RingoThis is gonna be a quick write up. On my Patreon, shameless plug, Josh Kearney asked me to write on why “we” suck compared to best fighters. I have a piece coming up about why everyone sucks, including the best fighters, but that’s for later. For now I’ll give my best guess on what separates the top level from the bottom.
First and foremost, Fitness. We’re still at the point where showing up as an athletic person gets you pretty far up the ladder in this sport. Putting in the work in the gym is the #1 indicator of whether someone is gonna be good or not. Slightly less important but close, is if they are putting the right work in. Just powerlifting or cardio won’t do it. You need a mix. HIIT is the best and things like Crossfit are pretty good. Ideally the person will have a program designed specifically for this though, something like KnightFit is great, but there are plenty of other approaches that would work.
Examples, Ordo, Iron Phoenix, and the Executioners are all made up of strong athletes who all train at least college athlete level. Some close to Semi Pro. The Warlords also train at a similar rate and as they keep adding more and more fighters who do that training they have progressively climbed the rankings at tourneys.
Other Examples. Guys like Derrick Flitcroft who came into the game with no background and immediately became the best fighter in his immediate area simply by being the best athlete.
Second, Fighting Together, ALOT. Teamwork is huge in this. And Implicit teamwork is even more important. All the plays in the world don’t matter once the fight starts, or to quote Iron Mike, “Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face.” Nothing survives first impact and after that it’s too chaotic to really plan things out. You need to be able to read your teammates actions and trust they can do the same for yours. That type of implicit communication comes from hundreds of reps of spending time and training together. There is no substitute to fighting together though and you need to get your hours in watching and fighting with each other to be able to work that well as a team.
Examples, Ordo began their rise to the top after traveling alot and fighting as much, probably more than anyone in HMB USA. The Executioners were for years the most active team in the IMCF of this side of the Atlantic. I believe they still are, but the Warlords are close. All 3 teams are more than the sum of their parts and thrive not in 1 v1 scenarios but once the initial contact has been made and line battles have broken up. They all win in the swirl
Another example from previous years is the Grizzlies that consistently won the western Nationals of the ACL. While they’re fighters were all competent on their few were that top level, but as a team they worked excellently to put fighters down and support each other, making them that top level.
Third, weapon skill. Alot of teams think all they need to focus on is grappling, trips, rail work, etc. But the top teams? They all know how to make weapons work. While in the HMB world short axes are not very popular and polearms don’t make much of an appearance in 5’s, what you do see is the best teams utilizing heavy falchions to great effect. Do they drop people with strikes? Rarely. But go watch Bear Paw work and you’ll see those falchions are often what set up the takedown. As the opponent reacts to the furious blows, the Bear Paw fighter finds an opening and exploits it. In America, the weapon work is often done with heavy punishing blows that cause people to quit or break, but concept is the same. Make the other team hurt, so it’s easier to beat them.
Examples. Executioners have consistently won via not only literally beating their opponents down, but also the amount of respect our opponents give our axes, which lets us determine how we want to fight to go.
Right now I think those three are the biggest difference I see across the board. I think there are alot other things that make teams successful, but they are often things you see in every team or things that not every top team has. For example not ever top team uses a punisher. Nor is every top team great at running. Every team has some amount of grappling skill and thats a must have for top teams.
I have lots of ideas on what the best training methods are but for now I’m sticking to just the few things I’ve recognized in what separates the best from the rest.