Saturday, October 29, 2011

Self Defense Technique #3

People who know me well know that I can be very picky about terminology and phrasing.

Today I'm getting picky about the phrase, "self defense technique".

I think the term as I grew up with it is too vague and contributes to an incorrect image of how those techniques work.

You've probably seen the videos, in which the sensei/sifu/teacher/coach has his student standing there with both hands outstretched holding on to simulate a two handed front choke. The instructor goes step by step on how to perform the "self defense technique".

I believe that teaching these as "self defense techniques" rather than "hold releases" gives a lot of people the impression that an attack is a non dynamic situation in which if A happens and I do B I will be OK. I intend to teach them as hold releases, and I need to teach them starting static to learn the technique, then progressing to a "messier" situation to make it more frustrating and challenging.