People training against opponents who don’t resist back, doing forms against imaginary opponents, movements that are so fanciful that they relate more to dance than fighting, punching with your hand on your hip, mystical chi, and of course the deadly Death Touch! For many martial art ’styles’ this seems to be a very prevalent theme. It just seems quite obvious to someone who has actually had to fight for real (and no I don’t mean a little scuffle with some drunk outside a bar), or anyone who has been in actual combat in the military (or the likes), that fights never look like that, nor do they happen in the way these people are training.

I ask myself continuously (and many people ask me) if what they are doing is so ’obviously’ not functional and the chances of making it work is so minimal, why then do people still gravitate to these teachers to be taught how to die faster. Some of the most obvious reasons could be that they don’t know any better, that they are attracted to the mystery surrounding the style and that they want to believe with their very being that what their instructor is telling them is true, even though logic is saying the opposite.

I think to some degree that the above conclusions are correct, but I would also suggest that there is no longer urgency, and this is one of the main factors people still train in these environments. What I mean by this is that there is no longer a "real threat" anymore, for most people participating in the martial arts, other than the fantasy and paranoia conjured up in there own mind. A real threat means a daily use for what they are learning i.e. to defend themselves. Because of this, it allows instructors to misuse their position by not coaching functional reality based martial arts. There is no real reason; a life and death reason, for them to ensure that what they coach is the real deal. Likewise their students have no reason to question them as the reality they find themselves in there daily lives, rarely presents an opportunity to use what has been taught, this brings about complacency and an accepting mindset. Therefore, any real questions on behalf of the student to the instructor are of no real value beyond the questions of fantasy and paranoia.

In a seminar several months ago and subsequent seminars, I asked attendees to put up there hands if they had been in a real fight in the last 6 months. Out of sixty participants less than two or three put up their hands. When asking the question again, but going back in time to two or three years, less than six put up there hands. In subsequent seminars and classes I have asked the same questions and the percentage rate of people actually getting into real fights seems to be around the 10% mark. Intrigued by this, I decided to ask all of the people I know who came from a traditional background, and currently train with us, why they where now training at our gym. 90% said because they had found themselves in a difficult situation (i.e they had to defend themselves or got into a fight) and realized they where not equipped to handle it, and didn’t really know what to do. The other 10% had seen my athletes compete in Mixed Martial Arts competitions, or had watched other MMA events. In both cases these people began to question, and through critical thinking came to the conclusion that to find something more functional and realistic was the most rational thing to do. So, because there is no longer this urgency, it is very easy for instructors to get away with teaching absolute rubbish while the general public laps it up.

Many of these instructors don’t know any better themselves, again for the same reason, there is no urgency for them as well. Their instructors most probably were in the same situation that they currently are in, and so on and so forth. Over generations of instructors teaching a certain style of martial arts, with little or no reason to actually prove themselves on the battlefield, one can only conclude what the end result would be. On one hand, when a style of martial arts has only a slight resemblance to a real fighting discipline, and on the other hand has forgotten about functionalism and reality, a fantasy is born. And out of these fantasies, instructors now feel the necessity to protect this creation by creating rituals, titles, and by enforcing hierarchal structure. Deep inside many of these instructors, lay fears and insecurities, a nagging conscience that their ability is truly a shame. Strict codes of conduct, and lengthy rituals are created. Standing in an obscure stance for hours on end to test the students resilience, is an example of a slow learning process that is developed to ensure the position of power for the instructor. The instructor then continues by projecting paranoia on his students, enforcing his position as the all seeing all knowing leader, who has all the answers (along with the style itself). Many of the traditional styles do no sparring against resisting opponents who actually fight back, that are not choreographed. For those who do, they get told that for the fact that they can control a speeding punch just stopping inches from an opponent in a semi-contact environment, that this very control will enable them to strike with devastating force when the time arises. Even those who do sparring often only do so in one range, sparring only standing-up for example, forgetting that many fights end up in the clinch and on the ground. They believe, practicing a form of prearranged attacking and defensive moves against an opponent who is not there, will increase there muscle memory and these very same reactions will come out when it is really needed. The Mystical death touch, where you are able to hit someone and knock him down without ever touching him is one of my personal favorites. The list goes on.

But one can see the attraction to this environment. You never really have to get hit or experience what a real fight would be like. You can pretend to fight against people who are not there, somewhat like my two year old son does when he is pretending to box someone, but hey there is no chance of getting hurt doing that. You can train and do simulated attack and defense drills, that are choreographed, with the opposite person giving no resistance, but again there is no chance of getting hurt or actually putting anything on the line. Even better yet, you don’t even have to do any real live training such as sparring, because your techniques are so deadly that you can’t use them. And lastly, you can pretend that your style is so deadly that your “Phoenix Fist” will stop any grappler, or any opponent for that matter. My point is, it becomes a land of illusion and to make it even better, you get nice colored belts that let everyone know how deadly you are and how far you are up the hierarchal ladder.

To actually get on the mat and spar, against a resisting opponent, who is not telling you what he is going to do, why would you do that? If there was a real chance of your combat taking you anywhere from the stand-up, to the clinch, or to the ground and possibly getting you hurt, I mean why would someone want to do that? This would mean you would have to face the fantasies of what you thought a fight would be like head on, including your paranoias, your fears and not too mention your inflated ego. No! it’s much better to go back to that environment where you can pretend that your style has all the answers, where size and strength does not matter, (or so you are told, and who are you to question the instructor, and the style that has been around for hundreds of years?) Wear your senior belt and sash, both of which that are revered by those subordinate to you, where all your fantasies of what you watched on those old Chinese martial art movies could come true along with the legend you have created for yourself in your own mind. It’s where you can beat anyone with a swish of the hand, all of this done in an environment where you never have to get hit or really put your egotistic self on the line, It sounds just perfect doesn’t it?

It is important to realize that the very instructor who promotes these illogical views and teaching methods, operates from a matrix in which they and their followers simultaneously indoctrinate and re-indoctrinate one another. Therefore such an instructor is as much a creature of his followers as they are of his. The instructors’ beliefs, fears, paranoias, ego and fantasies invoke only those behaviors already present in his students.

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written by a guest, November 08, 2007
:o Oh my word! Have you been hit in the head too much? Just what are you trying to accomplish with this madness?
I am standing in front of my full-length mirror with my black gi,black and white belt with its 8 grandmaster red slashes on each end, shooting deadly chi power out my dim mak index finger at you!

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