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Excillent points.

RBSD = Reality Based Self Defense. Check out: https://www.senshido.com/ https://www.tonyblauer.com/ https://www.hockscqc.com/ Hope that gets you started.

Agreed, most often however they opt for far less technical trapping options and settle for basic versions of trapping like immobilizing the limb and using it has an anchor point for strikes etc.

Agreed. If you want to use a kick in this way, you have to make sure you have the space, or make the space via combination. The reason why low-level kicks work so well is because you can do them within clinching range. To kick someone in the stomach is going to have to require space, which may be hard to come by in a confrontation. I agree with the guys quoted above. Also ill add that whilst in the right context any technique can be effective, it may still not be your best option. For example, you are engaged in a situation where you need to protect yourself and for whatever reason, there is a break in the distance and you find yourself in kicking range you can: 1. Throw a kick to the body, and IF it lands, then you have hit them with 1 kick, but where do you go from there? Im not sure about others, but personally i find it alot harder to move in straight off a higher kick than i do off a low line one. 2. Throw a low line kick and follow in with a distance closer and continue to strike with other things. Both have there advantages and disadvantages, at times though something will be a smarter and more high percentage option.

Any proof?

Possibly an eye opening experience?

Im not sure i see your point. A wrestlers background is wrestling. How does that make them any better or worse than someone who has a background in something else?

Most MMA guys are not so worried about what style they do or how many arts they know, and they certainly arnt attached to any specific way of beating the opponent. The reason you see alot of wrestling is, that if your good at it, its a higher percentage option with lower risk of getting beat, as opposed to standing and trading blows with your opponent.

Im talking about the natural reaction to throw the hands up(often in the direction close to the threat) and at times move backwards, lift a knee, shrug the shoulders, close your eyes etc. Thats your bodies natural defense mechanism to a frontal threat. And you are correct people will flinch differently to different stimulus, and differently depending on their bodies initial position. Its very possible that your guarding hand has been trained long enough that the time between your flinch and the guarding hands has been cut down enough that it seems the guarding hands is your natural reaction, either that or you have not experiences an actually completely surprising stimulus. swdw, have you seen any of the spear material? I have recently ordered the first spear dvd and will let you know what i find. But from what i have read so far on Blauers site etc it seems they do border on implying that you can train your flinch. But im hoping they mean the same thing you and i have mentioned about using a technical application from the flinch, not altering the flinch itself.

Is that a fairly accurate representation of what goes on at most tkd schools?

Kante, Its truly great to read about your passion for martial arts, and you shouldnt let other peoples opinions change that. But keep in mind, that whilst martial arts are your passion, its not for everyone, and there really isnt alot that you can do to change peoples minds. Just take comfort in the fact that you have found something you enjoy doing and let others do the same.

I find this to be incorrect. You can greatly reduce the time in which it takes you to go from flinching to using a more technical tool (jam, block, strike) etc. But the flinch itself is an automatic response that involves no cognitive thought so it cannot be trained, or altered.

The flinch itself occurs during the first moment or the surprise attack. From there, your trained response(if it flows from the position your flinch puts you in) comes into play, the problem occurs when your trained response doesnt fit in with your bodies natural flinch, because the time it will take to convert your flinch into something that isnt similar will take alot longer than it will for a gross motor technique like jamming with your arms.

Personally being that my training is geared towards self protection, i train both. The situation will dictate what position you are in initially, so skills with either side forward are crucial. Although if you are training specifically for competition, it may be more beneficial early on to focus on one side forward and be comfortable with that first.

Thanks USCMAAI, I think we are talking about the same thing when it comes to the passive stance, just my wording was slightly different.

Similarly in more dynamic training you are throwing a strike(the same way it will be thrown for real), utilizing footwork alongside the strike(the same way it will be used for real), keeping the other hand in a guarding position and using the same stance that will be used against an opponent. Much more conducive to correct muscle training, being that zero modification of the technique is required for it to be applicable. That was not an assumption, rather an observation from what i have seen at schools i have trained at, schools i have watched, competitions i have attended etc. And i was not implying that kata practitioners have sloppy technique in general, more so that when sparring, the majority tryed to mimic kickboxing style sparring with little success. What they were doing certainly looked nothing like anything done in kata. I agree, the comment that a martial artist spending all his time practicing kata was not to be taken literally, and whilst i agree that i have never seen a school that "only" does kata, in every school i have attended that involve kata, it appears they have a separate set of techniques for kata and kihon, another set for "self defense" and another set for sparring. There is very little overlap of each.

Not to mention, unless you are engaging in street fights, then its highly unlikely you will have the awareness or preparation to pull out your lighter and wrap it nicely in your hand.

Yes, ive heard similar things, not sure how true it is and never tried it myself. Personally, punching would be one of the last things i would do in a self defense situation anyway.

The different between traditional kata and these "boxing kata" you talk about, is that in boxing, the techniques you perform are the same has the techniques you use in the ring, no modification required. A jab on the heavy bag, is the same has a jab in the ring, your stance and guard are the same etc. In karate kata, the stances are different, one hand goes to the hip, you perform techniques that are rarely seem outside of kata without some serious modifications to make them work. And then when you go to sparring, it ends up looking like sloppy kickboxing, because instead of learning how to strike correctly, all the training time has been spend doing kata and techniques that dont have a direct relation to application.

Sparring is worlds apart from real self defense situations. It resembles almost nothing you will see if you are attacked by someone really intent on hurting/killing you. So whilst sparring will help you deal with the adrenaline you face while sparring, it wont help with much else.

If a person is caught by surprise, or they feel that they are being preyed apon, the at least 1 adrenaline dump will be experienced and you wont have access to fine motor skills, so any chance of using a fine motor response (complex) goes out the window. Considering that the majority of martial artists will train without the level of intensity or fear to induce an adrenaline dump, then all the well trained complex skills wont be accessable because they dont function in any situation thats more intense then their training. I think the intial question was not "is blocking realistic in self defense", but rather "is traditional blocking kung fu style realistic in self defense". I think everyone will agree that adopting some form of defense against the attacks coming at you is extremely important. In my experience jamming is one of the most useful and proactive methods of defense against strikes(with empty hand and edged weapons). Jamming readily flows from the humans natural startle to flinch response and puts you in a position to terminate the attacker quickly without having to stand back and trade blows with the person. Its important to go beyond the theory and actually test these things out also. One method is to put on some protective equipment and have a partner throw a fully comitted strike at you when they are ready. Keep in mind this isnt a static drill, you should include the behavioural aspects of a confrontation(shoving, verbal etc) and then try out your defense. You will soon note that if you stand there trying to predict what type of strike they are going to perform, you will get hit alot. This is where understanding a making use of the flinch response comes in. It allows you to simply react to whats happening in front of you and terminate the attack, regardless of what type of strike it is.

Training effectively in methods that dont take 10 years to get good at doesnt have to mean "getting pounded every week".

Do you think people who simply want to learn how to defend themselves can or want to spend that long learning?

The reason i ask is that whilst the shell would be excillent to defend against strikes, it seems to fall into the same category has "crazy monkey" etc when it comes to defending against weapons. Being that you would be absorbing the weapon attacks on the arms etc, with a knife this would be extremely dangerous.

Hey gzk, do you guys do any weapons defense? If so does the shell tie in with that at all?