Sometimes in my street-fighting martial arts classes...I will purposely put two people who don't like each other (or even hate each other) together during sparring sessions.

In some cases, when I really want them to make progress, I'll encourage them to tease, taunt and even verbally abuse each other.

Why do I do this?

Is it because I'm some kind of jerk who gets a rise out watching people yell at one another?

Not at all.

I do this because making people train in emotionally-charged situations like this is one of the single best ways to teach them how to control their emotions and keep their priorities straight.

You see, in a real fight on the street, you are going be exposed to a level of emotional intensity that you simply will not feel anywhere else. Anywhere.

And so, if you can learn how to distance yourself from your anger, your fear and your frustration -- by training yourself how to block it out while sparring in an emotionally-charged situation -- then your chances of walking away from a real fight in one piece go up dramatically.

And you should do the same thing when you spar and train. Taunt and tease each other. Call each other names. Push each other's hot buttons.

Just make sure you do NOT do this without a third person present to mediate things, especially if either of you lacks self control.

In fact, be very careful with this. Because if either (or worse, both) of you have deep hostility towards each other, then you could end up going much farther than sparring.

So like anything -- especially when it comes to training how to fight -- use common sense.