Is Self Defense the Punch Line of the Martial Arts?

First of all, it's extremely difficult to talk about the reality of self-defense without sounding like a complete whack-job. So, before we get into it you have to accept two simple facts. First, violent crime happens every day and second, violence happens to a wide variety of people regardless of race, income level or education.

Now, all you have to do is use your common sense and leave your agenda at the door and we can have a worthwhile discussion without sounding like fanatics.

As president of the Self Defense Company, I have the rare opportunity to train, teach and communicate with thousands of people worldwide. Most of you have some martial arts training and have reached a point in your lives where you're still unsure about the martial arts you studied and the self-defense you were told would work.

You have been through the karate classes, the Tai Chi, the Aikido, the kickboxing, the mixed martial arts and the submission fighting. You have purchased the videos and self-defense courses only to find that it's the same thing over and over again. I know, because I was like you until I met my instructor (and now your instructor) Carl Cestari. I am lucky to discover the truth about martial arts and self-defense. This is the driving force behind the ZenShin Dojo and the IACCP.

What happened to self-defense and martial arts? Martial arts can be divided into three primary categories: Hobby, Sport and Self Defense. A hobby benefits you culturally and spiritually. A Sport, trains you for a specific event or competition. And self-defense should prepare you for the realities of a life and death struggle. And it's the self-defense aspect of the martial arts that's the most overlooked and least tested. It has strayed from the battlefield into the realm of fantasy.

Today, most martial art systems are a combination of sport and hobby unwittingly mixed up and confused when applied to self-defense. The most common error is trying to use sport techniques for real combat. Sport techniques require practice with rules, time limits and protective gear that are rightfully there to keep you safe. Unfortunately these cause you to develop habits that will get you killed. You'll pass up opportunity to end the fight and leave yourself vulnerable while you bide your time, jockey for position and try for a sport-submission technique.

The other mistake made is taking old jujutsu techniques completely out of context and trying to apply them to a street fight. Techniques that were designed for people in armor or that are based upon a sword are good for cultural and spiritual development, but have little, direct practical application. That would explain a lot of the somewhat ridiculous throws and joint locks that should only used done when your adversary is wearing 70 pounds of armor.

Instructors make these mistakes because they simply regurgitate information without giving any real thought to what they teach or why they teach it or they have been so consumed with sport, and confuse what happens in the ring or a challenge match, with the street. Combine this with the lack of without direct, battlefield feed back, real self defense has become victim of the children's game of telephone. Over the generations it has been altered bit by bit to now where it barely resembles what it once was.

Chances are, you will never have to protect your self, but when you have to, even the most skilled martial artist will respond in a convulsive, brutal manner. I have known martial artists who have gotten into street fights and never used one technique they teach! Gichin Funakoshi, in his book Karate-do describes the first and only time he was ever in a real fight. He simply grabbed the man by his testicles and squeezed until the man fell down. Not much "karate" there. But I do applaud Funakoshi for having the good sense to do what he had to do to survive.

The reason people place so much emphasis on sporting techniques is because it's easy to test them in competition. While the opportunity to test and record the effectiveness of close combat techniques is difficult to say the least. So from a martial arts instructor's point of view it's easier just to repeat or simply make up what ever you call self-defense, knowing full well that it will never be tested or even tried.