Game Sense: Pattern Recognition and Recognizing Shapes (Patreon)

• LMA Curriculum

If sparring is a form of wayfinding, then participants are the landmarks. We recognize a landmark by its shape, and once we recognize its shape, we can recognize both its orientation and ours. This information is invaluable when it comes to decision-making, especially in real-time combat.

Our ability to recognize patterns and shapes is both perception and game sense. It's a skill that can develop as a byproduct of training but develops even better when it's the goal of training rather than left to chance. A way to improve pattern recognition involves the classification of shapes. Liberation Martial Arts uses symbols. For instance: "I," "O," "L," and "Z."

Once you learn these shapes, you see them all the time in martial arts, particularly in grappling.

When you see champion wrestler Victoria Anthony demonstrating a takedown, what shape do you see? A "Z."

What shape does the hip escape (shrimp) adopt? A "Z." When you recognize techniques as shapes, you don't need to keep reinventing the wheel. You place the shape into its category and address the category, streamlining your decision-making process.

Understanding the symbols in martial arts gives you the skill of symbolic reasoning—the ability to read. However, in martial arts sparring, the goal isn't clarity; it's hiding meaning behind riddles.

To tackle a riddle, the first step is to read it. Solving riddles efficiently involves fast comprehension and categorization. Once you know the category, you can apply the strategies for that category.

Efficiency means you don't need a million strategies because there aren't a million categories. Inefficiency, on the other hand, leads to attempting a million different strategies if you fail to identify or acknowledge categories. Every sparring session becomes your first rodeo.

What shape are "Cobrinha" (bottom) and Kennedy Maciel (top)? They're both a "Z." They're presenting the same problem to each other—a stalemate.

Why is "Z" so prevalent among high-level grapplers? Because it's the strongest shape in combat sports. Even when you're in an "L" or "J"-stance, which describes the orientation of your feet, the shape of your body resembles a "Z." It's an adaptation of Kennedy's stance.

What shape should you avoid? The "I" or a straight line. If you're on your back, you're pinned. Before you can do anything else, you have to get out of this shape—you must unpin yourself. This obstacle underscores the rationale behind immobilizing, flattening, or straightening an opponent into an "I" because now you're one move ahead of them. Before they can do anything else, they have to make a new shape.

A "Z" is sometimes called the athletic stance or the universal athletic position because this is where we are strongest. We are using our legs, back, and core, with everything aligned and working in concert.

You are maximizing your strength and balance while thwarting attempts to flatten you into an "I" or fold you into an "L." Being bent over or having your posture broken can lead to a pin (or injury).

– Sam