Kasey’s blog “Commando Style Training” made me think. Now there’s the mark of a great teacher, to make you think (Re: “Find A good teacher” )
He was discussing people praying on your fantasies by teaching you how to be a special op guy, but ingraining bad habits since it is NOT our job to run toward danger (unless you are in LE). It’s our duty to run toward safety. Training for show instead of for reality. How many martial arts teacher are doing the same thing. They are promoting their school with “Learn self defense through … (insert any random style martial arts).” But they are not adapting what they teach toward real life violence. They teach their katas, their techniques and create violent situations to adapt to their teachings. Anyone else sees something flawed here? I call it giving an answer without knowing what the question is.
The definition or “martial” is: “of, relating to, or suited for war or a warrior”. I understand that teachers do not want their students injured but this does not mean they can dumb their teachings down. There are ways to keep things safe and real. Like Rory so eloquently states, the purpose of those techniques should be to maim or kill, of course if you train “realistically”, people would end up in the hospital every night. You can train with power against a bag or a partner that holds a shield or is suited up appropriately. You can practice for accuracy against a partner by slowing things down but still using intent in your movement. So many schools I have seen teach their students to make absolutely no contact, not even with a bag or a shield. What do you get when you have this? No injuries in the dojo? No students being afraid to get hit or hurt? Yes you do have that. But you have other things as well. First you have students who do not know how to strike properly. Ever hit a bag hard with your wrist bent? Hurts doesn’t it? How do you learn to correct it if you are always doing it wrong and suffer no consequences in the process. Second, you are teaching your students to fail. If you always miss the mark, you will miss the mark under stress. Third, your students are missing an opportunity to know what it feels like to receive a strike. If the first time you experience getting hit is during a real life violent encounter, I pretty well guarantee it will make your brain freeze. “Ouch, this hurt...what just happened?... No… wait …now I am in the hospital because I took too long to react”… when what you should be thinking is “Is this the best you got A..hole… my buddies hit me harder than that”.
Teachers… are you setting up your students to fail to make things run smoother in the dojo? Will you be able to live with yourself if they get hurt using the poor teachings they have received from you?
Students…. Do you want to be in a school that worries more about law suits than ingraining good habits?
If all you are interested in is dance or gymnastic, by all means take those classes. They are great… fun… good exercises. But do not delude yourself in calling them “self defense”. There is a LOT more to self preservation than throwing a punch or a kick, especially a bad one.
Just my 2 cents worth.
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