Self defense: when the problem occurs, it’s too late to understand

In most self-defense situations, 90% of martial arts (both traditional and modern), do not work as we expect and unfortunately, when someone attacks / threatens us it’s too late to understand that:

The impact with the truth

It’s at that exact moment, the one when we understand that we are miles and miles far away from the level of preparation needed, that we catch the difference between:

What we think to know / control and what really we know / control

What is really effective and what absolutely not

What we are truly able to perform and what not (especially under stress)

(especially under stress) What we should have focused our preparation on and what we did instead

How we were trained and how we would have to train ()

() Physical training and m ental preparation (to the stress level of a real aggression, read Subscribe (it's free!) or Login to see this content /// //////

(to the stress level of a real aggression, read The limited human reflexes and the effectiveness of constant attention (read Constant attention: what is and how it works)

(read Constant attention: what is and how it works) …

The limit lies in us

In front of the failure, the illusion fades immediately and instead of blaming ourselves for our superficiality (lack of reasoning and concentration), we unload the responsibility for our errors on the martial art, which, in a lot of cases (directly or indirectly):

Has been adopted in life vs death battlefields for thousand years (eg. traditional styles)

(eg. traditional styles) Is employed by special military forces of half of the world (eg. modern warfare fighting systems)

(eg. modern warfare fighting systems) Is used at the highest levels of athletic competition (eg. sportive martial arts)

The fact is that in 75-80% of cases, the guilt is ours and the most common reasons are:

If we seek for effectiveness, in tems of self-defense, there are no shortcuts

It is foolish to wait to jeopardize our safety (or that of those around us) to open our eyes and draw a furrow between:

Reality and fantasy

Serious training and waste of time

The instructors that increase our knowledge and those that limit it

The teachings they endanger our lives and those that couls save it

…

A real self-defense preparation requires dedication, sacrifice, focus and this is not for everyone.

Anyone who thinks to be smarter than the others searching for shortcuts, effortless tricks (etc.), soon or later will find himself having to deal with the tough reality:

People become good at what they do most – For example, an exquisite pastry chef is likely to be, at least, a discreet cook but it is equally unlikely that he could compete with an expert who has devoted his whole life to cooking fish; the same reasoning applies to martial arts, if we have spent our lives doing sublime acrobatics (or cool moves), how can we hope to resist to those who (for the same amount of time) have done nothing but fighting (even at a rough level)?

– For example, an exquisite pastry chef is likely to be, at least, a discreet cook but it is equally unlikely that he could compete with an expert who has devoted his whole life to cooking fish; the same reasoning applies to martial arts, if we have spent our lives doing sublime acrobatics (or cool moves), how can we hope to resist to those who (for the same amount of time) have done nothing but fighting (even at a rough level)? The only working techniques and tactics are the ones we have completely mastered – While, on the one hand, it is true that a good knowledge of combat technique gives us a remarkable advantage over an inexperienced opponent, it is equally true that an average knowledge puts us below his level (read A scheme to quickly learn any kind of technique); everything that does not comes simple and spontaneous as walking should never be used in a real combat (read How to learn faster)

– While, on the one hand, it is true that a good knowledge of combat technique gives us a remarkable advantage over an inexperienced opponent, it is equally true that an average knowledge puts us below his level (read A scheme to quickly learn any kind of technique); everything that does not comes simple and spontaneous as walking should never be used in a real combat (read How to learn faster) Forms, sequences, drills, techniques and fighting sets are useless without sparring and conditioning – While, on one hand, it is true that forms (eg. from Karate or Kung Fu) help us to train precision, balance, trajectories (etc.) is just as true that they do not give us any rudiment for a real clash; the struggle is something live, unpredictable and always different; forms have not been studied for this (without conditioning and sparring they are useless, read Subscribe (it's free!) or Login to see this content /// //////

– While, on one hand, it is true that forms (eg. from Karate or Kung Fu) help us to train precision, balance, trajectories (etc.) is just as true that they do not give us any rudiment for a real clash; the struggle is something live, unpredictable and always different; forms have not been studied for this (without conditioning and sparring they are useless, read Even if our body is athletically prepared, we are only at the 50% of the work – If our mind is weak we will probably fail; prevention, negotiation, planning, stress management (etc.) are fundamental abilities that no one who is seriously interested in self-defense can ignore; if we think that things like muscles and aggressivity can solve any kind of situation we are simply foolish

– If our mind is weak we will probably fail; prevention, negotiation, planning, stress management (etc.) are fundamental abilities that no one who is seriously interested in self-defense can ignore; if we think that things like muscles and aggressivity can solve any kind of situation we are simply foolish …

Have a wide range of possibilities

To gain good results, we must carry out all that is fundamental to our goal (not necessarily linked only to the struggle):

Let’s be clear, no one can excel in everything (mental aspects, strength, etc.) but we must, at the same time:

Privilege what we are good at

Improve what we are lacking

On the street, it’s only maintaining a broad vision that we can get (at least) a possibility to prevail; this way we can always count on a small advantage (eg. good use of legs, advanced flexibility, deception capability, speed of execution, etc.) in front of eventual opponents with overwhelming skills.

A note by master Kongling – Even for the combat techniques, we always need to have more than one choice available: let’s beware of those who offer us a single possibility of liberation, attack, defense, counterattack (etc.). We are all different from each other, as are our adversaries, weapons, environments of struggle, present mental dispositions (etc.); all this causes an entropy that is completely unpredictable and impossible to solve with (ridiculous) omnivalent answers.

In-depth articles

Martial art and self-defense: what are the differences? – The discriminant between safety and martial study

6DKF: what does it teach? – The sources and the focus of 6 Dragons Kung Fu’s training system

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

Have you ever faced a fighter stronger than you?

Author: Master Kongling Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu. Twitter Facebook

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