Self-defense care free?

[Adamo]

I thought I hit the jackpot today. I came upon a school in the phone book that was proud about being a "martial science" and not a "martial sport."

I won't name the school for many reasons but...the phone conversation turned out to be the most awkward I've had my entire life.

The man begins by constantly hacking and coughing over the phone. He names a style I've NEVER heard about. He proceeds to tell me that his style uses Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Grappling, Kali, and he incorporates the chain whip, sword, scythe, and kama. No website, no trace of his certification on the internet let alone the style. He continues to tell me that he takes his students into the woods to learn knife throwing, tree climbing, and how to navigate the woods. He'll need to make sure I'm "disciplined" otherwise he'll have to hurt me. He proceeds to share some of the incidents where he hurt his students to get them to listen.

Does anybody else smell something fishy? Proficiency in that many styles and more? Hurting students to get discipline? No traces and has only 2 students at most?

[MasterPain]

I thought I hit the jackpot today. I came upon a school in the phone book that was proud about being a "martial science" and not a "martial sport."

I won't name the school for many reasons but...the phone conversation turned out to be the most awkward I've had my entire life.

The man begins by constantly hacking and coughing over the phone. He names a style I've NEVER heard about. He proceeds to tell me that his style uses Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Grappling, Kali, and he incorporates the chain whip, sword, scythe, and kama. No website, no trace of his certification on the internet let alone the style. He continues to tell me that he takes his students into the woods to learn knife throwing, tree climbing, and how to navigate the woods. He'll need to make sure I'm "disciplined" otherwise he'll have to hurt me. He proceeds to share some of the incidents where he hurt his students to get them to listen.

Does anybody else smell something fishy? Proficiency in that many styles and more? Hurting students to get discipline? No traces and has only 2 students at most?

That's the Wutang Zombie Robot Ninja Style. I assure you it is quite deadly. Do not mock the Wutang Zombie Robot Ninja Style.

Devil's advocate here, a person could be old and sick and only have a couple students and still have a lot of knowledge to offer. Also, there is nothing wrong with a mixed style. All MMA fighters blend grappling and striking arts. I also don't think that internet certification is necessary or at all reliable. I could set up a website announcing that I am a MD, PHD and a descendant of Odin. How many 60 year old martial art masters use the internet as opposed to 30 year old wannabe knowitalls?

But the martial science of scythe fighting? I don't think that is relevant in 2011 except maybe for a few communities that still use horses for transportation. My biggest problem is with hurting students. There is no call for it. To me the phrase martial science denotes a modern, well put together system of self defense involving empty hand, sticks, knives and guns. Running through the woods climbing trees and throwing knives is a blast. I do it on occasion. It's more or less playtime for big kids. For a martial science more time should be spent sparring, grappling, doing drills and practicing disarms.

[Spodo Komodo]

My thoughts exactly! If not for self-defense, then you might as well take up break dancing, gymnastics or knitting in my opinion.

One reason I can think of that separates Martial Arts from gymnastics and break dancing (not so sure about knitting) is the safe release of agression. Human beings are all fairly hard-wired for violence to a certain degree, in most people it manifests in agressive speech or over competitiveness in business or social circles. Releasing that pent up agression in a safe competitive bout of sparring can be enormously beneficial and have a real effect upon the mental wellbeing of the practitioner. How often do you talk to someone who is a really good martial artist and find them to be approachable, friendly and helpful. The so called "sofa-sensei" in contrast are often arrogant, irascible and unhelpful. My old Zen teacher was convinced that martial arts grew up in a monastic environment precisely because of this effect, ridding men in a cloistered environment of pent up agression. Mind you he was a life-long Kendoka/Iaidoka so he had a vested interest in the theory.

Personally I'm an advocate of balance in all things, I like to see some reality-based work and some art-based work in any session. I don't see self-defence and martial art as an either/or situation, as they say - a little bit of what you fancy does you good.

[MasterPain]

One reason I can think of that separates Martial Arts from gymnastics and break dancing (not so sure about knitting) is the safe release of agression. .

Haven't you seen You Got Served? Apparently breakdancing is aggressive.

[bushido_man96]

"Martial Science" to me sounds like someplace that might be willing to evolve and change over time. What you describe, though, doesn't seem to jive with that.

Someone who hurts students to get compliance doesn't sound good at all. I'd be more inclined to look into a class, just from the description.

[Adamo]

Well, I'm staying very far away.

We can play devils advocate, sure. He may be one of the most amazing martial artists who is sick but the fact that he was very hesitant to tell me that amount of students he has? "I wish I had more at the moment..."

Great point. Online means nothing. But to not find somebodies style mentioned on the internet? With the vast amount of information on the internet, you'd think I could find some mention of the man, his style, or school. The convenience of some organizations is that they place on their site who is certified and who isn't.

Just so I don't go too off topic...

It's interesting to see the poll results. It makes martial arts such a diverse area. I can see a lot of people originally start with the hope of kicking butt but through discipline they become new people.

[guitarguy]

Self defense. It's worth pointing out that any realistic martial art is going to help you defend yourself even if its sport based. For example if you do muay thai and are decent even though its (these days) more sport based you will have more ability to defend yourself. Doing any art will make you quicker and react better also. Grab a judoka and then tell me judo is only good for sports. I guess the main issue is defense against weapons.

Where I live guns arent the main issue its knives so I would love to be able to do something based around weapons or weapons disarming such as escrima or combat sambo but those arent available. Aikedo is available but while i mean no disrespect to the art it is hard to find good teachers and it takes very long to be proficient at. That being said if someone pulls a knife on me the speed and power of my strikes (with some knife defense) I've learnt in kyokushin and my wanna be parkour skills to get away I would be better faired then most people.

Being sly is good to if you know they are going to attack you attack them when they don't expect it and use your surroundings to your avantage. Always stay aware aswell.

I also train martial arts because it incourages me to stay fit and healthy because I like to perform well and to do so means being in shape and staying discopline. I also find martial arts are just interesting in general.

[Kodiak]

I didn't do it for self defense when I started (though that's more on my mind these days). But at the same time, if you don't have some kind of goal you'll never get anywhere, so either you train for self defense, or you train to get in a ring or a cage or whatever and beat the crap out of a willing participant.

[Liver Punch]

I think as time goes on, I become more and more interested in gearing my skills toward self defense. When I started, the motivation to be the All Valley Karate Champion was pretty great. I figured that once I'd defended that title a few times, I'd knock off Frank Dux as the World Kumite Champion, win the solid gold dragon in the Ghang-gheng, and perhaps challenge that guy with the eye patch from Best of the Best. Once I'd accomplished that, becoming the WWF heavyweight champion was the next logical step, followed by a quest to defeat the One Armed Boxer, the Master of the Flying Guillotine, Sagat, Vega, Goro, Chuck Norris, Mr. T., Freddy Krueger, The Terminator, Robocop, the Kangaroo from Tekken, Royce Gracie, the ghost of Bruce Lee, and Mike Tyson in a 15-man battle royal.

Once I hit about 10 years old, it occurred to me that not getting beat up was more important. I didn't decide to follow that notion until I was about 20, but ever since then self-defense has been my focus. I'm much more likely to suddenly find myself in a life or safety threatening situation than I am with a gun to my head and the man on the other side demanding that i show off my nunchuck skills.

Self-defense ranges from crossing the street to avoid a bad situation to having your house broken into by a group of people who'd like to hold you hostage. It ranges from the unarmed, to the armed, and perhaps even the armless steering a car at you with their teeth. (that's a particularly dangerous situation) There's many lifetimes worth of information to learn.

Self defense - to me - involves knowledge with unarmed defense, multiple attackers, improvised weapons, knives, clubs, thousands of types of firearms, personal security, home security, computer security, awareness, paranoia, an a whole lot of other things.

So, ultimately, while I love the philosophy and beauty that many martial arts offer...in the event that I'm staring down the barrel of a shotgun, the beauty of a particular kata becomes quite irrelevant.

[MasterPain]

Best of the best is underrated. Sure, with the exception of James Earl Jones, the acting was bad. Characters were stereotypes, and the moral of the story was beaten upside your head.... But those things along with great movie martial arts made it awesome.

And I'm pretty sure Eye Patch Guy could take Frank Dux in a fight.

Edit: That was all off topic, sorry.

I've been thinking about controlling a person while causing little harm. My friend hooked me up with a security job last week, which I hope to do more of. It is not good for a bouncer or security professional to destroy unruly patrons with an iron fist.