Transcript

Yeah.

So back when I went out

and challenged a handful of people to try

to punch me in the face, and of course did my absolute best

to dodge all those punches,

I had several thousand people very quickly ask me

how I was able to react to those punches in a short period

of time with the appropriate slip.

Now, the truth is I don't really need to react

with the appropriate slip in most cases, I just have

to react with any slip at all.

And that means that I just need to know

that a punch is coming so that I can react with a slip.

Now, you probably already know

that the average person on the street has horribly

telegraphed punches, but what you might not know is

that boxers who do too much work with focus MITs

and tie fighters who do too much training with tie beds,

who often have even more horribly telegraphed punches than

the average people on the street.

'cause these forms of training will build a flawed punch

into your muscle memory if you're not aware of it.

And then once you are aware of it,

you're gonna start seeing it everywhere,

even at the highest levels of combat sports.

But let's start by looking at this guy throwing a,

a Muay Thai kickboxing combination, which on first

and second glance looks like a perfectly normal attack,

but on a closer examination,

this guy pops his hands forward once, twice

and takes a step before his punch has even left his body.

I mean, this is an insane amount

of unnecessary movement before an attack.

It's several clear telegraphs built into the combination,

but again, it's not really his fault.

There is a flaw that is built into partner striking,

and this has never been more brilliantly demonstrated

by esteemed martial artist and star of blood

and bone as well as black dynamite.

Michael Jai, white

Sa, who the hell is interrupted?

My fu I've trained with a lot of people like, uh, a lot

of top boxers and stuff, right?

Right. And a lot of boxers are taught how to throw a flawed,

they, they're taught how to throw a flawed punch, right?

Hey, put your head left hand up,

like just go like this right now.

I'm gonna throw three, three jabs, right?

Don't let me hit 'em. Don't let me hit your hand.

So what you want me to do, move

my, just move it out the way.

Alright, so now notice the speed of the first two, right?

Ready? Yeah. That's one, two.

Okay, now here's the third one. Don't let me hit it. Ready?

Yeah. How the hell Come on, man.

Now you might not notice it at first,

but those first two punches, despite the speed,

are the definition of a telegraphed punch.

When Michael's hand first starts moving,

when he's first indicating that he's throwing a punch,

where does his hand go?

His hand goes up to his chest before it goes out

and starts moving towards his target.

Now his second punch dips very slightly down

before going up and then out.

But that third punch moves directly forward the moment

that his hand starts moving.

And that is why this punch landed.

Despite the fact that it was thrown with very little speed,

it lacked that one telegraphed movement, that loading

of the punch, the positioning of the hand

that betrayed the fact that a punch was coming.

So if this is clearly subconsciously detectable,

having a telegraph like this puts you at major risk.

If your opponent has any kind

of snappy counter-punching skill

or you might just look a little silly,

maybe he's got a few slips in his back pocket.

And before I go into this next bit, I need

to be extremely clear that I love focus MIT training.

You get to practice distancing yourself

with the real human being.

You get to react to punches

that are coming at your head while you're throwing punches.

And as a mid holder, you get to build the ability

to stop punches coming at your head

by turning your hand into a damn wall.

But MIT holding is an exercise in partner coordination,

whether we want it to be or not.

So if my coach calls for a one two and I go boom,

and I instantaneously fire both of those punches out there

and it takes him by surprise

and he doesn't get a chance to stiffen into that strike,

it might knock his hand back, it might hurt his elbow.

We're definitely not gonna get that satisfying, uh,

glove on MIT thunder.

And we're gonna feel like a, a couple of failures

so instinctively to solve that problem,

we start telegraphing our punches

so we can let our coaches know that they're coming.

And now I'll let the tragic irony wash over you

that your efforts to get better at punching,

if not guided correctly,

can actually make you a lot less effective at punching.

Now this right here is the most common nightmarish telegraph

that results the very slight drop of the punching hand just

before the punch is thrown, just a teeny little signal

that says, Hey, my punch is coming, Gary

to stiffen the hand up and catch it.

But the more you do it, the more ingrained

and singed into your muscle memory it gets.

And good luck trying to fix this habit.

Once you've started it, it is incredibly difficult to break.

And at that point, you're just giving your opponent the only

counter striking opportunities that he needs

to make your day a much crappier

day counter striking.

Yet, another thing I'll teach you in my new course,

check it out at some point, there's a button around here,

you can click it to learn more.

Now, while it's not a perfect punching drill by any means,

speed bag will significantly reduce your tendency

to telegraph punches.

You are forced to snap your hands directly out,

though very slightly downwards as there is no time for you

to be dropping your hands

between punches If you really want to get this thing going.

Speed bag effectively builds the speed

of your punch initiation

and it also helps to build the muscle memory

of bringing your hands back to your face if

that is the hands up fighting style that you are after.

Now, if you have no speed bag, you just need to be reminded

or you have to remind yourself constantly

during your workouts to project your punches immediately

out when you're throwing them.

And there is a training program

that contains many such workouts

and also contains many such reminders.

And you can click the button beneath this video

to learn more about that course at any time.

Now, the next most common telegraph is actually

a footwork telegraph.

So the hands don't give anything away,

but instead of a a rapid step like boom

and a a a a punch that happens virtually at the same time,

you end up with a prolonged push

and a rapid punch at the end of an

otherwise not so rapid entry.

Coincidentally, this is also my filming partner's most

common annoying telegraph.

So here I am coaching Billy through some crosses

and you can see that I'm trying to demonstrate what I want

to see from him and also showing him

what I'm actually seeing in comparison.

Look at how much time this injury is taking.

It's driving me insane.

So just so I can demonstrate

how massive an effect this has on your attacks,

let's time it, here's me earlier, sort

of casually demonstrating a cross.

And here's Billy on the me throwing one of his crosses.

So from the point where I start moving,

it's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 frames.

That motion blur indicates that the hand is really starting

to move at that 0.6, seven, eight to almost full extension

nine frames to full extension.

And then the hand starts moving back.

But that's the punch boom.

Now at the point where Billy starts moving,

we have

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

at the 12th frame, the hand starts moving

and then 13, 14, 15, 16,

we get a punch at about full extension.

So obviously a punch that lands in less than 0.3 seconds is

gonna be significantly sneakier than one

that hasn't even managed to start yet.

Given what we know about small movements giving away the

game and it all comes down to a step, that step you take

to enter for your combinations needs to be lightning fast.

This is just as important

as anything you might be doing with your hands.

Now the answer to a slow entry sort of depends on

where exactly your training is flawed.

So if you shadow box standing in one place

and you never execute a single entry movement,

or if you hit the heavy bag conveniently within arm's reach

at all times, what you need to realize

that fights typically don't take place just

inside arm's length 'cause it'll be complete insanity

and you need to take a step back This way.

Your combinations can actually start from the distance

that you'll be fighting from.

So if you are not focusing on entering rapidly in a

significant percentage of your combinations,

maybe even in the majority of your combinations, well,

you just don't have any reason to believe

that your entry movement is gonna be fast

or unexpected at all.

You have to earn that so you can get in the stance

and bang out 20 reps

or 30 reps where you're just driving into one

two punch combinations.

Do that every day or every other day,

or even just do it twice a week.

And over time you'll improve dramatically

and you'll definitely build that sudden explosiveness

that you need to surprise people with your attacks

and bash your fists into their heads.

So yes, we are thinking about becoming faster

and more explosive over time,

but the single best way in the universe

to speed up your entries is to minimize the size

of your entry step.

Small entry steps are faster, so distance yourself

to actually take one.

If you're entering from three feet away

to throw your combination,

your entry step is gonna take a second and a half,

and the punch is gonna take 0.4 seconds on top of that.

And that is not fooling anybody.

So get to the point that you're taking a three

to six inch step to hit that guy in the head,

and that's typically the, the, the sweet spot

that you want to be attacking from.

Now, if no one's ever told you any of this,

if you've never been forced to assess your telegraphs,

the dropping of your hands or the speed of your entries

and the the size of your entry step,

if this has never been brought

to your attention at all, it's okay.

Just look at it as an opportunity

because if you devote even the slightest bit of energy

and attention to this stuff, you're gonna improve

dramatically in a very short period of time,

specifically in the realms that actually matter, the stuff

that truly determines the success

or failure of your attacks.

Because let's be honest, it doesn't really matter

how hard you can punch if that punch only has a tiny chance

of landing and then you get violently punched in the head

and then you flail around for a few seconds

and then I guess you'll land harshly upon your buttocks

confused in semi-conscious.

But no longer will this be your fate.

So hopefully you're now armed with new knowledge.

You can reverse all of your horrible habits

and build fast twitch speed specifically

where you need it dramatically improving the landing

percentage of your strikes.

And the more your fists send shockwaves through

that guy's squishy brain, the more likely you are to win.

And yes, trying to do a dramatic pause here

and I will continue until it no longer feels appropriate.

Okay, and on that note,

check out the minimalist striking course

and we shall eliminate the dramatic pauses in your strikes.

Just don't belong. Okay, so that's it for this video.

In the next one, I'm gonna teach you some technique in the

art of deception beyond just not telegraphing your punches.

We need to be unpredictable if we want

to hit people without getting countered.

And that's exactly what we're gonna focus on next.

So keep an eye on your email for that lesson.

It's gonna be a good one. Yeah.

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