Its not that the MMA, Boxing, or othermainstream western combat sports don't have examples of effortlessgrace and skill. There certainly are, think prime Roy Jones Jr,Anderson Silva, and more recently Conor McGregor and Micheal VenomPage. These guys are obviously highly skilled, graceful, and adept tothe point of creating an art of their respective sports. There is asmoothness and creativity to their fighting styles that leaves theaudience's jaws hanging to the floor in amazement.
But the vast majority are stuck in alop-sided, archaic movement model. A model based around isolationexercises, stiff strength, and conditioning drills piled on top ofdysfunctional joints, and a myriad of movement inefficiencies.
The results are strong, stiff, awkwardathletes with only rudimentary understandings of the movements theyemploy on a daily bases. However the light is easy to see at the endof this tunnel. Functional movement popularity is at an all timehigh, trying to fill the need caused by the mass of dysfunctionrelated sports injuries. On top of this we see athletes like MichaelVenom Page, Conor McGregor, and Carlos Condit training with humanmovement guru's like Ido Portal,andErwan Le Corre of MovNat.
Allof whom praise the effectiveness of the training, and also theincredibly uplifting and fun nature of the training.
Humanmovement is an entire subject in its own right and combat is only aslice of the human movement pie. Without the solid foundation ofunderstanding the body's most basic functions, movements, andcapabilities, an athlete of any kind can only access a fraction oftheir potential. Pushed to far the structure crumbles under theweight of the training and the fighters are left wondering how it allhappened.
Butthe results are in, the evidence is piling, and western culture as awhole is slowly remembering the true power of our genetic heritage. Abody honed and tuned by millions of years of evolution, capable offar more than the average athlete ever gets out of it. And for mostwestern athletes the gatekeeper to this inner power is going to bethe movement gurus, the functional trainers, and the human movementspecialists.
Athletes in the west have been fed an incomplete and dangerouslyinadequate diet of human movement for decades, piling deficienciesand instabilities on top of one another. Forming a puzzle that needssolved, a knotted mess of muscles that need smoothed out, and a wholeworld of potential that needs release. This is the mess we createdwhich has birthed the strong desire now driving this evolution backto functional bodies and the incredible potential such bodies hold.Welcome to the return of the Graceful Masters of Combat, and don'tforget.... you can be one of them.