Snapcrackler
White Belt
This is a post against the speels that we see on the web or otherwise, where people are pitching their wares and bewares - these folks breed discouragement about legitimate martial arts, while promoting their own homegrown "self defense" style which is typically a mixture of grappling, military basics (which is usually MA based anyway), more mixed martial arts, and some hard style fighting that they claim to be all encompassing. "Martial arts don't work on the street", they say! It seems they want to discourage Martial Artists, or wannabes, by revealing "hidden secrets" that renders your art useless (gasp!!!) and then they offer up their own concoction of defense, and try to make a buck at someone's expense. "I was beat up in school until I developed this special system!" They say. "Now I can vaporize many assailants without trying very hard! Buy these books and tapes! Lots and lots of books and tapes!" This is of course, very very wrong in many ways and also it is pretentious, arrogant and greedy. It flies right over the head of the fact that at the heart of every legitimate martial art is being aware of your surroundings, well trained, and SMART not to mention dangerous/lethal when defending yourself.
Okay. If Joe Blow walks around on the street looking down at the ground with their hands in their pockets, with a "black belt" they got after 12 months from some mcdojo where they studied (whatever art) then they will probably find themselves getting in trouble if confronting a few foes (or even one). This is the type of "martial artist" that seems to be often portrayed in the "martial arts don't work in real life" speels and pitches, unfortunately. Here's another example of that:
Some nights, when our TSD class needs the space, we train in an elementary school gym......just happens to be in the same school I attended when I was a kid 25 years ago. Here's the story:
I remember being in 2nd grade in that -very same- gym, and as kids we all gathered in there for a demo one schoolday, from some local karate club that must have taught their students how to look nice in their uniforms and that's it, because the demo we saw had a blackbelt pit himself against "several assailants in a bar" (I was thinking in 2nd grade "what is a bar?")... anyway this black belt doing the demo could NOT break most of the boards that the "multiple assailants" (his demo team guys) were standing there holding. Yes, these were SINGLE boards he could not break. Were these guys holding them against the grain? Were they made of kryptonite?
How did that karate demo guy get a black belt?? From Wal-Mart? Even as a 2nd grader I was embarrassed to watch this spectacle. Our TSD class today has 8 year old 9th guppers breaking 12X12X1 #3 pine with yup podos.
Since day one, my TSD instructors have stressed preparation and training for "on the street" confrontations as many good instructors do. I love this art I study. In our class, it takes about 6 years of hard work to get our dark blue belt and then of course we have just begun. If one of our trained students goes to a tournament, they will be bringing home trophies (usually a bunch of them). If one of our trained students gets grabbed by a few thugs on the street, then it's likely that they are taking those thugs down. TSD as well as other legitimate arts teaches brutal techniques as we all know.
I have heard the stat "95% of fights go to the gound in the first 3 seconds" which I believe is an inaccurate, broad statement. A "fight" is not when an assailant knocks someone down who is unprepared. That is not a fight. If you are unprepared to defend yourself and you're attacked well then yea, you're going to probably fall down. Maybe 95% of people walking around do not know how to defend themselves? Then the stat should read "95% of people who don't defend themselves when brutally attacked fall down within 3 seconds".
If a real fight DOES go to the ground on the street, and you happen to be still conscious (i.e. not knocked too hard over the head when someone snuck up behind you with a bat), TSD teaches us to be ready with arm/legbars, locks and strikes. We started learning how to break arms on the ground as white belts. Sure, if it goes to the ground with a TSD guy VS. a grappler it's gonna be to the grappler's advantage if the grappler is skilled and knows what they are doing. Skilled grapplers are dangerous on the ground. That's why a TSD artist needs to fight on TSD terms. Folks cannot claim a grappling-specific art is "better" which is like saying a Tank is better than a Fighter Jet. They are both powerful, but you are not going to taxi your fighter jet around, fighting the tank on the ground. On the same token, neither is the JJ grappler going to fly through the air with a spinning back kick and knock the crap out of an opponent (unless he is skilled in mixed arts.) Grapplers learn how to block, dodge and throw and grapple which is fine. If a person is studying TSD and wants to learn some JJ or additional grappling too, more power to him or her. Grappling arts and other legit arts are great. But they are not "better" or "worse" than TSD or other legit art.
My point is that if you study TSD or other legitimate art, YES you are a lethal weapon against multiple foes if you are a warrior and train right.
I say loudly "B.S." to the hucksters who say differently - they try to discourage people from learning anything except "their" special (hybridized, nonstandard, collect-all-of-the-videos-and-books for $500 or more system). It's just their personal collection of mixed MA and other techniques.
These "systems" are not a sculpted, ancient work of art like TSD.... which has been carefully and secretly passed down for generations over 2000 years. If a guy wants to learn 20 different systems, OK. But that guy has no right to suddenly claim that his new "system" works the best and nothing else "works". (Use my special "nose jam" where you quickly poke your finger in your attacker's nose! Buy the book for $19.95: Fighting against noses! Nothing else really helps you survive!)
I do not want to be discouraged while I am on the road to my black belt, training hard on a 2,000 year old system that has proven itself time and time again. I salute everyone else that is training, and urge you to remain confident while doing so, whether you are studying TSD or some other legitimate system. TSD is a proven, highly effective art of self defense. Tang Soo!
Okay. If Joe Blow walks around on the street looking down at the ground with their hands in their pockets, with a "black belt" they got after 12 months from some mcdojo where they studied (whatever art) then they will probably find themselves getting in trouble if confronting a few foes (or even one). This is the type of "martial artist" that seems to be often portrayed in the "martial arts don't work in real life" speels and pitches, unfortunately. Here's another example of that:
Some nights, when our TSD class needs the space, we train in an elementary school gym......just happens to be in the same school I attended when I was a kid 25 years ago. Here's the story:
I remember being in 2nd grade in that -very same- gym, and as kids we all gathered in there for a demo one schoolday, from some local karate club that must have taught their students how to look nice in their uniforms and that's it, because the demo we saw had a blackbelt pit himself against "several assailants in a bar" (I was thinking in 2nd grade "what is a bar?")... anyway this black belt doing the demo could NOT break most of the boards that the "multiple assailants" (his demo team guys) were standing there holding. Yes, these were SINGLE boards he could not break. Were these guys holding them against the grain? Were they made of kryptonite?
How did that karate demo guy get a black belt?? From Wal-Mart? Even as a 2nd grader I was embarrassed to watch this spectacle. Our TSD class today has 8 year old 9th guppers breaking 12X12X1 #3 pine with yup podos.
Since day one, my TSD instructors have stressed preparation and training for "on the street" confrontations as many good instructors do. I love this art I study. In our class, it takes about 6 years of hard work to get our dark blue belt and then of course we have just begun. If one of our trained students goes to a tournament, they will be bringing home trophies (usually a bunch of them). If one of our trained students gets grabbed by a few thugs on the street, then it's likely that they are taking those thugs down. TSD as well as other legitimate arts teaches brutal techniques as we all know.
I have heard the stat "95% of fights go to the gound in the first 3 seconds" which I believe is an inaccurate, broad statement. A "fight" is not when an assailant knocks someone down who is unprepared. That is not a fight. If you are unprepared to defend yourself and you're attacked well then yea, you're going to probably fall down. Maybe 95% of people walking around do not know how to defend themselves? Then the stat should read "95% of people who don't defend themselves when brutally attacked fall down within 3 seconds".
If a real fight DOES go to the ground on the street, and you happen to be still conscious (i.e. not knocked too hard over the head when someone snuck up behind you with a bat), TSD teaches us to be ready with arm/legbars, locks and strikes. We started learning how to break arms on the ground as white belts. Sure, if it goes to the ground with a TSD guy VS. a grappler it's gonna be to the grappler's advantage if the grappler is skilled and knows what they are doing. Skilled grapplers are dangerous on the ground. That's why a TSD artist needs to fight on TSD terms. Folks cannot claim a grappling-specific art is "better" which is like saying a Tank is better than a Fighter Jet. They are both powerful, but you are not going to taxi your fighter jet around, fighting the tank on the ground. On the same token, neither is the JJ grappler going to fly through the air with a spinning back kick and knock the crap out of an opponent (unless he is skilled in mixed arts.) Grapplers learn how to block, dodge and throw and grapple which is fine. If a person is studying TSD and wants to learn some JJ or additional grappling too, more power to him or her. Grappling arts and other legit arts are great. But they are not "better" or "worse" than TSD or other legit art.
My point is that if you study TSD or other legitimate art, YES you are a lethal weapon against multiple foes if you are a warrior and train right.
I say loudly "B.S." to the hucksters who say differently - they try to discourage people from learning anything except "their" special (hybridized, nonstandard, collect-all-of-the-videos-and-books for $500 or more system). It's just their personal collection of mixed MA and other techniques.
These "systems" are not a sculpted, ancient work of art like TSD.... which has been carefully and secretly passed down for generations over 2000 years. If a guy wants to learn 20 different systems, OK. But that guy has no right to suddenly claim that his new "system" works the best and nothing else "works". (Use my special "nose jam" where you quickly poke your finger in your attacker's nose! Buy the book for $19.95: Fighting against noses! Nothing else really helps you survive!)
I do not want to be discouraged while I am on the road to my black belt, training hard on a 2,000 year old system that has proven itself time and time again. I salute everyone else that is training, and urge you to remain confident while doing so, whether you are studying TSD or some other legitimate system. TSD is a proven, highly effective art of self defense. Tang Soo!
