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I would argue that in many cases the instructors know it doesn't matter. But myself as a non-martial arts instructor, I teach people the 100% technique perfect way because I know they will take / develope shortcuts. I'd rather they learn a shortcut from a perfect technique than a shortcut from a shortcut. It establishes a level of quality that should meet needs after a shortcut is used.

Fighting is like dancing. First you have to learn the technical skills. But once you know what you're doing, you can break the rules as long as it works for you.

You follow the rules, you break the rules, you make the rules. That's what my coach always said. First you focus on technical details that you can later tweak to your specifications. He always said that it is better to learn those moves "correctly" and then think about other things. Good points

At work we always say “Don’t let perfect get in the way of being good” and I love to see how it applies to almost every aspect of life

Need to call him out on this one. Technique comes to play when you're stressed and then all these other things open up. Watch a guy get knocked out or "3 pieced". First thing is their technique failed them. Start to get stressed and technique aka muscle memory comes into play. Now all the sudden you're out of trouble and play around. Watch any fighter out there. When they get in trouble and are stressed. Yup, back to a basic to get out of it. There's a reason to still practice technique.

Few years of constantly watching pro boxing matches made me realize that fighters usually get ko-d or lose a fight exactly because of the bad parts in their techniques, whether it be keeping one arm lower when attacking, keeping guard lower, bad movement, being predictable etc.

This video should go together with Armchair Violence's video on "striking basics don't matter" for people to understand how tactics and positioning are way more important than "perfect technique" in order to win fights. A technique doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to work for your advantage.

Another way of saying: position first, then attack. Yep.

When I started my college martial arts club I taught like this: super technical about technique. It worked because most people never had experience even throwing a jab and they just needed consistent technique.

I think rather than moving away from the technique, you are simply learning to adapt it and transform it in a way it benefits from the situation. No boxer learns to fight like a pro while still relying on formless haymakers like an average street thug.

Yes, a lot of times a move done the "wrong" way is really just done in a different way. With it's ups and downs for different contexts but still a separate option that may be utilized when it best fits. However, one should not forget that the technique of a move is to maximize leverage and by that the power and efficiency of that said move. For example there is a vast difference in the power of a punch thrown by a person who knows how to do that properly compared to one that does not.

Great video. People usually nitpick technical details when they don’t understand the strategy and tactics that actually make it work. Traditional martial arts are particularly bad for this. Entire training methodologies are just based on nitpicking technical details in a vacuum where nothing is ever really applied.

“Technique is overrated” is the most underrated phrase in real life…..great video

kicking with the toes can work better in shoes on da street

Most teachers only teach for people who don't need to know the whole picture, and don't understand the full picture. This is probably one of the best technique videos I've ever seen. Thank you...

As always, all great stuff! Hands up whenever possible and recoiling strikes is probably a good practice, but it's not nearly as important as range control or managing distance. Things trainers and coaches do (especially the martial arts guru types). •Constantly correct your form, so you know you're the student, and they're the master. •Never do any hard sparring with the stud athletes •Not exercising with the class during an hour PT session before doing any sparring with the class, so he's fresh and you're toast.

Learned this stuff in my amateur boxing bouts. Technique barely matters, tactics and strategy is where it's at.

It's staggering how many coaches that will tell you those technical details are "absolutely essential", while also NEVER using them in their own sparring. Coaches would rather tell blatant lies than learn how to verbalize and teach tactics and strategies. 😂

Great to hear it, needed to be said. Biggest problem I've seen is a 'fitness' focus sometimes certified instructors forcing over corrections instead of spotting natural talent. That extra 10% power is useless if it can't be delivered naturally. Everyone's body is different. Even more interesting is the idea that if everyone fights the same...well you know what's coming at you right.

appreciate this video i get paralysis by analysis sometimes cause i want all my aspects of mma, as well as my other workouts to be as good as possible and most videos tend to focus on that for some reason

Proper form in technique is like learning good penmanship in school. It’s super important for the first 2ish years, then teachers show you cursive, then you can pick and choose how you write. Same goes for MA techniques.

People say dont sling your shoulders and keep your elbows near your armpit level... But if you ever threw 10,000 punches in 1 night on a bag (perhaps maybe drunk) halfway through it you will realize you need to sling a bit just to get the momentum going and use that elbow extension just to keep punching without ripping your own arm off. And strangely start using those karate hip twists just to eek a bit more momentum out cuz you can barely lift your arms up.

I always try to teach the "correct" way of doing a technique, but I always also say fighting is jazz; as long as you consciously mean to do it, anything is correct.

Technique doesn't matter? Yeah, if you are fighting a heavy bag.

For me when im teaching. Technique means learning the move properly. Like how to punch without torquing your shoulder, block/dodging too far, or even kicking properly without hurting the muscles in your hips. After you understand the technique and can throw shots without hurting yourself, or blocking and dodging without lookin like a goof, then send it

Can we say that solid technique is important for statistically mitigating counters for new, average and mediocre fighters? Meaning you aren’t going to beat a good or great fighter anyway (which is true for MOST practitioners), but will definitely help newb to med fighters not get dropped as often from panicked, untrained, slop from less technical fighters? I think that’s fair. And I think it’s important for techniques to work from lowest common-denominator fighters up. I agree though, if you’re good you should graduate. But if you’re an old mediocre nobody like me, technique may help lol. I’ve seen too many people think they did graduate, only to get rocked from an unskilled opponent in survival mode and lose.

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist” - Pablo Picasso Alternatively: “Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.” - Dalai Lama

As a Thai who trained Muaythai, the Teeb Kick is originally meant to land with full foot. It’s not the tool primarily for hurting but for push, knockdown or keep distance. But yes, we sometime landed Teeb with ball of the foot or heel.

This was my experience dealing with street fighters, bad technique but good timing and stratagies

You know I'm really glad I randomly decided to check up on this channel today. I am not a fighter. I'll come out and say that. I'm also in a rut with life. One of the tendencies I have is to obsess over tiny details, almost to a ridiculous degree. I sometimes think about fighting, but thats kind of besides the point. I think this could actually be applied to other things. Maybe in some things you do need close attention to detail, but generally zooming out and looking big picture can really take you further. Maybe this is actually an even better case for getting comfortable with fundamentals so you don't have to think about them, enabling you to look big picture. Either way.

The best part about using your techniques as long as you understand the situation that calls for them, they will say you are so bad that they lost. My response " better lucky than good." Some of my favorite conversations with instructors were on expanded variations and when and where it is more or less viable. Thanks for the video but there are going to be a lot of people who need the proper training and can't join a discussion like this until they can handle themselves. One strange thing I do is change from high guard to the shoulder roll stance with rear arm guarding my body. Like an opposite shoulder roll

that's the most real intro i've ever heard in a real situation.

Hi Mike, I have a video idea for winter. A lot of people carry snow scrapers in their car and I was wondering how they would be as a self defense weapon. Some are plastic but others like my go to is 4 feet long with a metal shaft (not to have a heavy defensive weapon. I just live in the upper Midwest so I need something heavy duty for my car)

One of the ways I teach the hook punch is via the slap. Even from a technical standpoint, they're essentially the same strike. The only difference between the two is one strike is with the palm while the other is with the knuckles. Also, when I teach the hook punch, I mention how the position of the fist changes the shape of the opponent's face upon contact based on the targeted area (mainly the chin).

Cool. I agree. Let me pose the question I had at the end of the video. How do I take control over my own training? What does that mean and how do I make it happen?

philosophy martial artist -"the right technique is no technique"

Very good video, the more i train, the more "unorthodox / incorrect " techniques i use, and i didn't learn them in my gym, i learned them watching UFC fights, BKFC, even those guys from russia organizations like top dog etc... One technique i love and recommend trying is the hook that is showed in 4:36 mark, it's called casting punch i think. You can reach very far with it and it automatically protects your chin, i would hurt people with it in sparring without really trying, you just land with those 2 knuckles and its very powerful contact . Also if guy has lazy defense like knuckles on the temple, classic deffense, it wraps around the guard gap and hits clean knuckles first. I asked my coach what about this technique and he just said " this is old, old way, we don't teach it anymore " and proceeds to say you have to throw those standart variations knuckle up or facing chest. Something else is i learned from watching Dustin Poirier is switching stance while hitting that would be considered bad also, you throw punch and switch mid way, hard to explain. Also front kick variation is stab kick, someting Conor used vs Chad Mendes, i dont even use front kick anymore i use stab, also you can barelly throw it and guy walks in same time and is on ground even tho you was going light.

I wish I understood this better back when I was practicing martial arts. I can understand why a coach would be detail oriented at first and the student would personalize it over time. They say that before you think outside the box you have to know what's in the box.

Chesterton's fence applies here. When you know why a rule exists you can become comfortable removing it if you deem necessary.

Agree with many of your points. But bad technique can get u injured. Don't know how u tore your bicep, but I tore mine with a wide hook, straight arm and palm impacting my opponents head. Imo,"good" punching technique allows for maximum power generation, maximum energy efficiency, and maximum protection while attacking.

Technique is just the best or most efficient way to do something. But as the saying goes, the punch that lands is always better than the perfect punch that doesn't. On the other hand, part of good technique is also to keep you out of trouble and minimize your vulnerabilities and keep the other guy's window of opportunity small.

dropping this before all the other comments arrive but love your shit bro keep at it

I really dig your vids. The realistic points you push are right on. Honesty, practical, real world knowledge you point out are cool. 👍

Its always a good day when u upload a marital arts videos i missed this you where the flashlight guy for a few mouths you've helped me a lot thank you

damn, haven’t tuned into a h2h video in a loooooong time. i stopped training a while ago and all the youtube content i watched that was related to fighting all got filtered out. went back to my old Muay Thai gym yesterday after like a year and a half and this popped up on my recommended. kinda fishy lol, regardless, I’m being reminded as the video goes on why i loved this channel and its content! great video man.

Speaking of punching, what do you think about sap gloves / weighted gloves as a self defence implement?

TLDR; "be flexible and adapt"

Pretty much every technical q&a session should go something like, "what's the proper technique?" "That depends"

can you do a video on the strategies and tactics of a fight

There's a common saying for those learning warfare: "Everything is right in tactics as long as you can justify it in the field"

I see your point but my hooks are not returning to guard what should i do? Thought grinding tecnique will work

This video kinda proves my theory about fighting. Technique is important to make sure you dont hurt yourself but the intention of the strike changes the strike. If i intend to land a cross, i can throw it trad or celtic or looping or whatever tiny difference will do what i want. You explain it better though, and cool to see im not the only one who thinks this lol

I think learning techniques the correct way first is important for beginners to improve their body awareness. I agree that the right way can be many different things IF you do it consciously. And it's hard to develop that kind of consciousness without being constrained to "the right technique" first. Also, as a counter to the "even pros do it wrong" argument , I'd say there are many pros who have stellar technique. Thinking of Thai boxers who's every kick looks like art. And Gabriel Varga.

technique matters for practicing. If you are in the fight, what 'feels good/right' to your current body in the moment (in combination with the mentioned strategy, tactics) trumps technique details. EDIT: also much more important for beginners to build a decent foundation, especially if they don't have muscle-memory/balance/mind-muscle connection from another hobby.

Yes, it is the mark of a novice that they obsess over (and critique) one aspect, of one technique, that they've only learnt recently, and haven't actually employed with any success. This applies to LOTS of situations, not just martial arts, or even physical skills. A variation on Dunning-Kruger, really. All that being said, I do like analysing and honing my own technique.

Those might be the coolest gloves ever.

Great video. Definitely a lack of import concepts are taught in MMA. A lot of what you said is stuff that you will learn with experience. I wish coaches spent more time teaching defense. Love your videos Mike. Would love more advanced striking videos.

Can only speak on boxing which is my discipline, i would think technique and funedmentals go hand and hand. With proper and technical footwork your balance when throwing strikes will help keep your balance. Technique and basic fundamentals paired with good movement and positioning all go hand and hand, my movement and striking improved a lot when a boxing cosch taught me technique and funedmentals, as opposed to before when I would just spar friends .

If he does a video about firearms,ironically,technique will matter.

What you're describing is known in philosophy as *Wittgenstein's Ladder* The lower rungs of the ladder are concepts which are technically wrong or incomplete, but beginners should learn them as if they were absolute truths because they give them capabilities to climb the ladders and get to the top where the actual truths are different to the ones they learnt in the beginning, sometimes completely opposite In fighting, just like anything in life, if it works for you then it's correct. The textbook technique, or the path most travelled, is just considered the best place to begin because it has a history of working well for many people before you

I love this video, dude is spot on, i have trained in quite a few things, taekwondo, krav maga, MCMAP, Kali and truly no matter how someones technique is when you get hit ot hurts sometimes alot. Awesome video!!!!

I like your shadow uppercut man. Dangerous punch. Once you get to a certain speed most people just cant block it.

This is a wonderful thought experiment. It put me in mind of my dad, a natural left hander being forced to learn to write with his right(ball point pens aren't that old). That technique I didn't have to waste time on and just got down to learning at school.

The best fighters in the world tend to have styles that deviate from the norm.

I love this video. I used to train kick boxing and was pretty decent at it BUT striking coaches would always kill my creativity. Moved to bjj where you basically can do whatever you want as long as it works and you have counters to your counters.

yea one of the most annoying things at my old boxing gym were the dads that came in an volunteered to coach and all they did was spam "keep hands on ur face/never drop the hands/ur hands are not on ur face"

I interpret it as this. Training with perfect technique will just allow you to actually fight with semi perfect technique instead that if they immediately teach you the more practical semi perfect technique youll probably end up actually fighting with imperfect flawed technique. On another note when people train great technique they eventually get good at fighting to thr point of making educated changes to their technique that suit them and their comfort and style.

Half expected you to throw a shoryuken for the last uppercut

I like this video, but does this apply to BJJ?

fight is more about timing and precision than it is about technique but propper technique helps A LOT in developing the conections of your strikes and close some possible openings, good technique is a matter of bettering your odds of succeding.

It’s crazy as I learned more about boxing how much the rules get broken. It’s starts super ridged then becomes about flow and situations. Nothing works all the time you have to constantly adapt that’s what makes it so fun.

That’s why it’s about understanding the basics, in some cases, the fundamentals of the technique. Then just take it from there, do your own thing. I’d say, striking is quite a simple one, hitting something IS hitting something. You could say that jabbing someone with all your fingers pointed will break your fingers, but you punch hard with your fist you break your fist. You can train and experiment with it though, you wanna jab someone with your fingers, you know it hurts, you’ll figure out it really works well on soft parts of the body and you’ll adapt to not trying to shove your fingers through someone because it’ll probably break them. Even if you come away thinking, “Jabbing people with my fingers doesn’t work so well.” You might have learned that you shouldn’t throw constant full power punches and make yourself tired all the time… another basic skill. It’s pretty good to hear someone have a similar conclusion I came to when I was getting so sick of coaches telling me I was punching wrong for silly reasons.

I always teach technique as a foundation, not a way. For example, proper technique for driving is 10 and 2 o’clock on holding the steering wheel, which is a good solid foundation. But as you drive more, you develop your own style of holding the wheel based on basic technique. And you change how you hold the wheel as the years go by too. Same with technique in fighting.

Nah closer to perfect technique it’s better

I beleive keeping your hands up at all times is good when your a beginner and even intimidate cuz if ur fighting/sparring someone with better knowledge they will ve waiting for the moment when they see an opening.. but it doesnt matter when your faster or smarter. But i agree with what your saying. I just chucked my 2 cents in cuz its the comment section and for anyone that is 100 % by the beginner book. Cuz seriously when you look at pros in boxing, muaythai, mma. Not 1 pro looks as stiff n awkward as amaeuts. Uz they arent worried about "by the book technique" sort of like in racing and the race line, in theory and time attacks the race line is pretty much always the quickest but a pro racer in a race with others will go off the line so they can overtake or block

This is a really good lesson that probably crosses many disciplines, learn good technique but don’t let technique confine you.

Icy dude you're brilliant. Love your freggin channel keep it up!

This is exactly what u needed to hear💯 this made the most sense

I only think about perfect techniques as a form of physical training. It helps to develop mind-muscle connection. When Shadow boxing I've tried everything that comes to mind, even bad techniques. In sparring we start to filtering whats is being in the first tool box and in the reserve one, thus developing strategies with all the usable good and bad techniques. In fight I try to use the best strategies from sparring, if fails lets chaos reing, but lets move and fight

is it tactical or technical to stop kick his shins or front kick his bladder? Which? How about usin a spear hand or spade hand to his armpit or solar plexus, instead of weak-arsed jabs to his face?

The slap hook hurts the opponent, but could potentially tear your bicep and/or supinator if done too much and too often (I’ve done it)

This explains why, in a boxing gym, the way people train you to box is so different from the way they actually box.

Technique is important but I like to tell my guys. “What you do & when you do it. Is more important then how you do it”

Gabriel varga wants your location

I’m trying to teach my friends some basic self defense, and I mean basic lol. So if anything, this will help me teach them as I’m the one with the most experience. Now I’m no pro and I don’t mean to boast, but I’m pretty confident that I can take on most of my friends in a spar pretty dang well despite being less than half as strong as some of them. And yet, I can often punch just as hard *because* I have the basic technique down while still trying to improve on my own. I hope that once they get some of the basics down, they will be able to take better advantage of their superior strength and be able to hit more often without getting hit themselves. Knowing how to defend yourself is so much more than learning how to throw a punch.

"Advanced techniques are just beginner mistakes done with purpose"

I'm still relatively new to kickboxing, and it drives my coach bonkers that I like switching back and forth between orthodox and southpaw. I have no natural inclination for either stance. 😂 But actually, the "natural" vs technique thing is common with handguns, some guns just "point" more naturally (Glock), some guns you REALLY need to focus on technique to hit the broad side of a barn. But when you learn proper technique, all guns, including the "easy pointers", become natural.

I think the real title of the video should be "Correct Form Is Overrated"

What’s important is he said if you’re just learning n fresh technique is important. But if you already have a foundation of the technicals . Your tactics n strategies will come more into play vs always doing the right technique. It’s all about adapting to what you already know even if it’s bad technique if it get the job done at the time .

Technique in the beginning is super important. In the middle, technique is often thrown out the window. In the end, technique goes back to being super important again.

I've seen Andy Hug videos where he landed "slap" hits with his gloves and still threw competitors off. Another great video from you, Mike!

Technique is whatever works for you. I've learned that is my boxing classes, i kept for live.

Technique *does* matter though, Mike. At some point, you said it yourself: when in stressful situations, you tend to default to your training. So if you train as a perfect technique as possible, in as much (controlled) stressful situations as possible, when and if you find yourself in that situation you will default to your technique. *Of course* it's not going to be perfect *then*, it's going to be messy. But biomechanics are biomechanics, so learn as well as you can you use it as best you can, and when finally you have it perfectly down, that you can "default" to a near perfect form even in stressful situations without thinking... *Then* is a good moment to start improvising, improving and changing according to what works best for you.

This must be a striking thing.... the last half of my purple belt and now first focus at brown belt has been dialing in all the little technical details, otherwise I don't get submissions. In the submission game, the little gaps are exactly what a talented opponent uses to defend, and there is no way to get the sub relying on tactics and strategy.

I agree totally. I had a hip surgery 20 years ago. Some of my kicks with my right leg look awkward AF when I do Muay Thai. But they land...😜

When I look at martial arts like Bagua, their thing is to adjust to where they are at and be evasive and tactical. Some of it looks 'wrong'', but they don't stay there, they are constantly moving. I think rooting is the most important, regardless of technique. some techniques though seem to work better than others.

You have to learn the ABCs. The standard basics before you can form words or sentences. Just like language. When you get more advanced you can start making song, rhyme, slang and poetry. Speech and writing can both be formal and informal in terms of context and situation. It's the same as fighting. Tactical options priority before technical.

Like any discipline, you learn the fundamentals first. I'm a beginner on a skateboard and still have to think a lot about foot placement, but pros with years of muscle memory can make modifications to land tricks from the "wrong" stance.

lol teaches mind blowing fighting tip the end ... "im not suppose to be here"... gold