Man of 1,000 Holds

I’m sure you have heard of the guy who knows all the holds there are to know. But the question becomes can he apply all these holds in a real competition? I rather doubt it.

I personally have been taught many, many hold over my 11 years of studying submission wrestling. However, I have only pulled off about 10 of the hold I have ever been taught.

The reason for this could be many different things, such as my genetics, strength, speed, body weight, my opponents strength, speed and body weight. All of these factors contribute to you being able to pull off a hold.

Another main factor is that some holds are just too risky. What I mean by this is that against a real experienced fighter, these holds may just leave you susceptible to a counter. One other factor could be that many of the holds may be too flashy or show holds. These holds look real good but don’t really have any real-world combative effectiveness.

Take a look at the top guys in the major MMA Promotions. You always see the same holds being applied. Think about that for a minute. These fighters are trained by some of the top coaches and trainers in the business. Do you think they only know three or five holds? Of course not. These guys only go with their bread and butter holds that they know they can pull off in the ring or on the matt.

Each person has individual strengths and weaknesses. What might not work for you, may work for someone else. Therefore, it is very important that we learn and experiment with as many holds as we can.

Practice diligently and the holds that come naturally or easily to you, take them, adapt them to your arsenal and practice them over and over again, in every position, from every angle. Make sure you can pull them off at any time. Once you get 5-10 holds that can be applied at any time use them, go over them over and over again.

You will need to practice the same hold thousands of times before you have mastered them and even then

you should still practice them. These are your bread and butter holds.

Man of 1,000 holds….I doubt it. I’d rather be the Man of 5 Holds that can apply them at any time, than the man who knows all but can’t apply one in the real world.