Women's Self-Defense Classes - The Fallacy of Women's Self Defense

There are many who say women learn self-defense better in an exclusively women-only environment. The so-called "experts" say it is less intimidating if women don't have to compete with the men, or, it is easier (more comfortable) to discuss subjects like rape without men present. So, the new trend in self-defense programs is "Women's Self Defense" classes.

I don't agree with this line of reasoning, because the overwhelming evidence suggests that this is the wrong approach. I can't tell you how many times I have heard, "I took a women's self-defense course once. But, I went home and tried some of the stuff on my husband (or boyfriend), and it didn't work!"

There is nothing more confidence-shattering than to spend the time learning all the techniques and starting to feel good about yourself, only to have the bubble burst the first time you try out your new-found skills. Women then begin to feel there is nothing they can do to protect themselves when they can't even make it work against someone who isn't really trying to hurt them.

The real shame is when someone is really attacked, and after repeated attempts, can't make their self-defense techniques work. At that point, they simply give up, and won't fight back no matter what. I can only imagine that someone in that situation would look back on the time or money spent for self-defense classes and feel that they had been victimized twice!

Why "Women's Self Defense" Programs Don't Work!

Most of the people who take my self-defense classes are women. Sometimes, I even have a class that is all women. However, that is by coincidence, not design. Women who sign up for my classes know that there may be both men and women in the class. Whether there are actually men in the class is not important, after all, I am instructing the class, so there is always at least one man in the class.

The point is, if a woman is so intimidated by men, that she will not even take a self-defense class with men, she will never survive an attack by a man. Why? Because "intimidation" is just another word for fear. Until she can prove to herself the techniques work on a man, she has done nothing to help her get over her fear of men.

If she is ever attacked, it will probably be by a man! If she hasn't gotten over her fear of men, she will immediately panic, no matter what she has learned. If she hasn't learned how to deal with the bigger, stronger, more aggressive male, she will not understand how the dynamics of the situation will change in the real world!

Women MUST practice self-defense techniques against a man! Otherwise, how will she know they work against a man? This is what we call "realistic scenario training" (more about this later). If she has only practiced self-defense techniques with other women, she gets a false sense of security that her techniques will work in the real world. But, an even bigger problem is that most of what is taught in these so-called "women's self-defense" classes wouldn't work anyway!

Poor Teaching Methods

Much of what is taught as "women's self-defense" is not only ineffectual, but insulting as well. Courses intended only for women assume they are weak, less capable of defending themselves, and therefore need different methods from men to counteract violence. Women have been told to "yell 'FIRE', carry a hat pin or umbrella to jab at him, do something vulgar to gross him out, like tell him you have VD." If any of that junk worked, we'd be teaching men to do the same thing.

The following sample of bad advice still shows up in high schools and women's self-defense courses:

"Confrontation always makes everything worse. Don't react-it might be an overreaction. Don't add to the violence by becoming violent yourself. Don't make him mad. Trying to escape risks escalating the problem."

These ideas are wishful thinking or blind optimism. Experience at real crime scenes teaches you something very different.

Imagine if the percentages of women and men raped were 50-50 instead of 98 percent women and 2 percent men. [Outside of prison, those are the true percentages.] Now imagine someone telling men, "Don't overreact to rape, guys. Go along with his demands so you won't be hurt." I think you can see there might be a double standard that is completely unfair to women.

Doing Nothing

Doing nothing against a violent attack is the biggest risk of all because it makes resistance and escape later far more difficult. Worse, statistics show it actually increases the likelihood that violence will escalate, especially when the crime is rape. The most profound example involving resisting (doing something) versus submitting (doing nothing) was a Department of Justice study of rape published in 1985:

Rapists do not normally pre-arm themselves with weapons. Only 23 percent of 1.6 million cases studied involved knives or guns. [The major exception to this are rapists who break into a residence; 96 percent grab a knife from the kitchen.]
Approximately 51 percent of women resisted in some form, ranging from screaming to fleeing, to fighting back; the remaining 49 percent did nothing.
When broken down between resistance or submission, there was only an increase of two percent in the injury level to the women who resisted.

Yes, there is always a risk involved in fighting back, but there is just as much risk in doing nothing. If you face a rapist and do nothing, he'll rape you. If you face an armed criminal forcing you into his car and do nothing, he'll kidnap you. The "do-nothing" group believes that in doing nothing, they risk nothing.

Doers, in contrast, have simple and direct reasons for taking action: "If I don't do something fast, it's going to get worse."

False Claims

Another problem is the false sense of security given by unsubstantiated claims. One direct-mail women's safety device provides an "instant and easy self-defense" video for women.... "Can you point your finger?... Can you raise your hand?... If your answer is yes, you can instantly escape anything from rape to severe attacks.... It's quick and easy." The product being mentioned here, pepper spray, almost never works this way in the real world.

One television commercial for a women's self-defense program promises "two-minute, guaranteed knockout using your feet. When your assailant tries to grab you, use the heel of your shoe to strike into his head over and over." Could you really learn to do this in two minutes? It takes years of training in karate or taekwondo to learn to effectively kick someone in the head, and even then, it's a risky move. It's just a marketing ploy to get your money.

If you buy a police radar detector that is guaranteed to work, but doesn't, the result is a speeding ticket. If you pay for "self-defense classes" or videos that don't deliver as promised, the result can be severe injury or even death. Relying on someone else's guarantee is only a false sense of security that will only have bad results!

Anti-crime gadgets, and martial arts self-defense programs marketed to women, are often too simplistic and come with unrealistic guarantees. The fact is, surviving crime requires far more mental toughness than physical abilities. Size, weight, conditioning, and upper-body strength don't make the difference. If they did, a lot of men would be in deep trouble. Crime survival takes tough-minded mental conditioning, the same for both men and women.

What Does Work

What works, as proved by the results of both police and military testing, is "realistic scenario training". Scenario training consists of learning techniques, rehearsing them in realistic scenarios, and then visualizing these actions in your mind. It is a method used in many fields, from sports to law enforcement, military to medicine.

Scenario training is a way of planning our responses. We do something similar every day in our regular lives. We plan what to say if the boss criticizes a report we've submitted, or how to appease our spouse if we've done something irritating. Often we actually rehearse the words we'll use, we do it constantly. It doesn't always get us what we want, but it gives us a better chance.

Face-to-face with violence, your first split-second problem is not what is he going to do, but, "what are you going to do?" Scenario training against violence answers that question at the right time... before it happens. You can make mistakes and learn from them before it becomes a life or death situation! Scenario training to survive violent crime draws on real-life crime cases, which allows us to analyze our own mistakes, as well as the mistakes of others, learn from them, and decide how we will respond differently.

Without realistic scenario training, people panic and freeze up; they have no way to cut through the overwhelming fear that boxes them in during a crisis. Everyone needs to train for the same scenarios, and everyone, men and women alike, need to train the same way: to develop the mental toughness needed to survive a real attack!

Summary

This is the bottom line that must be adopted by every woman, every women's self-defense teacher, and every parent of a daughter: If the how-to-survive-violence technique and advice is not acceptable to men, it's not acceptable to women.

Knowing how to handle yourself when confronted with violence is your only insurance against becoming a victim, or just another statistic in a police report. You have car insurance, home-owner's insurance, life insurance, health insurance...

What insurance do you have against being the victim of a violent crime? A long-term self-defense program offers the most comprehensive training, and therefore, the best opportunity to learn to handle almost any situation that may occur. However, if you don't have the time to commit to a long-term program, at least some form of weaponless self-defense training is better than none.

But women MUST practice techniques with MEN! The idea that women can learn to defend themselves against men, without training with men, is simply false.

Resources:

Strong, Sanford - Strong on Defense; Simon & Shuster, Inc.; 1996

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Uniform Crime Report; 2000

Mark Jordan is a 6th Degree Black Belt in Budoshin Jujitsu, Vice-president of the American Ju-Jitsu Association, and a Certified Self-Defense Instructor with the International Association of Close Combat Professionals. You may find out how to contact him for training, or read more of his articles by visiting his website:
AllJujitsu.com.

Women's Self-Defense - Why Most Programs Are Wrong

Women's self defense issues are constantly in the news and a 'hot' topic for conversations. It seems that everyone from police officers to karate instructors has his or her own philosophy and theories about the how's and why's of self defense for women and girls.

The truth is though, that many of the same techniques and tactics taught to men for self-protection simply will not work for a woman. Why?...

... because attacks perpetrated on women have, at their foundation, certain inherent problems, issues, and conditions that are often very different for men who find themselves in defensive situations. Women have to deal with things that, quite frankly, men don't.

If this is something you're really concerned about, you owe it to yourself to do some serious research to get more information about real-world self-defense for women

designed around issues specifically related to womens self-defense.

Now, before some of you start rolling your eyes or nodding your head in agreement, this is not a women's lib issue or anything of the sort. It's simply the way it is.

What kind of things make self-defense for women different? I'm glad you asked.

Well, for starters, physiologically speaking, there is a 7-to-3 strength ratio between male and female bodies. That means that if you were to stand a man and a woman, having the same height, weight, and build, side-by-side, and all things considered (health, fitness, etc.)...

... the man would still be two-and-a-half times stronger than the woman!

This is not theory or one person's belief over those of others. It's scientific fact.

Next, women are more likely to be slapped, grabbed and pinned than punched or kicked. For men, it's just the opposite. The fact is that, most of us have been conditioned since childhood to act, play, and, yes, fight with each gender very differently. And attackers are no different.

The good news is that more and more women are being drawn to the life-enhancing benefits of the martial arts and basic self-defense programs for increasing their level of self-confidence and overall feelings of safety and security. The not-so-good news is that...

... there is a shortage of:

* Martial arts instructors who understand scientific self-defense, 'and' have the necessary life experience to be able to teach from a perspective that shares that experience.

After all...

... if an instructor has never been in a real-world self defense situation themselves, it will make it nearly impossible for them to teach real self defense to anyone - let alone self defense for women. It's kind of like going to a priest of counselor for marriage counselling who has never been married themselves. They both have information passed on by others but, neither has anyway of expressing that information based on real-word knowledge.

However, there is an over-abundance of...

...so-called self-defense experts who are of the tough-guy, fighter type or the "This is Reality - Deal With it! macho-type.

These people, by their very nature are the "slugger-types" who rely and depend on speed, strength and size to win. Since self defense situations usually involve a bigger, faster, stronger attacker victimizing a smaller, less-prepared target - and, that'sexactly what most women are up against when they're attacked...

... these instructors, and their "strike-first-and-crush-them-where-they-stand mentalities, are far from being suited, knowledgeable, or able to deliver the necessary lessons needed by women to effectively protect themselves from an assailant intent on dominating them physically.

Other Considerations for Girls and Womens Self Defense

The following is a partial list of some of the other major differences between self defense for women and men. The important thing to remember is that...

... a self-defense situation is very different from a sport or competition-based contest where the individuals are willing participants. They are evenly matched to insure for a "fair fight." I have been in contests and I have been attacked and I can tell you without a moment's doubt that...

... there is nothing "fair" or "even" about a real attack. NOTHING! And, once your personal space is invaded by another human being wanting to beat you to your core, you will know what I mean and never, ever, buy into the crap that most of these so-called experts are shovelling.

With that said, please know that I have not said that every self-defense or martial arts instructor is full of it. Just that you must know what you need and make sure that that's what you're getting. Remember - you're not buying a couch that you can take back. A mistake in this area could literally cost you your life!

Here are some other differences between men's and women's training that a good program must address:

* Cultural Influences - girls have been taught from a very early age that fighting was not "lady-like."

Oh my god! What would people think!

* Situational Self-Defense - rape and sexual assault are two of the biggest differences between the genders when it comes to suriviving an attack.

The fact that men are usually dealing with the more obvious situations (muggings and competitive ("oh-yeah! let's go!"-type fighting), while women, and more and more young girls, are required to deal with subtle tactics like date-rape or being ambushed by a group.

Add to this the strength differential discussed earlier, and you have a very different situation, requiring very different self-protection tactics.

* Incorrect Information - I believe that the majority of teachers and instructors mean well. They aren't out to con you. It's just that they have no real experience to go on so they do what everyone does when they don't know any better...

... they make assumptions that seem logical and rational within their own frame of reference.

The problem is that we're talking about self-protection here...

... self defense for women...

... girls self-defense. Not...

... vegetable soup. Where, if you make a mistake, you can just dump the pot and start over.

As I said earlier, a mistake in a women's self-defense situation, in any situation requiring defense against an attack from an assailant bent on damaging you, could be very, very costly indeed.

Jeffrey M. Miller is the president and CEO of Warrior Concepts International, and specializes in teaching the lessons for effective self-protection and personal development to individuals, groups, and business organizations. He has been studying and teaching these methods for over two-thirds of his life. He is a former federal police officer, private investigator, and bodyguard - all professions that demanded that the techniques, strategies and tactics that he used in the line of duty worked, and worked every time.

Mr. Miller is the founder and creator of the EDR: Non-Martial Arts Defensive Training SystemTM. EDR stands for Emotion-based Defensive Response and focuses on teaching adults how to tap into their body's own natural defensive response system to effectively deal with over 95% of the assaults that might happen to them. And they learn in hours instead of months or years as required by most karate programs. Get more information about the EDR System, or to have him speak or conduct a seminar for you, at http://www.warrior-concepts-online.com

Women's Self Defense in the Military

There are no women's self defense classes in the military. Why you ask? The military does not discriminate against gender and teaches women the same self defense techniques as men. Women's self defense in the military usually starts off at book camp. Here after weeks of physical conditioning and indoctrination into the military life style, the women get their first chance at women's self defense classes. These classes will show this new warrior how to take out an attacker in various ways. The woman will learn self defense using her hands, her bayonet, her rifle, and her grenades. Women's self defense takes on new levels in the military and once trained the woman becomes a deadly fighting machine.

The first women's self defense technique taught is hand to hand combat. Here the woman learns to use her hands, legs, feet, and head as a weapon when in close proximity of her enemy or assailant. She will learn the pressure points that will not only injure but demoralize her enemy. Using all the extremities of her body the woman solider will be able to take down a man twice her size. With a combination of martial arts and other lethal methods, the woman will be able to take a man off his feet and disable him from further attack. The hand to hand training takes place in about two days, far more women's self defense than you would get in a hour class at the YMCA.

The next phase of women's self defense in the military is bayonet training. Here the soldier will learn how to kill a man using her bayonet either on her rifle or in her hand. She will learn that the bayonet can slash the throat of her attacker by coming down at an angle in a downward motion. She will be taught how to stick the bayonet into her attacker's body, twist it to cause the most internal damage possible, and then pull it from his body. She will also be taught to use the butt of her weapon to deliver a powerful downward stroke that will kill or knock out her enemy.

Also during the boot camp experience, the soldier will learn universal women's self defense methods that will allow her to fire her rifle and throw a grenade. Even though a woman is not legally allowed to fulfill combat roles, in the event of ambush or unrecognized enemy threats a woman can be forced into combat just as a man. She needs to know how to use her rifle and to use other military weapons to protect herself and her fellow soldiers. The lack on knowledge of women's self defense techniques can get her and her comrades injured or killed.

The branch in the military dictates the extent of women's self defense classes a woman will receive. Some branches are more stringent than others. Remember that woman's self defense is used to define that it is a woman that learns the craft and not specific to either gender.

Get More Information on Self-Defense The Easiest Way at http://www.womenself-defense.com By: Wanda E. Hall, Self-Defense Expert

Martial-Arts Instruction Basics for Punching Improvement

Improve Your Punching, and You'll Improve Your Martial Arts

You probably already know that everyone says to practice the basics, to get good at martial arts. It makes sense. In any martial-arts discipline or sport, a strong foundation usually guarantees competent performance.

Martial arts is no different.

But sometimes, the basics can be boring. Admit it. You have to develop the right attitude to make something so repetitive as basic punching practice seem interesting... especially when you practice the same moves for years on end.

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Martial-Arts Tip

To jumpstart your martial arts, try focusing on one area of your training. For example, spend time thinking only about punching.

Don't think about anything else except improving your punch techniques. Shift your focus -- make everything relate to your punching... for a while.

Whether practicing your footwork, or considering your range and distance from the target, try to connect your training to punch improvement.

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The Best Martial-Arts Instruction

Did you know you can affect your martial-learning and training?

It's up to you to make your martial-arts experience the best it can be. In order to increase the effective of any instruction you participate in, you should spend more time considering hypothetical martial-arts situations -- body movement, offensive tactics, and punch combinations, kicks, and so on.

Perfecting the basics such an important part of one's defense system. Whether you are studying a Chinese Kung Fu style or American Pugilism (Boxing), your skill will benefit from a focused set of practice sessions.

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Punching Moves in a Book And...

If you have a lot of your own punching ideas that you want to try, then by all means have at it. I think punching and boxing creativity is important to successful martial arts.

If you need a bunch of ideas on how to punch harder, faster, and more efficiently, scan articles, visit both martial-arts and boxing sites, download free ebooklets, get offline instruction, and so on.

Also...

Keith Pascal is the author of "How to End the Fight with One Hit": Best Fighting Tactics.

Keith is the editor and author of several martial-arts ezines, including:
Punch information. (Free devastating punch ebook when you join.)
Pascal has taught martial arts for almost 30 years. He quit high school teaching in 2000, to become a full-time martial-arts writer.

A Novel of Martial Arts - The Eleventh Son

One of the top three Chinese martial arts fiction writers, Gu Long (1937-1985) wrote sixty-nine novels in a career spanning twenty-five years. Millions of copies of his books have been sold, and many of them have been repeatedly adapted for TV or cinema. His other important novels include The Compassionate Swordsman and the Merciless Sword (1970), The Orchid at Midnight (1979) and Hunting Hawk, Gambling Game (1984). At the age of forty-eight, he died of liver disease caused by excessive alcohol drinking. Rebecca S. Tai received her master's degree from University of California, Los Angeles. She enjoys reading adventure fiction and watching martial arts drama.

On one of his missions, Xiao (the Eleventh Son, known as the Great Bandit) meets Shen, the fairest woman in the martial world. By the will of fate, he rescues Shen several times, which plants the seed of love in both of them. However, Shen is married to a rich young man who is also an outstanding martial artist. As if things were not complicated enough, Xiao has his own secret admirer, Feng, an attractive swordswoman with a quick temper. Xiao is drawn into a messy fight for a legendary saber, the Deer Carver, and is accused of stealing it. Xiao finds out that the person who has set him up is a mysterious young man with an angel's face and a devil's heart. Before he can pursue any further, Shen's grandmother is murdered, and Xiao is named the killer. It appears that things are spinning out of control?

The following are some comments made by several foreign readers.

This book is the only official translated wuxia novel of by the Late Gu Long (Ku Long, Ku lung) available in English to date. Gu Long is one of the three best wuxia writers ever, so having one his novels finally being recognized is indeed wonderful. While comparing it to other translated wuxia novels are rather unfair, because Gu Long has his own distinct writing style, nevertheless in technical aspect of translating, Becky Tai, the translator, exceeded the rest, mainly when compared John Minfor and Graham Earnshaw. Becky Tai maintained the writer's original writing style and mood, even if the words and sentences are now in English. Additionally, Becky kept the names and important terms in Chinese pinyin and explained them to her readers, a much better approach than changing character's name into English or ignorantly using the term "Karate" for Chinese martial arts, like Minford did in his translation of The Deer and the Cauldron. Overall, this book worths every penny and should be collected by anyone who love the "wuxia" (Chinese knight-errand) genre but unable to read neither Chinese characters nor any other Asian language in which many wuxia novels have been translated.

As far as I know, this is Gu Long's second novel published in the West. The first was Christine Courniot's French translation of "Les Quatre Brigands du Huabei" available from amazon.fr. This is the first professional and complete English translation done by Rebecca Tai. Those of us, who have an interest in martial arts fiction, seek out novels like this one but you do not have to be a martial arts aficionado to appreciate this excellent novel. Gu Long, more than Louis Cha, has a poetic style of writing that is unique to the genre of Chinese martial arts fiction. I find the settings of his novels lush and beautiful which leaves a lot to the imagination. Gu Long has acute psychological insight into human nature combined with the human relational understanding of honor and shame. The characters are fascinating, the situations that these characters find themselves in are at times fantastic but that is typical of literature that encompasses history and fantasy. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It was a new and refreshing experience.

This is one of the first translated novels from the famed Chinese martial arts fiction write Gu Long. It's well translated and takes you back in time to a mythical China thousands of years ago, when martial art and Chinese beauties went hand in hand. The world Gu Long creates is romanticized with diverse characters both good and evil, and all well versed in the martial arts. With great character development, Xiao, Feng, and Shen are very believable and sometimes humorous. This is like a literary version of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, or House of Flying Daggers. Kudos to Rebecca Tai for translating and Homa for bringing a great Chinese literary gem to the states!

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How to Select The Right Kind of Shoes For Martial Arts

Every sport has its own demand from a human body. Whether it is the hands that are involved or the feet, it is a requirement that one should use the right kind of accessories while practicing their favorite sport. Thus shoes to play soccer or basketball are different from shoes for martial arts. Since the sports are starkly different, the demands on limbs are also different. Therefore, it is not only recommended but compulsory that proper shoes for martial arts should be used while practicing the same.

The main feature of using shoes for martial arts is that they come without laces and so do not impair movement and thus are prone to fewer accidents caused by entanglement. Also, shoes specially created for martial arts are padded at the right places so that you can use the optimum force in your kicks and thus enhance your art rather than impair it. The soles are also specially designed so that you get a good grip on your feet and enable you to spin on your feet efficiently. Spinning is a part and parcel of martial arts unlike any other sport and thus using shoes for martial arts is an advantage to martial art enthusiasts. Let us check the kinds of shoes available for such enthusiasts:

The Ninjitsu Tabi Boot: This is a very special boot made for the art of practicing the Ninjitsu Tabi and does not even look like footwear. It looks more like a bedroom slipper and is a deceit in itself. It comes with tow-grips inside the boot. This boot is also used to practice Ninjitsu and its allied martial arts. This boot is improvised to enable better and efficient kicking and will give you an edge over other martial art sportsmen.

The KungFu Slipper: Another fine example of shoes for martial arts is the KungFu Slipper. This is a very special form of footwear and helps the practitioner to maintain body temperature during KungFu practice. These shoes also help one to remove excess calories, very useful when one is using martial arts as a fitness regimen. The KungFu Slippers are easy to clean - you could wash them with hand or just toss them into the washer. Made with simple yet strong fabric, these shoes are very comfortable and you could find many people using them as casual wear without understanding their functionality entirely, especially in Asian countries.

Shoes are specially designed so that they take the shape of your foot during practice. Many martial arts enthusiasts are also seen practicing bare foot, but this practice could be dangerous and may result in injuries. While bare foot practice benefits better due to strength training and the natural feel, it is only advised after you reach a particular skill level. Shoes for martial arts are highly recommended for beginners and are designed to give better ergonomic comfort and safety to the ones wearing them. Wearing shoes for martial arts is highly recommended for the new and budding martial arts enthusiasts.

To learn more about shoes for martial arts and other martial arts equipments visit http://www.mixedmartialartsequipments.com.

Is Martial Arts Training Fun for Men and Women?

Fun? Really? I guess it depends on what you are doing in the martial arts to classify it as fun. Or if you are a sick, twisted fool that is into self-abuse and mayhem, brutal martial arts training can be fun. It boils down to what your motivation for training is. If you are into competition, patches, trophies, name recognition and glory then a commercial school oriented to the sporting aspects of martial arts is where you want to go. If you want realistic self-defense training perhaps going to a dojo with fewer trophies on the wall is something you want to seek.

Different cultures have different martial arts and it may take a few tries to find one that fits you and your personality. Personally I have been seeking my path in the martial arts for over forty years. I have found some really great schools and top-notch instructors and I have found some schools that I would not waste another second investigating. But my motivation for martial arts training is not the same as everyone else's motivation. It may be similar but it is not the same.

My martial art training is not done as a hobby or a sport or even a pleasant past time. Sometimes it just plain hurts. Yes there is pain involved but that does not mean that the training does not have its own rewards. The camaraderie and bonding that takes place when you place your life in the hands of your training partner achieves a very high degree. It is true that we do not train for fun but occasionally we can have fun training.

If your goal in the martial arts is to achieve a fairly high degree of physical fitness, to maintain good muscle tone and flexibility then you may want to participate in such things as tournaments, and or demonstrations and that is an excellent goal. It can be fun and provide motivation for setting goals or meeting people of similar interests and abilities.

If your motivation to train in the martial arts is to provide yourself a venue to learn to fight and defend yourself you can still find an enjoyable experience but the bumps and bruises will be more extensive.

To seek "budo" or the way of the warrior your path will be quite different than if you were seeking the thrill of competition. The possibility of female participation is reduced but not eliminated. The concept of having fun is pretty much out the window. The training will be brutal by necessity. On the warrior's path you are not training to compete, you are training to survive.

Back in 1967 when I began training in Shotokan my goal was to become a professional soldier. Vietnam was in full swing and I knew if I wanted a military career, I would have to have combat experience. My dream was to join Special Forces (Green Berets) and to command an SFOD - A. I thought I would be more and better prepared if I had some real martial arts training. The club I joined was the Brigham Young University Shotokan Karate Club. There really was not a choice if I wanted good martial arts training. There was nothing else available. The training was brutal. If we did not draw blood during a workout, it was not a good workout. That intense training served me very well when I entered the military in 1973. I missed out on Vietnam (darn the luck! Shucks, I really wanted to go. Not!) as well as all of the other live fire exercises the United States became involved in up until 1990 when I was medically discharged. The martial art training during those early years was not fun but it saved my butt several times. Just being able to push myself beyond my perceived limits of physical endurance was a direct result of my martial arts training and it served me well. Now my martial art training is very different from that in 1967. It is more intellectual and spiritual and has much more potential for severe physical damage. It still is not fun because pain is involved but we can have fun during the training. The close-knit group of students who care about each other's safety is very much different than in the early days. I run classes in my dojo in the basement of my house and training is done by invitation only. Many of my students are prior or current military. Some have had law enforcement experience. The training is hard but the banter and joking provide an environment that is "fun".

Karate is up close and personal. Jujutsu is intimate. This makes some people uncomfortable until they get past the ma-ai barrier and learn to get close to their training partner and maybe their attacker. We must learn to leave our ego as well as our gender at the door. The focus should be on training and learning. Leave the sexist crap outside. That said, then training can become fun.

I have had several junctures in life that if I quit training, retired my uniform and belt and pursued other interests in life it would be permissible. I've broken my back twice, broke my leg really bad and dislocated my ankle, got hurt on a night parachute jump etc. etc. But I discovered that I can't quit. The martial arts have become quite addictive. Perhaps it is the flood of endorphins that keeps me coming back. Maybe I am just waiting for the fun to happen?

Larry G. Bethers
6th Dan Chow-Hoon Goshin Jitsu
Introducing principle based training and teaching.
http://www.oneartmartialconcepts.com

42+ years experience in the martial arts
former Green Beret Officer (Major)