Choose The Right Tool!

[sensei8]

How many times while on your martial arts journey have you come across this?

Instructor: "Punch me!"

Student: "Yes sir/maam!"

Student gets into an assumed stance....and fires out the punch as instructed. Instructor, from an assumed stance....MISSES to block the punch from the student. A slight low murmur of judgement can be heard from those observing this class/demo. The instructor tries to backpedal with an ineffective excuse; an excuse that's birthed from being totally embarrassed.

Instructor: [To the crowd] He/She didn't punch right!

Crowd: HAHAHAHA [An unbelieveable laugh emits from the crowd]

Imho, it wasn't that the student punched wrong, it's that the instructor's choose of tool to block said attack was wrong. It's usually at seeing this, I'm looking for the nearest exit to seperate myself from these types of instructors.

Choosing the proper tool is just as important in the defense as it is on the offense. Choosing the wrong tool can only compound an already dangerious situation.

In defense, the tool must "deflect" said attack, as well as, said tool must be executed strongly enough so that the said attack doesn't penetrate to its target.

In offense, the tool must "penetrate" through the target.

Still, the decided tool for the task at hand must be the proper tool. How does one come to know the proper tool? Imho, having the experience/knowledge are essential across the board.

Experience/knowledge is getting out there and mixing it up with realistic goals at hand. Finally, KISS, isn't a rock band, well it is, but in this context it's Keep It Simple Stupid. The simplest the better. Exotic techniques are for hollywood type demo's and the like, not on the streets.

JUST TRAIN AND TRAIN HARD, but...TRAIN THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB!!

Your thoughts/ideas?

[Jeffrey]

Experience/knowledge is getting out there and mixing it up with realistic goals at hand. Finally, KISS, isn't a rock band, well it is, but in this context it's Keep It Simple Stupid. The simplest the better. Exotic techniques are for hollywood type demo's and the like, not on the streets.

JUST TRAIN AND TRAIN HARD, but...TRAIN THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB!!

Your thoughts/ideas?

I couldn't agree more. It all goes back to basics.

[Wastelander]

How many times while on your martial arts journey have you come across this?

Instructor: "Punch me!"

Student: "Yes sir/maam!"

Student gets into an assumed stance....and fires out the punch as instructed. Instructor, from an assumed stance....MISSES to block the punch from the student.

I'll be honest--I've NEVER seen that happen. When my instructors have asked students to attack them they have always blocked it, even if the student attacked with a left haymaker instead of a straight right punch. That said, I definitely agree with you that you need to train yourself to identify and utilize the correct "tools", as you put it, for the job.

[sensei8]

How many times while on your martial arts journey have you come across this?

Instructor: "Punch me!"

Student: "Yes sir/maam!"

Student gets into an assumed stance....and fires out the punch as instructed. Instructor, from an assumed stance....MISSES to block the punch from the student.

I'll be honest--I've NEVER seen that happen. When my instructors have asked students to attack them they have always blocked it, even if the student attacked with a left haymaker instead of a straight right punch. That said, I definitely agree with you that you need to train yourself to identify and utilize the correct "tools", as you put it, for the job.

You will in good time. I've had the misfortune of seeing this more than I care to remember.

[evergrey]

Haha, Bob, I have not seen that yet with my instructors, but everyone misses and everyone gets hit at some point! The quality of the character of the instructor is then revealed, eh?

I did have a buddy of mine who does Wing Chun decide to demonstrate sticky hands to me. He asked me to try to hit him.

Now I know to ask, when someone says that, if they really want me to TRY to hit them, or if they want me to PRETEND to try to hit them, and go slow.

When this friend of mine asked, I did what I normally do with my sensei- I really tried to hit him! He had not been practicing for some time, and he just wasn't fast enough. To my great embarrassment, I struck him in the chest and knocked him back! He hit the office chair behind him, and started to topple over it, his head going straight for the desk that the chair was sitting in front of. Luckily as soon as I saw him start to fall, I shot forward and grabbed at his wrist. Lucky for us both, I somehow managed to catch it.

"OMG, are you okay?" I asked him.

"Uh Yeah well we were going pretty hard and fast there. I haven't practiced in a while!"

"Oh, I'm just a white belt and I got really lucky! I don't have any control yet, that's all!"

It's better if everyone can save a little face. That rarely hurts anyone, and can lead to friendship instead of enmity.

That situation also illustrates that one must always PRACTICE! Fancy moves or basics, if you never use them, you will lose them.

If you never spar, you're eventually going to lose a lot of that edge, and when you come back to it, you're likely to be in for a nasty surprise when you discover that you can't do it like you used to! Practice, practice, practice, but if you cannot for a long period of time, then you just have to get back in the saddle and work yourself up to your previous skill level again... factoring in the challenges of age, and changing your tactics accordingly, of course.

[DWx]

Nice post Bob. Reminds me of that Jim Carey sketch where he is teaching women's self defence

It is easier said than done though. I mean it shouldn't really happen to an instructor or someone with a lot of experience and they shouldn't make stupid excuses like that, but in training you train to react to people who have learnt specific ways of punching and kicking; a non-martial artists wont strike like you're used to. If someone from your dojo goes to hit you, even if you don't know the exact type of strike you still roughly know the trajectory and how their body will move during the movement. You can read their telegraphs too which a non-martial artist might not have, e.g. initial hip movement.

[bushido_man96]

How many times while on your martial arts journey have you come across this?

Instructor: "Punch me!"

Student: "Yes sir/maam!"

Student gets into an assumed stance....and fires out the punch as instructed. Instructor, from an assumed stance....MISSES to block the punch from the student.

I'll be honest--I've NEVER seen that happen. When my instructors have asked students to attack them they have always blocked it, even if the student attacked with a left haymaker instead of a straight right punch. That said, I definitely agree with you that you need to train yourself to identify and utilize the correct "tools", as you put it, for the job.

I haven't really seen it happen that much, either, but that because every time I've seen this set up, its been rehearsed, and a ready-made partner is used.

Now, if these kinds of demos are done with random people, and a more random attack, then it can definitely happen. That is why the KISS principle applies; keep it simple to deal with a diverse number of attacks. I do agree that training the proper tools is the right idea. Being prepared, as in being in a stance and having the hands in a position to facilitate a faster blocking/interecept motion is a key to success here.

[bushido_man96]

Nice post Bob. Reminds me of that Jim Carey sketch where he is teaching women's self defence

It is easier said than done though. I mean it shouldn't really happen to an instructor or someone with a lot of experience and they shouldn't make stupid excuses like that, but in training you train to react to people who have learnt specific ways of punching and kicking; a non-martial artists wont strike like you're used to. If someone from your dojo goes to hit you, even if you don't know the exact type of strike you still roughly know the trajectory and how their body will move during the movement. You can read their telegraphs too which a non-martial artist might not have, e.g. initial hip movement.

I notice this especially when lower ranks first begin to spar. Their technique may not be quite as sharp, and the techniques tend to do things you don't expect them to do. Its fun, as it forces me to get out of that mindset of "expecting" techniques to look a certain way.

[sojobo]

Hello,

In both my Wado-ryu and Koryu group, the role of attacker (Uke 受け / Teki 敵) is taken as seriously (if not more so) as that of the defender (Tori/ Ware 我).

Most correctly, when practicing with a partner, the more senior should always be the attacker so the defender can learn more accurately.

There are also other principles to bear in mind - including the application of mental pressure / dominance that a lower grade would not know how to correctly apply as an attacker to make the whole thing real.

So, when I demonstrate something in my dojo, I use one of my senior grades - who will know how to attack correctly pertaining to the kata you are demonstrating - otherwise it is a waste of time.

Sojobo

[Wastelander]

How many times while on your martial arts journey have you come across this?

Instructor: "Punch me!"

Student: "Yes sir/maam!"

Student gets into an assumed stance....and fires out the punch as instructed. Instructor, from an assumed stance....MISSES to block the punch from the student.

I'll be honest--I've NEVER seen that happen. When my instructors have asked students to attack them they have always blocked it, even if the student attacked with a left haymaker instead of a straight right punch. That said, I definitely agree with you that you need to train yourself to identify and utilize the correct "tools", as you put it, for the job.

I haven't really seen it happen that much, either, but that because every time I've seen this set up, its been rehearsed, and a ready-made partner is used.

Now, if these kinds of demos are done with random people, and a more random attack, then it can definitely happen. That is why the KISS principle applies; keep it simple to deal with a diverse number of attacks. I do agree that training the proper tools is the right idea. Being prepared, as in being in a stance and having the hands in a position to facilitate a faster blocking/interecept motion is a key to success here.

I haven't seen it done at demos at all, but my Sensei have all at some point had brand new white belts attack them to demonstrate some thing or another and the new white belt usually doesn't "attack right" but that hasn't caused any trouble with my instructors. That said, I've only been in the martial arts for about 4.5 years, total, at this point, so I have plenty of time to witness it