If you were only interested in getting in better shape, you would jog, swim, bike, join a gym, or something similar.  If you were solely interested in finding new friends, you would take advantage of less structured environments that would allow you to meet more people and in a more social environment.  If you only wanted to become more flexible, you would take yoga or some equivalent.  You study the martial arts to learn the art of combat, and all the other benefits of martial arts are just extra benefits.  I say “benefits” because getting in better shape and meeting new friends is a positive experience and addition to learning self-defense.

Since I’m convinced learning self-defense is the primary goal of studying the martial arts, I want to concentrate this article on making self-defense training more realistic.  Since real attacks are dynamic and dangerous, your training must be realistic.  Years ago when I was getting my pilot’s license, my instructor told me, “You must train for emergencies until they cease to be emergencies.”  I hope through this article, I’m able to help you incorporate more realistic training in your training regiment so you’ll be better prepared to deal with a real street attack.

As a beginner student, you should first learn the self-defense techniques in a slow and safe environment for optimal retention.  This is referred to as “static training.”  The better you understand why you are doing a specific technique, the more confident you will be in deciding which situation to use that technique as opposed to another one.  As you continue to improve with the execution of the technique, the dojo attacker should continue to increase his speed, power, and resistance.  This is referred to as “dynamic training.”  This will lead to more realistic training, as well as you developing more confidence in executing the technique.  I call this learning process the “crawl, walk, run” method.

The crawl method is learning what the technique is and why you do it.  It is taught and practiced slowly.  The technique is done from 1% speed and power up to approximately 25% (percentages are given here solely to help a person visualize speed and power and how they relate to the learning process).  The reason for this is because in the crawl method, all the focus is on proper body mechanics and on proper execution of the technique.  During the crawl method, techniques are normally done with commentary from an instructor or advanced student.  Once you are comfortable with performing the technique correctly, then you progress to the walk method.

The walk method ranges in speed and power from approximately 25% to 75%.  The walk method encompasses the greatest range of speed and power.  The reason for this is because you are still perfecting your technique, as well as building your skill to advance to the run method.  Just as in the color belt system of the martial arts, you are only a white belt (crawl method) for a short time and then spend most of your time (walk method) training toward the black belt (which is obviously at the run method for all previously taught techniques).  Once you know the technique’s mechanics (to include common mistakes) and applications, you may progress to the run method.

The run method ranges in speed and power from approximately 75%-100% while still keeping safety in mind.  If you get unnecessarily hurt, it will only take you away from further training.  The run method is my favorite because it more closely mimics realistic fighting on the streets.  It is a great confidence builder in the application of your own skills, as well as with the integrity of your martial arts style.  And one last benefit, as the attacker, it allows you to practice your attacks at great speed and power.

One of my favorite techniques to watch others do is the defense against the neck choke.  I see too many students just going through the motion.  The attacker places his hands on the defender’s neck while the defender then completes the technique.  When it is my turn to attack, I grab the advanced student’s neck with power and aggression and sometimes the student reacts in shock and disbelief.  Why?  Am I doing something wrong?  By not doing that, the only thing I am doing wrong is setting this student up for failure.  He is paying money and dedicating his time to learn effective self-defense.  A suspect on the street is not going to rest his hands upon your throat.  He is going to grab you and squeeze while being very aggressive physically and verbally.

In addition to increasing speed, power, and aggression, trying other tactics will improve your realism training.  For example, try doing certain techniques with a blind fold.  In the beginning stage of blindfold training, students are more afraid and less stable with regards to balance.  That is why I think this is a good training technique.  It increases balance and confidence.  The safest blindfold techniques to defend against are the ones where your attacker grabs you in holds, as opposed to you trying to defend yourself against punches.  I was never good at that one!

You must also train and prepare yourself for a variety of potential fighting environments.  When I was a patrol officer, I found myself in altercations with suspects on grass, concrete, loose gravel, slippery tile, and even on a bed one time.  These altercations also took place from early morning to the pitch black of night.  Since a great deal of attacks occur while out and about in town, it is important for you to occasionally train in clothing you normally wear.  When was the last time you tried one of your high kicks in a pair of blue jeans, or tried to pivot while wearing rubber-soled tennis shoes?  When was the last time you trained in low-light conditions?

If you do make a mistake while doing a technique, finish it to the best of your ability.  I have unfortunately seen too many students stop during the technique when they realized they made a mistake so that they could re-do it from the beginning.  This is a horrible habit to get into.  The whole purpose of doing self-defense techniques is to teach you how to defend yourself from an immediate attack.  If you realize you made a mistake, still finish the technique the best you can.  Once you have finished the technique, then you can re-do it from the beginning to improve any mistakes you made.

Let’s also briefly discuss knife disarming training.  I have seen some students practicing it without a training knife—simply empty handed while the defender must visualize the knife.  I’ve seen some students using a rubber training knife, and I’ve seen other students using the wooden “tanto” that is commonplace in aikido dojos.  For starters, I think it is important to have an object that looks like a knife.  This serves the important purpose of helping you realize the added danger of the situation, as well as learning to control the fear that will probably arise from a knife-wielding attacker.  I personally like the tanto because you can feel it hit you when you don’t do a clean knife disarming technique.  Pain can be a useful tool for behavioral modification.  I think the plain old wooden tanto does a disservice to realistic knife training though.  I’ve never seen a solid brown knife.  For my own personal tanto, I painted the bottom several inches black to represent a rubber grip and the rest silver to represent the blade.  I have found this simple procedure to aid in developing more realistic knife defense training.

These aforementioned tips are suggestions to improve your ability to defend yourself against a street attack.  Just as you want to be experienced using a multitude of techniques, you should also want to be experienced fighting in a multitude of environments and situations.  Thank you for reading and good luck in your training.

Written by Tucker Axum