Thursday 17/09/15
Over the years I have studied a variety of martial arts; Tae Kwon Do, Ninjutsu, Karate, Western Boxing, and Muay Thai. I have also dabbled in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and a few other styles. You might think this a rather eclectic mix of styles, but my intention was never to master one particular style. I wanted to have a broad knowledge base of techniques to draw from in times of difficulty. I also had to learn techniques that would suit my height, build, speed, strength and level of flexibility. The only way to gain this unique blend of skills and knowledge was to learn from a series of different instructors.
Over the years I have had the privilege of studying under some very knowledgeable and gifted men. Along the way, I have also met a few charlatans. Unfortunately, the charlatans were short-changing their students by teaching techniques and telling stories that had no genuine purpose or value.
Many years ago, I trained at a dojo where we were expected to spar with light contact. I understood these rules, and began to spar. I slipped under my training partner’s guard and delivered a right backfist and a left hook to his cheek. He looked shocked and the referee stopped the round. I immediately apologised, thinking I must have hit my opponent too hard. The referee said that I’d barely touched him, but that wasn’t the problem. He said he’d stopped the match because the backfist I used wasn’t taught or recognised by their particular style. It wasn’t part of their tradition.
This immediately rang a warning bell in my head. What good is a style that pretends certain strikes don’t exist? The first time an experienced student faces a new strike shouldn’t be during a physical altercation. This is setting the student up for failure. Since that time I have paid particular attention to what instructors said, and how they said it. Especially when their explanation for using or excluding a particular technique is “It’s tradition”.
This led me to question the value of some of the things I was taught. A good example is the Horse-riding Stance. It looks impressive when you see a whole dojo of students performing this leg-trembling stance. It is traditional, but what is its practical application? Sure, it was used by mounted warriors to fight from horseback in ancient times, but do you really believe you will ever be called on to do so? If so, you should seek out an instructor who can teach you to fight with swords, and use bows and arrows while you ride.
I’m not saying this out of disrespect, but to draw attention to the amount of time and effort students are expected to dedicate to techniques that have no place in the modern world. If a technique is purely for show, the instructor should inform their students of this fact and let them decide how much of their valuable time they wish to dedicate to learning it.
Kata is another mainstay of modern martial arts that is of limited value to students. Many instructors place a heavy emphasis on students perfecting these long and needlessly complicated imaginary fight sequences. Yes, they allow the instructor to observe each student’s technique, but when practising kata takes up half of the evening’s lesson, you should ask yourself why more of the lesson isn’t being devoted to more practical matters.
Some martial arts styles are more art than martial. Pretty katas that are designed to win competitions are no substitute for practising proper techniques that may actually save your life. You must decide for yourself the value of your training. If your knowledge is weak in one or more areas, you must be willing to recognise this weakness and seek additional training from reliable sources. Only an insecure and jealous sensei would begrudge their students learning new information from other instructors.
I don’t write tonight’s blog with the intent of being disrespectful to traditional martial arts. I owe a great deal to my early training. I hope tonight’s blog will encourage instructors and senior students to openly discuss the real value of what is in the curriculum of their particular style and how it is taught to their students.