Sometimes using your karate skills means running away

I don't often blog about technique in Karate. As a brown belt I'm just not that qualified. Sure I can give an opinion on what works for me, but I'm just not a “master of the basics”. Yet... But I do have enough training in good dojo's to get an eye of what is going to work in real life. See, some people get their black belts with out ever knowing what it's like to get the floor thrown at them, take a punch to the head, make mistakes and realize that everyone's body is different. You may be adapt at jumping up really high and kicking someone on the top of the head, but rarely have I witnessed a fight that it would be useful in.

Lately there are a lot of video's out there showing off skill and prowess of martial artists. Here you do this fancy technique and you can disarm someone and hold them until the police get there and take the bad guy away. It's a really great theory if you are superman, but in all practicality it's wrong. The first thing you should do if someone brandishes a weapon at you is run away, preferably screaming. In any situation even given the best set of probabilities you are going to get hurt. There is nothing on you more valuable than your life and if you are with someone else their lives. There is nothing worse than an inflated sense of self confidence to get you hurt. My wallet can be replaced, my life can't be. But what about those pretty techniques. Yes they are beautiful indeed, but for the 99% of us who haven't practised martial arts all our lives and have not dedicated all of our time and effort into training our bodies to super human capacity it's not going to go so well. Stuff just happens. There is nothing wrong with an ugly down and dirty technique that is going to stop someone from killing you. If you have to poke an eyeball to do it then you have to. It's your body and your life you are defending. Fighting isn't pretty, it isn't fancy. If someone attacks you the best option is to not be there in the first place. Why gamble with your life? Odds are if you attacked with a knife you aren't going to be able to see it in the first. So all those best case scenario’s who've seen where the guy gets tossed around like a rag doll goes right out the window. IF your Sensei doesn't instill in you the knowledge that if you are attacked with a knife and you actually HAVE to defend yourself because there is simply no where for you to go that you are going to get cut, you should probably get a new Sensei.

Speaking of martial artists, I have to give my daughter credit where credit is due. She's been training for well over 5 years (longer than I have) and she has started in a new school and gone back down to a white belt. Her response was.... “Mom it just feels so good to put on my gi and train again I don't care.” What a kid. If all martial artists were like her the world would be a better place. I love that she has such passion and dedication to the art.