I just returned from a weekend training down in Charlotte at the Fit to Fight HQ. Over 3 days there were seminars on clinch work, medical care, creating resilience/toughness, blood chokes for bjj, submission defense, utilizing the underhook, defensive firearms, wrestling, impact weapons, and weapon retention.
I could write pages about the individual instructors and their sections and their skill sets. Literally…. pages.
However, I’d rather simply discuss a few thoughts I had about the weekend in it’s entirety.
- The instructors interacted, participated, discussed, and learned. Not only in their sessions, but in the other sessions. They actually got on the mats and trained. This was addressed several times throughout the weekend, but I don’t quite think may people truly realize how rare this is. Generally speaking, when an instructor is brought in to teach a seminar, they roll in, teach and leave. If they do stick around for other presenters, they generally are judging them in the corner instead of simply hearing them out, participating, engaging in conversation, etc.. It’s a truly beautiful thing when several great minds enter the same seminar, share their knowledge, and approach the others with an open mind.
- The participants mixed and trained with several new people. Again, this is a rarity. Each and every seminar the participants found someone new to train with. In most cases, a few people from the same gym simply stick to themselves and work together. This weekend, I was able to work with people I knew and people I had never met before, several different body types, several different skill levels. The atmosphere created at the facility allowed this to happen easily. Everyone was kind, approachable, and open minded. Truly a rare experience.
- For how stacked this training lineup was, it’s sad that more “non FTF” people were not in attendance. The price tag on this seminar was dirt cheap, and the information presented was top tier, and yet it was an opportunity passed by, by many.
- This kind of weekend can be eye opening and life changing for people. Truly. On more than one occasions, I saw the “aha moment” for people. Looking across the room you had 50+ people training, supporting each other, pushing each other. Being a part of that can help clear your mind and help regain a bit of faith in humanity.
- In the words of Ajarn Buck “There are levels to this shit!” There is a HUGE difference in being good at something and being great at something. You cannot be the best of the best at everything. There are certain things you simply cannot obtain until you have put 20+ years of blood, sweat, and dedication to. Fact. No short cuts. No way around it.
- I have attended numerous seminars like this. It’s A LOT of information. What you do next is the most important. You cannot grasp it all, in fact, some of it you should just forget (if it didn’t work for you) however you can’t get it all at once. You won’t truly “own” the movement until you really drill it. What happens the weeks and months after these types of training is huge. I spent an hour today drilling a chunk of the wrestling techniques I picked up from Ronny just today with one of my BJJ instructors and I intend to keep drilling them over the next few weeks. You have to apply it, train it, drill it, teach it, fail at it, learn to break it down. Otherwise, the weekend was a waste of time.
In the end, the day you stop learning, is the day you start fading away into mediocrity. In a world that is continually evolving and moves five million miles an hour, you have to always be looking to improve.
It was an honor to get to share the mats with not only a group of fellow instructors that are at the top of their game, but with a bunch of amazing students that took three days out of their lives to get uncomfortable, to grow, to push themselves, to learn.
Blessed to be part of an amazing community.
Pay attention and learn from this event. When people come together, they create amazing things. When they try to stand alone, they don’t make nearly the impact.
One love,
-aaron
Aaron Jannetti 