For students who attend our regular classes the information below will be nothing new. Many have heard me pontificate on these points at various times, however, I think it's important to share this information with others to hopefully help them focus their training in order to improve upon the quality of their workouts especially when they train on their own. This piece doesn't get into any specific training methods but merely highlights "philosophically" the importance of practicing the exercises on your own. For a more detailed reading please refer to our book Attack Proof.
Like many of our students I've studied many martial arts systems over the years and while I was able to develop a degree of skill, like others I often felt that while cool looking, many of the techniques would be useless in a real confrontation. This is because many of the skills taught in about 99% percent of the martial arts systems are based on a reality and a dynamic of fighting that does not exist in the real world.
As we all know by now real fights are not "duels" like in the dojo and the speed and ferocity of real attacks are lightning fast and drastically contrast with choreographed attacks, which often resemble the types of attacks that only happen in bad low-budget "B" movie. Usually, (like always) when a real attack goes down, the odds are in favor of the attacker(s), and not by accident. Criminals want to above all else, win, and are not bound to any rules or code of honor. I think everyone on this reading list will agree with that statement.
Respectful Disrespect
What is meant by "respectful disrespect" is that when you look at the movement of the masters within many systems and observe how they move, regardless of the system they all share a few things in common. The masters all seem to be better balanced, more supple and relaxed in their movements, their timing is always better and their coordination is generally far superior to that of their average students. Much of this as they will tell you is a byproduct of either practicing the forms over-and-over or from performing the striking drills until the point of physical exhaustion. However, if that were true then you should within reason see the same thing in the majority of their students but often just the opposite is true. In other words what they're saying and what they're actually doing are two different things.
This is not to say that they do not train their butts off, because they do. Even in sport fighting, in order to perform the moves, an incredible amount of hours are needed in order to master the techniques, so do not misunderstand what I am saying here. However, because real fighting is such a different dynamic all together, the skill needed to make such techniques work is at such a high level that very few people (including yours truly) could ever make them work when the spit hits the fan. To put it another way, there are many football players who have played the game but very, very few will ever play in the NFL. Which brings me to my next point...
There's something to be Said for Talent
Let's be honest: many martial arts masters, regardless of style, are very talented people both mentally and physically and would probably be good at almost anything they decided to put their minds to. They have therefore subconsciously developed these skills and I believe many are unaware that they are even doing it. So no matter what they say they are doing, their actual movements often reveal the truth as to what is really going on. And that is what you need to be aware of.
A Grand Master of Tae Kwon Do may be able to kick someone in the head in a real street fight but for the average practitioner that action is not going to happen. So while there are things that the master can do through physical ability and talent, the rest of us are going to have to figure out something else.
Their students try to mimic the master based on what they "outwardly" observe, never realizing that until they develop the internal skills as explained in Attack Proof and various books on the internal arts, their physically ability will only carry them but so far.
This is what separates sport fighting from real principles of self defense. Sport fighting, due to the rules, limits what one can do and as a result requires a higher degree of physical skill and talent in order the make the techniques work, whereas real self-defense techniques, because they rely on sound principles, are universally applicable regardless of body type, which is why we focus most of our effort on training in the PRINCIPLES rather than techniques that require great physical skill.
"The most well made tools are worthless in the hands of those who are unskilled in their use."
--Alexander The Great
The quote given by Alexander The Great is just as true today as it was then and no tool, no matter how well made, is of any use unless you have some skill behind it. As I always say, owning a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter. I want to turn out carpenters that can draw a tool from their bag of tricks and have the skill to use it. Since the fight is "what it is" you must be able to adapt as quickly as the fight can change. You must be able to deliver the chaos as well as control it. Understand that we are "Brand X" martial arts so we build the foundation rooted in principles of human physiology and physics, we then hard wire in the skills and then provide you with the tools so that any tool that you place in your hand can be instantly applied for whatever purpose at the time you need it.
I once asked Master Perkins (he hates it when I call him that) about how Master Carron became so good. The answer was simple, he practiced everyday in the exercises and skills, sometimes for hours at a time. By the same token I'm often asked by students, "How can I improve my skills?" My usual answer is, "Do you do the exercises?" I usually get either a "no," or that "deer in the headlights" stare, which reveals the sin of omission in their training.
I wish I could tell people something different but like anything in life whatever you put into something you generally reap what you have sown, and the ability to develop the attributes needed for real fighting or at least to deal with the kind of violence that visits people everyday on our streets is no different. While there's no substitute for training with another person, I've personally found that solo practice is equally important and usually it is the missing piece of the puzzle in one's training.
When you learn to punch and kick, what you are learning are not skills on how to fight but developing tools. However, how you use the tools are entirely up to you. The trick is how do you make the tools work when you need to make them work? Will you choose the right tool for the job? And, therein lies the rub...
Solo practice resolves this dilemma by allowing you to develop the foundational skills to improve and without it I've seen that students and even instructors tend to "plateau" in their ability. So while one can improve through two-on-two practice to a point, without developing the foundational skills of balance, looseness, sensitivity and body unity, no matter how physically gifted you are, you can only improve but so far.
* It is the balance drills that enable you to step to a new root point effortlessly at lightning speed and strike with maximum power.
* It is the looseness or pliability drills that not only allow you to avoid being penetrated as you move but give you the ability to yield, align your weapon with your body, cut off angles and strike with maximum power from virtually impossible looking positions.
* It is your sensitivity, both kinesthetic and spatial, that allows you to know where the other person(s) is in relation to your weapons allowing you to seemingly always know what they are going to do before they do it.
* It is the body unity drills that enable you to always have your body behind your strikes so that when you strike your are able to do so with power from any position.
* Finally, it is the proper mindset toward fighting (especially in your training) that enables you to strike from virtually any position within your sphere of influence.
My question, which only you can answer for yourself, is if you knew sometime today you were going to be in the fight of your life, how good would you want to be? That is the mentality that you need to train with, because in truth it very well could be today! I don't think there are too many homicide victims out there who ever thought their time would be up the day they passed on.
Sowing the Good Harvest:
Although I hate to use sports analogies when it comes to real fighting I also understand that the mindset required for training is really no different. Imagine a sprinter or distance runner who never practices the foundational exercises on their own and just shows up to run only during the meets. Failure is inevitable. Imagine a power lifter who never practices his lifting technique? No matter how strong or naturally gifted he is, he will never achieve to a high level. The same is true for any sport. Imagine if in school you never did your homework, given the limited amount of time you have to absorb the information in class there is no way that one can develop even a modicum of proficiency. At best you'll be no more knowledgeable than the last time you had class and the same is true for the martial arts.
Nothing, no sport, no course at school, no job, no success to a high level is achievable without working at it. Solo training is especially valuable in our art of Ki Chuan Do because it stresses adaptibility and spontaneity. The art looks different on different people and you must experiment on your own with what works best with your own unique physical attributes.
Also it is equally important to train properly and not just train for the sake of training. Once again, much heartache can be avoided if students would just follow the book and practice on their own. All of the exercises are clearly outlined in Attack Proof as John Perkins has developed them. As a corollary to this, while it is true that one can obtain some level of fighting skill through training in class alone, I have seen throughout the years that those who rapidly achieve a high degree of skill are also the same individuals who practice the exercises on their own. Coincidence? I think not!
Why Don't People Train On Their Own?
When you look at the martial arts world and you look at the styles that appear to have the most popularity they all seem to have a few things in common. They're either very cool looking, they promise "magic" or if they profess to be reality based they guarantee overnight results. They sell an illusion in the hopes that no one will pull back the curtain only to see that there is no all powerful wizard at all. It's part of our culture and we can't avoid it.
Look at your average infomercial: they promise "six pack abs in 30 days," or the old Charles Atlas comic strip ad "Muscles in Seven Days" and weight loss results in a time frame that most doctors would consider dangerous at best. None the less, these products sell in the millions of dollars and the only ones who usually achieve success are the snake oil salesmen who profit by peddling basic fitness tips as "revolutionary science" because they know that deep down the "get rich quick", "get in shape without exercising", "results overnight" mindset permeates our culture and our base nature.
"You Don't Bend the Spoon, the Spoon Bends You."
--The Matrix
The other reason people don't train is just plain old stubbornness. When you look at the exercises in the book, no matter how logical we present the information, there are many people who still don't believe that "it really is that simple" and until you change the way you think about training in the principles, those epiphanies that everyone looks for in their martial training will never happen. Cecil B. DeMile used to have a saying about The Ten Commandments,
"Those who throw themselves against The Law shall be
broken by it."
Since the principles are rooted in real things such as the laws of physics and human physiology and not hocus-pocus fantasy fighting, by practicing to develop these attributes you can't help but get better. These "principles" are non-negotiable and do not change, it is you and your mindset about training that must change. You can use the laws of physics to your advantage but you cannot change them. You must allow the spoon to bend you and not the other way around. If you continue to try to bend the spoon or throw yourself against the law as they do in many fighting systems, when your world collides with reality you're going to meet with disastrous results.
The Rest Is All Mental
The last point I'm going to make on this is that by training in the principles to the "nth degree" eventually you begin to realize that because you don't have to think about your balance or your body position, it leaves more time for your brain on a subconscious level to process what it picks up through your senses and allows it to respond with what we call "Response - Ability". This is the ability to be able to respond to stimuli based on what you actually feel as opposed to trying to guess what another person is going to do, something I never, ever try to do especially since I only get one chance to get it wrong. Because you feel their intention, therefore it becomes. After a while, even the slightest movement on their part triggers a chain of events, which allows you not just to match their movements but to get ahead of the game, just like a chess match. The only difference being, that instead of relying on a series of moves to make this happen, you are going for "check mate" right from the start in order to end the fight as quickly as possible.
You can "click" your glass slippers all you want but doing the exercises along with establishing the proper mindset are the real secret to attaining a high degree or martial prowess. By developing the base level attributes (balance, looseness, sensitivity and body unity) the tools of combat such as guns, knives, fist, feet etc... are but a mere extension of not only your body but your moral will. Anything in your hand can now become a weapon. Anything you touch with practice becomes an extension of your body. When you touch objects you begin to feel their dynamic and you are able to, within reason, manipulate whatever you come into contact with.
By training in the principles, even your sense of visual perception or spatial awareness changes. You begin to perceive the density of other objects (including people) even without physical contact through what is known as "sub-cortical vision."
Your body unity increases to a point where your hands and feet are never out of position because your body is properly alignedin relation to others. You are now not only able to control your balance but manipulate theirs by feeling their center in relation to yours.
Remember in a real fight there are no points for second place!
Practice, Practice, Practice...
Al Ridenhour is a Lieutenent Colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserves, and is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War-Operation Desert Storm, where he commanded an infantry unit and served as an instructor in unarmed combat for his Marine unit and for the battalion's Scout Sniper platoon. He has been training in the martial arts since 1985 and is a sixth-degree black belt (Master) in Ki Chuan Do, the free-form internal art created by former forensic homicide investigator John Perkins. Ridenhour is also co-author of Attack Proof: The Ultimate Guide to Personal Protection. See http://attackproof.com/ More articles can be found at http://www.attackproof.com/FREE-self-defense-NEWSLETTER.html
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