Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
First there is the guy who actually lives with violence then goes to work handling that violence in professions like “Bouncer.” Second there is a guy who works closely with criminals in a very close, controlled and restrictive environment. Third there is a guy who gained experience wearing a uniform and becoming someone with special skills above and beyond the normal combative soldier, etc.
The one common denominator in all these various and diverse professions is they all present and teach pretty much the same things in handling conflict, violence and violent conflict. There perspectives are different due to the disciplines, professions, they worked. They see a variety of violence and give a unique perception of it and how to handle it but it still drills down to the very same fundamental principles where “Mind-Set” stands supreme.
In the self-defense world where it goes physical you must be physically fit to handle the onslaught. Your mind must be set toward goals and commitment to get the job done, stop the threat. In the self-defense world you have to have certain skills to supplement that mind-set such as handling various forms like distance to mid-range to close-in to on-the-ground abilities maintaining balance and structure and so on.
Then they all have to know, understand and handle the various types of violence involved in their particular professions utilizing the same principles alluded to in the previous paragraphs. You just can’t expect to get the job done with just striking; you just can’t expect to get the job done with just joint manipulation and you can’t ever expect to get the job done using just ground techniques. You really have to work a full spectrum to get the job done.
Regarding martial arts it was once thought that one had to dedicate themselves to one style or system to achieve mastery or even proficiency but the recent efforts of such diverse professionals has proven through actions and experience that it takes a lot more than just that one thing. It has even come to light that in some systems the classic practice and training once included these variations in handling violence and are just now coming to light as a necessity. A good example is karate, a striking system or art but it now has come to light that originally karate or te/ti actually encompassed striking, joint manipulations, grappling, ground work and so on making its origins more appropriate to defense.
The greatest challenge with the modern mixture of these types of disciplines is distinguishing between play, competition and actual real life violence. Then add in adrenal stress conditioning along with a fully and more comprehensive knowledge and understanding of self-defense in a modern legal and litigious world.
Therefore for self-defense it is best to gain a wider range of knowledge, training and experience to achieve a good defense and thereby remain well within the self-defense square.
The idea, the required study and training, therefore must come from experienced professionals with a diverse background handling conflict and violence because in self-defense you never truly know what you will encounter until you encounter it. Doing one thing and trying to spread that over the many things of self-defense will fail.
What say ye?
Note: Although not set it stone I still believe that a practitioner of martial arts, with or without the self-defense aspect, should focus on one system until they achieve a certain level of proficiency. Reasoning is each practitioner must have a strong foundation in the principles and if you are jumping from one system to another your focus will be on the external stuff in lieu of the fundamental principles of martial disciplines. Once a solid base is established then branch out to encompass those other aspects that teach things like, “Actual tactics and attack methodologies of impacts, drives (pushes), pulls, twists, takedowns/throws and compression, etc. are best for stopping a threat.”
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