The Ultimate Fighting Art
Many people believe that there is a fighting art that is the best and that they are doing it. They believe that their art contains elements that are superior to what other people practice and hence they will inevitable prevail.
What they fail to understand is that it is the combination of the person and the fighting art that is the important factor. Having said that it is possible for people to have their fighting style ruined by poor instruction , terrible training methods and an over-emphasis on competition fighting with rules that protect them from dangerous errors in technique.
It is very difficult for the novice to know what is good and what is bad so they tend to pick what is available to them based upon the level of marketing that teachers provide. Unfortunately the marketing spend is often inversely proportional to the utility of the art and the ability of the teacher. Traditionally a teacher had to prove their credentials by fighting other stylists in open competition – now they only have to earn black belts/sashes/certificates etc and do not have to actually fight at all or only within the limited arena of their own organisational structure.
The problem of only fighting within your own style is that the fighters know all the moves of their opponents, both having learnt the same techniques, tactics and strategy. In this situation the stronger, faster, fitter person will always win. Trained techniques become self-defeating. To win it is necessary to move beyond technique and change tactics and strategy.
Most martial arts taught today are a pale imitation of what they once were. It is no longer a life or death matter to become the best. Traditional small group teaching has given way to the large class, financially beneficial to the teacher but poor value for the student. Large class teaching is not conducive to proper teaching. It is necessary to dumb down the class and create syllabuses for all to follow, individuality is not taken into account. All must learn the same thing in the same way irrespective of differences in physique, flexibility, strength and intellect.
Ultimately if the art has sufficient defensive techniques to be able to defend against all the basic attacks then the superior fighter will succeed using that art, irrespective as to what it is. It is the attributes of the fighter that determine whether he can make the art successful. The art itself is neither good nor bad. Learning a particular martial art does not guarantee success but learning the most appropriate one for your physical and mental attributes is more likely to have a successful outcome.
January 31, 2010 at 10:27 pm | Musings | No comment
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