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About Martial Arts Part 1
About Martial Arts 1 – observations by Sensei Russell Stutely stirred up a lot of controversy!
Over the last 5 or 6 years I have been fortunate enough to meet and train with some of the UK’s and indeed the World’s foremost Instructors / Seminar Instructors / Trainers and MA practitioners.
During this period I have also been fortunate enough to learn what I previously considered to be well beyond my capabilities. For this I am eternally grateful.
However, I am also deeply worried and saddened by what I have learnt.
For years I was happy to do the same class week in, week out.
Happy to march up and down in lines, happy to do Kata and happy to do some Kumite. We were quite content to intensify the training leading up to Gradings and / or competitions and push ourselves to what we thought were the limits.
We were all gloriously happy in what we thought was Martial Arts, what we thought was real Shotokan Karate.
We were told that Shotokan was about the best there is, and we were happy to accept that, indeed so was I.
I / we were quite happy to accept that our Karate would work for us in the street if we needed it. Even though, at the time, several of my friends were bouncers and I knew deep down that what I was doing would not work against them.
Still, I kept training the same way.
Even though I knew it would not work!
The thing is, I was HAPPY doing it and so probably are you!
Now, here is the problem… Does that story sound familiar to you?
Do you know that deep down what you are doing will never stand up to the venom and ferocity of a real attack?
Are you kidding yourself?
More importantly, are you an Instructor who is kidding others by teaching the same old stuff?
I mean to shock with this article.
I mean to offend people.
I mean to offend the Karate Do World.
I mean to take you away from your comfort zone!
Firstly, I want you to leave aside personal likes / dislikes. What I am about to write is not a personal attack on any person or any system. It is an attack on a mindset that is potentially life threatening for those involved in it.
If this offends you, then you are part of it.
Now, ask yourself some questions.
Why did you start Martial Arts?
According to all the statistics most people started for Self Defence and / or fitness. These reasons are changing with the advent of Full Time Centres that are more biased to the personal development skills that Martial Arts can and indeed does bring. But, they are another matter!
So, most people started for self-defence and / or fitness.
What has been the result of those years of training?
Are you more able to defend yourself?
Are you much fitter?
You may well think that you are, because you have reached a Dan grade in whatever you do. But let me tell you, you are not!
If you have reached Dan Grade in say Shotokan, you will probably have become totally institutionalized in that system, the same with Wado / Kung Fu / TKD etc.
You will automatically go into long, deep stances.
You will bounce up and down in Kumite.
You will automatically put one hand at hikite for no apparent reason.
You will think that your reverse punch is a fight stopper because it works in competition.
You could have reached Dan grade without EVER having hit a pad or a bag, let alone a person.
You will be under the impression that your jodan mawashageri will work; you will think it is right to step in front of your supporting leg when performing yokogeri.
You will be under the impression that your back kick will work against anybody; your lunge punch will finish the fight just like it did in last week’s competition.
You will do more and more kata for no apparent reason other than to learn another kata!
Why, will you think this? Because your Instructor told you.
His Instructor told him.
And yes, his Instructor told him…. And so on and so forth till we get back to the villain of the piece.
The Instructor that started it all, whoever he may be.
Deep down, you know all this is wrong.
What possible purpose does Kata serve in a fight?
What possible way can you land a spinning reverse roundhouse kick in a fight?
Why would you bounce up and down in a fighting stance for a fight on the street?
OK, I hear you say, what makes you think all this is wrong?
What qualifies you to say that we are wrong?
We have Instructors with 7th / 8th or even 9th Dan from Japan that do not agree?
It has always been taught this way for hundreds of years?
This is real Karate.
Well, I say “Wake up and smell the Coffee!”.
Firstly I want you to think of every rule that there is in a Kumite competition. no biting for example, no groin kicks etc etc etc.
Now, we have a fight, YOU stick to the rules and I GUARANTEE I will break every rule there is.
I have just increased my chances of winning 1000%!!
Kumite, teaches you to stick to the rules.
Kihon teaches you terrible Body Mechanics
Kata teaches you Kata
These people are perpetuating the myth that Martial Arts in its present state works!
Are you dumb enough to believe them?
People sometimes say to me, “I have been training 25 years!”.. That is often true.. But they have been repeating year 5 for the last 20 of them!
Just be sensible for a moment, ask a friend with no knowledge of the Martial Arts to look at what you do and to give an honest opinion.
What will you say when they ask you what the moves are for in your kata?
What will you say when they ask why you put one hand on your hip and leave yourself open to attack when you do a reverse punch?
Then have a spar with a boxer and try and use your “One punch one kill” Karate punches and see what happens.
Have a training session with a Boxer and see how fit you really are.
When I start this argument, people bring up names of famous Karateka as “proof” that karate works. Well, these people are making it work in spite of Karate not because of it! They could probably make Tiddlywinks work!
Now, I want you to look at your Instructor at the next training session, is he making all these mistakes and more?
Is he perpetuating this myth?
It is more than likely not his fault, don’t blame him, he has become institutionalised.
Martial Arts is more like a “cult” than some cults. Students and Instructors blindly following the words of some “demi-god” in charge of their association, who is the most guilty of all, as he is the one who has perpetuated the myth to all those below him.
People are going to write in and / or call me up and shout about the exceptions to the above. Of course there are exceptions, I am not getting at those who do not follow the myth. However, look at yourself and the system and the main Instructors within that system with a critical eye BEFORE you make that call.
You need to ask yourself ONE VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION.
“Would you bet your life on what your Instructor has just taught you?”
If you hesitate for one moment, you would not. You know that deep down it does not and will not work, the way it has been taught.
I was honest enough with myself to ask that question and know the real answer… I would never take that bet! Then I met the following people in no particular order; Rick Moneymaker, Tom Muncy, Peter Consterdine, Eddie Stokes, Anthony Blades and Peter Holmes
These people have changed my Martial Arts forever. They have changed my life.
Ruined it as well:) In terms of training partners I am as lonely as the last little ginger kid at the orphanage.
Having said all the above about the state of Martial Arts as it is taught, why you may ask do I have anything to do with it? The simple answer is that I have a total passion and commitment to the Arts. If you want to see commitment to training, go and train with Peter Consterdine on a Saturday morning. Come and train with us at 06.00 3 times a week when 95% of Martial Artists are still in bed. Go and train with Eddie Stokes on a Sunday afternoon instead of eating yet another huge Sunday roast.
In other words, get off your arse and train, but train properly.
There is absolutely no point in going up and down in lines and thinking you are training for a self defence situation.
If your self-defence techniques are done against a Karate type punch, ask yourself this question.
How many people in the street throw a Karate punch and then wait for you to do your defence? Answer… None!
Having said all the above, having said that Karate as it is taught, does not work, I am totally and utterly convinced and know through experience that Karate can be made to work and to work devastatingly well if you change things around a little bit.
What do I mean by change things around? Just little things like, don’t make a self-defence situation a fight… there is a massive difference.
Don’t make the body mechanics mistakes of Karate. Earn the right to land your technique.
About 4 years ago, Eddie Stokes and myself were conducting a seminar. Eddie said these words “You have to earn the right to land your technique”
Since then I have stolen that phrase and used it at every opportunity. It encapsulates everything we are trying to say in one sentence.
If you want to learn how to earn that right, contact Eddie Stokes on 01252 330 926.
I guarantee you will come away from that training session with a new approach to the Martial Arts and a deep respect for a man who is putting into practice what he preaches 3 nights a week, every week on some pretty awful troubled nightspots. There, you will learn how to create that opening that you need to land your technique, whatever it may be.
Geoff Thompson and Peter Consterdine were instrumental in bringing to the fore the downsides of current Martial Arts practices for the street. They were instrumental in the “pre-emptive strike”.
We, as Martial Artists must be eternally grateful to these two people for that. They have provided the solid base from which you can build and move forward.
I stated earlier that Kihons teach poor Body Mechanics and Kata teaches Kata. To rectify this, I highly recommend that you contact an organisation like The Dragon Society International. There you will learn how your body really works for self-defence. You will learn the real secrets contained within kata.
Go to the source, find out the truth and decide for yourself.
This a quote from a Dragon Instructor ” I used to spend 99% of my time trying to make my Martial Arts work, now I am using DSI technology I am spending 99% of my time trying to stop my Martial Arts from being so effective. I am losing training partners!”
Be honest with yourself, when was the last time you had to deliberately reduce your capabilities by 99%? I don’t mean by not taking a cheap shot against a compliant training partner either!
Next month we are going to examine the methodology behind making your techniques work properly and expose many of the myths surrounding the Martial Arts.
Until then, look at what you are doing.
Look at what your Instructor is doing.
Determine your strengths and weaknesses.”
Master Russell Stutely www.russellstutely.co.uk for more information or to arrange training at your dojo
……..goto About Martial Arts Part 2 to see the fuss this article caused !!!