Imagine you are at work, school or some where on vacation. You here some loud booms. (gun fire) what do you do? Have you trained efficiently enough and with passion so that you may have a chance if a crazy gunman starts shooting? I would venture to say that 70% or more of martial practitioners would be caught off guard and would freeze in the moment. (though that is just a guess) Most regular people who do not train would more than likely freeze as well and if they were confronted would more than likely be shot. While these are just estimates and one can never really know how someone else would react they are based on my personal perception of having seen people freeze in a moment of violence. The thing I am trying to point out is that if you do not train with passion and also with a combative mind-set then you may not react well in a moment of violence. If you train for fun, hobby, sport or simply to stay in shape then you may lessen your chances. One only needs to look in the news to see that there are enough crazy nutters out there in this world to understand that you probably should seriously practice the Martial Sciences. When I say serious I mean seriously train in them with the intent that your training focuses on protecting yourself and your loved ones. That should include a wide range from weapons (firearms, blades, sticks) to kicking, hand striking, trapping and joint manipulation and finally grappling. All of the proceeding with the mindset of a combative martial practitioner who is willing to do what it takes to protect themselves and more importantly their loved ones. As someone once said: Wake Up And Smell The Roses! What I am saying right now is to get your !#$! together and prepare so that in the moment you can actually defend yourself and your loved ones!
Copyright: Instinctive Response Training LLC 2011
Brian R. VanCise
Note: This blog is opinion only and neither Instinctive Response Training LLC or Brian R. VanCise are responsible for any third party actions.
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Fully agree and I have always s been able to remain surprisingly calm during bad situation, I may shake for a hour afterwards but during I am generally ok. But lately I find myself thinking about the very topic of your post, now that I can actually move again. This is also part of why my training is currently going through some rather drastic changes this summer. That and I can finally start training again after the injuries.
I had something happen a few years back that got me to think about this a lot then but injuries cut my training change short
I was in China a few years back out for an evening stroll with my wife and a couple of her friends; I was lagging behind a bit letting them talk when I realized I was being followed. I look to see who was following me and it was the biggest human I have ever seen (I’m 6’1” tall by the way) which also means he was the biggest Chinese man I had ever seen (he was about 6 foot 7 and looked a lot like a really big, in his prime, Bolo Yeung). I started to think what can I do when he attacks? And I am telling you without a doubt someone doing this to me in NYC is looking to attack. I was training Taijiquan and starting back at Xingyiquan and also had just started Sanda but I was not in the best of shape IMO, Since no one wants to train Taiji properly these days and I was basically a beginner at Xingyiquan and Sanda I pretty much figured all I could do was slow him down enough for my wife and her friends to get away and I basically resigned myself to that. Luckily nothing happened and it turns out that since I was in a very Chinese area (Foreigners rarely ever seen there and never after dark) this guy was actually curious as to what I was doing there and wondering why I was following three Chinese women. Basically I think he thought he would need to protect them from me.
That left me with a bad feeling. If need be I will protect my family and do what it takes, even if I only provide a delay but I decided then that I do not want to ever feel that is all I can do because if I am convinced that is all I can do, that “IS” all I can do. Thirty years of MA training and all I thought I could do was slow the guy down. So I started trainee as seriously as possible until the injuries but now that I am able to train again and likely in worse shape now than I was then I am training harder and seriously considering changing the way I train my main style Taijiquan and also seriously considering a return to Wing Chun and looking at FMA styles as well.
You are 100% correct Brian, there are a lot of Martial Arts practitioners out there that only do the dance and I was never one of them but in China I realized I had become one and I really did not like it.
Train, train and train and when that is done…train some more
Tim that is a great post! I think anyone who has been doing this long enough and or been around some danger/violence that they eventually get a wake up call. Training with intensity, commitment and motivation to protect your loved ones can make a great difference in what we do. I think it is time to put the “martial” back in so that people understand that this is the priority! Thanks again for your post!