MARTIAL ARTS IN TWO PARTS

 by Phillip Starr

When I teach seminars I often tell the participants that any given martial art can be divided into two parts, each of which must be studied in minute detail and trained thoroughly. If they acquire great skill in one but not the other, their ability to effectively apply their skill is almost zilch. So I'd like to look at these two halves of the martial arts pie....

The first is the development of effective weapons. There's more to this half than simply learning HOW to perform individual techniques. Every aspect of the technique has to be studied, practiced, and polished. And the weapons must be tempered and strengthened. You might become very skilled insofar as performing sword techniques with a plastic practice sword but you surely wouldn't even dream of battling an opponent with such a “weapon!” And in grappling arts it's easy to neglect some of the less obvious but crucially important aspects of your technique such as your grip (EXACTLY how is it to be done and can you do it with much speed?) and kuzushi (breaking the opponent's balance just prior to executing the throw).

For percussive arts, the bodily weapons MUST be tempered. You wouldn't want to walk into battle with a sword that hasn't been tempered, would you? The individual techniques by which your bodily weapons are delivered to the target must be perfected as much as possible, too.

The second half of the pie is what I call the “delivery system”; how do you penetrate the opponent's defense perimeter (without losing some of your molars) so that you can effectively deliver your technique? If your technique is strong but you lack an efficient means of delivery, they're useless. At the same time, if your delivery system is effective but your technique is lacking and the enemy simply stands there and asks if that's the best you've got, you're in a really bad spot. There is a technical martial arts term for what happens to you at this point; you become DOGMEAT.

The methods by which you deliver your technique must be studied carefully and practiced regularly. This will require the careful study of what I call the “Three Jewels of Combat”; distance, timing, and rhythm. These are thoroughly covered in my book, MARTIAL MANEUVERS. You must develop a high level of skill with your footwork, body shifting, and other similar methods of moving.

Neither of the two – weapons and delivery system - is more important than the other; they are both essential for a martial art to be effective. Sadly, many martial arts schools focus primarily on only one of these things (usually the development of weapons) and then toss students into the practice of sparring! Small wonder that many of them don't fare too well (particularly when they practice with students of other schools) and may become discouraged with their training. Some schools only lightly touch on the subject of the delivery system, believing that the practice of three-step and one-step fight is all that's needed. They are wrong. Much, much more is involved.

I understand their teacher's desire to retain students by ensuring that classes are fun and exciting but doing too much too soon – like having students engage in sparring long before they are ready – can only lead to a false sense of accomplishment and security. In the real world, actual self-defense situations with very real assailants are unmerciful.