A matt pull is the simple act of lying on flat on your stomach, reaching in front of you and pulling your self across the mat. This is one exercise that helps develop your muscles for grappling. We do these as a part of our warm up.

The other day, I was beginning a prospective student and when we got to mat pulls, this man does three of them and then pulls up lame. Still, not a problem, I am in the business of training people, as long as you have the desire and the will, I am going to help you. Its my job. After that, the guy was barely useless for the rest of the hour class. He didnt hit a pad since he was clutching his stomach the entire time. Still, no problem, Ill train you if you want it.

I just received an email saying The training was too combat oriented. I dont know what this means, its a martial art. It wouldnt be so bad except, this person was a pretty beefy guy who claimed he worked out regularly and power lifted. Believe me, after his performance on the mat, I seriously question the validity of this statement.

Keep in mind, I am not trying to train an uber-samurai, I train college and professional women, mothers of one, two or more, training with me, men and women from a variety of backgrounds. All of them have one thing in common, the desire to improve. The class is rigorous, but you can participate at your own speed.

So how does this pertain to your training and life as we know it? First off, if your training for anything where the end result is contact with another human being you better be ready for this. You will get hurt. You will lesson the degree of which you will get hurt by how good of shape you are in and how hard you train. If you think you are going to get into a real fight without sustaining injury, you will be sadly, or gravely disappointed. If you think you will not get winded or exhausted in a few short moments, you are in for a world of hurt. You need to be in the best shape you can possibly be in period. Knowing what to do is only half of it. How to training it and keeping yourself in shape is the other. The better in shape you are in, the better you will perform. Its like having a Ferrari Enzo and having no fuel and no insurance. It looks good and in theory, it will be the fastest thing on the road. The reality is, its a $1,000,000 paper weight that couldnt beat a scooter.

Your method of self defense is only as good as the delivery system it comes in (thats you). If you think that knowing something will save you, maybe under the optimum circumstances. Maybe if you can get a clean first shot off. Maybe if you get the drop on your target. Unfortunately this is rarely the case. Usually you dont get the opportunity to pick the time and the place, your assailant does. Oh yeah, you may miss. People have a tendency to a move. So you better be ready for the long haul. If you can end the fight before it starts, great. But plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Like my coach @ Lehigh, Thad Turner told me, Any idiot can get in shape; you just want to do it. Nothing worth anything comes fast, easy and without a price. Yes there are more efficient ways of getting the job done, but EASY is a relative term.