Which style is the best on the street? Is this or that technique really effective? That never works in reality! And anyway, Krav Maga (or any other new martial art) is much more effective … Permanent topic in almost every hour. Every basic technique is questioned, always new discussions and the question of meaning. Meanwhile it gets on my nerves at most. Hence these lines.
Dear doubters, naggers and know-it-alls: I don’t give a damn whether everything would always work out in a kata or one of the other movement exercises if you were in the midst of a crowd of villains willing to fight.
Rehearsed sequences of movements are necessary to practice and understand techniques and not to hurt my opponent during training. No matter how much protection he wears: even the best suit won’t help. Then it falls over. And after the necessary first aid, he doesn’t want to be hit again. Which does not really help me to refine a technique. So I practice “unrealistic”. Either I don’t touch at all, or I hit with little input. Or I use techniques that in doubt have more of a sporting character, like in Judo.
Full contact is also usually sport. So with rules. The boys (and girls) really knock themselves out, but everything is strictly disciplined. This has nothing to do with self-defence, so in case of doubt it won’t work either.
Self-defence, or better the realistic application of the techniques, is much more a matter of attitude than of technique or style. When in doubt, a thug pulls a beer bottle on my head before I even realize that he feels provoked by me. My style is of no use to me at all. And while I hear the angels singing, he kicks me funny in the ribs. It’s the fashion today.
I’m just not a sociopath who’s always running around ready to fight. I live in the countryside, in tranquil Germany, in fairly orderly circumstances, with a code of conduct that at least my parents, but also the rest of my environment, have given me. I think that’s quite ok and I wouldn’t want to be any different. And I don’t want to swap with the racket from the neighbourhood or the hooligan of the next football club. I think they and their whole value system are shit. Although they are much more violent than me and … could beat me with that. It is enough for me that my martial art as a whole allows me to hopefully avoid the first blow in most cases. Maybe even the second. And then either I’m gone. Or it’s my turn.
Will that really work? In any case, it’s better if I practice diligently and don’t constantly argue and check every single technique for its alleged usefulness. If in doubt, I simply didn’t understand their execution and need a little more practice. Or it simply belongs to my martial arts and perfects it. Believe me: With the skills a Kempoka (or a Karateka, Judoka, Kickboxer etc.) acquires during years of training, he is well prepared for “normal” fights.
Last but not least: I have been in hairy situations before. The intuitive reaction worked out perfectly. Nevertheless, I still don’t feel invincible. When in doubt, I meet the guy with the beer bottle. Or the beer bottle and I meet in a distructive way …
