How do you teach “tacit knowledge”? The tiny difference between success & failure

[@harrisfrankou2368]

I was watching an intense bout when the fighter moved his middle arm only a half a millimeter...and got the hold the opponent was destroyed...and subsequently died in front of the rabid crowd. It was the best Beetle Wrestling bout ever.

[@calvinmurry1096]

When I taught amateur golden gloves I often used the socratic method. I would watch my boxer spar. And afterwards i would ask questions so that he realize his own mistake. Why did you stand on his left side? So i could throw my uppercut. Is that why you put your head on his right shoulder? He would not have caught you with his right hand had you placed your head on his left shoulder. And that's how I would bring my fighters to a self awareness in the ring. Good explanation on your part. You know speaking of tacit knowledge, we have a saying in combat fighting. Survival is measured in inches and seconds. Yep. Its the little things coach.

[@ShaolinRopeDart]

Great thoughts Ramsey. Assuming technique is understood - dynamic sensitivity - the king virtue in skill application.

[@ianhenderson3078]

"Tacit knowledge" = "I know what to do, but I don't know what I'm doing".

[@cesaralvesdemoraes3187]

Im teaching my mom boxing. I learned A LOT from teaching an uncoordinated sedentary old lady (close to 60 years old). I had to become really good at completly dicarding one way of explaining things when she didn't understand something, because insisting on the same perspective NEVER payed off.

[@gamerx4286]

Waiting for 28 November 2020 Mike Tyson VS Roy Jones Junior Its gonna be awesome👿

[@christophervelez1561]

Question for the coach: When you are teaching a technique do you teach all the details at once or do you have newer students get a technique to a baseline "good enough" level where you let your student's play with it and figure out the slight adjustments they need to make. For instance when I would teach beginners armbars I would show every layer of detail in the technique. From how far over you should be, to biting down with your hamstrings, and pinching the arm with the leg, even to turning the knees over the head in an effort to better keep their opponent's posture broken. I always have been taught from wrestling, judo, and bjj that you need to master as many details while drilling because in live rolling/competition you are gonna get an 80% solution on your technique. Sorry for the long question love the videos!

[@MrZweimas]

Absolutely love your videos like this,. Teaching is by far my favourite thing about MMA. You talk about the why, and not just the how, so much more than most. I appreciate this.

[@punto451]

Hey Ramsey, love your videos! It looks like due to the pandemic, gyms will be closing again soon where I live and I wouldn't want to stop training, so I'd like to ask you: If you had to buy the bare minimum to put a personal gym in your home, what would you buy?

[@gamerx4286]

Who else is expecting that Mike Tyson is gonna win on 28 November against Roy Jones Jr. MIKE TYSON💪💪

[@IncredibleMD]

Steven Crowder, of all people, recently uploaded a video where he teaches two people some BJJ fundamentals like shrimping and the concept of the guard, but he also decides to teach them a cross-collar choke. They both aren't getting it at first, and you can practically SEE the gears in his head working, trying to figure out how to convey how to do the move properly. It isn't until he has one of them attempt the choke on HIM that he realizes what they're doing wrong. He FEELS their mistake INSTANTLY, and from there it takes him about fifteen seconds to adjust his teaching method and completely fix their technique. Apparently, Crowder is a purple belt in BJJ, and a black belt in imitating the Brazilian BJJ Coach Accent.

[@guy-s]

I think teaching is very similar to acting/rhetoric. Why? Because it's all about the way to express knowledge, not just the knowledge by itself. "The more words you know the more thoughts you can express".

[@anemski]

I guess Hafþór Björnssonr could beat Hercules in the cage, after a bit of training... I guess Bruce Lee could have beaten you at the time he lived, cause then you wouldn't have known what you know now. MMA exists partly thanks to Bruce Lee - he started the change in fighting culture through his films, he was a philosopher and wrote a book about his interpretation of moving from dogma to reality regarding fighting styles. Muhammad Ali was revolutionary with his style of boxing, he did not write a book - he showed it through tv footage (later on there was a book). I like what you do, not just the videos, and I have just subscribed to you channel 👍 👍 👍 ( I've just watched some of your other videos in a row before this comment) Best Regards

[@anthonymaloney6838]

The best way to teach a technique is through classical physics IMO. If a student can view the body as a complex biomachine composed of simple machines (elbow is a fulcrum, arm is a lever, and so on) then that student can become auto didactic (teaching themselves) much sooner. The study of force vectors, center of mass, and other classical physics concepts is what modern BJJ needs.

[@mr.orangeaide5260]

Hey Ramsey I hop you're doing well. Dunno if you remember me but I'm the "BJJ ruined my self esteem" guy from around a year ago. Im doing my second year of Journalism and am doing an article on Khabib's retirement and I was wondering if I could do a short interview with yourself over a voice call of some kind?

[@lockeddownboxing9904]

Thank god I naturally understand that concept of weight distribution. Since my first grappling class which happened to be bjj in no gi I was giving some of the new guys who train for around 6-12 months a little hard time and they were excited to roll with me because of the way I distributed my weight therefore I kept myself safe from their attempts for quite some time. But I can really feel what you’re talking about man. I am a freak when it comes to details and observation.

[@jomess7879]

The group your teaching matters as well. I've worked with kids since i was 12, when i started teaching kids it was pretty easy. Now im teaching striking to mostly college age adults and ive had a bit of a learning curve Haha.

[@fireeaglefitnessmartialart935]

I got really good at triangle and arm bar escapes. I can usually get out of most of them when rolling with people my level or lower. I still get caught sometimes, but 8-9/10 I can get out. I was taught how to, the coaches I learned from called it stacking. When you roll the person onto their shoulders. It also works against rubber guard and gogoplatas. And sometimes, the recent coach I've been learning from teaches a method to prevent such stacking, about a month ago, I rolled with a guy that used that method, and I managed to still stack him, just by understanding certain movements I didn't even know I comprehended. Lol. Dude did the counter stack correctly, I could feel the pressure, almost wasnt able to, but did adjust myself accordingly, got the right leverage, and muscled through it...from an armbar attempt(for clarity). Sometimes, figuring it out on your own is the best feeling.

[@elolife1375]

Yep it can be taught. Do some football linemen drills that teach pulling/pushing/ hitting/slapping. These will teach for instance the little differences in weight, power generation, balance and movement speed.

[@jasonborges6701]

Ramsey, would you be able to do a video on how to become better at studying film? Maybe analyze a fight on camera so we can see your entire thought process. And this would be in the context of preparing yourself or one of your fighters for an mma match. Thank you!

[@handler803]

Hey Mr. Ramsey, heres a question:what are your thoughts on the popularity of boxfit and as to why people go to those classes? Wouldnt it make much more sense to just enroll in a real boxing gym and just communicate with the coach right from the get-go that youre just there for fitness?

[@lockeddownboxing9904]

I even play a set up with my torso during striking session, so just by repositioning myself on feet I already position my arm on the right angle and I set it all up with my torso to throw a punch like they do in karate. That adds around 10-20% power to my hardest strikes if not more but there is certainly a lot to learn from anyone anywhere. I think we should be taught how to observe and people will figure out themselves. So the strike looks more like it was shot from a cannon and it follows a straight line and i don’t twist my arms in the elbow like you usually do in striking. I got the concept from Michael Jai White of the punch itself.

[@IncredibleMD]

Naturally talented people often make the worst teachers, because they never had to learn as their students do. One of the best ways to learn how to teach is to be a student. Not to learn what to parrot, but to experience what it's like to not be able to do something, and the difference in what performing a skill incorrectly versus performing it correctly feels like. If you don't understand WHY you're teaching something the way you're teaching it, you're not teaching it as well as you could be.

[@jonnycage3065]

I personally believe teaching how to distribute your center of mass and natural flow should be one of the jiujitsu basics. When I first started bjj I was able to give hard rolls with both white and low level blue belts solely because I had both of those skills even though I had no jiujitsu skill.

[@rollsgracie3604]

Some teachers could be good teachers know all the techniques and still keep quiet and don’t teach and use the Charisma just bullshit… We call them dream killers Rolls Was definitely not one of them he was one of the great ones the givers the big hearts the free spirits but they were others gargoyles

[@stephanwatson7902]

8:59 I always did this playing guitar to work on my singing. BUT I did it also while hitting the bag and realised I dropped my hands after striking, while stepping out, etc. Very useful

[@harrisfrankou2368]

I record any ideas when I play guitar after warmups technique etc I just "play". Any ideas I like I record. I have at least 40 ideas worth recording from my phone alone. Things I'd forget if otherwise. Same with my Zoom HDQ3 I use for Piano. I'm taking it to my Boxing Gym after Corona is cleared should be soon we have zero new cases in Melbourne right now.

[@stephanwatson7902]

@@harrisfrankou2368 exactly, if I'm playing around on an instrument and find a really cool riff or melody I record it too or it will just disappear into the aether

[@harrisfrankou2368]

@@stephanwatson7902 My new PC is good to go... finally! August /October updates ruined me. It's an ssd drive and solid now. Gonna jam to some beats with RMX Spectrasonics Drums. I always feel the rhythm and technique of fighting is like music. Slow learning mirrors fine-tuning, warm-ups... putting it into practice...like going from the bag or couch to a spar or garage jam. Refining technique pads a good trainer more sparring... more jamming new ideas... to finally go onstage or to get in the ring. Goodluck with your jamming and mma!

[@trishbarsby2516]

One of my fav saying when it comes to training/teaching horses is "Insanity is repeting the same thing and ecpecting gifferent results" Same goes for humans. If a student is not getting something change how you are teaching it.A good teacher can explain something well. A great teacher and explain it several ways.

[@youspriz1]

humility makes a good teacher thanks for sharing thoughts

[@mynameismynameis666]

what? there are 9 other Ramseys with a rashguard offering? what are the others like?

[@billmee4628]

Seems to me you need to develop a movement dictionary So people can look up a " movement definition".

[@tttITA10]

YES. Dear L0rd, it pains me that it is so common that martial arts instructors have this belief in maic invisible details instead of being open minded enough to acknoledge their teaching limitations and the need to put intelectual work into understanding their and their student's body's movement. This failure to recognize failure in teaching is just as bad as the now very well known failure to embrace failure in fighting that allows fake fighting instructors the delusion that they can fight. It just so happens that not acknoledging the failures in teaching allow bad instructors to think that they can teach.

[@tttITA10]

Talk about this to me! I am a permance Tai Chi forms instructor. Just imagine the ammount of "feel the expansion" or whatever I get from my pairs, instead of just "flipping move your hand a little further from the body".

[@benjaminvega7186]

Sometimes the best way to learn is to teach

[@johnparadowski1747]

Is stretching junk exercise? My question is what is the most effective exercises to kick higher? I have done some research on the internet and I get decision paralysis. Some people say just do stretching others say stretching with some leg exercises and others say to kick at the level you can then slowly kick higher. I am a male, 46 years old, and I have done kick boxing for a couple years when I was 25 (was not flexible then to). I now do Hwa Rang Do a traditional Korean martial art. What I would like to be able to do, is to have a higher front kick, side kick and round house kick. I find stretching to be very annoying I want the shortest time possible to develop a higher and smoother kick.

[@KaptainCanuck]

Kick a tad higher than you can with perfect form, but not fast, and that will help increase your range of motion (ROM). Learn Tom Kurz's (proper and most effective) stretching program. It is a partial myth that you need to be warmed up to stretch. I do slow, relaxed dynamic and static stretching every day cold. There is no warmup required but it would make the muscles more pliable and, therefore, receptive to "stretching". Keep in mind the myth about stretch preventing injuries. It does not. Stretching increases the ROM you can acquire before an injury happens but will not prevent it. I have pulled a leg muscle, while sleeping, because of cramping.

[@johnparadowski1747]

@@KaptainCanuck I was thinking about doing something like that

[@angelmirchev8433]

OK I don't know if you've answered this 1 before, but why do we virtually never see muay thai sweeps in MMA. Is it something to do with the skillset of MMA strikers being different? Or is is it the fact that fighters don't check kicks like Thai fighters, because they're worried about takedowns?

[@RamseyDewey]

A Muay Thai style sweep is a very low reward technique in an MMA fight. There’s no point in putting your opponent on the ground unless you follow him there to control him on the floor. Sweeping a guy with enough space between you so he can pop right back up doesn’t help you win an MMA fight. Also, in Muay Thai, it is legal to kick the head of your opponent as you sweep him, which often ends up looking like soccer kicking the head of a downed opponent, which is a flagrant foul in MMA. That being said, I’ve still seen those sweeps in MMA fights- not super common, but it does happen.

[@angelmirchev8433]

@@RamseyDewey hmmmmm that's fair enough. Thank you for explaining. I was just really curious.

[@JCBPARISPARIS]

Like you say we need some vocabulary for explaining, sometimes lack of vocabulary is a problem and we need to invent new words. Fortunately we have some specific vocabulary that can help a litlle bit : kimura grip, cable grip, palm to palm grip, DLR hook, shrimping,...

[@billyohara239]

a very good point

[@SatoshiEK]

Hey coach. What do you think of Shodokan / Tomiki Aikido? Seems pretty legit to me.

[@backwoodskarate9300]

Hey Ramsey. 1st two things my dad taught me from karate was how to snap kick and straight punch. As a young teenager I just tried copying movements and never put much real effort into really learning something then I saw the movie Billy jack and got more serious about actually being able to do the movements and slowly started to see some point to needing to know something on how to properly move. Half my life I was against conflict and confrontations and thought learning a martial art or training in a combat sport meant you leaned towards violence. It wasnt until 2018 did I really ask my dad to start instructing me. Also it took me a few years to get more snap in my snap kick instead of slinging it out. As I practiced and work out I also looked up other martial arts online to see what other people with that interest where out there in the world. I also wanted to look at different arts to see the difference. There isnt much of gyms or dojos left in my small town. I like muay thai and study its movements even practicing some of there kicks from online videos has helped improve some of my karate kicks as well boxing ones on my punches before I got reunited with a friend to help coach me in the movements. I also used to record myself and watch over to see what or where I was lacking in something. I'd go back to old vids of mine and compare to newer ones. I wouldn't be satisfied if I didnt see a change of me getting better each year in what ever I practiced. Thanks for the vid.

[@Aro2001]

Another factor is that people learn things differently. One way that gymnastics was a blessing for me in learning capoeira was finding out that I was more of a tactile learner. In gymnastics I would often point out my own mistakes (much to the amusement of my coaches) because I could feel what I was doing wrong. Sometimes even before the coaches had an opportunity to say it. Taking this back to capoeira, I found that it was easier to learn/improve my techniques when I know how it feels at a muscular level to perform the technique correctly as well as what a mistake might feel like as well.

[@jeffreylook9849]

It's the same with teaching philosophy and life lessons. One starts with being a pure learner. Eventually you transition progressively to teaching and guiding others in that area. Totally different skill and understanding level.

[@chadthundercock5641]

Jiu Jitsu is an art form, and like any art, it's an incredibly individual thing. There's only so much that other people can teach you; a vast majority of it has to be learned through personal experience

[@jasonroets9906]

With the triangle choke escape in the video, how do you prevent your partner from grabbing the close side leg and sweeping into a triangle in mount?

[@RamseyDewey]

Pin his shoulder to the mat just like I did. It’s the same set of frames that stops him from switching to an armbar.

[@jasonroets9906]

@@RamseyDewey yes. I saw that later in the video when you turned and put your knee on his chest or throat would prevent that

[@1easymoney155]

what's the difference between a teacher and a instructor ?

[@RamseyDewey]

Semantics

[@wyyyve]

I once was told you haven't mastered a technique until you can teach it, I have found that teaching techniques makes me better.

[@jamesmccrindle8633]

Hey coach do you think you are a better teacher/instructor/coach than you were a fighter or the opposite🙏🏻

[@RamseyDewey]

I had a pretty sub par fighting career. In years that followed, I have far surpassed my previous abilities as a fighter, and logged thousands of additional hours into the craft of coaching. I have coached many fighters to far greater success than in combat sports than I ever experienced personally. I hope that answers your question.

[@jamesmccrindle8633]

Ramsey Dewey very much so coach.Thank’s👍🏻

[@matthewbailey9405]

Hi Ramsey, that helps alot thanks. Some fantastic food for thought.

[@dakotalandreth]

another great video thank you so much Ramsey

[@jasonhowe1697]

I think at some point you might consider applies science to your classes

[@eduardoperi9897]

As always great video, loving the content man keep it up

[@vgman94]

First (to get KO’d)!

[@perrenchan6600]

Bit of a weird question, so is the "jacket on, jacket off" drill from the Kung Fu kid actually plausible because it creates a common vocabulary associated to a movement? Or is that the same as the "it's like pulling a rope"?

[@RamseyDewey]

If that were actually a viable technique, then sort of- but yeah, that still runs close to the realm of giving an analogy.

[@perrenchan6600]

@@RamseyDewey I see I see. I imagine a lot of the "practical stuff" comes afterwards both in the montage and off screen then. See I just assumed that drill was just a disciplinary drill that also help encourage a set of muscle movement (so cardio)

[@BlahBlah-yl2bz]

No thumbs down, yet! I hate the Ramsey-haters! Question: I’m mostly a melee-weapons guy, but I wanna do some unarmed and mixed sparring. What would you say are the most important pieces of gear are? We already wear full masks, gauntlets (heavier, padded gloves), jackets, and various other bits. Is there anything we could do to be safer than this or is it safe enough?

[@RamseyDewey]

A mouth guard is the single most important piece of safety equipment by far.