How to Be a Good Training Partner

Being a good training partner is one of those things that most people don’t think about when they first join a gym and start learning a martial art. This is totally normal. When it’s your first day or even your first month, you are usually inwardly focused because your main goals revolve around not embarrassing yourself and building up your endurance.

As you develop friendships and get more comfortable on the mat, you will inevitably start to recognize that there are people who are more pleasant to roll with than others. In the below video, Coach Firas Zahabi of Tristar Gym in Montreal describes three easy rules that may not make you a better fighter, but they will make you a better partner.

Rule #1 – Practice Good Hygiene

You are going to sweat when you participate in any martial art. You are also going to get up close and personal with another individual. Everyone agrees that these things are part of the deal. Everyone should also know by this point in life that sweaty people don’t smell great.

While there’s no way to avoid sweat when you’re working out or rolling, keeping your body odor at bay is simply good etiquette and not difficult. If you come to the gym after work, you will probably want to shower or at least reup your deodorant. If you plan to roll after a workout, you will definitely want to shower before getting on the mat. You’ll also want to change your clothes.

Additionally, you should be practicing other aspects of good hygiene. Trim your nails, brush your teeth, and regularly wash the clothes you wear to the gym. No one is expecting you to smell like a daisy while you’re rolling, but you shouldn’t be shadowed by a cloud of B.O. either. 

One final point: If you’re thinking about wearing cologne to make up for the fact that you didn’t have time to shower, don’t.

Rule #2 – Be Complementary

“Don’t worry about dominating everybody and feeding your ego,” Coach Firas says. “Go and enjoy yourself.”

It can be difficult to let go of your ego when you’re just learning a martial art. Most of us are not used to losing in such a definitive or public way and it can be really difficult to accept the fact that another person physically bested you. It is humiliating. In other words, you will be forced to learn some humility.

As you become more familiar with martial arts, however, you will learn to take practice less seriously and to become less emotionally invested in each sparring session. This allows you to see the person you’re training with as a partner rather than an opponent. Even though you’re competing against one another, you are complementing their development as a fighter, and they should be doing the same for you.

In other words: Treat your partner like a partner, not an adversary.

Coach Firas extends this mentality off the mat, as well. If you’re walking out of the gym and you see someone that you rolled with, express your respect and appreciation. Ultimately, you want to be the person that everyone wants to roll with not only because you have great technique or because you can teach your partners something new. You want to be known as an all-around good person.

Rule #3 – Have Fun

Just because training is strenuous and pushes you both physically and emotionally doesn’t mean that you have to always be serious. You should feel free to joke around and talk smack to your partner. At the end of the day, you are training. You are preparing for a fight. You are not actually fighting this person, so you shouldn’t feel any kind of animosity towards them even if they get the best of you a few times in a row. In fact, you should be using your time with them to try untested techniques with which you’re less familiar. You don’t want to try these things in a tournament or a street fight where you may be in a life-or-death situation. 

Again, if you’re having fun, then you’re less afraid of losing. If you’re less afraid of losing, that can give you the freedom to relax, be more playful, and develop new strategies.

In keeping with the idea that you’re supposed to be having fun, Coach Firas advises against using performance enhancing drugs. Even though they’ve become far more common in the world of sports and especially among a lot of MMA fighters, they still come with a lot of health risks. Moreover, they defeat the purpose of training, which is to achieve your personal best through hard work and tenacity.