| Martial arts these days are kind of funny. There's three | | | | their martial art? |
| broad groups you'll find each with it's own peculiar | | | | What you'll probably notice is that the primary quality |
| quirks. | | | | needed to 'win' is a level of comfort with being |
| You have the old school, traditional martial arts (TMA) | | | | extremely violent and doing unpleasant things to |
| for whom preserving and passing on a complete way | | | | another human being. Turning 'Mr Nice' off entirely for |
| of life is important. Forms, etiquette and rank tend to | | | | the duration is step one. |
| feature highly as do making your moves look so nice. | | | | Most persistent violent criminals have no 'Mr. Nice' to |
| You get combat sports, like mixed martial arts, kick | | | | turn off so the very fact that you're a halfway decent |
| boxing and Olympic style tae kwon do which generally | | | | human being is the first handicap to overcome. This |
| do a great job for your conditioning but within the rules | | | | might sound bleak and that's because it is. |
| of the sport. | | | | There's some interesting research on what happens to |
| Then you have the 'reality based' purely real world | | | | brain development in physically abused children - beat |
| combat oriented stuff that typically strips out as much | | | | a kid lots growing up and their tolerance for violence, |
| as possible that doesn't do the job leaving you with a | | | | pain thresholds and arousal levels gets hard wired in on |
| much smaller toolkit of more generally useful moves. | | | | a much higher setting than any 'well adjusted' individual. |
| So the question everyone wants to know is how do | | | | Step two is to isolate the physical striking skills that you |
| you really know how useful your art or sport is actually | | | | can deliver with the most power, speed, reliability and |
| going to be in a really violent situation? What kinds of | | | | least damage to yourself in the process. |
| combat systems work the best in the real world? | | | | Grappling and kicking is great if you've already |
| First up, you can either learn from own experience or | | | | invested a lot of time in being really good at it but |
| from others. When the experience required involves | | | | neither rolling around on the ground or balancing on one |
| being punched in the face lots, I'm happy to let specific | | | | leg are good tactical moves when there's more than |
| others figure out what works best! | | | | likely several other people trying to take a pop at you. |
| Short of actually having lots of bar brawls, indulging in | | | | Think gross motor skills that are easy to remember |
| gang warfare or joining the military yourself you'll need | | | | under pressure. Straight head shots, elbows and |
| to do some homework from people who've been | | | | hammer fist blows. Basic knees and kicks as people |
| there, on either side of the fence. | | | | go down. Basic covers to soak incoming shots as best |
| Get online and watch some real combat footage. Find | | | | you can but only for the briefest moment it takes you |
| video or CCTV footage of prison riots, bar brawls and | | | | to resume the offensive. Keep your toolkit simple, small |
| general drunken mayhem. | | | | and flexible. |
| Notice what kind of moves are getting used the most. | | | | Step three is to pressure test your responses so that |
| Notice who wins. Is it the person who hits first? Is it the | | | | under duress, exhaustion and obstacles your mindset |
| person who tries a fancy kick? Is it always the bigger | | | | is constantly on attack, attack, attack. The only reason |
| attacker. What happens once the first couple of shots | | | | to block is because the target is still standing! |
| land? | | | | Once you've got these basics firmly drilled in, then you |
| Now notice how the emergency rooms around the | | | | can expand back into more sophisticated concepts |
| world are full of people who ended up there at the | | | | once you have build a better game plan, making your |
| hands of completely untrained people. | | | | basics more and more powerful rather than more |
| Does any of this look like the way most people train in | | | | thinly spread. |