Aliveness FAQ

Q: What is "aliveness"?

A: Aliveness is a term that describes a training methodology. The basic idea is that, for training to be effective at preparing you for real combat it has to contain elements that are present in real combat. Let me give you an example, shooting a basket ball in to a hoop repeatedly will help your performance in a real basketball game, because it contains the elements found in a real game i.e. a ball, a basket and the necessity of landing the ball in the hoop. If however, you repeatedly made a motion like you were shooting a ball, but without having a ball in your hands, this would not help your performance in a real game, no matter how many times you did it. Because there are no elements of a real game in this exercise, there is no ball, no hoop and no need to actually land the ball in the hoop. This is a crude example but I think you get my point. So we need to exam what the aspects of a real fight are. The first and most obverse thing in all real fights is resistance, no one in a real fight is going to let you just hit them without trying to stop you (resist you). The next thing always present in actual combat is timing. For example in a real fight if you simply throw a punch at any random time it probably wouldn’t land on your attacker, you would have to throw the punch at the right time when the target presented itself. The last thing that is always present in real combat is motion. If someone is attacking you they will be moving, if you defending an attack you will be moving. So for training to be effective it must alway contain timing, energy (resistance) and motion. To summarize, aliveness means training with timing, energy (resistance) and motion.


Q: Is aliveness something new?

A: No, absolutely not! On the contrary martial arts such as Muay Thia, Judo, BJJ, Boxing and wrestling have been training in an alive way for years. In fact Mauy Thia is about 800 years old and wrestling dates back to as early as the ancient Greeks which would mean that alive training actually predates dead training!Q: Why is alive training so important?A: Training in an alive environment is the only way to prepare yourself for actual combat. Dead training can not in anyway prepare you for actual combat, so if you ever want to be able to actually apply any of the techniques you've learned, you have to train alive.Q: Don't all MA schools train alive?A: From my experience the vast majority of MA schools don't train alive. As an example, every time you walk up and down a line doing techniques in thin air, this is dead training. Every time you do partners drills were one guy attacks then just stands there and lets the other guy to some sort of defense with no resistance, that is dead training. Anytime you do patterns of any sort, that is dead training. Every time someone stands in front of you with focus mitts whilst you just repeatedly punch them, that is dead training.


Q: But most MA schools spar, thats alive right?

A: Yes, sparring is alive and most schools spar (although there are quite a few that don't!). However from my experience in most TMA schools sparring makes up, at best, 15 minutes at the end of each lesson, which means you have spent the entire rest of the lesson doing dead (useless) training. Also it is important to note that even though many TMA schools do spar, which is alive, the sparring is often very unrealistic i.e. no head punch no low kicks or sweeps as in WTF TKD, point stop style as in many Karate's or just very light contact as in many schools.


Q: But how can you really learn anything just by sparring all the time?

A: Although sparring will be an integral part of any school that trains alive, aliveness DOES NOT mean constant sparring! Most schools that train alive will use what is called "the I methord" (introduction, isolation, integration) to teach techniques. Let me give you an example of how this methord works and how you learn techniques in an alive way. For the example I will use the Muay Thia 'teep kick' which, for anyone who is not familiar with it, is basically a front kick off your front leg.Introduction: The kick will be fully demonstrated and explained to the student. Then the student will be allowed to practice this kick, slowly and methodically, until he/she understands exactly how to do it. Normally they would be practice the kick against a stationary pad until they become more confident with the kick, when the pad could begin to be moved and presented to them at different times when they would have to kick it. Isolation: When the student has become suitably confident with the technique and understands properly how to perform it they can then start to train the technique against a resisting oponent. The are any number of alive drills/games that can be used to do this, in this case I would personally use something like this; Get 2 students, the one has the job of "attacker" this student can only box so his job is to close this distance and punch the other student. The other student the "defender" (a teep kick is a defensive kick, so this drill is suited to this particular technique) can only use the teep kick they have been practicing. So what will happen is the attacker will be actively trying to close the distance on his opponent whilst the other will be trying to stop him with teep kicks. Thus he will be training this kick only (isolated) against a resisting oponent.Integration: In this phase the student is allowed to integrated the new technique, with other techniques he has learned, in an alive way. Sparring.


Q: But isn't the first part of the I methord basically just dead training? And you said dead training was useless.

A: I said " Dead training can not in anyway prepare you for actual combat" and this is true. The right kind of dead training can prepare you for alive training, but it can not prepare you for actual combat. Let me put it another way, if you have been training in nothing but a dead way for 10 years you will be no more prepared for real combat then someone with no MA experience what so ever. However if you have been training for 10 years in nothing but a dead way then you will (providing its the right kind of dead training) be ready to start training alive, which will prepare you for real combat.Also I think it is important to note that all 3 phases of the I methord will take place in just one class, which means the actual amount of time spent on introducing a technique in a dead way, will probably only be about 10 minutes. The rest is spent in the isolation and integration phase.


Q: My instructor says that we do train our stuff against resisting opponents, but we have to train for a long time until we are advanced enough to do it.

A: There is absolutely no reason why you can't train alive from day one, Judo guys do it, BJJ guys do it, Boxers do it, Muay Thai guys do it. The only reason a technique or combination can't be trained in an alive way against resistance is if it wont work against resistance, in which case the technique is useless. Also from my experience all the people who say that their stuff does work but you just have to be advanced to use it are lying to you and themselves and the simple reason why they don't do it against resistance is because it doesn't work.


Q: Yeah but that's your definition of aliveness what about other peoples definitions?

A: This is something that personally annoys the hell out of me. People often try to put there own definition on aliveness (normally so it can seem that, by there definition atleast, their training is alive) aliveness is what it is (see above, "what is aliveness) and nothing else, you can not put your own spin on it and trying to is simply ridiculous. Let me give you an example. Imagine we are debating the effectiveness of using representative democracy to run a country and I say "well Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principles of popular sovereignty by the people's representatives. The representatives are charged with the responsibility of acting in the people's interest, but not as their proxy representatives—i.e., not necessarily always according to their wishes, but with enough authority to exercise swift and resolute initiative in the face of changing circumstances. and I think this is effective because..." then you come back and say "ah, well thats your definition of representative democracy, to me it means...." representative democracy is what it is, now everyone is well within there right to debate its effectiveness at running a country but to try and say it has multiple definition in so that you can make it sound like you agree with it but actually don't is stupid. The same is true of aliveness you have every right to debate it effectiveness but don't start trying to make your own definition of it.


Q: Well what about sit-ups/puss-ups/running there not alive but they will help your training?

A: Aliveness is only concerned with technical training, so anything that is solely for conditioning falls out of the realm of "alive" or "dead". Sit-ups may be very beneficial to a fighter in helping improve his condition, however when doing sit-ups he is not training any techniques and is solely doing fitness training, therefor it is neither alive nor dead. However if he was doing sit-ups and claiming that he was in fact training some sort of head butt from the ground this would then fall in to the realm of alive or dead.Q: Where can I find out more info on aliveness?A: If you go here http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=matt+thornton&so=0 you will find a number of informative videos by Matt Thornton. http://www.straightblastgym.com/why.htm here you will find lots of articles on aliveness and the broader SBG philosophy.