This is one of the most important elements of learning martial arts and training.  Imagine training for a sport and then finding that the skills you’ve beenpracticing didn’t actually work in the game, ouch!

Many of you will never compete or hopefully get involved in a confrontation but if we take the time to train we may as well train correctly right?  If you’re hitting the pads or bag don’t turn your back or stop after each repetition because that’s not even close to real, if you stop or turn your back areal opponent they are going to hit you.

There’s a saying “whatever you do in practice, is how you perform for real” So ensure you practice with this mindset, one of my old instructors said “the more you sweat in training the less you bleed on the streets”

Are you just punching a bag in your garage? or are you in a dangerous situationthat requires you to defend yourself, use your imagination to make yourtraining real.

This will ensure you have that extra aggression and snap in your techniquesbecause you’re punching for a reason not for punching sakes.When you’re practicing a combination or drill, keep it going, instead of stop start and always prepare yourself for defense or attack after each rep.

This area is crucial to your development as a martial artist, being able to makeyour training real instead of practice will improve your level tenfold.

Even by making your training real, it’s still not going to be the real thing but by making it something close will give your training much more meaning.Always ask yourself when training “am I making it real”