Technique is Overrated 

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I would argue that in many cases the instructors know it doesn't matter. But myself as a non-martial arts instructor, I teach people the 100% technique perfect way because I know they will take / develope shortcuts. I'd rather they learn a shortcut from a perfect technique than a shortcut from a shortcut. It establishes a level of quality that should meet needs after a shortcut is used.

Fighting is like dancing. First you have to learn the technical skills. But once you know what you're doing, you can break the rules as long as it works for you.

You follow the rules, you break the rules, you make the rules. That's what my coach always said. First you focus on technical details that you can later tweak to your specifications. He always said that it is better to learn those moves "correctly" and then think about other things. Good points

At work we always say “Don’t let perfect get in the way of being good” and I love to see how it applies to almost every aspect of life

Another way of saying: position first, then attack. Yep.

Few years of constantly watching pro boxing matches made me realize that fighters usually get ko-d or lose a fight exactly because of the bad parts in their techniques, whether it be keeping one arm lower when attacking, keeping guard lower, bad movement, being predictable etc.

This video should go together with Armchair Violence's video on "striking basics don't matter" for people to understand how tactics and positioning are way more important than "perfect technique" in order to win fights. A technique doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to work for your advantage.

When I started my college martial arts club I taught like this: super technical about technique. It worked because most people never had experience even throwing a jab and they just needed consistent technique.

Need to call him out on this one. Technique comes to play when you're stressed and then all these other things open up. Watch a guy get knocked out or "3 pieced". First thing is their technique failed them. Start to get stressed and technique aka muscle memory comes into play. Now all the sudden you're out of trouble and play around. Watch any fighter out there. When they get in trouble and are stressed. Yup, back to a basic to get out of it. There's a reason to still practice technique.

It's staggering how many coaches that will tell you those technical details are "absolutely essential", while also NEVER using them in their own sparring. Coaches would rather tell blatant lies than learn how to verbalize and teach tactics and strategies. 😂

I think rather than moving away from the technique, you are simply learning to adapt it and transform it in a way it benefits from the situation. No boxer learns to fight like a pro while still relying on formless haymakers like an average street thug.

“Technique is overrated” is the most underrated phrase in real life…..great video

Proper form in technique is like learning good penmanship in school. It’s super important for the first 2ish years, then teachers show you cursive, then you can pick and choose how you write. Same goes for MA techniques.

kicking with the toes can work better in shoes on da street

Most teachers only teach for people who don't need to know the whole picture, and don't understand the full picture. This is probably one of the best technique videos I've ever seen. Thank you...

Great video. People usually nitpick technical details when they don’t understand the strategy and tactics that actually make it work. Traditional martial arts are particularly bad for this. Entire training methodologies are just based on nitpicking technical details in a vacuum where nothing is ever really applied.

Yes, a lot of times a move done the "wrong" way is really just done in a different way. With it's ups and downs for different contexts but still a separate option that may be utilized when it best fits. However, one should not forget that the technique of a move is to maximize leverage and by that the power and efficiency of that said move. For example there is a vast difference in the power of a punch thrown by a person who knows how to do that properly compared to one that does not.

Learned this stuff in my amateur boxing bouts. Technique barely matters, tactics and strategy is where it's at.

People say dont sling your shoulders and keep your elbows near your armpit level... But if you ever threw 10,000 punches in 1 night on a bag (perhaps maybe drunk) halfway through it you will realize you need to sling a bit just to get the momentum going and use that elbow extension just to keep punching without ripping your own arm off. And strangely start using those karate hip twists just to eek a bit more momentum out cuz you can barely lift your arms up.

This was my experience dealing with street fighters, bad technique but good timing and stratagies

I always try to teach the "correct" way of doing a technique, but I always also say fighting is jazz; as long as you consciously mean to do it, anything is correct.

For me when im teaching. Technique means learning the move properly. Like how to punch without torquing your shoulder, block/dodging too far, or even kicking properly without hurting the muscles in your hips. After you understand the technique and can throw shots without hurting yourself, or blocking and dodging without lookin like a goof, then send it

As always, all great stuff! Hands up whenever possible and recoiling strikes is probably a good practice, but it's not nearly as important as range control or managing distance. Things trainers and coaches do (especially the martial arts guru types). •Constantly correct your form, so you know you're the student, and they're the master. •Never do any hard sparring with the stud athletes •Not exercising with the class during an hour PT session before doing any sparring with the class, so he's fresh and you're toast.

As a Thai who trained Muaythai, the Teeb Kick is originally meant to land with full foot. It’s not the tool primarily for hurting but for push, knockdown or keep distance. But yes, we sometime landed Teeb with ball of the foot or heel.

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist” - Pablo Picasso Alternatively: “Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.” - Dalai Lama

Great to hear it, needed to be said. Biggest problem I've seen is a 'fitness' focus sometimes certified instructors forcing over corrections instead of spotting natural talent. That extra 10% power is useless if it can't be delivered naturally. Everyone's body is different. Even more interesting is the idea that if everyone fights the same...well you know what's coming at you right.

Can we say that solid technique is important for statistically mitigating counters for new, average and mediocre fighters? Meaning you aren’t going to beat a good or great fighter anyway (which is true for MOST practitioners), but will definitely help newb to med fighters not get dropped as often from panicked, untrained, slop from less technical fighters? I think that’s fair. And I think it’s important for techniques to work from lowest common-denominator fighters up. I agree though, if you’re good you should graduate. But if you’re an old mediocre nobody like me, technique may help lol. I’ve seen too many people think they did graduate, only to get rocked from an unskilled opponent in survival mode and lose.

appreciate this video i get paralysis by analysis sometimes cause i want all my aspects of mma, as well as my other workouts to be as good as possible and most videos tend to focus on that for some reason

I wish I understood this better back when I was practicing martial arts. I can understand why a coach would be detail oriented at first and the student would personalize it over time. They say that before you think outside the box you have to know what's in the box.

philosophy martial artist -"the right technique is no technique"

that's the most real intro i've ever heard in a real situation.

Chesterton's fence applies here. When you know why a rule exists you can become comfortable removing it if you deem necessary.

You know I'm really glad I randomly decided to check up on this channel today. I am not a fighter. I'll come out and say that. I'm also in a rut with life. One of the tendencies I have is to obsess over tiny details, almost to a ridiculous degree. I sometimes think about fighting, but thats kind of besides the point. I think this could actually be applied to other things. Maybe in some things you do need close attention to detail, but generally zooming out and looking big picture can really take you further. Maybe this is actually an even better case for getting comfortable with fundamentals so you don't have to think about them, enabling you to look big picture. Either way.

Technique is just the best or most efficient way to do something. But as the saying goes, the punch that lands is always better than the perfect punch that doesn't. On the other hand, part of good technique is also to keep you out of trouble and minimize your vulnerabilities and keep the other guy's window of opportunity small.

Agree with many of your points. But bad technique can get u injured. Don't know how u tore your bicep, but I tore mine with a wide hook, straight arm and palm impacting my opponents head. Imo,"good" punching technique allows for maximum power generation, maximum energy efficiency, and maximum protection while attacking.

If he does a video about firearms,ironically,technique will matter.

One of the ways I teach the hook punch is via the slap. Even from a technical standpoint, they're essentially the same strike. The only difference between the two is one strike is with the palm while the other is with the knuckles. Also, when I teach the hook punch, I mention how the position of the fist changes the shape of the opponent's face upon contact based on the targeted area (mainly the chin).

TLDR; "be flexible and adapt"

There's a common saying for those learning warfare: "Everything is right in tactics as long as you can justify it in the field"

Technique doesn't matter? Yeah, if you are fighting a heavy bag.

Yes, it is the mark of a novice that they obsess over (and critique) one aspect, of one technique, that they've only learnt recently, and haven't actually employed with any success. This applies to LOTS of situations, not just martial arts, or even physical skills. A variation on Dunning-Kruger, really. All that being said, I do like analysing and honing my own technique.

technique matters for practicing. If you are in the fight, what 'feels good/right' to your current body in the moment (in combination with the mentioned strategy, tactics) trumps technique details. EDIT: also much more important for beginners to build a decent foundation, especially if they don't have muscle-memory/balance/mind-muscle connection from another hobby.

Technique in the beginning is super important. In the middle, technique is often thrown out the window. In the end, technique goes back to being super important again.

This explains why, in a boxing gym, the way people train you to box is so different from the way they actually box.

This video kinda proves my theory about fighting. Technique is important to make sure you dont hurt yourself but the intention of the strike changes the strike. If i intend to land a cross, i can throw it trad or celtic or looping or whatever tiny difference will do what i want. You explain it better though, and cool to see im not the only one who thinks this lol

Pretty much every technical q&a session should go something like, "what's the proper technique?" "That depends"

I think the real title of the video should be "Correct Form Is Overrated"

The best part about using your techniques as long as you understand the situation that calls for them, they will say you are so bad that they lost. My response " better lucky than good." Some of my favorite conversations with instructors were on expanded variations and when and where it is more or less viable. Thanks for the video but there are going to be a lot of people who need the proper training and can't join a discussion like this until they can handle themselves. One strange thing I do is change from high guard to the shoulder roll stance with rear arm guarding my body. Like an opposite shoulder roll

"Advanced techniques are just beginner mistakes done with purpose"

It’s crazy as I learned more about boxing how much the rules get broken. It’s starts super ridged then becomes about flow and situations. Nothing works all the time you have to constantly adapt that’s what makes it so fun.

The best fighters in the world tend to have styles that deviate from the norm.

In art/drawing there is very famous line - learn the rules before you decide to break them (ex. learn to draw realistic first, then do stylzed drawings) I like to imagine same thing applies in martial arts

I once heard an old, tough dude I know who trains say something along the lines of "most martial arts are too technique based; if you want to win/defend yourself effectively, you need to be results/objective based". I think this is what he was talking about.

What you're describing is known in philosophy as *Wittgenstein's Ladder* The lower rungs of the ladder are concepts which are technically wrong or incomplete, but beginners should learn them as if they were absolute truths because they give them capabilities to climb the ladders and get to the top where the actual truths are different to the ones they learnt in the beginning, sometimes completely opposite In fighting, just like anything in life, if it works for you then it's correct. The textbook technique, or the path most travelled, is just considered the best place to begin because it has a history of working well for many people before you

I always teach technique as a foundation, not a way. For example, proper technique for driving is 10 and 2 o’clock on holding the steering wheel, which is a good solid foundation. But as you drive more, you develop your own style of holding the wheel based on basic technique. And you change how you hold the wheel as the years go by too. Same with technique in fighting.

"When I didn't know the art a kick was just a kick. When I learned the art a kick was not just a kick. When I understood the art a kick went back to being just a kick."

dropping this before all the other comments arrive but love your shit bro keep at it

Can only speak on boxing which is my discipline, i would think technique and funedmentals go hand and hand. With proper and technical footwork your balance when throwing strikes will help keep your balance. Technique and basic fundamentals paired with good movement and positioning all go hand and hand, my movement and striking improved a lot when a boxing cosch taught me technique and funedmentals, as opposed to before when I would just spar friends .

Man i am so tired of hearing about technique. Perfecting all the details is a project for advanced people. It is a waste of time for new people who can barely move without falling over.

Those might be the coolest gloves ever.

Technique is important but I like to tell my guys. “What you do & when you do it. Is more important then how you do it”

I love this video. I used to train kick boxing and was pretty decent at it BUT striking coaches would always kill my creativity. Moved to bjj where you basically can do whatever you want as long as it works and you have counters to your counters.

Technique is whatever works for you. I've learned that is my boxing classes, i kept for live.

Technique *does* matter though, Mike. At some point, you said it yourself: when in stressful situations, you tend to default to your training. So if you train as a perfect technique as possible, in as much (controlled) stressful situations as possible, when and if you find yourself in that situation you will default to your technique. *Of course* it's not going to be perfect *then*, it's going to be messy. But biomechanics are biomechanics, so learn as well as you can you use it as best you can, and when finally you have it perfectly down, that you can "default" to a near perfect form even in stressful situations without thinking... *Then* is a good moment to start improvising, improving and changing according to what works best for you.

fight is more about timing and precision than it is about technique but propper technique helps A LOT in developing the conections of your strikes and close some possible openings, good technique is a matter of bettering your odds of succeding.

Nah closer to perfect technique it’s better

Meh,the best pro boxer can beat the best street fighter and it will be because of his technique

Gabriel varga wants your location

I'm still relatively new to kickboxing, and it drives my coach bonkers that I like switching back and forth between orthodox and southpaw. I have no natural inclination for either stance. 😂 But actually, the "natural" vs technique thing is common with handguns, some guns just "point" more naturally (Glock), some guns you REALLY need to focus on technique to hit the broad side of a barn. But when you learn proper technique, all guns, including the "easy pointers", become natural.

Bro jumped the shark hard. Technique is everything! If you want to fight competitively or professionally technique will get you to the elite levels.

Half expected you to throw a shoryuken for the last uppercut

Izzy has better technical skills than Sean Strickland Sean won with tactics and pressure so ... There's that

yea one of the most annoying things at my old boxing gym were the dads that came in an volunteered to coach and all they did was spam "keep hands on ur face/never drop the hands/ur hands are not on ur face"

I’ve been saying this for years. Natural ability separates the men from the boys. Born with it. Period

I've seen Andy Hug videos where he landed "slap" hits with his gloves and still threw competitors off. Another great video from you, Mike!

I’ve seen people who focus way too much on technique get exposed when it’s a fast pace/messy fight. I personally take effectiveness over perfect technique. Wonderboys side kick is a great example how he throws it up without brining his knee to his chest. Makes it a lot harder to see coming but if you’re a beginner you’re told “you gotta chamber it up that’s how you get power” well I’m not trying to one shot my opponent with a side kick so the “extra power” is irrelevant

In a fight, yes. It doesn't matter so much. When you're training and you want to prevent injuries or do it efficiently is when it matters I think. When technique is in your body, you don't need to overthink it and you get benefits from that.

the purpose of learning technique is learning the proper way to move to someone completely brand new. they're not going to nail it every single time. but as long as they're moving within the principals of how they're supposed to be moving, they'll be fine. but that's taken care of, they can move onto positioning.

You build upon the foundations of technique. You establish a predictable rhythm: Jabbing high while stepping, taking note on how the opponent responds. Do this a couple time to reinforce a pattern and establish a behavior via operant conditioning. Now you take advantage of the rhythm by breaking it: You can feint the jab and throw an overhand, initiate the jab but spear the body instead, feint the jab but throw a hook instead, etc. The point is you can't build a rhythm if your technique isn't dialed in. You want your opponent to focus on the wrong things because the unanticipated punch is always the deadliest.

I think learning techniques the correct way first is important for beginners to improve their body awareness. I agree that the right way can be many different things IF you do it consciously. And it's hard to develop that kind of consciousness without being constrained to "the right technique" first. Also, as a counter to the "even pros do it wrong" argument , I'd say there are many pros who have stellar technique. Thinking of Thai boxers who's every kick looks like art. And Gabriel Varga.

Cool. I agree. Let me pose the question I had at the end of the video. How do I take control over my own training? What does that mean and how do I make it happen?

Concepts/ Principal's matter more than technique especially in self defense street applications.

You have to learn the ABCs. The standard basics before you can form words or sentences. Just like language. When you get more advanced you can start making song, rhyme, slang and poetry. Speech and writing can both be formal and informal in terms of context and situation. It's the same as fighting. Tactical options priority before technical.

When I look at martial arts like Bagua, their thing is to adjust to where they are at and be evasive and tactical. Some of it looks 'wrong'', but they don't stay there, they are constantly moving. I think rooting is the most important, regardless of technique. some techniques though seem to work better than others.

It's true. You can definitely overthink things and end up getting wrecked! I did a video where I improved my technique on my straight punch and I gained almost 50% more pounds in punch strength.

When i was coaching, we had a saying, get whatever you can get

What’s important is he said if you’re just learning n fresh technique is important. But if you already have a foundation of the technicals . Your tactics n strategies will come more into play vs always doing the right technique. It’s all about adapting to what you already know even if it’s bad technique if it get the job done at the time .

A technique doesn't need to be perfect or even good to be effective, but it usually helps knowing the formal technical principles behind them when deciding "how" to throw it. Learning the "formal" form of the techniques allows us to learn the pros/cons of them so we can more easily adapt them to the situation at hand instead of "going in blind". Also, every coach should absolutely adapt the phrase "It depends" into their vocabulary. While I usually ask my students to do the techniques in a certain way while learning them, I also try to make it clear that adaptions/variations are fine as long as they take their positioning, weight displacement etc. into account.

"Everyone cares about the correct technique until they got punched in the face 🤕" - Mike Tzu

This is a wonderful thought experiment. It put me in mind of my dad, a natural left hander being forced to learn to write with his right(ball point pens aren't that old). That technique I didn't have to waste time on and just got down to learning at school.

I bet one of the things you saw when you trained with Gabriel Varga is how clean and precise his technique was. He's a serious student of using technique to protect himself against damage.

I really dig your vids. The realistic points you push are right on. Honesty, practical, real world knowledge you point out are cool. 👍

damn, haven’t tuned into a h2h video in a loooooong time. i stopped training a while ago and all the youtube content i watched that was related to fighting all got filtered out. went back to my old Muay Thai gym yesterday after like a year and a half and this popped up on my recommended. kinda fishy lol, regardless, I’m being reminded as the video goes on why i loved this channel and its content! great video man.

There’s a difference between teaching a beginner than training someone with experience. Proper technics are just foundations for a fighter to learn, grow and evolve

How about telegraphing all your punch, remove body rotation in all your punch... let see what kind of strategy you can build.

The slap hook hurts the opponent, but could potentially tear your bicep and/or supinator if done too much and too often (I’ve done it)

Technique isn't for winning, it is for not losing. What I mean it, it does not decide your wins but it is for protecting your body. How you punch weave and move is very important for avoiding injuries.

That’s why it’s about understanding the basics, in some cases, the fundamentals of the technique. Then just take it from there, do your own thing. I’d say, striking is quite a simple one, hitting something IS hitting something. You could say that jabbing someone with all your fingers pointed will break your fingers, but you punch hard with your fist you break your fist. You can train and experiment with it though, you wanna jab someone with your fingers, you know it hurts, you’ll figure out it really works well on soft parts of the body and you’ll adapt to not trying to shove your fingers through someone because it’ll probably break them. Even if you come away thinking, “Jabbing people with my fingers doesn’t work so well.” You might have learned that you shouldn’t throw constant full power punches and make yourself tired all the time… another basic skill. It’s pretty good to hear someone have a similar conclusion I came to when I was getting so sick of coaches telling me I was punching wrong for silly reasons.

100% agree. You watch most professional fights there very messy. Also, the number of times I pull off a throw in Judo and my coach says that wasn't the proper way to do that. It worked, didn't it.