I'm sure we have all heard of the head of a martial school or high ranking black belt getting their ass handed to them in a bar fight or on the street. We may think "How the hell did that happen", and you would have a valid point. To get a black belt you spend years training to hone your mind and body into the epitome of a warrior. Sure, there are black belt factories out there (McDojo's to some) where you get pumped through the system, paying higher and higher fees for testings only to get your black belt in a blistering 2 years. I'm not talking about those...
I'm talking about the sincere people who train in a "centuries old art". Sweating, getting in shape, learning the form of their chosen style, working their way slowly and methodically towards and achieving their black belt/sash/high rank, and still get beat up and/or hospitalized. I myself know of two instructors in my area that this has happened to. Now this isn't to call them out or say their style is garbage. What I am trying to do here is point out a flaw in training that transcends any particular style, but this is seen particularly in the "traditional styles".
What I mean by "traditional style" is anything that holds to the premise that their art is over 100 years old. I strongly believe that this is a misnomer, but that will be the topic of another article. The "pure" styles, Karate, Kung Fu, Hapkido, Aikido, etc. There is an inherent problem with the way that these arts are being taught in recent times. They aren't doing the old training. They are only learning the movements.
Now before you jump right to the comments and start justifying your school let me finish.
Not every school is doing this, but I don't hold the schools that do solely at fault. One of the main concerns for these schools is liability. We live in a world that is lacking in personal responsibility. If something goes wrong and you get hurt during training it couldn't possibly be your fault (yes, that is sarcastic...).
I started training when I was ten. By the time I was 25 I had gone blind in one eye for 2 months, had a rib separated, been stabbed, been knocked out a few times, and had my jaw dislocated (to name a few fun events), and yes, all within the school setting. At no point in time did I ever blame anyone but myself. I am in a martial arts class. It is my partner's job to try to hit me. I knew it was coming so if I got hit, I was the one that didn't stop it. My partner was just doing his/her job as agreed upon within the confines of the martial arts school. But I digress...
There are many schools that teach you the moves but don't train the structure and strength needed to execute those moves. That is problem number one. There are black belts out there who have never really hit anything or been hit for real.
MMA guys and girls, ignore this part. I don't agree with what you do either but again, that is another article.
Another reason is not training with the proper intent or mindset. I've heard instructors throw the term "mindset" around like everyone knows what that is. "You must have the proper/warrior/focused mindset", but what is mindset? Do they just mean be aggressive as hell and overwhelm the attacker? Some do. Do they mean to have laser like focus that makes it so you can intimidate your opponent with your gaze? As humorous as that sounds you see UFC fighters doing that every match before the fight begins. It works, if you can do it. I think that is one of the hardest things to define in terms of martial/combative training. Simply because it is hard to train real intent in a school/dojo/kwoon/dojang setting.
We train in the school with people we know and even though they may be coming at us pretty hard there is an understanding that they are not actually trying to kill us. When a bad guy breaks into your house or attacks you on the street that understanding isn't there anymore. That feeling is so hard to replicate in the dojo setting and that is why when it happens on the street, it is terribly overwhelming. You have to mentally put yourself into the situation regularly. For lack of a better phrase, you must meditate on your death so that you can overcome that fear. The old maxim of "Fight or Flight" is no longer. There is a third "F" that is the most dangerous to you. FREEZE!
That leads us to my last point (there are many more but I see these three as the main concerns for this article). The final point is that we are trying to fight the way we train (as told by Miyamoto Musashi). There is a fundamental reason why street-fighters often win against a trained martial artist. That reason is because the martial artist will try to do the moves that work within the dojo, attempting to stay true to their style's moves. The street-fighter's only thought is to hurt you. He/she doesn't care how they do it. They just want to hurt you as quickly as possible so you don't have the opportunity to hurt them.
In one case where the instructor was hospitalized after taking a beating, they experienced cognitive dissonance. They couldn't believe that "nothing worked"! So here's the problem. If you are thinking about what you are going to do to this person in front of you, you aren't thinking about them and what they are doing now. The desire to do a particularly "devastating technique" (that works great in training) to your opponent is apt. You want to hurt them, but just remember, it may not work.
They tried to break the attacker's wrist, but when it didn't work, instead of moving to something else (flowing), they experienced "technique fixation". This is when you just know it will work because it works so well in the dojo so you just keep trying to make it work. Meanwhile, you are getting punched over and over in the head. That just leads to a lack of consciousnesses and an expensive trip in an ambulance.
So what can we do to combat these issues?
1. Don't just train moves, train skills, train your body to be able to execute the moves with power.
2. Train your mind, not just your body. Visualize. Meditate.
3. Learn to move with your opponent. See and feel what they are doing as or before they do it (It's not magic, it's body
language and reading telegraphs). Don't focus to much on what you are doing . Hopefully you've trained enough so
the movements are second nature/are part of your muscle
memory. If they aren't, people have been fighting for thousands of years without formal training. You will fight if you
have to. It may not look pretty, but that's not the point. The point is to be the one that goes home to your family at
the end of it.
4. RELAX! That is the hardest thing to do during a confrontation, but if you can't, you get tunnel vision and your brain
fixates on one thing. If that happens you will miss too much of what else is going on around you. You might miss your
attackers buddy coming at you from the side.
Brad Dotten
Ronin Combatives
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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