It’s all Bananas

(Not an original tale)

So, by way of a behavioural experiment, scientist place 6 monkeys in a large cage, in the centre of the cage is a step ladder and suspended over to top of the ladder is a banana. Obviously one of the monkeys goes for the banana. As soon as he reaches for it all the monkeys in the cage get hosed with ice cold water. This routine continues until all the monkeys get the idea that the banana is out of bounds and none of them go for it.

At this point one on the monkeys is removed from the group and a new monkey is added in its place.

This monkey is unaware of what has gone before so goes for the banana.

It is immediately set upon by the other monkeys who have no wish to be hosed and, although the new monkey doesn’t know why, he quickly gets to understand the banana is out of bounds and learns to comply with the group.

Another of the original monkeys is removed and replaced with a new monkey and of course he goes for the banana. He is immediately set upon by the group, including the previous new monkey who, while he doesn’t know why, knows that there must be a reason for the rest of the group to behave this way so he joins in.

This cycle continues one by one until all the original monkeys have been replaced.

Whilst the behaviour is now fully ingrained and any monkey joining the group learns to comply with the groups actions, not one of the monkeys in the group has any knowledge or understanding of why they do what they do, just that it has become their “tradition” or “way” and it has been passed down “unaltered for generations” from the old ones who knew better and must never be questioned.”…

Sorry, I seem to have drifted again and got confused as the last paragraph is starting to sound like an entirely different (and obviously unrelated 🙂 ) story. That can happen when you get to my age.

Although it may sound familiar to some of the rest of you as well 🙂

It’s All about Me!

Putting the “self” into self-defence

Before I start I will own up that Andi Kidd already covers pretty much the same thing in his book “From Shotokan to the Street” (well worth a read if you haven’t done so btw). The difference being Andi gets you to question your own reasons whereas (as the title would suggest) this is just really about what I think. It is my blog at the end of the day 🙂

I have had some health issues recently that have caused me to sit back and spend some time evaluating my priorities in life and this covers the reasons for what and why I train as a part of that.

For those of us who have trained for many years (or decades in some cases) it is all too easy to forget why we are doing it, it is so much a part of who we are that we never step back and think about the why, it is just “what we do”.

My normal class is very much about the practical side of karate but is still very much a karate class, not just a fighting skills class, it is geared around how we attached valid meaning to karate techniques and apply them in a realistic and effective manner. Surprisingly (although probably not to everyone) I don’t really think of this as a “self-defence” class.

The skills are undoubtedly very useful if it should all kick off but they are the skills of last resort whereas the bulk of any self-defence class should be about risk management, awareness, avoidance, de-escalation, legal ramifications, post event verbalisation etc. All the “soft skills” that make up the bulk of self-defence and make the having to resort to physical violence to resolve a situation far less likely, which (despite what “self-defence” marketing posters would have you believe) is the last thing any of us really want to happen, nobody really “wins” a fight!

We do discuss these skills when the situation is appropriate and occasionally practice our post technique escapes but nowhere near enough for this to be considered a true holistic self-defence approach. Talking about these skills is all very well but, exactly as the physical skills, unless you actually practice and polish them on a regular basis they will not be there when you need them.

Saying, yes I understand the concept (so that’s enough) makes as much sense as saying “although we didn’t actually train it we spent half an hour talking about gyaku tsuki tonight so I’m confident I could make it work under pressure”, nobody in any training situation would believe that to be true so why would it be for the other skills?

I also run a specific Women’s self-defence group and the balance of training there is very different in deed and although physical skills are still a large part of it (nobody would come if they didn’t learn a few “tricks” each time), it is much more about providing information, building confidence, becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable, finding what your limits are and moving past them, making personal choices about what is (and isn’t) worth fighting for, and being able to read a situation well enough to understand that that isn’t always going to be a constant.

It may be a bit of a cop out (and occasionally an obvious disappointment) but I never give absolute answers as they don’t exist and I won’t be there to evaluate a situation for you, (as if I’m an expert on these things anyway!) I just hopefully give you enough that you can take you “best guess” at any time. Obviously a good set of easy to apply (low skill, high value) well trained physical responses is an important part but it is very much a tool rather than an end in itself.

The prime example of obvious disappointment for me came in one lady’s first ever class where the question was simply “can technique overcome strength?” It was quite obvious that the answer was supposed to be “Yes!” but it wasn’t the answer I gave. I can’t just give a glib answer to what is a complex question (of course, that may also just be because I’m so fond of the sound of my own voice 🙂 ) so the answer went along the lines of:

“The answer is both yes and no (or maybe). It depends so much on the situation, if you look at the difference in strength between the average man and woman then you are typically going to be at a massive disadvantage. What training and good technique will give you is some percentage chance of evening of the odds. On a good day with everything in you favour it may tip the balance for you, it may give you the confidence to not be picked as a victim in the first place, at the very least it will improve your odds, but realistically you never want to be in a one on one fist fight with a man, it would be a very bad place to be (as it would for me or anybody else)”

“Yes” may have been a lot snappier but I am pleased to say she is still training with me 🙂

Unusually for me, I seem to have strayed off the topic for why I train the way I do and probably need to put the “self” in self-defence into context for me personally. For me the physical side of my training has always been about a personal interest in the “technology of violence” rather than a burning desire to be able to defend myself. It is both interesting and fun (when done as “play” fighting)

I am just fascinated by the subject itself. I live in a relatively safe area, I have long passed the 18-25 year old demographic where I would have been mostly at risk (and even in those days the “don’t be a dick” principle stood me in better stead that some good “scrapping” skills would have).

I am a 6’ 3” 220lb man in reasonable shape (or at least until recently 🙂 ) and not lacking in self-confidence and the skills to back that up so I have never really been an obvious target. As I pass 60 very soon and start to become “old and frail” I will start to move into another demographic and that situation may change again so it’s something to be conscious of, time passes and we can tend to miss the changes that happen around us.

However, what has been made plain to me recently is that the “self” in self-protection is about a lot more than a set of physical skills and an awareness of how to avoid confrontation (this is just the part we all see as “self-defence”).

It is all very well to train for “the street” and be ready should the worst ever happen but it really means very little if you don’t take a holistic approach to your life, understand what is important to you, which includes your health and well- being (both physical and mental) and of those around you.

You need to protect yourself in all aspects of your life otherwise training for hours a week in just one aspect can become pointless overnight. So personally, I need to expand my view of self-protection to encompass the entirety of my life rather than compartmentalising it as a thing in itself.

Certainly I need to expand the “awareness” side of my self-protection skills to include what’s happening within my own body and practice (and respond to 🙂 ) those skills.

Hindsight is an exact science and, as I say to my students, take the time to sit down with a nice cup of tea and think these thing through before you find yourself in a situation, make those decisions in advance so you don’t have to do it under stress and then make bad choices.

Time to practice what I preach, (and anyway, the kettle has just boiled apparently 🙂 )

Too Rough?

This is an interesting one (or to me at least) on how much contact in training is too much contact and what is appropriate for general martial arts training.

This question is on my mind on the back of some feedback I’ve heard from some recent events where people new to this type of training are under the impression some of the instructors take things “a bit too far”.

I think this is probably a forgivable misunderstanding if you haven’t experienced this sort of training before as it’s easy to miss read what is going on. Yes, the instructors in question train at the top end of what is acceptable (within my personal definition obviously, but then I am a bit of a wimp) but still within acceptable bounds.

This can look a lot worse than it actually is in part because an experienced Uke knows how to “play the game” and will react as if the contact had been full power and there are good reasons to do this if your training is going to be realistic (and it’s not just play acting to make the instructor look good! 🙂 )

There is, and probably always will be, a big divide on what is appropriate contact for martial arts training.

The first big issue being of course, what constitutes “martial arts” training?

There is a massive divide within the martial arts community itself on this question and the development of practical and realistic fighting skills seems very low on some lists or even non-existent in some places where they see “martial arts” as a personal development tool only rather than any form of pragmatic skill set (although strangely you will still very often see “and learn to defend yourself” in the marketing material for these types of club 🙂 ).

I’m not going to go into which of the modern or traditional styles is best and most realistic (basically because most of the arguments made on the topic are total horse sh*t anyway as it’s never been about WHAT you train but HOW you train it).

Obviously if you are teaching “martial arts” to 4 – 9 year olds then there is no such thing as appropriate contact and we can hopefully agree that what you are teaching is nothing about martial content but all about the many other perceived benefits of children’s training.

What I am really concerned with is adult training in martial arts and this really comes down to the honesty about what you are doing in any given group. If your target is to take part in a sporting activity then there are clearly defined rules and you should never really need to work outside of them so not really an issue. If you are taking up martial arts as a fun and cool fitness activity and just want to make the shapes and put on the gloves for occasional dojo sparing then again, the subject of appropriate contact will probably never become an issue because, baring accidental contact, it will never be part of your training regime.

Having said all the above, pretty well all the real injuries I’ve ever received (and it is an extensive list) have been during sporting/dojo play fighting activity, (and yes, all the ones I’ve given as well).

None of the above is any real problem at all until you add the words “and learn to defend yourself” into the mix. As soon as you do that then the whole game changes, big time.

Now I’m not suggesting for a moment that to learn self-defence (more accurately self-protection) you need to constantly be trying to beat the living daylights out of each other. Everyone needs to make it through the session safely as we all have lives to lead in the real world. However, if you purport to teach self-protection but none of your students has a real understanding of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a genuine impact technique then there is probably a big shortfall in your teaching.

It is perfectly possible to learn much of the technical side of applied karate (or whatever your chosen vehicle is) without ever really being hit but your understanding of what will actually happen in a real conflict will be, dare I say, virtually non-existent. Now that is quite a strong statement (although probably one the “walked the walk” brigade will agree with 🙂 ) Understanding the theory is not the same as actual experience. I’m not suggesting that anybody deliberately put themselves at risk but it is possible to build at least a measure of understanding via a gradual controlled acclimatisation process.

I will re-tell a story from my sporting days that I have told many times before but it does illustrate a point. I was in a competition bout shortly after having taken my Shodan against a 1^st kyu guy from the same group who was just on the final run up to his. It was typical dojo tag style point fighting, anyhow, we squared off and after a bit of to and fro I saw an opening and landed a nice clean gyaku-tsuki to his sternum. Nothing excessive, just normal (or light by my current standards 🙂 ) dojo contact, enough to make a nice slapping noise but no real penetration. Much to my surprise the guy just froze, completely shut down on the spot. It took him what seemed like an age to gather himself (although probably only 5-10 seconds). Anyhow, we finished the bout with me taking it very easy and he came up to me afterwards to say “he had no idea what happened” but that “nobody had ever hit him before!” Bear in mind that this guy had been training for probably 4 years and was only 6 weeks away from Black belt (I think he was Nidan by the time I left and I don’t suppose anyone ever hit him again after either).

The point being is that all the training in the world is next to useless to you without context and at least some level of understanding of what is going to happen to your body if somebody hits it. This doesn’t have to be a knock-out punch to the head or even anything drastic by way of an injurious body shot, a simple pulled “slap shot” can just shut you down on the spot if you’ve never experienced contact before (and please, nobody try and tell me “but we train so that you never get hit” 😉 )

Learning to hit hard can be done with pads, heavy bag etc.. And is a good tool for physical development of these skills but I have still found people with good striking skills who just don’t have the mind set to hit another human being. You need to be able to overcome this if your skills are ever going to be any use to you but it needs to be approached safely and in a controlled manner, and this typically takes time to build.

I personally also feel that it is probably as important to be on the receiving end of impact on an occasional basis. I am not going to go into details of the drills I use for this, not because it’s any big secret but because it is something that shouldn’t be approached without experienced supervision in my opinion. There is a lot to be learned from impact, both in understand what it actually feels like, to overcome the fear of it and then learning to ride it and minimising the effects. It is also very useful to be on the receiving end occasionally just to understand how damaging your own technique can be when delivered effectively, both to develop a level of confidence in what can seem like really simple techniques but also to understand what you can do to another human body, and this may well inform the choices you make in the event of an actual confrontation (a very important point to understand).

That’s probably more than enough for one ramble (the subject really is a chapter rather than a blog post but hopefully you get the idea 🙂 )