…..So in your Martial Science training do you specialize or generalize? If you look back a bit when MMA and the UFC first came out you saw quite a few specialists in the ring. Royce Gracie was certainly a specialist in Brazilian Jiujitsu and for him at that time it worked like a charm. Fast forward to now and you see people in the ring who are more well rounded. Meaning they can kick, punch and grapple when necessary. Still if you look at each one of them you will probably see that they are a specialist in one area. In the real world of Martial Science and combative training, you need to have generalist skill sets. We simply do not know where or when or how the attack on our person will come. We could be fighting for our life in a parking lot and immediately forced into a grappling situation. Or we could be in a narrow hallway striking for our lives. We could also be in a bank when a robber comes in with a shot gun and walla maybe just maybe we will be a fire fight if he/she targets us for termination. So many variables come into play when you start looking at what could happen. So the reason this particular post on the blog came about was that I was recently at a function and was talking with another martial practitioner from a system that I study. He mentioned that he follows the blog regularly. (cool) He also mentioned that the martial science we practice is so broad that how does one go about learning it all. My response was that yes it is broad and it is a never ending learning process. One simply cannot know it all and one has to constantly learn and improve. I also went on to say that in IRT we do study Martial Science in a general way or manner. Meaning we are looking at everything from all kinds of tool usage, to kicking, to hand striking to trapping hands and joint manipulation and finally grappling. Then as the conversation continued I said that we also specialize in certain areas based on our own interests and unique skill sets and attributes. So in IRT you may come across someone who is an excellent grappler and striker but they will also have general and advanced skill sets in other areas. Or they may be an excellent fire arms defensive practitioner and have general skills in the empty hands arts. You see, we may generalize in many areas but are free to specialize where ever we want. (simply no limitations) Now the person I was talking to also studies a generalist type of system called Budo Taijutsu. Yet within this system (a system I also study) you can specialize too. So in the end we came to similar conclusions albeit coming there at in a slightly different manner. So generalization is good because you will hopefully be less surprised if a confrontation moves into any area of personal protection. Yet nothing and I mean nothing says you should not specialize as well!
See You On The Mats!
copyright Instinctive Response Training LLC 2008
Brian R. VanCise
Note: This Blog is opinion only and Instinctive Response Training LLC nor Brian R. VanCise is responsible for any third party actions taken.
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