallas, TXhttp://www.guymezger.com

Author's Bio:Â

9th Degree Black Belt

41 Years teaching experience

World Martial Arts Hall of Fame 1998

Grandmaster Instructor of the Year 2000

International Weapons Master Instructor of Year 2001

Martial Arts Weapons Hall of Fame 2001

World Head of Family Sokeship Council 1999

Martial Art Legends Hall of Fame 2001

Martial Arts Masters Hall of Fame 2002

World Black Belt Hall of Fame 2003

3 Times US Karate Sparring Champion

2 Times US Karate Weapons Champion