Wednesday, February 10, 2010

MMA, RBSD, TMA What's the Answer?

So if you ask most of the Mixed Martial Arts guys they will say that Traditional Martial Artists spend too much time on technique and not enough time fighting, and Reality Based Self Defense guys spend not enough time on technique and fitness with too much emphasis on adrenal response.

If you ask the Reality Based Self Defense guys, they will say the Traditional Martial Artists and the MMA guys spend too much time in controlled scenarios and not enough time with adrenal response.

If you ask the Traditional Martial Artists they will say that the MMA guys are too focused on sport, and the RBSD guys don't spend enough time practicing the basics and building new techniques.

So who has it right? Who has the answer for how to learn to make martial arts real, viable self defense techniques.

I think they all do. I think that, like the 5 blind men who argued over what an elephant is like, they each have a piece of the puzzle.

If you spend all your time on technique in a sterilized situation with a compliant partner you miss a piece of the puzzle.

If you spend all your time sparring within the confines of the rules of a sport, you miss a piece of the puzzle.

If you only do an intensive two day course and never train again, you miss a piece of the puzzle.

While I'm at it, if you don't work to improve your relationship with the world around you, or your leadership skills, or acts of kindness. . . you miss a piece of the puzzle.

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