Martial Arts... and Science!

Heres totally a true story: one time a friend of mine was attacked by three people trying to take his money.  Luckily, he was trained in Ninjitsu and, instead of handing over his wallet, he was able to knock all three of them out with a single flying spin kick.  Unfortunately, his technique was too strong for his own good... and he killed all three of them in the process by snapping their necks.  His sensei had always warned him that this move was too deadly for use on the average man, but he realized this too late.  Overcome with grief, he responded the only way he could: by committing seppuku.

Some people reading this might be nodding their head in solemn agreement, familiar with the arts too dangerous to ever actually test out against other people.  Styles like Ninjitsu and Reality Based Self Defense (RBSD) are full of stories "proving" how effective their arts are in the streetz.  Unfortunately, everything they think about martial arts is hilariously wrong.

See, fighting is just like anything else.  To get good, you have to practice.  To practice, you have to actually put yourself out there, outside of your comfort zone.  In order for your martial art to be effective, you have to test it through the scientific method.  Remember that from those classes you didn’t pay attention to in high school?  Neither did I, but luckily Conservapedia did.  The most important thing about science is to try to oppose and oppress religion at all times (keep Christ in Christmas, heathens!).  The second most important thing is testing out your claims.

 

the link between science and martial arts
 

A good style of martial arts consistently practices with aliveness, or in other words isn’t just a series of repetitive drills and choreographed dances.  If that’s something more up your ally, cool, I won’t judge.  But instead of martial arts, go do some LARPing- and by that I mean continue your Ninjitsu lessons, but don’t be afraid to randomly cast a thundaga spell and see how many classmates succumb to your awesome prowess as a black mage.

What is aliveness in martial arts?  The most obvious example is sparring, kumite, rolling, randori, foreplay, or whatever your art calls it.  Basically, having the chance to test your skills against a fully resisting opponent where both people are trying to win.  That isn’t all that constitutes aliveness, though.  Drills that involve reaction from partners, such pad work that includes unscripted bobbing and weaving, requiring you to react and think on your feet instead of just go through the motions all constitute an active, productive learning environment.

In styles like Muay Thai, Judo, Boxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kyokushin Karate, Sambo, and Sanshou you see this all the time.  They have a high record for competition, which is a great way to test your skills against others and measure how good your instructor is relative to other instructors (as well as their comparative strengths and weaknesses).  Arts like Jeet Kune Do, Kali/Arnis, Kajukenbo, Silat, Krav Maga, Tae Kwon Do, and Karate are less consistent in aliveness, but as long as you are doing some form of free sparring (not point sparring) or doing drills that keep you on your toes, you’re in good hands.  Arts like Ninjitsu and Reality Based Self-Defense almost never have any form of aliveness.

Bruce Lee advocated taking what works from each martial art and testing it out to add to your arsenal,

so it only makes sense that some JKD people teach only what he taught and don't expand their style, right?

Now some people are going to feel the need to tell me that I don’t know what I’m talking about, and back it up with an anecdote indistinguishable from the two I posted above.  Let me be as unambiguous as possible: either you or the person who told you the anecdote are full of shit.  I would like everyone to notice the claims made by people who train in alive arts and who don’t train in alive arts.  People in Muay Thai or Judo train so they can try to beat person in a one on one fight.  People training in Reality Based Self Defense train to be able to take on a plane full of terrorists with a pen and naive disposition.  Which one sounds less ridiculous to you?

Don’t get me wrong, there are probably techniques that are too deadly to use in practice that exist.  Techniques used by the ancient Muay Boran warriors in Thailand or the Israeli Defense Force using Krav Maga today come to mind as examples.  But that middle aged instructor who hasn’t been to either of those places does not hold these techniques, and even if he did he is not teaching them adequately.  The people who have used Muay Boran or Krav Maga in battle have been forced to use these techniques, and wouldn’t have lived if they didn’t work.  And as long as you or your instructors aren’t being consistently attacked by invading armies or desperate citizens of the Gaza Strip, neither of you will ever develop the ability to wipe out your opponents.  Especially with techniques that look like sloppy foreplay stemming from a night of alcohol and bad decisions.

So just think of it like this.  You can’t be successful in football only by playing catch.  You can’t win the Sex Olympics no matter how many times you make sexual innuendo in conversation (believe me, I’ve tried).  So why would anyone think they could get better at fighting without actually fighting?