in the early eighties i was approached by a fellow who asked me to teach him martial arts. he saw me practicing in my yard one afternoon and stopped by the next day. when i finally agreed to do it after some pestering from him i realized that i wasnt sure what i was going to teach.
up to that point, i had been training in martial arts for about twelve years. at that time, i had training in tae kwon do, judo, wrestling, shorei ryu karate, and hapkido, with a strong influence from bruce lee's jkd and some influence from kali, plus the over three hundred books and over three hundred magazines i had collected, read, and studied from. my new student asked me what style i was doing. i didnt feel loyalty to any one system or aspect of fighting. in other words, i couldnt say that i was going to teach him tae kwon do, since i added throwing and grappling and weapons. and i couldnt say i was teaching him judo or wrestling, since i added kicking, punching, and weapons. from these thoughts i started a study of just what comprised a system. i cross referenced information from several hundred books on varying styles and came up with a workable base that was generic to as complete a training program as i could create.
no matter what style you study, you can use this information to determine your fighting ranges and create your own list of tools (techniques) for your personal arsenal. here is some of what i came up with. i call it the structural analysis of the martial arts..here is my list...
1-two phases of combat-armed, unarmed
2-three attitudes of combat-offensive,defensive,neutral
3-attributes-personal skills such as timing, speed,flexibility, etc..that you bring into the combative situation.
4-ranges of fighting-long range(kicking),medium or middle range(kicking and punching), close range(hitting with knees, elbows, trapping,and transitioning from standing to ground fighting).also, my personal feeling is that if you are on the ground, you can still use the three ranges. if a person attacks you, you can kick them. if they move in closer, you can hit them, and so on. that is why i dont classify ground fighting as its own range. i see it as a transition.
5-body divisions-high, middle, low lines, inside, outside lines, forward, rear, center lines.
6-elements of training-solo drills, partner drills, conditioning drills, sparring drills,environmental awareness drills.
7-list of tools-stance,posture, body position, mobility, footwork, evasion, offensive hands, defensive hands, offensive legs, defensive legs,joint/anti-joint( lock-break-throw), choke/strangle, balance disruption(throws, sweeps, takedowns),grappling, pinning, miscellaneous controlling(dirty fighting tactics, hair pull, bite, gouge, etc.)
the transition back and forth between fighting ranges will determine which tools you will use in combat. if you prefer to stay outside of the opponent's reach then the long range tools will be of use to you. in all, you should be able to transition between each range when needed. you may find yourself in close range some time and need to defend yourself with trapping and hitting there.
rather than necessarily going out and studying all the different styles, (unless you want to do that) use my list to determine what you know already. that is what i did after i created the list. what techniques do you know now? are you a kicker in need of close range fighting skills? are you a grappler in need of long range kicking? use the ranges to determine where you feel most comfortable and then make a list of all the techniques you know. put them under the appropriate heading under the list of tools and see what you primarily use for fighting.
studying a variety of martial arts can be fun but it isnt really necessary per se if you are trying to round out your abilities as a martial artist. there are many books and videos available on the market which can help you learn about the various phases of combat and expose you to a great variety of techniques and ideas. you can get a training partner to help you work out the differences by experimentation. of course, as suggested earlier, i would say you would stand a better chance of doing this after training for some time. it is more difficult to accomplish without at least a year or two of training in at least one system. it depends upon the system too. some are very slow about what they teach and how they teach it. and many can be limiting on what they teach. if you can find an instructor who is open minded that is the best way to go. he might be likely to help you experiment.
when i teach i tell the students to be aware that they are going to be participating in an ongoing experiment called self exploration. they need to find their way of fighting. like bruce lee said, i merely want to be a guide, a finger pointing to the moon. i like to help others find the way that fits them, not me. once you understand the basics of the martial arts as a whole, you can go in and put further study into individual aspects. the list i put here is a general list of what a more complete martial artist should know, as far as having a sense of the ranges of fighting and the tools that he can use in those ranges. i hope it helps. thanks for reading.
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