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BALANCE: The best of both worlds - a view on
training.
Instead, we call it the "Martial Science." Why?
Well, because our system is called the Martial
Science - that's why. Just as you would call
something Karate, Kung-fu or even Ninjitsu.
We call it Martial Science. Still, it is and always
will be a Martial Art.
"Do you practice Martial Arts?" "Yes" "What
form or style?" "The Martial Science" "Be more
specific" "Okay, Ninjitsu, Tew Ryu the Martial
Science , TRMS for short -
Tew Ryu being the description of who runs the
group (Sensei Rick Tew) every system needs a
leader, Ninjitsu being the foundation of the
system and its roots, and the Martial Science
being the new age system of training today's
Total Warrior . . . " "Stop, you're hurting my
head"
Okay, now that we have cleared that up, I
would like to talk about the Martial Arts and
why I believe it is important. To me, the
Martial Arts is a concept that explains balance
in the system of Martial Science. To most, the
Martial Arts is an umbrella word for systems of
self-defense. So in our case it has two
meanings. But this article is going to focus on
my definition or what I consider to be, a
philosophy of Martial Arts.
To me, it is all about balance. And my
definition (or a rough draft of it) of balance is
something that offers a variety or both sides
of the coin. To understand this, we will need
to break up the word Martial Arts into two
parts. The first being Martial and the second
being golf ball. I really meant to say, "Arts."
Just making sure you are paying attention.
Okay, now that we have some division, let's
analyze each part: THE MARTIAL This word is
the symbol of realistic self-defense and
combat. Martial is another word for Military and
since we all have somewhat confused feelings
about the military, we will just stick with
Martial. Martial is that part that focuses on
reality not fiction. In other words, you won't
call a jumping-flying-spinning back kick, a
martial tactic. In a painful reality, combat
really is, well . . . "combat." Combat isn't
sparring, dancing, fancy techniques or all that
other stuff some instructors will swear by. It is
very important to have a martial understanding
when training in any system of self-defense. I
hate to break the news to you, but most
systems have no idea of what is or what isn't
going to work on the street. Most of the
techniques, arm locks, wrist take downs and
fancy kicks will not work in a real fight. They
will assist in combat when developing the
puzzle of natural responses, but they will not
work the same as you practice in the dojo.
If you don't believe me, go ahead and try it
out. Pick a few techniques and have your
opponent resist you. You will discover that
most of the techniques many practitioners
study, day in and day out, just won't work.
That is, unless your opponent goes with the
technique. Now there is a level of control
involved with practice and there is an edge to
be gained when you distract your opponent.
This will assist in helping you perform, but it
will still be a far cry from the way you perform
techniques in class to the way you react on
the street.
So a mental understanding is the first step to
developing your martial abilities; Knowing what
will and will not work and using this as a
foundation for development. The next step
would be to actually learn some reality-based
combat techniques. A lot of systems offer a
great variety of these skills.
For example: Fight Scene You drop into a
horse stance preparing for the fight. You side
kick before the punch is thrown. It looks cool
and stuns your adversary. The opponent
reacts with a straight punch and you high
block, then throw a reverse punch to the solar
plexus. Your opponent is immobilized so you
jump into a spinning back kick for the extra
power. This knocks your opponent to the
ground and finishes the fight. Okay let's add in
some reality: You drop into a horse stance
preparing for the fight. Since you are in a very
unrealistic stance, your opponent sweeps your
leg right out from under you and you fall on
your butt. The opponent throws a punch and
you high block , then throw a punch to the
solar plexus. You hit your opponent in the solar
plexus (great shot), but it didn't cause the
same result you get in class, so the attacker
hits you with a hook punch with his other
hand. Too bad you don't practice defenses
against multiple punches. You jump into a
spinning back kick for the extra power. You
miss and land as your ankle twists and you fall
onto your back. Your opponent takes the fight
to the ground.
Coming to an understanding of reality is key
when considering developing your martial skills.
Once you have both the mental understanding
and the techniques to practice - you will then
need to get in some action . Action includes
getting a taste of the medicine. And the
medicine is: sparring, grappling, give and takes
and reaction attack.
Sparring will train you to work on your
defenses and timing. You should have full
protective gear and go full contact. Under the
guidance of an instructor of course. A good
way to get in a great sparring session is to
work 10 minutes on each of the following
areas:
1. Hands Only
2. Feet Only
3. Grappling only 4.
Anything goes
Just be sure and keep the fight injury down to
a reasonable level. Don't play, but also don't
try to kill your opponent.
Grappling drills work on specific situations to
enhance your ground fighting skills. These
include scenarios and targeted work outs. Give
and takes are drills that are designed to
toughen your body while developing your
awareness. You start facing your opponent to
work the offensive. You throw any kick or
punch at your opponent and him or she either
blocks or takes the attack (usually. It is a
take). The opponent then takes a step back
and you continue until you throw about 10
strikes or kicks. Then it is your opponent's turn
to attack. When you are on the defense, be
sure a pay attention to the way your opponent
moves for each attack. Try to read the
attacks and mentally prepare a response.
Reaction attack is a kind of scenario full
contact sparring session. Only you won't feel
like you are sparring. You face the class with
full protective gear on each person. Suddenly,
one of the class members attacks you full
blast. This is where you react to the attack
and start moving. This type of exercise will
help you control your fear and better prepare
you for a sudden attack situation.
Okay, that is a brief description of one half of
the balance concerning my definition of Martial
Arts, here is the second half:
ARTS
With the popularity of full contact fighting
competitions such as the UFC - many martial
art systems are getting a very short end of
the stick. I don't just mean that the grappler is
whooping butt on every system out there, but
many people are looking for dojos that train
freestyle fight or reality-based street combat -
while ignoring the styles that teach more of
the ART. It makes sense, why train in
Tae-Kwon-Do when you want to learn to
defend yourself in a realistic combat situation?
This is the kind of question that is seeping into
the minds of modern day students.
This is where the balance comes in. I believe
that it is far more rewarding to train in both
Martial and Art - equally. No matter how often
I laugh at unrealistic techniques being taught
in many schools, I will always train in the arts.
The reason for this is that many of us are not
just training for a combat situation. Training
purely on street self-defense is not only
limited, but it can get boring real quick. I train
in the Martial Science as a way to improve,
not just survive a fight. I train to increase my
flexibility, strengthen my muscles, improve my
health and enhance my overall ability. It is
about being the best you can be, not just
being a great ground fighter. To me, all the
weapons, gymnastics, fancy kicks and fun
techniques are a great part of training. These
are the things that make it fun.
We need to understand that martial arts
training should be fun and not just a serious
wake up call. If you are studying only to learn
to protect yourself that is one thing, but if you
are training to be the best you can be - then
you cannot exclude the other areas that make
a martial art what it is.
Just imagine how boring your favorite action
films would be. Think of life without Jackie
Chan and his awesome theatrical skills. Knives
may be sharp in the street, but that is no
reason to make your life dull in the dojo. I
guess I am still a kid at heart and would rather
play than kick trees with my shins. But
understand that I believe in an equal balance
of the two. But still, I believe that they go
together and the two of them create my
understanding of the Martial Arts.
Also, the martial arts is (or should be) a "Way
of Life" This is hard to achieve if you are
focused purely on street combat.
So ignore the people who make fun of your
fancy skills (most of them are jealous) and kick
the legs of those who don't understand reality
over fancy moves. It is a double-edged sword
and if you are anything like me, you will love
swinging around that sword.
Have Fun out there! For more articles go
to: Total
Warrior
You can also visit Nijitsu.com for
more information.
Sensei Tew