Something thought that skills and qualifications mainly come from an ability to fight. It made me consider, “just how important is that skill set in determining a black belt status?”
“Let me ask do we qualify rank by how well we fight.” - Jon Crain on FB
In my book, the totality of training, practice, understanding and experiences (both training and actual or practical) are what make a martial practitioner a martial practitioner, i.e., as to the fighting part, about 20% of training and practice are a necessity.
Fighting at 20% of all training and practice and change ‘fight’ to ‘hitting and getting hit’ to remove stigma of fighting from social school yard scuffles and sport to appropriate generic thinking then take it a step further to:
Hitting Effectively and Getting Hit Ineffectively! If both participants in training and practice are working diligently to hit effectively then it seems natural that both would then work hard and diligently to make the others hits ineffective, see how that works? There are many ways to learn how to hit effectively and it is best to understand that although hitting and being hit are important they are not exclusive to self-protection. It is more apropos to say that one must learn how to apply multiple methodologies with appropriate force levels to stop an attacker, end the damage and find security-safety. There are other reasons why hitting and being hit are important and one reason is because your mind and body need to experience that, adjust to it and build our armor, mental and physical, so when damage arrives it doesn’t’ lock up your brain, the freeze.
First, learn how to hit like the champion Jack Dempsey, using the drop step and other concepts he teaches.
Second, learn how to use physiokinetic’s by making use of the heavy bag, moving heavy makiwara (not stationary) and then through the partner drills.
Third, learn how to use methods, physiokinetic’s and Dempsey-Concepts through a more adrenal stress-oriented reality type training program.
Make this a guide to ensuring that your hitting and being hit, effectively and ineffectively speaking, are absorbed into concepts that will be there for you should you end up going physical and that brings us to the standard, “Make sure you learn all aspects and concepts in regard to self-defense so that you can use all your tools such as avoidance, de-escalation and as a last resort the physical manifestation of multiple appropriate methodologies and forces necessary to end the problem.
Now, why does this matter in being a black belt, because traditionally and conceptually the role of martial skills are somewhat combative in nature and to remain true to its essence that means hitting and getting hit, etc. That is not the sole requirement, just one small part and still important.
It makes me wonder sometimes how one can make it a way of life while leaving out its core essence, martial being a military reference and as with all things of this nature about violence both good and bad. Personally, I would not lay claim to expertise or black belt status if it didn’t include the hitting and being hit parts. It just seems … empty to assume you can become skillful, expert and knowledgable about a form and discipline that in its bare form requires two human beings, or more, to come into close contact for the purpose of doing grave harm or killing.
After all, even the lowest form of martial discipline being karate, empty hands, is about fulfilling a requisite to be military and thus expressing certain concepts by use of force most often manifest as killing other human beings.
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