The difference between combat training and martial arts
Clarifying the facts
Recently, I was checking the sales ranking of my book on Amazon.com, when I noticed that I had finally received a review from a customer on Amazon. After reading the review, I felt humbled and silly. The client who reviewed my book on military knife and close combat was obviously a practicing martial artist.
It also seemed to be one of the “Know It All” types. Although much of your review on the design of my book may be spot on; I was surprised by his blatant ignorance in not knowing the difference between combat training and martial arts. In his own words, “Although the author may know what he is doing in this book, you may as well. If you took some kind of masters class for a worthwhile period of time, then you would have learned most, if not half, of it. of these techniques for knife fighting. “ I must agree with him on this.
If you take any kind of martial arts class for any length of time; that anything is worth; Eventually, you will learn half the techniques in the book. Although I say clearly in the book that my intent is not to teach specific techniques, but to use the techniques as a vehicle to bring the principles home; and I admit that there are countless techniques one can learn, not just limited to my book. This “Cliff” boy is the example of how many cannot tell the difference between martial art and combat training.
Distinguishing the difference
Before one can really distinguish between a martial art and combat training, one must reflect on the origin of the martial arts practiced today. The term “martial art” refers to a war like art; with martial referring to war. It is true that centuries ago, during the conception of today’s martial arts, countless systems and styles were born from military exercises and hand-to-hand battles of the time. During ancient times, without the help of modern weaponry and firepower, soldiers were forced to fight with clubs, swords, daggers, spears, and often hand to hand. Warriors of that time began to develop tried and true systems of armed and unarmed combat, just like today. They understood that military units must gain muscle memory in their tactics of choice and saw the need for regulated combat systems. The methods and techniques of his time required ways to dismount the horsemen and break or penetrate the wooden armor. It’s pretty obvious that in today’s combat environment those techniques would be obsolete. Over generations and centuries, the ancient arts have been handed down from teacher to student and teacher to student. The once effective and powerful combat training of the ancients has become an antiquity.
Today, the ancient techniques of China’s samurai and fighting monks can be seen practiced through the windows of training rooms around the world. Ancient ways and techniques that were once practical battle tactics have been manipulated by popular media and business ideology. Many practice ancient martial arts for a myriad of reasons. Some of their reasons are due to the same reasons the training was developed. People practice for fitness, protection and hobby. Others train simply to preserve art.
After World War II, the West knew the madness of Asian martial arts. Soldiers, sailors, and airmen were exposed to the Asian fighting arts of the Japanese and the Philippines and wanted to learn. Many of the indigenous instructors or gurus realized the opportunity to make money off naive Westerners and began teaching watered down versions of the fighting arts. Often teachers would expand the training and add flashy, intricate, and complicated techniques to the curriculum. It was the flash that would be sold to the new western market. Soon, even Hollywood would make movies with actors like Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris demonstrating their athleticism and prowess on screen.
Belt ranking systems have been added to help new students feel like they are making progress and won’t quit. Techniques that were once effective for ancient combat were reduced to nothing more than stunts with some self-protection value. Many of the occult techniques that were the pride of warriors of yore were lost through the simple process of supply and demand. Modern technology and weapons only helped to lose practical fighting techniques and turn martial arts into a lucrative but provocative industry. Today there are martial arts companies that place their clients in programs known as “black belt plans.”
People are forced to enter into contracts that they cannot afford to breach for a certain period of time until they receive their black belts. At the beginning of the 20th century, many respected the rank of “black belt” for possessing prowess in fighting. Today that rank has lost much of that respect. Too often we hear about the black belt being hit by a boxer or a street fighter. Too often, a white belt student can completely wipe out his Karate or Kung Fu “black belt” teacher during training in the training room. Today, the sport of mixed martial arts has proven that the martial arts of yesteryear are obsolete even for today’s modern training methods. Today’s MMA athletes, who are not belted in any martial arts, would dominate more than half of traditional martial arts practitioners.
Traditional martial artists are often based on archaic training methods and spiritual philosophies from a much more primitive age. Where MMA athletes rely on the most up-to-date drilling and scientific training ideologies. Today, the general population knows much more about matters of psychology, physiology, anatomy, physics and economics of movement. It is the lack of the most up-to-date sciences that makes many of the traditional fighting arts obsolete and inefficient. In essence, it is tradition itself that makes many martial arts training methods effective and inefficient. Now that we have identified the martial arts, we should compare them to the modern combat arts of today.
Today’s combat training is the product of military machinery. Today’s military is more efficient and productive than any other in history. The philosophy of doing more with the least drives the war machine. In World War II, Colonels Eric Anthony Sykes and William Fairbairn began to develop a new type of training for soldiers based on their experience in Shanghai and the trenches of World War I. (CQB) o Hand-to-hand combat was the norm in trench warfare and the soldiers fighting it had to be able to kill and immobilize their adversaries quickly and effectively. The two men realized that they needed to develop a training system or training ideology that would allow masses of troops with no prior martial arts experience to learn hand-to-hand combat quickly in a matter of days, not the years that it often requires. martial arts. artistic formation. This training had to not only be learned quickly, but also retained and trained quickly. Soldiers at the front and behind the lines needed to be able to react without thinking, relying on muscle memory. In combat, the heart rate exceeds 180 beats per minute and all fine motor skills are lost.
Sykes and Fairbairn realized that many of the outlandish “pressure points” used in traditional martial arts would not be effective. They found that pressure points were not effective for two reasons. One, the enemy may not feel it under the influence of adrenaline and two; the soldier most likely does not have the fine motor skills necessary to hit the target. Thus, modern combat training was simple, easy to retain, and focused on gross motor movement. Because soldiers are too often sleep-deprived and malnourished in combat, the techniques taught were necessary so as not to rely on physical strength or athletic ability. Today’s fighters are often known for the dirty fighting aspect, which is not found in traditional martial arts. The warrior codes of long ago no longer apply today, the cavalry is dead. Because combat techniques are taught to such a variety of fighters whose bodies are not conditioned to numbing training; students are taught to strike only with the most structurally stable weapons of the body. A soldier cannot afford broken hands and feet on the battlefield. It is for many of these reasons that combat training is distinguished from traditional martial arts.
In summary
Traditional martial arts, practiced today, were actually combat training for the military of their time. Just as the weather changed, so did the training. Societies became more educated; moral values and codes have been altered. The world is not as spiritually guided or involved with mysticism as it was during the time traditional martial arts were conceived. Combat techniques that were once effective in their time have become an art form surrounded by mysticism and legends of yesteryear; improved by modern means. Today’s combative training is based entirely on modern science and the need for efficiency. It is of the utmost importance for combat training to adhere to these rules.
– Simple general principles should be taught
– It should not depend on power or athleticism.
– The focus is on destroying whatever the director comes in contact with.
– Efficiency and economy of movement
– Be able to learn and apply in a very limited time (Days or weeks)
In conclusion
Today, combination training definitely contains many of the techniques that one will learn in traditional martial arts if he attends classes for any length of time. One could think of both types of training as a steak. One is full of fat that is unnecessary and could clog your arteries, the other is a lean hybrid, containing only the nutrients necessary to keep you active. After reading this guy’s review “Cliff” I immediately went to his profile to learn more about his point of view, so I could see where he came from. I wanted to know if his attack on my book came from arrogance or ignorance. Where he was asked to write a blurb about his interests, it contained one sentence.“Wing Chun and the variety of ways it is written”. I immediately noticed this and the number of books with titles like “Caine’s Kung Fu” Referring to Caine from the TV series (Kung Fu), that this guy wasn’t completely familiar with the differences between martial arts and combat training. Therefore, I wanted to write this article, trying my best to show that by comparing martial arts training with combat training; it’s like comparing apples to oranges.