| I just instructed a self defense seminar in NYC and it | | | | stronger) in order to better the other guy and win |
| was interesting to note certain folk's response to | | | | the competition. |
| being systematically shown how to use the tool of | | | | Neither of these worlds accurately reflects the |
| violence for survival. | | | | effective use of the tool of violence. Nor should they. |
| The instructors did a matter-of-fact job picking | | | | It would defeat the purpose of the 2 mediums. |
| various vulnerable areas of the human body and | | | | From an entertainment standpoint, real violence is |
| showing how to injure those targets. We use a | | | | hard to view, not because of the violence but |
| proprietary method that allows the student to learn | | | | because it is relatively boring since it's so one sided.In |
| how to injure the body in a specific manner to yield | | | | competition, using real violence would leave many |
| the desired result. | | | | competitors maimed, crippled, or killed. This would |
| We then show them how to use that information to | | | | absolutely defeat the goal of the sporting event. |
| cause serial injury on the human body until the other | | | | Where all this becomes a major problem is when |
| guy is non-functional. This method literally produces | | | | someone attempts to use these mediums as a |
| results in mere days that used to take us many | | | | benchmark for 'fighting'. They expect to see lots of |
| months to achieve. | | | | 'give and take' when training. They have a hard time |
| Clients rapidly get good at targeting, then injuring, the | | | | realizing that real injuries are not something that you |
| defined areas of weakness in another human.Don't | | | | can shake off and 'keep fighting'. |
| get me wrong. It is not necessarily a thing of beauty | | | | At a recent demonstration I did for a business group |
| to watch. Participants are often ugly in their 'look' but | | | | at Harvard University I hammered this home by using |
| their effectiveness is without question. | | | | some video clips of a martial artist showing a |
| What is funny to me is clients that have survived real | | | | knife-fighting demo. |
| violence get this approach to self protection training | | | | He made some claims about the knife and how a |
| right away. They realize the methods and principles | | | | good cut will shut a man down and send him into |
| are sound and they focus and develop intent during | | | | shock. He then demonstrated his assertion on a |
| those initial early day one sessions. | | | | hanging piece of meat. It all looked very impressive |
| The clients that either have no experience with | | | | and I could tell the class was mesmerized. |
| violence or only have competative martial arts or | | | | Then I showed them grisly photos of prisoners in a |
| combat sport backgrounds often spend these early | | | | fight who were cut numerous times, right down to |
| sessions questioning why we are doing what we | | | | the bone. These prisoners not only survived the |
| do.They wrestle with the idea of violence being so | | | | attacks -- they killed their 'attackers'.This totally went |
| one-sided. It goes against everything they 'know' | | | | against the knife-fighting expert's claims. |
| about 'real fights'. | | | | I then showed two other video clips, back to back, |
| Of course this knowledge they bring to the course is | | | | of prisoners 'shanking' (using an improvised stabbing |
| from watching the media (films, TV, Internet) or | | | | tool) another prisoner until they killed the victim. Again |
| from participating in and watching combat sporting | | | | this looked nothing like the nice back-and-forth |
| events. The main goal of media is entertainment. | | | | technique the 'knife-fighter' showed in his impressive |
| Producers want you to be involved in the plot and if | | | | demo. |
| there is an action sequence they want it to rivet you | | | | When I was finished there was dead silence. I had |
| to your seat. | | | | made my point and the rest of the time we had |
| The main goal of combat sports is to win by | | | | 100% complete focus. |
| bettering your opponent and scoring more points. | | | | I wasn't able to show this recent class the videos |
| Both can be very fun to watch. | | | | and it showed. Some people didn't 'get it' until the last |
| Both of these mediums have restrictions that | | | | day when we do 'Grabs, Punches, Holds and Chokes'. |
| severely limit realistic use of the tool of violence. A | | | | That's when they see how much simpler it is to use |
| good movie has the restriction of keeping you | | | | violence rather than try a 'give and take' approach. |
| entertained so it needs to be just that... entertaining. | | | | I'll make sure to always include the video upfront in |
| The competitors in a combat sports event are | | | | future seminars. The old adage of a picture being |
| hampered by agreed upon rules. Therefore they rely | | | | worth a thousand words is very true! |
| on developed athletic skills (being bigger, faster, | | | | |