A long time ago when I first started training MMA, I remember a friend once joked about a rival instructor, saying that this master had forgotten more techniques than we both know.
It was funny at the time. The idea of forgetting techniques in a trade that you practice everyday seems absurd – or does it?
This picture of me doing a cartwheel pass is almost a decade old now. It is also one of the last times I have used it…
I didn’t forget how to do it – but I forgot that I could use it.
As an evolving fighter, my style has changed so much over the past decade. There are move that I have totally forgotten to use. They are perfectly fine techniques that have been stored way back in my toolshed – buried behind a set of shiny, new techniques.
I recently watched an old video of mine, back in 2003. In it, I saw myself use a cartwheel pass not once or twice, but almost a dozen times over 3 matches! That is when I remembered that I had a good cartwheel pass series that I could be putting to use.
Next day in training, I hit it a bunch of times and thought, “Well, that is interesting. How many more moves do I have that I could be hitting that I have forgotten?“
Moral of the story – take a moment to reflect on your past efforts and see what you did that worked well that you stopped doing. Sometimes we stop doing things for a good reason. Other times, we just forget 🙂
I wish I was at the point that i was forgetting techniques…hahahaha
Joking aside, Good article sir
It is crazy how that works, there are techniques that would be my go to’s that I would forget over time then rediscover later. And I am left wondering why I stopped using them in the first place.
David,
Thank you so much for your instructional e-mails. You are able to simplify and break them down so that they are understandable and useful. You are a terrific instructor.
Don rendall
Thanks David, I look forward to your emails.