Why Your Martial Arts Training Might Be Holding You Back — And How to Fix It
- Kelly Mccann
- 7 minutes ago
- 3 min read
It’s a sad fact that when we conduct combatives seminars, some attendees who have spent money and effort developing their martial arts skills say they regret having done that.
Usually, it goes something like this: “Man, I wish I had taken this approach earlier instead of spending so much time doing [this or that] martial art.”
In fact, a lot of combatives practitioners impugn traditional martial arts training, and that’s a shame. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater! If anything, what should be impugned is the lack of effort to “streetify” the martial art being discussed or the practitioner’s decision to choose form over function.
Take stances, for example. Few would argue that you should assume a traditional stance in a street confrontation, but learning how to use your hips to generate power in those stances is definitely useful. The principle simply needs to be applied to a more practical boxing or combatives guard rather than a horse stance.
To preserve an art, the curriculum should be taught accurately and respectfully exactly as it is. It shouldn’t be altered or contaminated by outside influences. People who pursue learning an art form shouldn’t think they wasted their time because they followed through and actually learned it. But neither the sensei nor the students should delude themselves about what they’ve actually learned, either.
Because traditional martial arts are about discipline and form, practitioners initially find it difficult to become more fluid and “natural” (for lack of a better description) in their thinking and application when they first experience combatives.