Endurance

I like it when "streetfighters" claim that they don't need to train for endurance because their fights only last a few seconds. The funniest part is that most "streetfighters" have only been in one or two fights and wouldn't know shit about getting in shape anyhow. Legitimate streetfighters tend to know better, albeit not much.

You need to build up your endurance even if all you train for is a sudden, unoprovoked self-defense situation that's probably never even going to happen.

  

 Not for the same reason as a competitive fighter though. A fighter needs stamina for when the rounds get deep. Get tired and you'll get knocked out. Or tapped out or choked out or whatever out you prefer. For self-defense or a barroom brawl it's a little bit different. You might not necessarily need the long term wind that comes from endurance training (you probably will) but what you will need is a familiarity with the confusion and uncoordination that endurance training tends to bring out. If you get forced into a fight you're going to experience an adrenaline dump. Within seconds you'll feel like you've been doing sprint intervals for several minutes. The less used to this feeling you are, the more likely you are to choose flight over fight as your split-second response. Since we're on the subject it's a good idea to train your self-defense skills, kata or whatever the fuck it is that you do, when you're already exhausted from your endurance training because that's how it's going to feel when the shit hits the fan anyway. It won't feel as good at first but get used to it. At the boxing gym up the street here nobody touches the bag or gets in the ring until they've done at least 20 minutes of running and doing jump rope intervals. In the old days Okinawan karatekas wouldn't do any kata or bunkai until after they'd done their hojo undo.

Skill training definitely feels better when you're fresh. It's also a lot easier. Easy is for wimps. If all you're interested in is pretty looking poomse or fancy looking tricks that might be fine. But when some asshole like me shoves you off of your stool in front of the girl you were hopelessly trying to mack you're going to be just some other joke who traditional martial arts training didn't work for. You'll join an MMA gym and hang out with the other prettyboys who've been bullied and preach online about the superiority of MMA over the older self-defense systems. Well no shit, retard. Competitive mixed martial arts fighters train for endurance. They're not going to panic when the adrenaline dumps because they feel it dump all the time.

It doesn't hurt that competitive fighters (boxing, wrestling, judo, MMA, etc) aren't going to be shocked at the prospect of physical contact either but that's somewhat of another matter. If you really wanted to learn how to fight you would train in a gym with fighters who actually fight. But not everybody does and they've all got their reasons so in the meantime stop bullshitting and just do your cardio work like everybody else.