TACTICAL EDGE EDINBURGH

I posted this article by Mark Davies of Tactical Edge, months ago but last night I was thinking about students and attendance. Its funny how certain students simply expect to grade and that they have rightly earned a certificate by coming to classes in the run up to a grading. If this sounds like you then read on:

What kind of student are you????????

Myself & some of my friends who are martial arts instructors regularly have discussions about training & students attitudes towards it. There is always an element of "when I were a lad, lived in cardboard box in t'middle of t'motorway", which is to be expected from a bunch of old farts like us; but what is the truth behind what we're discussing?

I've got to admit that when I was a young lad & I'd just started training I really threw myself into it. I was lucky because my instructors were just as fanatical as I was, & they made sure that there was plenty of extra training. We used to think nothing of travelling all over Scotland five nights a week to train. This carried on after I'd served my apprenticeship & reached blackbelt. I thought nothing of travelling further afield as I was older, so I'd take off to other countries to train in arts that weren't available to me in the UK. To this day I continue my development as a martial artist & instructor by travelling around 12,000 miles a couple of times a year to visit my friend & teacher James Keating.

The reason I'm writing this though, is to try to stimulate you to think why you're training, & to be honest with yourself. If you are training with self defence as your primary reason, then a bit of self examination could make the difference between success & failure for you.

You will fight as you train. This is a phrase used by many instructors, & has been used for as long as man has had organised combative training & warfare & conflict. Training for actual conflict is not an easy or gentle pastime. Actual conflict is a terrible arena where fear, rage, pain, injury & death stalk you. Training for this has to mirror the actual conditions you face as closely as possible for it to be effective. The instructor can only do so much though, the student has to approach the training with the correct mindset for it to be effective. Now, this is where potential problems arrive.

Firstly, are you a student who lives in fantasy land? This is generally not completely the students fault, very often this is the result of training with an instructor who is also in cloud cuckoo land. I'll give an actual example of what I mean. Two of my students keep on running into a student from another local club. This club is taught by a guy who got to about Brown Belt in a TMA, & then bought into one of those 'buy my dvd's & I'll certify you as an instructor' deals. This particular student is convinced that his 'chi' energy makes him the most lethal weapon on the go. Every time my guys are around this guy he's bragging about his deadly chi enhanced techniques. The problem is he is making the typical mistake these 'chi' guys make, & confusing 'chi' with a 'push'. Now, the shame is that this kid is going to come face to face with some headcase one day (guaranteed with the way he acts) & he's going to find his 'chi' turns into "ouch, why are you able to smash my face in, my deadly chi punch should have made you fly through the air like on the matrix!". Guys, lets get real. As much as I believe in internal energy, when I'm dealing with violent conflict I prefer to stick to good old physics. If you really think that 'chi' or 'deadly blue lightning pressure point techniques' are going to save your hide, then you are going to be very sorely mistaken. There is no easy route to take for the lazy, no magic wand or silver bullet- just effective training in being able to deliver effective combative techniques! Do yourself a favour, & take a reality check. The guys I know who train seriously in internal martial arts DO NOT go around trying to make out that they are the most effective street warriors on the planet. They DO NOT teach their students that they can take out any opponent with their 'deadly bent arm chi punch'. What they say is that IF you are in a class where your instructor tells you this sort of claptrap then you are training with someone who is a cowboy.

Marcus Houston & I have spoken several times about students, & one thing we have both noticed is that certain types of martial art attract students who come along & train, not because they are fascinated with the style or the martial arts; but because they want to be able to tell people that they do that style. Thai Boxing, MMA & Krav are particularly attractive to this type of student, though you find them in every style. I could name a bunch I've known in TKD. In my experience this is the student who puts in minimal training time & will never attend seminars or extra training, always having an excuse as to why they can't be there. This is the student who can't afford to attend a course, though they could afford a night out on the town the weekend before. Does this sound like you? If it does then its such a shame, as you COULD find that you could really do something special with yourself if you stopped the ego enlargement & applied yourself to training properly. If your instructor is going the extra mile to offer you courses & seminars GET ON THEM, broaden your horizons & support your instructors efforts. What is most annoying is that what usually happens is that this type of student gets into trouble, & then because they haven't trained properly gets a kicking. They then go off in the huff blaming the style they trained in & the instructor because "it didn't work". No....... you didn't cut the mustard because you put that drunken night out before attending a seminar where you could have learned skills that may have saved your sorry hide!

Guys (& ladies), the long & the short of it is that there is no substitute for applying yourself & training hard. There is no substitute for seeking knowledge. There is no substitute for hours applied working that knowledge into your subconscious. Put in the hours, get on courses & seminars, get on any extra training your instructor puts on, BE A TRUE SEEKER OF KNOWLEDGE. Prioritise, if you want to do martial arts then DO THEM DON'T PLAY AT THEM. Half the problem with martial arts in this country are the number of 'belt factories' churning out blackbelts in two years, despite them only having trained one hour once a week in classes/styles where they don't have to hit anything, do anything combative or realistic, suffer or sweat. Don't be like that student, you only have a short time on this earth; sweat, hurt, push yourself, explore your inner self. Then, & only then- you might just be on the right path to really being proficient at what you think you are.