"I don't even call it violence when it's in self-defense; I call it intelligence."
- Malcolm X
- Malcolm X
HOW YOU TRAIN, IS HOW YOU WILL FIGHT!
Read that title again to yourself a few more times because it is so, so very true. Yet, most martial artists, seem not to get it… Or maybe they do not want to get it? Or even know better? Maybe all the above. One thing is for sure, looking at all the martial arts systems I have seen and/or trained in for well over forty years, most participants are training to>>>> FAIL!
Fail I say? Yes, but I am not talking about your next belt rank test, or upcoming tournament performance. Rather, I'm talking about your own personal protection from the threats that confronts us throughout our society today. Most, and I mean the majority, of martial arts practitioners today are training in their own little fantasy, or rather through the fantasy of their art. Training from a platform that is not only archaic, and does not fit the times, but will fail you when attempted to protect oneself. This would also apply to the Sportified systems too! Sportified, meaning inundated with rules of execution and expectation. The common, successfully brutal, streetfighter/thug, has only one rule/formula. And it works for you too the perspective victim of that streetfighter, if you will only use it. Here it comes:
Preemptive, personal protection is based solely on one formula and one formula alone: Greater violence ALWAYS wins!!! And that usually doesn't fit the mold of today's martial arts!
What I have found, sadly, in a lot of martial arts schools, the teacher that is presenting self-defense has never been in a fight! Or at the very least, worked, or existed in a violent platform, like in law enforcement, or in institutional security. How does that work? I am sorry, but without practical experience in any field of endeavor, in any service, in any tutorial, without practical experience what do you have? Someone talking who has no real knowledge of what it is they're trying to teach! Would you take your vehicle to a mechanic who has never picked up a wrench? Who has book smarts but has never ever took apart an engine? I wouldn't… I once had the displeasure of knowing a black belt, a very opinionated, loud soul, from Ontario (Orillia), Canada. He once boasted to me that he was in many past fights. I said, "Oh, on the street?" He said, "No, no, no, in the Dojo." I am thinking, "No, that is not the same, at all..." Dojo sparring, no matter how rough or hard is NOT the same as what will occur in the real world!!! Additionally, you cannot in your head, or in your training, work out specific techniques, usually your favorite(s), as answers to different attacks. Don't! Because it NEVER, in a real altercation/assault, ever goes the way you planned, and most likely your favorite technique(s) will NOT be the correct counter to the attack you are facing!
So, you could say to me, “Are you saying that our well-trained MMA fighter or karate guy, or boxer or any other well-trained physically fit fighter couldn't defend himself?” Yes, they could be successful. But stack them up against an experienced street fighter, a thug, and I'll put my money on the street fighter. That's right, I will! Over 30 years ago I was a bouncer at a bar/club in Maine, and I saw martial artists and other “trained fighters” in some sport endeavor or martial art, get their asses handed to them by a guy you would think would not have a chance, but that guy who you thought wouldn't have a chance, was a seasoned fighter, seasoned equally as a good as a steak you would get it a five-star restaurant! And in my law enforcement career (11 yrs serving in Maine, USA), my God, I learned a lot in my law enforcement career let me tell you. I learned a valuable lesson that those dudes that had to survive on the street, that had to survive through violence, they gave the cops everything they had and the cops without outnumbering that subject, one-on-one the police officer would have failed all too many times. Without going to a secondary form of defense for the police officer, a gun, taser, whatever. And if you're going to go that route with that bad dude who's got the street experience you, the cop, better still be fast with whatever you're going to draw, cuz that guy who's had to survive through violence will be on you like a bad stink! Equally, in a situation involving that bad dude and you? He’ll be on you too VERY quick!
So, what is the answer to all this you ask? I already told you earlier. Greater violence always wins! So, you must have the greater violence, and that's not technique, that's not how many belts you have, or certificates on your wall. It’s about can you turn dark and violent when you need to be? Violent until your assailant is non-functional? I want to, before getting more into that subject of usable violence against a threat, I want to talk about the two ways, fundamentally, that a martial artist can train.
Tim Larkin, a military/martial arts expert who has written some very excellent books, and whom I'm friends with now, on yes that social media platform, Facebook, made an absolutely insightful statement in one of his books. That is: Violence is accessible to everyone, even those out of shape! And that is significant. How many times have you seen someone who was known for great prowess in fighting and I don't mean in a ring or in a cage, I mean violent fighting on the street? And keeping with that person, generally and visibly doesn't take care of himself. They are not very aerobic in form or fashion, but yet, in a moment's notice, in an instant, they could turn on a potential target, person, and overwhelm them in seconds, and leave their victim non-functional. Here I am not saying that you can stop exercising, staying healthy, eating right, and so forth. No, I am just saying, and here it comes: Training for sport and/or training for health is completely different from training for conflict, violence! What you need to do is separate your training into two parts. Train for health, and that would involve most of what martial arts are today. I mean think about it. You see someone in a sport system (Sportified) whether it be, it doesn't matter, mixed martial arts or sport karate or training to do kata in a tournament. It's all based on endurance, aerobic ability, basically physical conditioning. In a real conflict of violence against you, there is no need for an aerobic ability, that is, to be able to last two or three rounds or whatever the distance regulated time of the fight is or should be. No, in a violent conflict, it will only take seconds, so your techniques and your thinking must be different from that of a sport avenue!
Are ya feeling me?
So you need to understand, that in regards to say let's use the example of a Karate Dojo, you need to understand all that floor work, all those drills, and all the kata, does not function or prepare you for a violent, aggressive conflict that can be seen in today’s society! Because again, you have stretched out the timeline when you’re doing practice drills, floor work, kata whatever. You stretch out the timeline to a point where it isn't reality. It doesn't reflect the swift, violent act of an assault upon your person. And yes, some will say that the study of karate or other martial arts are to build character and so forth. I'm not getting into that in relation to the topics at hand here. That's a very subjective statement/concept regarding character, and the assailant looking at you from across the bar floor or in an alley, isn't questioning whether your character is strong or how much of a nice person you are at that moment. No, that assailant is only going to come over and try and squash you. And in many cases your assailant is not antisocial, where even a discussion and possible de-escalation through some form of communication/negotiation could work, no that person very well could be asocial, where there is no thought process or possible verbalization, it's just pure primal coming your way to make you non-functional! The ONLY answer to such a violent threat coming your way? Yep, the one and ONLY rule: Greater violence always wins! When push comes to shove, to your possible serious to lethal injury, your violence must be greater than that of the threat’s!!!
Getting back to today's martial arts, sport martial arts, modern martial arts, don't try to face a serious violent threat with your sportified tactics and movements. I mean if you're a grappler, sport grappling, mma, whatever, someone tries to take you to the ground, so you're going to do what? A reversal, putting the assailant in an arm bar? Let me tell you there's a lot of asocial nut balls out there that putting them in an arm bar just pisses them off more and look at you like you're just annoying them, they'll just take it. So then what are you going to do, if you can even hold that bar in and him down? What are you going to do? Stay on the ground with this guy for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, the whole freaking day? Or until someone, maybe one of his buddies or someone else comes along and punts your head through the uprights? When the thing would have been to do is go for a vital spot, say the eyes, and either push them into the back of his skull, or rip one or both out of their socket! No Queensbury Rules here folks> shouldn’t be!!! You have to aggressively and violently fight back like your life depends on it> it does, because if the assailant is able to get you to ground, it could go very bad for you. Ask a mma champ if he'd like to grapple with a wild, adult male jaguar. I bet he'd decline, LOL. You have to become that jaguar. Same with sports karate. someone comes at you. What are you going to do? Get into your stance and throw a nice reverse punch to the solar plexus? And hold it out there extended like you were taught in your Dojo (So the judges in a tournament can see the whole punch. Only trouble is, this example is real life NOT a tournament!). If it's winter time and your assailant is wearing a winter jacket, can you even for sure know without a doubt that you'd hit the solar plexus with that one shot? In either case the threat needs to be met with violent aggressive multiple attacks overwhelming attacks until your assailant is non-functional. It's like what Admiral William "Bull" Halsey of the United States Navy during the Pacific War in World War II against the Japanese always said: Hit him hard, hit him fast, hit him often!
Here's the point, and analogy, I try to present to folks on the topic of traditional martial arts (and sport influenced arts) and its use against today's threats. To be successful, these systems have to shed a lot of what and how they do things to be successful. It's best expressed this way by me: In 1938 until about 1942, the preeminent fighter was the Japanese Zero. It was untouchable in this time period. However I wouldn't today go to the Smithsonian Institute, take down a Zero hanging on display, get 'er up and running and put that Japanese Zero against a F22 Raptor of today. That Zero will never see the hit coming, the Raptor will kill it from the horizon with an air to air stinger missile. What I am trying to convey is, that traditional martial arts that were designed for fighting against assailants and situations of the 19th century will NOT work today. For without adaptation and refining that system, it will more than not, fail.
Another important point is your intent when you strike a threatening target: Always strike to injure! Don't strike to win. Don't strike to survive. Don't strike with the hope to deter any further violence from your assailant. STRIKE TO INJURE! It's important. And it WILL make a difference. This goes right along with, Greater Violence Always Wins! AND strike FREQUENTLY!
And, for most if not all, that will mean you'll have to adapt, change your way of thinking and your process of how you will defend yourself in terms of technique, tactics, and even timing. That also means bringing out that dark, violent side that many have suppressed, and some are even afraid of that side of themselves. But like I said before, greater violence wins, in fact in my opinion, greater violence can defeat greater technique or skill. So, if you as a martial artist. have that skill and now can couple that with your dark violent side and together can work to save you, protect you from personal injury or death, then that combination is a good thing. You shouldn't be afraid of it nor should you think ill of it or of yourself for utilizing your own violent side. In today's world I'm going to put it point blank fashion: Skill alone and that includes technique and all that stuff and all the belts you have and all the acclimations and all the tournament metals and trophies you have whatever it is, all that stuff, that you've got all wrapped up under a nice little bow that you call your martial arts, that will not win against that primal, deviant, violent person out to try to destroy you! You have to meet that with greater violence! Now if you're thinking, “Oh my God how can I be that way I'll be a deviant, I'll be a bad person!” No, you define yourself by how you conduct yourself in between those violent altercations! You only become violent when you need to be when it's called for, when it is to protect you, or someone you love. Don't get caught up in that thinking, that your dark, violent side defines you as a person, as a whole, because it does not!!! What it does define you as is someone who can meet a threat and you will make that threat non-functional and protect yourself and not be afraid of doing it and not think badly of yourself for doing it! Haul yourself out from underneath your bed and face the threat! Face the Boogeyman, face your own fears and quite possibly your own hang-ups. Knock it down, crush it and leave it non-functional. You stop hitting when the threat is no longer a threat! And when is that? When that assailant is on the ground non-functional and unable to hurt you.
Fail I say? Yes, but I am not talking about your next belt rank test, or upcoming tournament performance. Rather, I'm talking about your own personal protection from the threats that confronts us throughout our society today. Most, and I mean the majority, of martial arts practitioners today are training in their own little fantasy, or rather through the fantasy of their art. Training from a platform that is not only archaic, and does not fit the times, but will fail you when attempted to protect oneself. This would also apply to the Sportified systems too! Sportified, meaning inundated with rules of execution and expectation. The common, successfully brutal, streetfighter/thug, has only one rule/formula. And it works for you too the perspective victim of that streetfighter, if you will only use it. Here it comes:
Preemptive, personal protection is based solely on one formula and one formula alone: Greater violence ALWAYS wins!!! And that usually doesn't fit the mold of today's martial arts!
What I have found, sadly, in a lot of martial arts schools, the teacher that is presenting self-defense has never been in a fight! Or at the very least, worked, or existed in a violent platform, like in law enforcement, or in institutional security. How does that work? I am sorry, but without practical experience in any field of endeavor, in any service, in any tutorial, without practical experience what do you have? Someone talking who has no real knowledge of what it is they're trying to teach! Would you take your vehicle to a mechanic who has never picked up a wrench? Who has book smarts but has never ever took apart an engine? I wouldn't… I once had the displeasure of knowing a black belt, a very opinionated, loud soul, from Ontario (Orillia), Canada. He once boasted to me that he was in many past fights. I said, "Oh, on the street?" He said, "No, no, no, in the Dojo." I am thinking, "No, that is not the same, at all..." Dojo sparring, no matter how rough or hard is NOT the same as what will occur in the real world!!! Additionally, you cannot in your head, or in your training, work out specific techniques, usually your favorite(s), as answers to different attacks. Don't! Because it NEVER, in a real altercation/assault, ever goes the way you planned, and most likely your favorite technique(s) will NOT be the correct counter to the attack you are facing!
So, you could say to me, “Are you saying that our well-trained MMA fighter or karate guy, or boxer or any other well-trained physically fit fighter couldn't defend himself?” Yes, they could be successful. But stack them up against an experienced street fighter, a thug, and I'll put my money on the street fighter. That's right, I will! Over 30 years ago I was a bouncer at a bar/club in Maine, and I saw martial artists and other “trained fighters” in some sport endeavor or martial art, get their asses handed to them by a guy you would think would not have a chance, but that guy who you thought wouldn't have a chance, was a seasoned fighter, seasoned equally as a good as a steak you would get it a five-star restaurant! And in my law enforcement career (11 yrs serving in Maine, USA), my God, I learned a lot in my law enforcement career let me tell you. I learned a valuable lesson that those dudes that had to survive on the street, that had to survive through violence, they gave the cops everything they had and the cops without outnumbering that subject, one-on-one the police officer would have failed all too many times. Without going to a secondary form of defense for the police officer, a gun, taser, whatever. And if you're going to go that route with that bad dude who's got the street experience you, the cop, better still be fast with whatever you're going to draw, cuz that guy who's had to survive through violence will be on you like a bad stink! Equally, in a situation involving that bad dude and you? He’ll be on you too VERY quick!
So, what is the answer to all this you ask? I already told you earlier. Greater violence always wins! So, you must have the greater violence, and that's not technique, that's not how many belts you have, or certificates on your wall. It’s about can you turn dark and violent when you need to be? Violent until your assailant is non-functional? I want to, before getting more into that subject of usable violence against a threat, I want to talk about the two ways, fundamentally, that a martial artist can train.
Tim Larkin, a military/martial arts expert who has written some very excellent books, and whom I'm friends with now, on yes that social media platform, Facebook, made an absolutely insightful statement in one of his books. That is: Violence is accessible to everyone, even those out of shape! And that is significant. How many times have you seen someone who was known for great prowess in fighting and I don't mean in a ring or in a cage, I mean violent fighting on the street? And keeping with that person, generally and visibly doesn't take care of himself. They are not very aerobic in form or fashion, but yet, in a moment's notice, in an instant, they could turn on a potential target, person, and overwhelm them in seconds, and leave their victim non-functional. Here I am not saying that you can stop exercising, staying healthy, eating right, and so forth. No, I am just saying, and here it comes: Training for sport and/or training for health is completely different from training for conflict, violence! What you need to do is separate your training into two parts. Train for health, and that would involve most of what martial arts are today. I mean think about it. You see someone in a sport system (Sportified) whether it be, it doesn't matter, mixed martial arts or sport karate or training to do kata in a tournament. It's all based on endurance, aerobic ability, basically physical conditioning. In a real conflict of violence against you, there is no need for an aerobic ability, that is, to be able to last two or three rounds or whatever the distance regulated time of the fight is or should be. No, in a violent conflict, it will only take seconds, so your techniques and your thinking must be different from that of a sport avenue!
Are ya feeling me?
So you need to understand, that in regards to say let's use the example of a Karate Dojo, you need to understand all that floor work, all those drills, and all the kata, does not function or prepare you for a violent, aggressive conflict that can be seen in today’s society! Because again, you have stretched out the timeline when you’re doing practice drills, floor work, kata whatever. You stretch out the timeline to a point where it isn't reality. It doesn't reflect the swift, violent act of an assault upon your person. And yes, some will say that the study of karate or other martial arts are to build character and so forth. I'm not getting into that in relation to the topics at hand here. That's a very subjective statement/concept regarding character, and the assailant looking at you from across the bar floor or in an alley, isn't questioning whether your character is strong or how much of a nice person you are at that moment. No, that assailant is only going to come over and try and squash you. And in many cases your assailant is not antisocial, where even a discussion and possible de-escalation through some form of communication/negotiation could work, no that person very well could be asocial, where there is no thought process or possible verbalization, it's just pure primal coming your way to make you non-functional! The ONLY answer to such a violent threat coming your way? Yep, the one and ONLY rule: Greater violence always wins! When push comes to shove, to your possible serious to lethal injury, your violence must be greater than that of the threat’s!!!
Getting back to today's martial arts, sport martial arts, modern martial arts, don't try to face a serious violent threat with your sportified tactics and movements. I mean if you're a grappler, sport grappling, mma, whatever, someone tries to take you to the ground, so you're going to do what? A reversal, putting the assailant in an arm bar? Let me tell you there's a lot of asocial nut balls out there that putting them in an arm bar just pisses them off more and look at you like you're just annoying them, they'll just take it. So then what are you going to do, if you can even hold that bar in and him down? What are you going to do? Stay on the ground with this guy for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, the whole freaking day? Or until someone, maybe one of his buddies or someone else comes along and punts your head through the uprights? When the thing would have been to do is go for a vital spot, say the eyes, and either push them into the back of his skull, or rip one or both out of their socket! No Queensbury Rules here folks> shouldn’t be!!! You have to aggressively and violently fight back like your life depends on it> it does, because if the assailant is able to get you to ground, it could go very bad for you. Ask a mma champ if he'd like to grapple with a wild, adult male jaguar. I bet he'd decline, LOL. You have to become that jaguar. Same with sports karate. someone comes at you. What are you going to do? Get into your stance and throw a nice reverse punch to the solar plexus? And hold it out there extended like you were taught in your Dojo (So the judges in a tournament can see the whole punch. Only trouble is, this example is real life NOT a tournament!). If it's winter time and your assailant is wearing a winter jacket, can you even for sure know without a doubt that you'd hit the solar plexus with that one shot? In either case the threat needs to be met with violent aggressive multiple attacks overwhelming attacks until your assailant is non-functional. It's like what Admiral William "Bull" Halsey of the United States Navy during the Pacific War in World War II against the Japanese always said: Hit him hard, hit him fast, hit him often!
Here's the point, and analogy, I try to present to folks on the topic of traditional martial arts (and sport influenced arts) and its use against today's threats. To be successful, these systems have to shed a lot of what and how they do things to be successful. It's best expressed this way by me: In 1938 until about 1942, the preeminent fighter was the Japanese Zero. It was untouchable in this time period. However I wouldn't today go to the Smithsonian Institute, take down a Zero hanging on display, get 'er up and running and put that Japanese Zero against a F22 Raptor of today. That Zero will never see the hit coming, the Raptor will kill it from the horizon with an air to air stinger missile. What I am trying to convey is, that traditional martial arts that were designed for fighting against assailants and situations of the 19th century will NOT work today. For without adaptation and refining that system, it will more than not, fail.
Another important point is your intent when you strike a threatening target: Always strike to injure! Don't strike to win. Don't strike to survive. Don't strike with the hope to deter any further violence from your assailant. STRIKE TO INJURE! It's important. And it WILL make a difference. This goes right along with, Greater Violence Always Wins! AND strike FREQUENTLY!
And, for most if not all, that will mean you'll have to adapt, change your way of thinking and your process of how you will defend yourself in terms of technique, tactics, and even timing. That also means bringing out that dark, violent side that many have suppressed, and some are even afraid of that side of themselves. But like I said before, greater violence wins, in fact in my opinion, greater violence can defeat greater technique or skill. So, if you as a martial artist. have that skill and now can couple that with your dark violent side and together can work to save you, protect you from personal injury or death, then that combination is a good thing. You shouldn't be afraid of it nor should you think ill of it or of yourself for utilizing your own violent side. In today's world I'm going to put it point blank fashion: Skill alone and that includes technique and all that stuff and all the belts you have and all the acclimations and all the tournament metals and trophies you have whatever it is, all that stuff, that you've got all wrapped up under a nice little bow that you call your martial arts, that will not win against that primal, deviant, violent person out to try to destroy you! You have to meet that with greater violence! Now if you're thinking, “Oh my God how can I be that way I'll be a deviant, I'll be a bad person!” No, you define yourself by how you conduct yourself in between those violent altercations! You only become violent when you need to be when it's called for, when it is to protect you, or someone you love. Don't get caught up in that thinking, that your dark, violent side defines you as a person, as a whole, because it does not!!! What it does define you as is someone who can meet a threat and you will make that threat non-functional and protect yourself and not be afraid of doing it and not think badly of yourself for doing it! Haul yourself out from underneath your bed and face the threat! Face the Boogeyman, face your own fears and quite possibly your own hang-ups. Knock it down, crush it and leave it non-functional. You stop hitting when the threat is no longer a threat! And when is that? When that assailant is on the ground non-functional and unable to hurt you.
In no way bashing BJJ or any other grappling art, but the fact is, there is NO ONE ART that beats all others! AND Mr. Enkamp, in the above video, is completely correct about the actual origin on how/where/for whom the data was compiled for the OVER USED statement, "90% of all fights go to the ground." Some of the links containing the data and origin are as follows:
www.reddit.com/r/martialarts/comments/snmk5j/til_that_the_whole_90_of_street_fights_end_up_on/?rdt=40164
https://wimsblog.com/2013/01/the-myth-of-90-percent-of-fights-go-to-the-ground/
The Los Angeles PD in the late 80s did a study of the results of conflict (resisting) arrests with their dept officers and the assailants. Where the officers needed to utilize defensive tactics. And it showed 90% went to the ground> OBVIOUSLY yes, because the subjects had to be handcuffed!!!! (I agree with their data, as I myself was a uniformed police officer, but...) It did not/DOES NOT translate into civilian, person to person exchanges/conflicts!!! PERIOD! DONE! CASE CLOSED!
Hanshi C
www.reddit.com/r/martialarts/comments/snmk5j/til_that_the_whole_90_of_street_fights_end_up_on/?rdt=40164
https://wimsblog.com/2013/01/the-myth-of-90-percent-of-fights-go-to-the-ground/
The Los Angeles PD in the late 80s did a study of the results of conflict (resisting) arrests with their dept officers and the assailants. Where the officers needed to utilize defensive tactics. And it showed 90% went to the ground> OBVIOUSLY yes, because the subjects had to be handcuffed!!!! (I agree with their data, as I myself was a uniformed police officer, but...) It did not/DOES NOT translate into civilian, person to person exchanges/conflicts!!! PERIOD! DONE! CASE CLOSED!
Hanshi C
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So, in review, the two main formulas for personal protection are: Greater Violence Always Wins & Always Strike To Injure! AND strike FREQUENTLY!
Hanshi C
Hanshi C
“A good plan, violently executed immediately, is better than a perfect plan too late.”
- General George S. Patton
- General George S. Patton
Karate By The Sea & LIONHEART Kenpo Jeet Kune Do are divisions of Conley's Martial Arts