Just relax. That guy's only trying to kick you in the head

There are a couple of things that seemed illogical to me when first learning to fight: you move toward your opponent's punches, not away from them; you punch with your feet and legs, not your hands; you have to stay relaxed in order to fight effectively. This last one has been the hardest for me to wrap my head around. Stay relaxed while fists and feet and knives are moving toward my face at great speed? Are you nutso?  I'm high strung. I'm a worrier. Relaxation at the best of times is a foreign concept to me, so the idea that I could stay relaxed when someone is trying to hurt me seems kind of silly. But, like many other seemingly illogical ideas surrounding fighting, I'm starting to see the light on this one, too.

The simplest reason for staying relaxed while fighting is that tension makes you slow and vulnerable. Example 1: When in your fighting stance, don't ball your hands into tight fists. This contraction of the muscles and the tension it creates slows down your punch. Only turn your hands into tight fists the moment before your hand hits the target. Example 2: This might only apply to me, but tension sort of gives me tunnel vision. If I'm tense or nervous I tend to become fixated on one particular threat. So I might only focus on my opponent's punch and not his kick, or I fixate on trying to hit him with a kick when he's really inviting me to hit him with a jab. Example 3: You can't be tense and also have fluid movement and if you don't have fluid movement you ain't dancing and if you ain't dancing you ain't fighting your opponent, you're fighting yourself.

Movement is critical when fighting. I'll say it again, movement is critical when fighting. I'm just starting to grasp this concept but it's importance isn't lost on me. The first few weeks of doing the light sparring in boxing class was reminiscent of the way naval battles used to be fought when the ships would pull up broadside to one another and start firing thier cannon from a static position until one ship couldn't fire anymore. Incorporating movment into the fight eliminates this squared-off style and creates a style where you're keeping your opponent wondering, forcing him to move where you want him to move and as he tries to follow you, opportunities are created where you can strike.

I know that my footwork now is anything but graceful, no floating like a butterfly yet, because I've yet to learn how to properly relax and rid my body of tension. I know that I can amass all the skill in the world, but if I can't stay loose during a fight that skill won't do me any good. So this week I will keep one thougth in the forefront of my mind, I can see it there in blazing, neon orange letters: I will stay relaxed and loose and I will not remain static.