With all these reality based defence systems out there many people have begun to question the training methods of traditional martial arts. They see many of the static methods of training such as patterns, one step sparring and certain self defence techniques as unrealistic. That is because they are taking what they see at face value. They use statements like “that won’t work in a real situation”, “your opponent is not going to just stand there after the first strike and wait for you to counter-attack”, “your training is ‘dead training’, you need to do ‘alive training’ on fully resisting opponents to be able to use it in a real situation” and “you fight like you train” as justification for saying that traditional martial arts are ineffective. They use this as a way to come up with their own special system of self-protection that ‘does not involve martial arts” yet they use martial arts techniques. So what are some of the training methods that receive criticism?
Bringing the hand back to the hip whilst punching with the other one;
Why is this done in traditional martial arts training? Bringing the hand back to the hip when punching instead of returning to the guarding position is not something you would do in free sparring or a real self-defence situation, if this is so then why is it done in the patterns or during basics line drills (walking up and down in a straight line in a stance practicing basics)? The answer is that this is done to learn the technique and so you can practice them without having to worry about protecting from attacks. It is a way of isolating the individual movement to concentrate on perfecting them. When you use the same technique during sparring, where you do have to worry about protecting yourself from attacks, you perform the punch from the guarding position. Punching whilst bringing the hand back to the hip is the purest most powerful form of the straight punch with 1 arm going forward and 1 arm going backwards at the same time driving the other one forward like 2 kids on a seesaw, this teaches you to twist the hips properly when performing the punch. If you watch carefully when a traditional martial artist punches from a guarding position this action of moving 1 arm backwards still occurs but to a lesser extent but the hip movement is the same. This is because of all of the practice of twisting the hips that was gained performing the punch in its raw state.
Static movements – one step sparring and self-defence techniques
What is the purpose of training to defend yourself from a single attack by your opponent just standing there while you counter attack? Again it is just a way of practicing and concentrating on the individual techniques. When some people see one step sparring or knife defences they think that this is how a traditional martial artist would actually perform the techniques in a real life self-defence situation. Why is it so difficult to understand that they are just practicing the techniques and not always training for realism on resisting opponents? If a white belt student trained on fully resisting opponents all the time then how are they supposed to learn the techniques properly and become good at them? They canÂ’t so they must learn the techniques first and then at a later time practice them on opponents that provide a bit more resistance. When practicing certain self-defence techniques the person grabbing must grab firm but not tight, this is to allow the defender to practice the techniques without injuring his training partner An example would be a defence against a bear hug from behind where the defending student kicks back to break the knee or use a knife hand strike to chop the groin and then perform a release after the attacker has been softened up. If the person grabbing holds with full resistance then to perform the release the defending student would have to actually break the knee or really strike the groin to use the release and that would be impractical for teaching purposes. When practicing any particular release from a hold the person grabbing must not fight against the movement the person defending is making them do (this is to prevent injury to the attacking student) but must not move for them either, (this would be no resistance at all) and will not help the defender learn anything. An example would be a defence against a shoulder grab that involves the defender putting the attacker into a wrist lock. The defender must initiate the movement not the attacker and the attacker must not resist too much. The more the attacker resists the more force the defender must use to perform the technique successfully and this can lead to serious injury. It does not take much effort to break someoneÂ’s wrist and care must be taken to ensure both students can continue practicing safely. They practice this way so that they can perfect the techniques so that they become second nature so if they need to do them in a real situation they can use the techniques effectively and efficiently.
Patterns – hyung, kata, forms and whatever
Some people criticize martial arts that use patterns as a training tool, they say that patterns are useless and unrealistic and even suggest that traditional martial artist believe that patterns are supposed to represent free sparring. The main purpose of patterns is so you can practice the basics in 2 dimensions instead of just 1 (during line work). The patterns contain many of the most important techniques of the art, put into a logical order, to ensure they are practiced regularly even if they are not the studentÂ’s favourite techniques. There also some very important concepts that the patterns introduce to the student such as footwork, combinations and simultaneous block and counter-attacks. The patterns do not necessarily represent a single entire sequence but rather represent a few separate smaller sequences, one after the other, strung together for convenient practice. Patterns are also an excellent fitness exercise, performing 10 or more patterns at full speed and power one after the other will certainly get your heart pumping.
Belts
Martial artists trained for centuries without using a belt system so why do we need them now? The answer – back in the days before belts masters teaching their art would typically have only one student to hand down the art or sometimes a small group so back then it was easy for them to keep track of the students’ progress and also back then martial arts were almost always a lifelong commitment. When you have a school that has over 500 branches with an average of 10-30 students per class keeping track of every student’s progress becomes a lot more difficult, therefore a belt system becomes a bit more necessary. Also with the modern age students come and go, they start a martial art, stop for whatever reason (work or family commitments etc.) and restart sometimes years later so having a belt is a way for the instructors to gauge a student’s level of understanding and they also serve to group together students with similar knowledge and skills. Today’s modern world is a lot more goal orientated so having a belt system gives the students some short term goals and a target to aim for.
Basics always the same position for the hands
Some people may argue that having your hands end up in the same position, for example an outer forearm block that always has the fist in line with the shoulder and the front toes, does not represent reality in that attackers will not punch exactly at the same height every time. The techniques are practiced that way so that they are all the same, like a template, so that there is a basis where technique can be improved upon. When the techniques are utilized in free sparring or in a self defence situation they are modified for blocking and striking at different heights. Learning the blocks in the basics at every conceivable height would be a lot more difficult so you learn then at a specified height and then adjust according to the situation.
Please note; when reading this post that this is a training philosophy and not in any way meant to suggest that this is a statement of absolute truth and everybody who disagrees is wrong or that this is the only way of thinking. If you have different views then feel free to disagree (or rhyme), no offense is intended.
Bringing the hand back to the hip whilst punching with the other one;
Why is this done in traditional martial arts training? Bringing the hand back to the hip when punching instead of returning to the guarding position is not something you would do in free sparring or a real self-defence situation, if this is so then why is it done in the patterns or during basics line drills (walking up and down in a straight line in a stance practicing basics)? The answer is that this is done to learn the technique and so you can practice them without having to worry about protecting from attacks. It is a way of isolating the individual movement to concentrate on perfecting them. When you use the same technique during sparring, where you do have to worry about protecting yourself from attacks, you perform the punch from the guarding position. Punching whilst bringing the hand back to the hip is the purest most powerful form of the straight punch with 1 arm going forward and 1 arm going backwards at the same time driving the other one forward like 2 kids on a seesaw, this teaches you to twist the hips properly when performing the punch. If you watch carefully when a traditional martial artist punches from a guarding position this action of moving 1 arm backwards still occurs but to a lesser extent but the hip movement is the same. This is because of all of the practice of twisting the hips that was gained performing the punch in its raw state.
Static movements – one step sparring and self-defence techniques
What is the purpose of training to defend yourself from a single attack by your opponent just standing there while you counter attack? Again it is just a way of practicing and concentrating on the individual techniques. When some people see one step sparring or knife defences they think that this is how a traditional martial artist would actually perform the techniques in a real life self-defence situation. Why is it so difficult to understand that they are just practicing the techniques and not always training for realism on resisting opponents? If a white belt student trained on fully resisting opponents all the time then how are they supposed to learn the techniques properly and become good at them? They canÂ’t so they must learn the techniques first and then at a later time practice them on opponents that provide a bit more resistance. When practicing certain self-defence techniques the person grabbing must grab firm but not tight, this is to allow the defender to practice the techniques without injuring his training partner An example would be a defence against a bear hug from behind where the defending student kicks back to break the knee or use a knife hand strike to chop the groin and then perform a release after the attacker has been softened up. If the person grabbing holds with full resistance then to perform the release the defending student would have to actually break the knee or really strike the groin to use the release and that would be impractical for teaching purposes. When practicing any particular release from a hold the person grabbing must not fight against the movement the person defending is making them do (this is to prevent injury to the attacking student) but must not move for them either, (this would be no resistance at all) and will not help the defender learn anything. An example would be a defence against a shoulder grab that involves the defender putting the attacker into a wrist lock. The defender must initiate the movement not the attacker and the attacker must not resist too much. The more the attacker resists the more force the defender must use to perform the technique successfully and this can lead to serious injury. It does not take much effort to break someoneÂ’s wrist and care must be taken to ensure both students can continue practicing safely. They practice this way so that they can perfect the techniques so that they become second nature so if they need to do them in a real situation they can use the techniques effectively and efficiently.
Patterns – hyung, kata, forms and whatever
Some people criticize martial arts that use patterns as a training tool, they say that patterns are useless and unrealistic and even suggest that traditional martial artist believe that patterns are supposed to represent free sparring. The main purpose of patterns is so you can practice the basics in 2 dimensions instead of just 1 (during line work). The patterns contain many of the most important techniques of the art, put into a logical order, to ensure they are practiced regularly even if they are not the studentÂ’s favourite techniques. There also some very important concepts that the patterns introduce to the student such as footwork, combinations and simultaneous block and counter-attacks. The patterns do not necessarily represent a single entire sequence but rather represent a few separate smaller sequences, one after the other, strung together for convenient practice. Patterns are also an excellent fitness exercise, performing 10 or more patterns at full speed and power one after the other will certainly get your heart pumping.
Belts
Martial artists trained for centuries without using a belt system so why do we need them now? The answer – back in the days before belts masters teaching their art would typically have only one student to hand down the art or sometimes a small group so back then it was easy for them to keep track of the students’ progress and also back then martial arts were almost always a lifelong commitment. When you have a school that has over 500 branches with an average of 10-30 students per class keeping track of every student’s progress becomes a lot more difficult, therefore a belt system becomes a bit more necessary. Also with the modern age students come and go, they start a martial art, stop for whatever reason (work or family commitments etc.) and restart sometimes years later so having a belt is a way for the instructors to gauge a student’s level of understanding and they also serve to group together students with similar knowledge and skills. Today’s modern world is a lot more goal orientated so having a belt system gives the students some short term goals and a target to aim for.
Basics always the same position for the hands
Some people may argue that having your hands end up in the same position, for example an outer forearm block that always has the fist in line with the shoulder and the front toes, does not represent reality in that attackers will not punch exactly at the same height every time. The techniques are practiced that way so that they are all the same, like a template, so that there is a basis where technique can be improved upon. When the techniques are utilized in free sparring or in a self defence situation they are modified for blocking and striking at different heights. Learning the blocks in the basics at every conceivable height would be a lot more difficult so you learn then at a specified height and then adjust according to the situation.
Please note; when reading this post that this is a training philosophy and not in any way meant to suggest that this is a statement of absolute truth and everybody who disagrees is wrong or that this is the only way of thinking. If you have different views then feel free to disagree (or rhyme), no offense is intended.