Philosophical Question: What is Better???

[bushido_man96]

MatsuShinshi, I do see what you are saying, and I do think you make a good point.

I also think I've got a feel for what the OP is asking about, as well. Here's my thoughts:

Its better to teach first, and then if the student gets bumped and bruised along the way, that counts for the experience of learning why it happened. Its like getting scored on in sparring. It happens to all of us, and the younger we were in our training, the more it happened, until we got higher ranked and tightened things up.

Its important that our weaknesses get exposed at some point, that way we know what we need to focus on and can then adjust our training to fix it.

I know that in my MA history I've learned a lot more from the folks who were willing to work with me in the course of getting better, instead of just throttling me to demonstrate how much better than me they were.

[Fat Cobra]

I agree with everyone who sent in replies. Even though many are quite different in their outlook, I don't think any are wrong.

I will explain more my line of thinking. First, to clear things up I am not advocating that instructors punch their students in the face (though the bumper sticker version of this philosophy does make this seem to be the case).

In the Karate board in this website I posted a topic called "Most Effective Karate Move" and asked the community what karate move they thought was the most effective (fully knowing this is a very simplified question). There were a myriad of responses, but many said a punch.

Also, in other forums on this site I have discussed, as have several others, the importance of "live action" or full contact practice of self-defense moves in training.

Also, with my experience training and leading troops in combat (24.5 year Army career in the infantry, 6 deployments = 3 operational (Panama, Kosovo, Bosnia) and 3 combat (Afghanistan, Iraq, Iraq), I have developed a sense of how to prepare people for hostile and life-threatening situations.

Thus, I believe the most important attribute to have in any hostile situation is the ability to get hit and still function effectively. Even more important, though, is that you are mentally confident that you can take "a punch to the face" and still be able to function. That mental confidence will allow you to react quicker and apply your own technique(s) to end the situation.

In conclusion, I do agree that avoiding hostile situations and, if unavoidable, ending them peacefully is the best tactic. However, If you have to defend yourself, you have to also be able to "take a punch to the face" or any other type of hit and still function. Most likely, no matter how fast or good you are, you are going to get hit. If you never practice this in the dojo then you do not know how you are going to react in a real situation. Best to get your mind prepared in the dojo before having to experience getting hit for real for the first time in a life threatening situation.

[MatsuShinshii]

I agree with everyone who sent in replies. Even though many are quite different in their outlook, I don't think any are wrong.

I will explain more my line of thinking. First, to clear things up I am not advocating that instructors punch their students in the face (though the bumper sticker version of this philosophy does make this seem to be the case).

In the Karate board in this website I posted a topic called "Most Effective Karate Move" and asked the community what karate move they thought was the most effective (fully knowing this is a very simplified question). There were a myriad of responses, but many said a punch.

Also, in other forums on this site I have discussed, as have several others, the importance of "live action" or full contact practice of self-defense moves in training.

Also, with my experience training and leading troops in combat (24.5 year Army career in the infantry, 6 deployments = 3 operational (Panama, Kosovo, Bosnia) and 3 combat (Afghanistan, Iraq, Iraq), I have developed a sense of how to prepare people for hostile and life-threatening situations.

Thus, I believe the most important attribute to have in any hostile situation is the ability to get hit and still function effectively. Even more important, though, is that you are mentally confident that you can take "a punch to the face" and still be able to function. That mental confidence will allow you to react quicker and apply your own technique(s) to end the situation.

In conclusion, I do agree that avoiding hostile situations and, if unavoidable, ending them peacefully is the best tactic. However, If you have to defend yourself, you have to also be able to "take a punch to the face" or any other type of hit and still function. Most likely, no matter how fast or good you are, you are going to get hit. If you never practice this in the dojo then you do not know how you are going to react in a real situation. Best to get your mind prepared in the dojo before having to experience getting hit for real for the first time in a life threatening situation.

I can honestly say I did not pick that up in your previous posts. I was way off base.

Having said that I agree with your points. I have said the same in other posts. I owe you an apology for misunderstanding what you were trying to say. I get it now and I agree.