On soft training in martial arts: Part 2

Softness and soft training in martial arts: what is it, is it really necessary, how do we practice for it, how much, how often? After last week's first part of this series, a guest post by Grigoris A. Miliaresis on the Ju No Kata (“form of gentleness”) of Judo, today Mark Lajhner, a former Judo competitor, MMA competitor, and currently MMA coach, shares his own perspective on how we can benefit from soft work and most interestingly, by 'investing in loss'. I found this post most fascinating - I hope you enjoy it!
 

SOFT WORK IN MARTIAL ARTS - SHOULD WE DO IT?
There has been a lot of debate whether soft work should be included in martial arts training. Before we start to do that let us define what soft work is. According to my friend Spyro Katsigiannis (who asked me to write this article) we could describe it as follows: "In Soft work we practice using real force and energy but in a slowed down time framing, so that the startle reflex is minimized - there is no fear response, because there are no fast threats leading to spastic reactions". To me, this description brings to mind the Ju-No-Kata from Judo as well as the absorption drills often used in Systema.

The goal of soft work is to "prime" the martial artist to react in the most biomechanically efficient way in a stressful situation.  It can be done in a free manner, just "playing" with forces our partner is giving us, or while exploring a specific technique, like in nage komi in motion in Judo (throwing exercise without partner resistance).

Systema absorption drills are an example of non-technical soft work training. When people first try them, they usually find them weird and not quite credible as a training method, because they are missing the point of the drill, which is priming the body in generic movement patterns. But in order to develop fight worthy skills we need to go past priming and into the specific technical realm. 

Although priming drills can be effective as a supporting tool, I don't think they are necessary. We can benefit from soft work if we do it in a context of the martial art we are practicing. Here are the examples of soft work that I often give my athletes:

• Nage komi (throwing practice) in Judo or wrestling
• Slow motion grappling sparring
• Grappling & ground and pound flow drill (it can be both slow or faster, but I recommend it being slower)
• Striking flow drill: we use only 50 % of speed and 5-10 % of power
• MMA  flow drill using the same principles as in striking flow drill

Slow motion grappling sparring is a form of soft work training and can lead to a significant increase in skill development.

All of these methods give us time to think and execute our techniques with precision, limit the startle reflex and are actually quite enjoyable, since full-on sparring is demanding, not just physically but also psychologically. They eliminate (or minimize) competitiveness in training, which can sometimes limit our learning. Many of my athletes report a significant increase in skill development from just one of these sessions. 

Numerous fighting moves come to us quite naturally (headlock, trips, the double leg takedown, elbow cover, fading), but at the same time, there are a lot that don't (slips, bobs and weaves, most throwing techniques), so how do we practice those until we become proficient? The answer is pretty simple: slowly and deliberately. In order to explain this, an analogy from computer lingo might be helpful: if we imagine the reflexes and instincts that evolution has equipped us with as a BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), we need to ‘progress to Windows 7’ by enhancing some of our instincts and completely overriding others.

Except the above mentioned drills, there are other "soft components" of training we can include in out sessions. Back in my days as a Judo competitor, I made a terrible mistake by always training with "balls to the wall" intensity. I thought that if I always gave 100% of my effort and fought until there was no glycogen left in my body, trying my hardest to never be thrown, I would eventually become a champion. This is a mistake that cost me dearly:  I was only able to place 3rd in the nationals, and I became a real live encyclopedia of trauma (many injuries and surgeries). Don't get me wrong, I'm all for intensity, but it has it's time and place. This is a very broad theme and we don't have time to go into detail in this article but I will give you an example of this principle: there was this young guy in my Judo club that became national senior champion at the age of 18 in my weight class - very talented, with gymnast-like moves, great physical attributes and impeccable technique. During Judo practice, he was repeatedly ‘destroyed’ – he was getting thrown many times by many people. At one time, I manhandled him so badly in sparring, that he stopped midway through our randori, calling me a savage and asking me "what kind of Judo is this" because I was relying on my strength to "bend him down" instead of trying to throw him. While I would never stop a randori for any reason other than injury, and was mad at him for doing so, I eventually got to learn a lot from watching him train. He might have "lost" a lot of randoris, but he devastated his opponents in competition in spectacular fashion and became one of the youngest champions in Serbia. At the same time, I was struggling to also become a champion but it simply never happened.

So what was the secret of his success? When I did randori practice, I wanted to throw people for sure, but I mostly wanted to dominate them. He, on the other hand, wanted to practice technique and often put himself in dangerous situations, even if it meant that he would get thrown. For example, he deliberately let people try uchi mata on him so he could redirect the force and counter. Does he get thrown many times in training? You bet! But his matches usually end with him performing a spectacular ippon (an equivalent of knockout in boxing) on his opponent because he takes risks in training and learns from them. In my mind this is also soft work. Why? By giving yourself the permission to fail, you are not struggling against your opponent's forces at that moment, and there is no psychological pressure.

The point of this example was not for me to tell you what a ‘stud’ I am for dominating my teammate in training, but to explain that his training principle was far superior to mine.

I might have trained wrong during my Judo career, but it all changed when I switched to MMA and it paid dividends. I just wish I had done it sooner. As humans, we all have limitations, both physical and mental, and by training sub-optimally, we can hit those limitations earlier than necessary. That usually leads to injury, lack of motivation and often, quitting training altogether. 

By including the softer components, we can make our training more efficient, more to the point and a lot more fun.

Mark Lajhner

Mark Lajhner is the founder and chief instructor of the Kaizen MMA Academy, in Belgrade, Serbia (www.kaizenmma.com). A distinguished Judo competitor and national team member, he made his debut in MMA in 2005 and retired undefeated in 2008 as the best Serbian MMA fighter in the 85 kg category. He has studied MMA and Submission Wrestling with August Wallen, one of the world’s most renowned MMA experts. He has also competed in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Submission Wrestling (Grappling) and Freestyle Wrestling winning numerous medals in these sports. Mark is a Judo black belt and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He is a certified MMA, Thai Boxing, Submission Wrestling (Grappling) and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor.