Are we training wrong?

It finally hit me.  As much as we try to make things real, and allow people to train in as much of a realistic environment, we may be training them wrong.  Or is it that people are too nice to their training partner?  Or maybe, just maybe, the severity of a true fight does not sink in with our members?

Let me regress.  For those of you who train with us regularly, you know that we are all about realism.  From incorporating scenarios into the drills, to the types of classes we teach, including the weapons classes and our FIGHT/Ground Survival classes.

In all of these classes we try to push the idea of fights being a dynamic situation, one which evolves quickly and in unpredictable ways.  Which is in large the reason we do not teach "katas", or sequences, but rather depend on principals which can then be applied individually by the practitioner.  We also emphasize the aspect of fighting which states that you are not bound to one set of skills.  For example, one of the reasons for this blog post was that during a recent stick fighting class people forgot they also have legs to kick with, fists to strike with, heads to smash with, and so on.

Following this recent weapon fighting class, which included skills and was followed by sparring, a seasoned member who just fought a new guest to the class was amazed that the way he handled the fight.  The problem was that he felt as though he lost to a beginner.  Another issues this member had was the frequent loss of the stick during fighting (he kept having his stick trapped by his opponent).  My explanation was that I saw two issues with the way the fight went:

1. Members who come to these classes typically do an exceptional good job when practicing a skill with a compliant partner, but once they are in a fight they neglect to commit to the strikes.  I am not sure if it is due to a psychological fear of hurt their partners, or that the dynamics of the fight confuse them.  But when a strike is not a commitment, it tends to be slower and weaker making a trap by the opponent easier, whether it is a stick or a kick.
2. As mentioned earlier, people forget about their other tools.  If a stick is grabbed what is topping the fighter from kicking or punching?  They should be using all the tools in their arsenal, not only the "obvious" weapon in their hands.

What we found impressive, and in a fact turned on the light bulb, was that the "new guy" had no such reservations from striking.  Very likely because no "bad habits" were yet instilled, and when placed into a fight, the new person was scared, and eager to strike and strike hard to maintain his safety.

So following this class, and others like it, and after talking to members who did well in scenarios and some that didn't do quite as well I began to think: how do I make sure members do not lose their "fear"?  How do they maintain that edge of healthy resistance while increasing their skill levels?

So I came up with a few solutions:

1. I will begin kicking in the balls any member who does not commit to his/her strike!  I assume it would be a pretty sharp learning curve.  If you are planning on hitting you may as well do it right.  Half-Assing a strike will get you nowhere...fast.
2. Protective gear will be utilized more to help members overcome their initial fear of hitting other human beings.  I agree, striking another person, especially a friend and training partner, is not normal.  But unfortunately we will fight as we train, and just saying "in a real fight I would hit for real" doesn't cut it.  I need to know that you will, and you need to know that you can.
3. Overall increasing the frequency of fighting and scenario based training.  Skills are great, but if we cannot reproduce them under stress they mean absolutely nothing.

Get ready for the next evolution of ICS training!!!

Stay safe,

Tzviel 'BK' Blankchtein

Masada Tactical