When you’re better than someone, time slows down.
When you’re worse, time speeds up. You feel behind a couple steps. This could be your opponents’ skill (some combination of technique and experience), speed, or strength. When someone’s faster than you, it can feel like you’re being chased or you’re trying to catch up. When someone’s stronger than you, it can feel like you can’t move.
You can improve any of three to get better. I often hear of people talking about how they’ll get better by running more lifting weights more. 1
But remember that technique sticks while the other two, especially speed, will usually decline over time.
Speed and strength do matter. But not as much as technique. Work on technique.
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If you had to choose between the two, choose lifting. Getting stronger is more important and it’s sustainable. Getting faster is just a matter of getting more efficient, which means better technique. And for building endurance, you just need to spar more. ↩︎