Question: How many times have you read or heard something similar to the following statement, whether it be in a martial arts or fitness/sports related magazine, book, interview, etc.?
"All other things being equal, the fighter/athlete/martial artist with the best ____ will win."
I cannot count the number of times I've read and/or heard martial arts instructors, competitors, and coaches of various kinds make some type of comment like this. And I know that there are some of you out there who are like me in that, a long time ago, when I was inexperienced, I took every one of these statements to heart.
If a coach/instructor I respected said, "All else being equal, the fighter with the best cardio will win," I'd take it as a hint to really invest more time in developing my endurance. If another instructor said, "All else being equal, the person with the best technique will win out," I'd go back and really hammer my fundamentals and get my technique better. I think everybody can see where I'm going with this, but let me present you with a seemingly unrelated analogy just in case:
Let's say I have two dogs. They're the same breed, came from the same litter (same age), and they're the same sex. They both get walked and fed a full bowl of food twice a day, but one of them has a bowl that's 2x the size of the other's bowl. Is it any big revelation to ANYONE that over time, the one who eats out of the bigger bowl is going to get FATTER? I SHOULD HOPE NOT!
What is my point? My point is each one of these statements which various people spout off as a priceless nugget of wisdom that we should be thankful to receive is really no less a revelation than the statment, "All else being equal, the dog that eats more food is going to get fatter."
It's a simple mathematical fact, folks, so why don't we just generalize all this into one statement that covers ALL possibilities?
ALL ELSE BEING EQUAL, WHATEVER IS LEFT WILL DECIDE THE OUTCOME.
That means that, all else being equal, the candidate who receives the most votes will win the election; all else being equal, the person who uses their credit card the most will accumulate the most debt; and all else being equal, the person who trains the hardest and the smartest will get the best results.
So, the next time you hear such a statement, I hope you do the following:
1. Nod in agreement and acknowledge the importance of whatever particular attribute the person is trying to emphasize, whether it be endurance, technique, strength, strategy, whatever. They're all important, after all.
2. Double check to make sure they're not trying to sell you something.
3. Realize that in the REAL WORLD, ALL ELSE IS RARELY, IF EVER, EQUAL.
