“Ha ha, made you flinch.”  I used to hate when people would pretend to hit me and then say that.  What I didn’t realize is that they were teaching me a valuable lesson in life.  Not to react, rather to respond.

In my book, You Can’t Beat Me, I cover this concept.  I am going to relate this concept to fighting.  When we fight or compete, our adrenaline starts pumping, and we often act out of instinct as opposed to our intellect.  This can be very bad for us when we decide to flinch and get ourselves into a worse position.  If someone faked a punch to my face and I reacted by throwing up my hands, they could have a field day on body shots.  This concept is the exact reason we throw fakes and jabs.

The way around the reaction action is to respond.  When there is a response to a situation, the action is thought out and calculated as opposed to a flinch.  Sounds great, huh?  That is until you get in the ring and get hit for the first time, then all thought processes go flying out the window.  Now you are reacting to the punch and opening yourself up to the attack.  Then you will react to that and the cycle will continue on forever.

Responding to a situation is something that can come from strict training.  You have to workout in a way to where you actually “flinch” with the smart move.  This is why we have to practice the same move over and over again in our training sessions.  All of those hours of drilling submissions and submission escapes actually are a good thing.

We are preconditioning our minds to respond to a situation instead of panicking and delivering a flinch.  Flinching loses fights.  Responding sets you up to overtake your opponent.

I was blessed with an instructor who made me drill the basics of fighting over and over and over.  I had to learn good footwork and proper technique until I could do it in my sleep.  I hated the repetition, but now I finally understand the value.

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