Mind, body and spirit. It may seem
a bit mysterious, but 3-Dimensional Training, as Chu
Fen Do founder Tony Blauer says, "is nothing more than
being thorough." The secret is to
make sure that you flex your 'mental muscles' and not
just your biceps when you train.
When I set about developing a cardiovascular program I
wanted to confront an old problem:
"Why can I run 10 miles in 61 minutes and feel winded
after 61 seconds of hard fighting?"
The answer, in the beginning, seems elementary:
they are not the same exercises.
But what about the boxer who can spar hard for
25 rounds in the gym but is completely 'gassed' at the
end of round 3 in the ring. I
think we would agree there is more to it than a
question of 'physical conditioning'.
About two years ago I was approached by a promoter to
compete in a submission grappling match against a very
famous Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Alan Goes.
I agreed to the challenge immediately (In case
you're wondering, I've also said yes to bungee jumping
and walking on hot coals.). I had
very little competitive experience in this arena, and
certainly none at the level of Mr. Goes. My reason?
I wanted to meet the person I would have to
'become' to face this dangerous man.
At Tony's request I contacted Walt Lysak, founder of
Sento jiu-jitsu, a martial system which includes a
devastating grappling arsenal, to develop the skill
necessary for victory. Walt, in
turn, sent me to his brother, Dinosaur Training coach
Charlie Lysak, who designed an incredibly grueling
power training workout to help me develop real world
strength. This training would
obviously be of invaluable assistance in developing
the muscle memory, finesse, strength and endurance; as
well as the confidence that comes from having those
physical attributes. But, as Tony
has often told me, "I don't care how you do it, I only
care that you CAN do it."
Your mind quits before your body does.
Period. Few of us have the
'intestinal fortitude' to duplicate the Greek soldier
at Marathon who promptly died after running to deliver
his message. Just remember, if you
are still breathing and still conscious when you quit,
it wasn't your body that blew the whistle.
It was your mind. It was
this 'emotional threshold' that,
more than any single physical attribute I, as a combat
athlete, needed most to expand. Thus,
I began to look for ways to measurably increase this
threshold, and how to use it to
enhance my 'whole' arsenal; not just the physical one.
What I discovered about '3-Dimensional training' while
preparing for this contest was that it is much more
than a strategy of time management.
It was the understanding that 'the mind
navigates the body' and that mental and emotional
conditioning are not only more important than the
physical; they also, when present, enhance physical
performance in ways unexcelled by any other type of
'resistance' training.
Training the emotional/psychological attributes is a
subject that has only recently come into vogue.
The research of performance psychologists, such
as Charles Garfield, James Loehr and Denis Waitley, is
now being accepted by athletes and coaches alike.
Visualization and mental rehearsal for performance are
not new ideas. They are being used
extensively in both the athletic and corporate arenas.
But how can you best utilize these training
tools? Being a student of Tony
Blauer's I approached this idea in the way he
developed the first 'behaviorally based combative
system', S.P.E.A.R. I.T..
In order for any tool to be effective it must possess
behavioral, psychological, and bio-mechanical truths.
In other words; how is this based upon how I
feel; how does how I feel affect how I think and; how
do my thoughts and feelings affect how I move?
Feeling, thinking, and moving are all interrelated.
Just as you cannot separate your nervous,
circulatory, and respiratory systems and remain
living; you cannot separate mental, spiritual, and
physical training and expect it to remain 'live'.
Techniques, such as visualization, are often
utilized 'outside' of the physical realm.
It is often the athletes 'homework', done while
relaxing and listening to soft music. This type of
training more closely replicates the 'calm' than the
'storm'. I am not discounting the
necessity to develop the ability to retain focus, in
fact, that is exactly my point.
Remember what Bruce Lee said, "You can't learn to swim
standing on the beach.". What will
you do when the 'shit hits the fan'?
The real world does not operate under relaxed,
controlled conditions. The mugger
doesn't wait for you to warm up and the opposing coach
won't postpone 'Superbowl Sunday' because your star
player got arrested the night before.
"Failing to plan is like planning to fail", so, how do
you plan 'for' failure? Often in
training we train 'as if' everything goes according to
plan. In our mental rehearsals we
succeed with the poise and grace of a 'Saturday
morning Superhero'. Without the
presence of a 'motivated resistor' much physical
training is the same way. Could
there be a problem here? I don't
know about you, but my biggest adrenaline dumps have
come when things went WRONG! 'Oh
Shit!' is tougher than 'Oh Boy!' every time!
How much adversity can you take before
'something gives'?
The Blauer method of expanding this threshold is
contained in the terms 'mental blueprinting' and
'psychological void'. Basically
this means that whenever you 'what if' a problem and
work out the response in advance you have a 'mental
blueprint', a plan to be followed if the situation is
encountered in the future.
Potential problems that have not been planned for in
advance leave a 'psychological void' which can leave
you scrambling for a plan of action when you should be
acting on your plan. It is
important to note here that the clarity and intensity
of your 'mental blueprints' is directly determined by
the clarity and intensity of your training.
Blauer's three P's are useful for this:
Keep your focus Personal, Passionate, and in
the Present.
Experiment #1:
This exercise demonstrates the effect that controlling
the mind can have on controlling the body.
Sometimes you need to rest and regroup while
still under stress. That is why I
emphasize not stopping. Firstly,
it helps you to develop the 'never quit' attitude
necessary for success in any arena.
Secondly, you may not always have the time or
the ability to STOP and rest.
Learn to rest while MOVING! In
combat those that stop moving tend to stay that way!
That is why this process is so important.
The more problems you solve in advance the more
clarity you will have when you need it most!
When you have worked through some difficult scenarios
in this fashion for a while you will find that
visualizing them well soon bring less of a physical
response. This is normal and is
also a good thing. This means your
brain has written some good 'mental blueprints' and is
accessing them with greater speed and less effort.
To use a computer analogy; your hardware is
driven by your software, don't neglect one to build
the other.
You would do well to remember that your new 'Pentium
III' won't work nearly as well without 'Windows'
installed. 'Mental Blueprinting'
is one of the best ways to make your mind/body/spirit
interface 'user friendly'. It's
easier to click the mouse than write the program.
Write the program in training and run the
program when it counts. You will
always come up with some new problems to process and,
who knows, some of the programs you've already
installed may come in handy there too!
Although the experiments shown are just 'mental
simulations' it should be pointed out that it doesn't
have to stop at a cardiovascular program.
Use the principle weight training, meditating
and especially in your sport/combat specific training.
Try to make your training replicate reality as
closely as possible. You can never
duplicate the actual event but make your training 'the
best fake stuff available'!
Remember, a true warrior trains himself 'completely'
each hour of every day. Walt Lysak
Jr. refers to this as the '24 hour training precept.'
Complacency destroys spontaneity!
Make your F.E.A.R.your motivation to
train. Pain, just like fear, is
natures way of telling you something is wrong!
Deal with it now. Pay now
or pay later. Face your demons in
private and when you meet them in a dark alley
someday, they'll wish they never picked you in the
first place.
It is interesting to note that the match with Alan
Goes never came about. But it was
never really about him anyway. It
was about the process of 'becoming'.
Through training '3-Dimensionally' I learned
more than a few choice joint locks or how much I could
lift. I learned a lot about who I
was, what I F.E.A.R.ed and what I was willing or not
willing to do to get where I needed to go.
In the end, it was about being able to face
that dangerous man. On the morning
of 'The Day' I looked him in the eyes...
...'He' was Me.