This is how you learn fast at everything really. When making music copying other styles or remaking beats until you find your own, for example. Even in gaming if you copy a competitive persons style until you can play at that level and switch it up and make it yours. Artists have always copied each other that way and martial arts is no different 🙏🏼
This is very true every time I play a new game that's fps I always watch pros or if it's single player I watch speedrunners and typically I become really good really fast
@LucrativePerson Its usually due to being exposed to lesser known, extremely useful techs and pathways that we'd not have recognised until putting years in ourselves. So yes it's absolutely a great way to really open your mind up to possibilities & knowledge you'd usually need 100x the time for.
You're probably already trying to spar like your favourite fighters. That's a start. But also try to move like athletes you may not like. You never know what great things you might add to your style well experimenting.
Great video and lesson Gabriel. Would you do this on the bag and shadow boxing also or keep practicing your main style and just try out stuff during sparring?
This is so true. I'm only a few years into my journey in Muay Thai, but one of the female coaches at our gym really advocates for some techniques that always feel counter-intuitive for me, so it's easy to just get through the drill and forget about it. One I decided to stick with was to high-cover with my right arm and then immediately fire a right cross back. It still feels a bit strange throwing a cross from the starting position of high-cover, but I'll be damned if I don't land it cleanly 99% of the time because people are too slow to retract their lead hook and aren't expecting that quick cross. I actually have to be careful with it because most sparring partners are so wide-open for it.
Lately I’ve been trying to be like rodtang and block with my face. I have that part on lock. Working on firing back. Jokes aside you’re the man. This is right in line with what my coach always tells us which is you can win every round in sparring if you have a specific goal, and work on that thing. Jab, liver shot etc. right along with as you said imitating other fighters. This channel is gold and I hope it compensates you well financially. We all appreciate you.
Good stuff. Things that are true in the dojo are often true in life. In the dojo this is like watching the black belts and emulating them, and then as your style develops it becomes a blend that's unique to you. At work this is called a best practice session, where you simply learn the ways others have solved a given problem and take the things from them that improve your way. You're the man.
I'm sure I sensed emotion there at the end. Loving he's helping people. This channel is great. Interesting enough, it's already what I do (I will never be a pro) Even with someone better, I just try something different. I feel like losing is where you learn. Beating people who're not as good as you is useless. When I do have time with someone I know I can beat, I alternate between helping them however I can and bettering my weaker skills. (only boxing for now). Thanks buddy. You deserve the money you're making, you have enough free content that is wholsome and helpful. Keep up the good work.
Hey Coach, I really appreciate it as I've been contemplating exactly what you discussed in this video. Many thanks for reinforcing my thoughts of going outside my comfort zone and trying something different than my normal skillset to improve my fighting acumen and technique... Cool stuff Coach!
I can't believe it, but this is actually no clickbait. This improved me as a fighter big time as well. I wish my coach was a bit more open minded as well and I might have figured out some great techniques way earlier.
I use this technique a lot. Very similar to your video the other day about changing your style depending on your opponent. I do that frequently. For the fast kick boxing style guys, I stand solid (Thai style) and stay more square. I make sure to block/check, knee, and pull clinch. I pressure and don’t give them the space to hop around on me. Vice versa; for the solid square guys, I do a Haggerty switching style and catch ‘em from a ton of different angles. Making them move to try and keep up with me. It’s worked very well and I’ve dialed in just a few styles that I switch between depending on the opponent and patterns I see. Currently in fight camp for fight in Feb. Hard sparring starts this week so I’m refreshing my brain 🧠 right now 😂😂 War time in a few weeks ! As always, Thanks Gabriel
Damn, kept us in suspense for a minute. But you are definitely right, i learned fundamentals for years and it wasn’t until i started watching other fighters/styles and experimenting that i upped my skill level. Have been practicing switch hitting for a few years now + awkward footwork and angles
What you are describing is a well described phenomenon in motor learning, part of the basis of the constraints-based and ecological approaches. Essentiallly, we know that variable practice is best for learning to appy in variable conditions (as well as blocked- people who learn skills under variable conditions are better at doing blocked drills than people who only do blocked drills) Performance on retention trials improves linearly, down to a 50% success rate during learning attempts- i.e. if things are so challenging you only succeed up to 50% of the time, you will find new solutions and do better going forward. Conversely, folks who experience100% success during learning trial will have 0% improvement on retention trial. The sweet spot for most trainees seems to be a 70-80% success rate- i.e. 1 failure out of 5 attempts (which is about the optimal number before a pause and getting feedback or knowledge of result) Basically, if you aren't creating circumstances where you fail at a certain rate, you aren't learning. In action this can looks like trying to solve everything with a jab, or only attack after you've made someone miss with head motion, Rickson's rolling with every one which his hands tucked into his belt, etc. It seems all advanced athletes find this on their own eventually, but there is academic basis for it (which is now the foundation of some schools of coaching)
This advice is so brutally honest. You would never get radical advice like this from a gym... because there is a conflict between what is best for your development and what is best for the gym. Thank you thank you so much for getting out there and putting the growth of the individual FIRST, not the promotion of the "art" or the reputation of the gym. Conformity is such a blight to progress when you get to the higher levels.
This is the thing that I missed for years. My group reached a high level and, even if I wanted, I would not be able to try new things. Now I switched to MMA and there are a lot of new things to try, so I'm trying to fix my flaws by trying new things.
That's great! I do Kyokushin karate for fun and my Shihan said that if you always spar using your own style you won't grow, so in sparring drills instead of just doing free shots to follow up use specific follow-ups. It seemed weird at the time but made me think, and the specific follow-ups felt strange and clunky at first. After a few times though it became really nice and efficient.
The thing I really like to do is add the really hard shit. The moves that I just can't get working. I add those into a combo and stay working out a rhythm flow. Another really good option that worked for me was watching his like Vargas, Jeff Chan, Fagan, and others working their shadowboxing and punching bag flows and combos.
I think this is great advice, very similar in mechanism to "focus on one thing to improve at a time." When you go to sparring and really focus on keeping your guard high, or your rear hand posted to your face, or always throwing a combo instead of a single shot, etc. you make the best gains. In pretending to be a different fighter, you're really doing this, but with a few key style pieces all at once in stance, hand position, and preferred weapons. Awesome bit of wisdom here. Also, being "bad" at those styles (which are unnatural to you) lets you improve in your weakest and least-used tools. edit: imagine you are a teenager learning to spar, and you're getting coached by GV in a room with only 7 other people. I'm guessing they're pretty good!
I think one of the best approaches is to focus on technique more than just winning, put the ego to the side and let if flow, trying to get most fun on it. But sometimes it is hard to do, when sparring starts to getting more and more heated by harder punches from the other side - and suddenly you find yourself in the middle of a brawl - that technically should be a “light sparring” lol
Man... You were so badass with your eye patch, i think you should use it when you step on the ring and then throw it at the audience. (Of course I'm glad you don't need it anymore) Anyway: experimenting other styles is always a necessary step.
I spontaneously do that whatever the sport if opposition is "easy" taking risky moves. Recently I tried soviet boxing style to land against taller and bigger opponents ( which is almost always the case)
i have won fights watching your videos, Gabriel. you are a part of me if i become champion some day. In the end did your voice stutter due to emotion? just curious, when you said the passin gon to others part
Great Video. Any tips you can give on how to be more comfortable switching stances? I feel like it only has its advantages being comfortable ortho and southpaw.
Reps. Whether you’re drilling on pads or sparring, you just have to get the reps in on your weaker side. Focus on technique first and you’ll naturally make sense of speed and power if you already have that down on your strong side
If you don’t have good defense in the opposite stance don’t do it. I did that once in a boxing match and got knocked down and got up and the referee called it off. No defense in the opposite stance!!
😂 I do that! I try different styles while sparring. So far I have tried to emulate: McGregor, Poatan, Dustin Poirier, Manny Pacquiao and Roberto Duran! 😂🔥💪
This sounds very similar to having a specific technical goal when sparring, just influenced by other fighters? Did you find that you were able to read other styles better because you'd spent time thinking about how to make them work yourself?
Hey Gabriel, I have a question about running/jumping causing knee pain. I have only 1 fight so far... Coach is very legit and good technique but we train 3-4 hours workouts. He has us running 6km, jump rope for 30 mins, and jumping on the tire for 20 minutes and then training. I am good at running and all but, everyone is complaining of knee pain and we are 10 days out from competition and we will increase the distance. Is this too much road work and jumping? I have no idea if he intends to reduce anything leading into fight week at all
"Okay his knee is on the ground, maybe I'll try to be like Petr Yan"
This is how you learn fast at everything really.
When making music copying other styles or remaking beats until you find your own, for example.
Even in gaming if you copy a competitive persons style until you can play at that level and switch it up and make it yours.
Artists have always copied each other that way and martial arts is no different 🙏🏼
This is very true every time I play a new game that's fps I always watch pros or if it's single player I watch speedrunners and typically I become really good really fast
@LucrativePerson Its usually due to being exposed to lesser known, extremely useful techs and pathways that we'd not have recognised until putting years in ourselves. So yes it's absolutely a great way to really open your mind up to possibilities & knowledge you'd usually need 100x the time for.
You're probably already trying to spar like your favourite fighters. That's a start.
But also try to move like athletes you may not like. You never know what great things you might add to your style well experimenting.
Great video and lesson Gabriel. Would you do this on the bag and shadow boxing also or keep practicing your main style and just try out stuff during sparring?
This is so true. I'm only a few years into my journey in Muay Thai, but one of the female coaches at our gym really advocates for some techniques that always feel counter-intuitive for me, so it's easy to just get through the drill and forget about it.
One I decided to stick with was to high-cover with my right arm and then immediately fire a right cross back. It still feels a bit strange throwing a cross from the starting position of high-cover, but I'll be damned if I don't land it cleanly 99% of the time because people are too slow to retract their lead hook and aren't expecting that quick cross. I actually have to be careful with it because most sparring partners are so wide-open for it.
Great tip, will try do so Gabriel! 🥊🥊
Lately I’ve been trying to be like rodtang and block with my face. I have that part on lock. Working on firing back.
Jokes aside you’re the man. This is right in line with what my coach always tells us which is you can win every round in sparring if you have a specific goal, and work on that thing. Jab, liver shot etc. right along with as you said imitating other fighters. This channel is gold and I hope it compensates you well financially. We all appreciate you.
Good stuff. Things that are true in the dojo are often true in life. In the dojo this is like watching the black belts and emulating them, and then as your style develops it becomes a blend that's unique to you. At work this is called a best practice session, where you simply learn the ways others have solved a given problem and take the things from them that improve your way. You're the man.
We don't improve much doing what we all ready do fairly well, that's polishing. His point of getting outside your comfort zone is well taken.
I'm sure I sensed emotion there at the end. Loving he's helping people. This channel is great. Interesting enough, it's already what I do (I will never be a pro) Even with someone better, I just try something different. I feel like losing is where you learn. Beating people who're not as good as you is useless. When I do have time with someone I know I can beat, I alternate between helping them however I can and bettering my weaker skills. (only boxing for now). Thanks buddy. You deserve the money you're making, you have enough free content that is wholsome and helpful. Keep up the good work.
Hey Coach, I really appreciate it as I've been contemplating exactly what you discussed in this video.
Many thanks for reinforcing my thoughts of going outside my comfort zone and trying something different than my normal skillset to improve my fighting acumen and technique... Cool stuff Coach!
I can't believe it, but this is actually no clickbait. This improved me as a fighter big time as well. I wish my coach was a bit more open minded as well and I might have figured out some great techniques way earlier.
The best advice I ever got was to "Immitate the best, and then improvise." This dominates any field.
I use this technique a lot. Very similar to your video the other day about changing your style depending on your opponent. I do that frequently.
For the fast kick boxing style guys, I stand solid (Thai style) and stay more square. I make sure to block/check, knee, and pull clinch. I pressure and don’t give them the space to hop around on me.
Vice versa; for the solid square guys, I do a Haggerty switching style and catch ‘em from a ton of different angles. Making them move to try and keep up with me. It’s worked very well and I’ve dialed in just a few styles that I switch between depending on the opponent and patterns I see.
Currently in fight camp for fight in Feb. Hard sparring starts this week so I’m refreshing my brain 🧠 right now 😂😂 War time in a few weeks !
As always, Thanks Gabriel
Damn, kept us in suspense for a minute. But you are definitely right, i learned fundamentals for years and it wasn’t until i started watching other fighters/styles and experimenting that i upped my skill level. Have been practicing switch hitting for a few years now + awkward footwork and angles
This is such a good way to explain this thing I just did unconsciously. I'm passing this on to the club!
What you are describing is a well described phenomenon in motor learning, part of the basis of the constraints-based and ecological approaches. Essentiallly, we know that variable practice is best for learning to appy in variable conditions (as well as blocked- people who learn skills under variable conditions are better at doing blocked drills than people who only do blocked drills)
Performance on retention trials improves linearly, down to a 50% success rate during learning attempts- i.e. if things are so challenging you only succeed up to 50% of the time, you will find new solutions and do better going forward. Conversely, folks who experience100% success during learning trial will have 0% improvement on retention trial. The sweet spot for most trainees seems to be a 70-80% success rate- i.e. 1 failure out of 5 attempts (which is about the optimal number before a pause and getting feedback or knowledge of result)
Basically, if you aren't creating circumstances where you fail at a certain rate, you aren't learning. In action this can looks like trying to solve everything with a jab, or only attack after you've made someone miss with head motion, Rickson's rolling with every one which his hands tucked into his belt, etc. It seems all advanced athletes find this on their own eventually, but there is academic basis for it (which is now the foundation of some schools of coaching)
For me it's Ernesto Hoost, Buakaw and you specifically the light fight and emphasis on the left hook and left kick with boxing combos.
Thank you. Today is sparring day at our gym and i will try to switch stands for every round.
I love that "pay it forward" attitude!
🤜🤛
This advice is so brutally honest. You would never get radical advice like this from a gym... because there is a conflict between what is best for your development and what is best for the gym. Thank you thank you so much for getting out there and putting the growth of the individual FIRST, not the promotion of the "art" or the reputation of the gym. Conformity is such a blight to progress when you get to the higher levels.
You need a new gym friend. Good ones are about making you a good fighter.
Thank you, Gabriel! You did help me already!
This is the thing that I missed for years. My group reached a high level and, even if I wanted, I would not be able to try new things. Now I switched to MMA and there are a lot of new things to try, so I'm trying to fix my flaws by trying new things.
Good heart. Thank you
Great job, coach,,,,thanks
That's great! I do Kyokushin karate for fun and my Shihan said that if you always spar using your own style you won't grow, so in sparring drills instead of just doing free shots to follow up use specific follow-ups. It seemed weird at the time but made me think, and the specific follow-ups felt strange and clunky at first. After a few times though it became really nice and efficient.
The thing I really like to do is add the really hard shit. The moves that I just can't get working.
I add those into a combo and stay working out a rhythm flow.
Another really good option that worked for me was watching his like Vargas, Jeff Chan, Fagan, and others working their shadowboxing and punching bag flows and combos.
Awesome video, I will try like you said to move or do things like fighters I do not like in sparring. Great tips!🥊🥊
You are awesome, always give good tips
Thanks for your tips champ. Best guy
I swear this guy has the answer to every weekly question I get
Thanks for the advice, sir 👍
Hey Gabriel, great video! What brand of Kickboxing/Thai Shorts are you wearing here / recommend?
I think this is great advice, very similar in mechanism to "focus on one thing to improve at a time." When you go to sparring and really focus on keeping your guard high, or your rear hand posted to your face, or always throwing a combo instead of a single shot, etc. you make the best gains. In pretending to be a different fighter, you're really doing this, but with a few key style pieces all at once in stance, hand position, and preferred weapons. Awesome bit of wisdom here.
Also, being "bad" at those styles (which are unnatural to you) lets you improve in your weakest and least-used tools.
edit: imagine you are a teenager learning to spar, and you're getting coached by GV in a room with only 7 other people. I'm guessing they're pretty good!
I watched Sean Strickland and started using the lead front kick. Turns out it’s a great kick for me.
I think one of the best approaches is to focus on technique more than just winning, put the ego to the side and let if flow, trying to get most fun on it.
But sometimes it is hard to do, when sparring starts to getting more and more heated by harder punches from the other side - and suddenly you find yourself in the middle of a brawl - that technically should be a “light sparring” lol
Thank you Gabe u r a great teach3r❤
Man... You were so badass with your eye patch, i think you should use it when you step on the ring and then throw it at the audience.
(Of course I'm glad you don't need it anymore)
Anyway: experimenting other styles is always a necessary step.
I spontaneously do that whatever the sport if opposition is "easy" taking risky moves. Recently I tried soviet boxing style to land against taller and bigger opponents ( which is almost always the case)
i have won fights watching your videos, Gabriel. you are a part of me if i become champion some day. In the end did your voice stutter due to emotion? just curious, when you said the passin gon to others part
I think the greatest improvement comes when you learn control.
Hi, i'm gonna be a Muay Thaï champ, you played a role
Great Video. Any tips you can give on how to be more comfortable switching stances? I feel like it only has its advantages being comfortable ortho and southpaw.
Reps. Whether you’re drilling on pads or sparring, you just have to get the reps in on your weaker side. Focus on technique first and you’ll naturally make sense of speed and power if you already have that down on your strong side
If you don’t have good defense in the opposite stance don’t do it. I did that once in a boxing match and got knocked down and got up and the referee called it off. No defense in the opposite stance!!
U will be almost a completely different fighter from southpaw, reps and sparr then repeat for 2 years n u got it down
Best video ❤
😂 I do that! I try different styles while sparring. So far I have tried to emulate: McGregor, Poatan, Dustin Poirier, Manny Pacquiao and Roberto Duran! 😂🔥💪
This sounds very similar to having a specific technical goal when sparring, just influenced by other fighters? Did you find that you were able to read other styles better because you'd spent time thinking about how to make them work yourself?
When’s the giveaway announcement!
So excited to see if I win 🎉🎉
2:18 Answer: trying to replicate other fighters in sparring
Great video👆
Hey Gabriel, I have a question about running/jumping causing knee pain. I have only 1 fight so far... Coach is very legit and good technique but we train 3-4 hours workouts. He has us running 6km, jump rope for 30 mins, and jumping on the tire for 20 minutes and then training. I am good at running and all but, everyone is complaining of knee pain and we are 10 days out from competition and we will increase the distance. Is this too much road work and jumping? I have no idea if he intends to reduce anything leading into fight week at all
Love this video from Malawi African
Gabe the teacher varga
Awesome tips as always but I dont know if its just me or it the video so quiet.
No me aswell it happened another time too
Turn your volume up mate
Perfectly normal audio for me
Sounds ok to me
Gabe has been watching Histories strongest disciple Kenichi
“Okay his hands are a little low, maybe I’ll try to be like Uriah Hall”
“Oh my god is he okay?”
Jesus loves you all ❤
Thank you, I am the 3 belts Ufc champion 🏆
Hey man do you know chris samson from nz hes a trainer in kickboxing and muay thai has trained a few champions