"Reality-based" Martial Arts are Overrated when...

[@jhor8113]

I think the biggest hope for your argument of martial arts for fun rather than utility is the very fact that HEMA exists and is growing in popularity. Very few HEMA practitioners are arguing that medieval longsword is practical for self defense.

[@dorukgolcu9191]

Funny thing is, though, some HEMA people really get on the modern fencers' case for not being "realistic" enough. Less nowadays than in the early days of HEMA, fortunately 😝

[@Stampianirrationalism]

Oh yes. What I love about HEMA is there is none of this ‘useful in da streetz” mentality that I find so stupid and annoying. I do it because it is just simply fun! No one is going to attack me with a sword and even if they do I won’t have one and if we both do I’d piss my pants and run away. Only a moron would stay. But the practice and study is a fun way of staying fit, learning some history and having a great time with everyone. You can do tournaments if you wish, learn nerdy history facts if you wish, push yourself to be the best you can be or relax and just play with it. But none of it is ‘for reelz’.

[@silafuyang8675]

Everything can be useful, depending on the way of practice.

[@Methodius7]

Never did no Hema but i would guess that it would help your chances in a street fight if u had weapon such as stick or knife in your hand no?

[@jscudderz]

@@Methodius7 if doing hema has taught me anything it's that getting in a sword or knife fight is a really dumb idea regardless of how "good" you are at using a weapon.

[@RifZof]

09:28 Having gone to some "real world women's self-defense" seminars I think where a lot of people go wrong is that they'll take that very plausible scenario (a woman alone in a dark parking lot being approached by a man she doesn't know), then they're start altering it (he doesn't feel pain, he's immune to pepper spray, there's no where her to run, he's hiding in the backseat) and adding in these specific step-by-stop reactions (he does this so you do this so he does this so you do this). They have to make it so that other options either can't, or won't, work while also making the scenario so robotic that their answer is the only one that works. The most interesting and educational "real world" training I ever did was actually a game where you would stand in the middle of a circle of people and the coach would having a random person walk past you from one side to the other. He'd tell that person to either attack you when they got close, just walk, or do any other number of things (fall down, sneeze, start yelling at another person who was part of the circle), and you'd get scored based on if you reacted properly to the event. If you ended up fighting someone who wasn't actually going to attack you, then you lost. It was an incredibly fun game.

[@davidegaruti2582]

Ok honestly that game is incredible , and i think it's a great way to train situational awarness , Because in terms of "da streetz" that is the thing that matters most : situational awarness , knowing what is happening and judging pepole's intentions correctly ... I am not advocating for some body language reading crap that doesn't work , Just keeping your eyes open and not staying in your head ... An attacker will rarely tell you what they'll do or give you time to fight back , So being aware of the position of pepole and their general posture is more valuable than having a good guilliotine or throwing combinations off weird angles ... Because it will allow you to mount a defence of any type really (running away, calling for help, fawning, square up) towards the attacker ... There are two great advantages in combat : size and initiative . Initiative being the person who chooses the term of the encounter , Who throws the first punch basically , Now if you understand that they are about to and get the necessary spacing or descalate the situation , You may have just avoided the fight really , or improved your odds ...

[@glandeokrayo9956]

This happened many years ago, after about ten years of karate practice. I was getting out of the shower when I had a bad slip on the wet floor. I instinctively shifted my weight forward and did a shoulder role while jumping over the toilet! I landed on my feet both uninjured and amazed of what just happened. That kind of roll was something we used to do quite a bit during practice. Just my humble opinion, but maybe martial arts are somehow tailored to help us with our daily lives?

[@TenguMartialArts]

This is a surpisingly common story that I've heard from may people, in many settings, with minor variation. It's reoccurence is definitely evidence that martial arts are useful for things outside of just beating people up in a ring somewhere.

[@chandlerkirkland475]

I’ve done the same thing when I fell off my longboard once. Stopped me from hitting my head.

[@OldSchopenhauer]

Ukemi is the ultimate skill for the streets.

[@brentduncan5184]

Astute observation. That's EXACTLY what practicing ANY form of martial system is for.Being "safe" isn't about "protecting" protecting yourself in a ring or even "on the streets" from someone trying to hurt you. It's about learning how to adapt to your current situation while building, maintaining and - upon necessity - reestablishing an acceptable level of safety for ourselves. What I'm saying is that PEOPLE are not the enemy. DANGER is the enemy and it can come in a multitude of forms. The training allows us to take responsibility for our own safety and learn how to adapt so we are either (1) getting ourselves away from danger or (2) getting danger away from us. The exact method of doing so is decided at the time of the event.

[@753studios6]

Yes,I’ve fallen and instinctively went into jiujutsu roll ,4+ years of mma and I felt like a kid doing something cool for the first time

[@alLEDP]

I would like you and armchair violence guy have a discussion about this subject. You are two very well spoken guy with drastically different presentation styles and opinions

[@TenguMartialArts]

I watch him sometimes, he seems like a cool dude. When I agree, I usually agree hard, but I kind of suspect we'd disagree on a lot of things lol

[@jivananda108]

Jacko is the first one that comes to mind 😂

[@gbody2617]

Armchair is a weenie. I've challenged him and his group that KZbin so-called tough guys like to watch and take their word as the end all be all and not one of them ever replied. I told them about locations in certain cities that I was a part of the community that were rough places where one had to be somewhat tough and places where I saw real violence which is drive bys and knife attacks and jumping and bottle and bricks used as projectiles and I learned how to be violent by engaging in violence and from a very young age when the world was normal and not the current weenieville that we're in nowadays and yes, I'm talking about the 80s, 90s, and even the first decade of the 21st century.

[@AcceleratingUniverse]

18:15 I've been saying this for years. I like playing racquetball, I don't think I'll ever have to dodge an 80 mph rubber ball to the back of my head on da streetz, but for some reason, that doesn't affect my enjoyment of the game.

[@P1015532oni]

As a retired Army Infantryman, I have been obsessed with “reality-based” combatives/ martial arts for years, jumping from one system or another, always finding flaws, never finding the one. The more I searched and learned, the less happier I became in the journey. And then suddenly, three years ago, I decided I was just gonna practice martial arts for fun and it led me to the competitive sports aspect of it. I threw “reality-based” practicality out of the door and started MMA and K1 Kickboxing. I started fighting at shows and really enjoyed it. Then I took up boxing and fell in love with the sport. I’m now in the boxing amateur circuit and fighting really competitive opponents. My goal is to turn pro one day. I’ve never been this happy and motivated to train in my life. Forget “street-practicality”, just enjoy whatever martial art you want for FUN.

[@hafniaanonymous7605]

Best advice 😊

[@TenguMartialArts]

This is the way. I hope you go pro man, keep it up, keep it fun!

[@OldSchopenhauer]

The martial arts community is a bunch of IT nerds that have a really unhealthy obsession with street fights.

[@jean-michelwalker8829]

That made me laugh.

[@TenguMartialArts]

You aren’t wrong lol

[@jedsanford7879]

IT who does BJJ. This is accurate.

[@dbspaceoditty]

@@TenguMartialArts i feel directly targeted by these statements, although. when you properlly read into aikido, the only time you should do anything is sneak attack somebody with your blade. but its 2024 not 1624 so the glock has replaced the katana.

[@silenciothequiet3471]

You are aware that most of successful pros or artist, display what would be qualified as "nerd behaviour" if it wasn't that their chosen discipline were popular and lucrative: basketball, football, Wrestling, baseball, music or painting. Spending countless hours refining a jump shoot, throwing accurate passes, working on a takedown or hitting a ball with a stick is a nerd behaviour 😊. They just call it "putting in the hours" or "doing the work", "working on your fundamentals". It just happens that these type of IT nerds you are referring to, because of their professional mindset feel at home with TMA methodology that selling the, wrong, idea that mastering a set of techniques to the tee makes you a fighting machine because no matter how many hours they spent on their art, they haven't overcome yet their biggest hurdle: this fear of fighting or getting hurt physically, which is ironically is the bread and butter that lies at the heart of TMA and it can be only learned with experience(sparring, competition or... streetfight) against various styles or opponents(MMA's relevance). Heck, producing video essays on fighting or TMA is a nerdy thing to do, if you count in the hours or research(reading, watching videos, reflections, writing down notes) and presenting your thoughts and ideas in a palatable format(editing with a software) instead of just training and sparring.... The only thing you could reproach to hypothetical idea IT nerd training TMA is neglecting sparring(pressure and techniques validation) and proven combat sports as part of the learning process but being a nerd, or learning is part of being a combat sport practitioner or TMA(self-defence practitioner).

[@PicaPauDiablo1]

Rory Miller's books like Facing Violence. He has a tremendous framework for understanding the different types of violence and how to deal with it.

[@dsimon33871]

Yes! And there are many of us who came up in fighting clubs prior to MMA, who have no problem seeing the work of Miller, who studied and derived elements from Classical Japanese Ko Ryu lol, as a natural extension of that training. Miller's R&D on situational elements in each unique violent epoche is similar to "This is how people will attack you in East Baltimore, this is what you have to do. But the beauty here is the unity! People trash KoRyu Japanese Arts as outdated, yet they remain a singular example of arts used in life and death combat, documented and still taught... Here comes Miller who extends that ethos to present day... And there are many of us who dial in from learning to fight in a unique violent environment.

[@GhostWalkerNation]

Yes, also Tim Kennedy. I know some of his opinions are way out there, but the guy was a sniper, green beret, war veteran, high level mma fighter and bjj black belt. The dude knows violence and how to deal with it if it knocks on your door.

[@PicaPauDiablo1]

@@GhostWalkerNation Tim does know how to deal with violence but his problem is that's his only trick. Dude likes extreme violence way too much that wouldnt necessarily be good advice for most people. But I hear you man, a lot can be learned from him

[@titomala-madre]

'Reality based' self defense never has an answer for the most likely scenario, when the attacker is a: friend, family, or romantic partner.

[@kevinlobos5519]

Yes, the best forms of avoiding ending up in a self defense situation usually have next to nothing to do with actual fighting ability. Like you noted, avoiding shady places, having stable income, having healthy life decisions and habits. You don't need to be a ufc aspiring champion to develop all that. At the end of the day if you have all or most of that, you should be able to do wathever the heck you want with your finite time on this earth so long as you enjoy it. As a kung fu practitioner and teacher, what you said about having to think and research to uncover application and technique is what I probably love the most about the styles of chinese martial art. It teaches you to keep an open mind, find value in everything and to not stale, to always be exploring the whole breadth of posibilites.

[@kuzushi_kev]

Crossed over to your channel from Martial Geeks, so glad I found it, cheers

[@madmanwristy9052]

Great topic! dropping a like ahead of time i know this will be good

[@joserosario5134]

Agreed 100%, nobody has a lock on reality.

[@jscudderz]

This is why i love Hema, nobody doing it thinks learning how to fight with swords is going to be useful to them "on the streets" Everyone I met does it because it's very fun and they enjoy it for its own sake.

[@gantorisdurran710]

Why do people that criticize a desire to learn self defence always just dismiss the chance of you needing it and condescendingly say it will never happen. This sort of nonsense is what put me off Ramsey Deweys videos. A self defence scenario isn't always some movie scene where street thugs attack you, sometimes drunken nonsense occurs in life, I have seen this many times. I personally work in Security, have been a Bouncer in the past and have friends in the prison service and all of these professions (And many others) need to understand self defence. Matt Thornton is great, if someone out there reading this is also tired of condescension and you just want practical advice check out his stuff and his book. Martial arts are obviously ment for fighting, its literally in the name. The problem is finding ones that arnt bullshit.

[@aloisiosjr]

Yesterday, I watched your video about Kuzushi and thought it was fantastic. This one is perfect, too. Unfortunately, we tend to overestimate the efficacy of the martial arts we practice. We need to remember the unaccountable situations in which our training fails while facing a glimpse of reality. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[@manjitheerratic5127]

Brilliant ! Finally, someone talk about this 👍

[@blockmasterscott]

One thing I don’t like about self defense classes is that they assume that your attacker is some faceless thug in the outside world. My wife’s grandmother, who had severe anger problems, was in her 60s when she grabbed a kitchen knife and tried to stab me one day in the stomach. She came in with the mid level thrust that people in the comment section say that would never happen, and I countered with a basic wrist lock that people in the comment sections say would never work in real life. I had been practicing that wrist lock and defending against that mid level thrust for ten years at the time so every thing came naturally. What self defense classes do not teach is that it’s possible for an old lady try to kill you, and you have to know how to defend yourself without hurting someone. My in-laws supported me, but I think they would have reacted differently if I would have broken that wrist. And by the way, this was traditional Chinese martial arts, something else that people in the comment sections say is useless. Well, it worked for me.

[@JustSomeGuy69420]

You a Chin-Na guy? Most people who say "someone would never do XYZ thing in real life" literally don't pay attention at all. "No one would ever grab you like that!" "no one would ever punch like that" ....actually they do it all the time! People do goofy stuff.

[@badart3204]

@@JustSomeGuy69420yeah, most people aren’t trained fighters so they do a lot of suboptimal stuff

[@ZanOGAL]

I so agree with the whole, self defence is subjective. Id like to tell my story of when i was mugged, twice. The first time was when i was jogging at night and always taking the same route and the second was when i parked my car and unlocked it while getting ready for judo. Both times i was shocked and grabbed immediately but my first reaction was actually laughing and giggling. Because my friends, coaches and teammates always do that where they will come behind u and hip bump u, take u down. Randomly come up to u and shadowbox in your face Both times i was laughing and midway through i would notice its not a person i knew. But my body woyld be relaxed and my heart rate wouldnt be so high. My first time defending myself, the technique that saved my life was actually a messy kani basami. I popped the persons knee and i immediately ran. I dont think its the technique that makes something effective. But the response. I believe that the more... a martial arts wants to be martial or strict. The less you'll be prepared in a way i feel that the more playful u are in fighting, the more u can be prepared for a real fight. Because personally for me its abour your heart rate being tense, etc

[@ruffalo1643]

There is a channel called Inside Fighting. He said that you only need one strategy when it comes to street fights, because most of your assailants don't even know you.

[@Carbonator5000]

12:30 I’ve heard this being described as “Serious play” … I do agree.

[@Kooljupiter]

Great Topic! we need more of this!

[@Kooljupiter]

Naw i dont see anyone bash Muay Thai (not my martial art) but the MT nerds come out in droves in any Martial arts comment section straight hatin' on the flashier sht! 🤣🤣

[@ashbirk4681]

And the BJJ Gracie groupies

[@peterliggett5233]

Also a boxer named Ruben Carter and ranked proffesional boxer in the 1960, and an inmate in NJ prisons and also when youngèr a street thug/ fighter even with his great boxing skills, also lost fights and gotten beaten up several times in the streets and couple times in prison.Being a good fighter means he basically won alot more than he lost.

[@rthompson2783]

I enjoyed this video. It touches on many of the ideas I've been having for the last decade or so. I study Aikido, and I take no umbrage when people from so-called "combat-effective" systems criticize what we do. Often enough, they're right, and we do well to listen to, and make a study of, their critiques. Aikido is an incomplete system (and I stand by my heresy). But those systems are incomplete as well. The only way to learn how to fight on the streets is to fight in the streets. Want "realistic" training? Train for real. If you're lucky, you might only lose a few teeth in the process. I argue that most martial arts are tactical in their thinking: what to do when X happens. Self-defense requires a strategic mindset. How to access the environment, how to avoid violence, how to leave the area before things get out of hand, and how to extricate yourself quickly and effectively once the feces starts flying. And how not to run afoul of the legal system. Kicks, punches, grabs, and throws are all good to know, but they are the options of last resort and should be understood as such.

[@TenguMartialArts]

This is a very fair take through and through. Im especially in agreement with street fights being strategic versus tactical. I think most practitioners just have a blockbuster image of what a street confrontation is going to be rather than something based in reality or-more often than not-even in training.

[@dsimon33871]

As a bouncer for many many years and as someone who studied fighting arts if anyone asks me the best martial art for bouncing specifically, I say "Aikido." BTW Japanese Police also apparently think highly of the art situationally. Sankyo, kote G, shihon Nage etc... Best ways there are to control a person, move them, protect yourself from their friends. Best I have found at least....

[@silafuyang8675]

It is very incorrect to judge martial arts by comparing to MMA. In MMA you have 2 prepared fighters, almost equal skills, almost equal weight, they go 1on1 in a limited space without any equipment but their bodies. Viewing that from the perspective of realism, this is the most unrealistic situation possible.

[@blockmasterscott]

I’m so glad someone besides me feels this way. I like MMA, and enjoy watching, but it’s no where close to being realistic for “DA STREETS”.

[@Methodius7]

@@blockmasterscott What do you mean realistic for “DA STREETS”. Its not simulation of a street fight but its a sport which will prepare you for street fight the best.

[@brentduncan5184]

I believe that a LOT of people have missed the point of MMA or competitive martial sports. Its an advanced form of sparring. Competition sports are the inevitable conclussion when one-steps, slow sparring, padded sparring and so on start losing their appeal because the practitioner has reached a level of comfort within themselves that the previous versions of sparring become "too easy" or boring. The video said it the best that, "Competitive martial arts is like playing a video game..." Practitioners are looking for the "next level". They are truly not intended to be a replacement for practical application martial arts - if that even exists (and that's speaking from the experience of over 4 decades of practice) - but they do teach you how to MENTALLY handle differing levels of stress and pressure from outside sources and how to assert yourself when there is resistance from the receiver of whatever point you are trying to make. The truth is, people would get a LOT more out of whatever martial system they practice if they just looked at the training as building a better version of themselves.

[@NabilBelajag]

​​​@@brentduncan5184 i do get it but the only problem is mma fans keep chugging how mma is end point of all martial arts and everything is useless bc mma exist

[@mb2776]

@@Methodius7 Does it? Lets examine how many hand fractures nate diaz had over his whole career even with padded gloves. I like boxing and sparring but we have to keep in mind, for a regular guys, it's pretty bad idea to try punching someone straight in the face. If you hit the chin, good for you. Hitting anything else will more or less result in an angry bleeding guy and your own hand broken. MMA focuses way too much on punching like boxing because it's a sport. Bare knuckle and slap contests are stupid for many reasons.

[@Helltown66]

The fact that martial arts is combat is in the name itself. "Martial" arts.

[@TenguMartialArts]

Sure, but this is really just a subjective choice of word emphasis. I could equally say that martial arts are "martial ARTS," in that the art is martially themed. This breaks down even further in different languages. "Bu" is Japanese can mean "valor" and "Budo" can--and has historically sometimes been--translated as something like "way of bravery" in reference to learning to overcome the fear of, in this case, physical adversity. Which is then, of course, configured as a proxy for other types of adversity. I don't necessarily disagree that martial arts are at their best when they have a functional, martial core, but no one people or practice has a monopoly on what martial arts are or are supposed to be.

[@Newtmaster]

Great to hear these points being made explicitly! I completely agree that it makes little sense to spend years ostensibly training for a life-or-death struggle that most of us will (thankfully) never experience. What is more, it feels misguided to assume that "training for the street" means training for such a lethal encounter in the first place. If there's a "street fight" scenario that we *are* likely to encounter, it would more likely be a tussle for social dominance, which is a very different kind of engagement. But I've met almost no one in the MA space who talks about developing scalable degrees of force for such encounters.

[@TenguMartialArts]

Self defense is definitely such a rabbit hole. I actually do think it is possible to program a cirriculum for it, but I also suspect it would be fairly complex and harder training than the demographic generally interested in it would pay for. A lot of commentors have brought up good points on it like being strategic over tactical or your point about scalability. It's fun to think about, but what I can say with some confidence is that I think most of the "self defense" schools out there are usually pretty questionable. I think it is much more reasonable to train for the sake of training and just understand there will be some cross-applicability if the unlikely situation does arise where you need to use it "for real." Otherwise it seems like this kind of thing tends to degrade into "I'll defeat this hypothetical with this piece of theory."

[@Mr440c]

6:05 This thesis has flaw within in it that makes any agrument against it to have no sense. That is that technique works against resistence. The technique is something that makes resistence impossible. E.g. any submission TECHNIQUE be it 'kimura', 'americana', 'armbar', leg locks etc will make the resistence impossible. If you resist you break your joint. That's it. Failing to perform these techniques for whatever reason is another story. In our case it's failing due to being unable to deal with resistence. And that's a whole different matter we have to deal with here. This leads us to the question of how to teach techniques rather than which techniques to teach. Something as trivial as a punch in the face is done differently and taught differently depending on a boxing gym. Let alone different martial arts styles. That is being a sole reason for delsusions such as people being born with a knockout punch and such.

[@dsimon33871]

So you are saying it is oxymoronic to state the benchmark of "using a technique against resistance" because when a technique is applied properly resistance should be futile? You know this thinking is brilliant... 1. in Japanese classical arts perfect technique is the aim, because the ability resides in applying the technique properly. For example, had a friend who studied Akijutsu, was attacked and broke the guys shoulder. He was livid... the technique was supposed to break the shoulder and wrist. 2. Your conclusion brilliant... How to teach technique indeed! How do we take a chaotic environment, where our senses are in a different mode, and learn to apply technique? When someone stabs with a knife for example, they are wild, how do you control enough to apply technique which is often practiced as a straight stab extended.... 3. Your last boxing gym analogy... May I suggest that the ability to set the punch up (teach the technique as useful) as you previously state, is the issue? I see teachers mock different attacks, say various techniques will not work, etc. It is ignorant. Teach a women to fight back... not to develop bad habits, and you now set the tone to teach technique properly, which often is more important than What technique is taught.

[@aasdqwwcacfwavdsvwe6013]

Resistance means that the opponent you apply the technique to doesn't try to do things like breaking distance or disengaging. If you want to demonstrate, let's say, a strike (obviously not hitting hard) a non resisting "opponent" (someone in the gym/dojo) will either not move or do a predeterminated set of movements (for example, to demonstrate the class a countertechnique like counterpunching in boxing). When people complain about there not being "resistance", they complain about classes being just this demonstration of a technique and then not applying it into any type of sparring, be it technical or "hard" sparring.

[@brentduncan5184]

I agree with a LOT that you have said here. I have been practicing a form of martial practice for over 4 decades and I have found one thing to be true. In the end, martial practice is about self growth in the areas and in the directions we as practitioners think we need at the time. For some, it's about handling fear. For others, it's about how we handle stress or pressure. Either way, martial arts training is NOT about actual fighting because, as you said in the video, the situations we train - if we are training for fighting against another individual for are very unlikely to happen. But, if we look at training in the martial arts as training to confront the demons within, I personally believe students would get more out of the training.

[@JOHN18042]

It all comes down to what are YOU doing it for

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

Martial Art were originally only for fighting; it's in the name. Martial Art is a term of European origin. Martial is a word fldericed from Mars Roman god of war; thus Martial Arts are literally Arts of War and war is fighting. Any concepts of Martial Arts being simply for spiritual practices or self-improvement are either later arts (like arts ending in -do in Japan) or are indigenous (often Asian) styles that the term Martial Art was applied to but are not what the indigenous peoples would have called the arts in their own languages. Perhaps the use of terms like Martial-Sport, Spiritual Art or self development system would have been better to have used but we are we where we are.

[@CBCB8282]

As someone who did traditional martial arts through most of my childhood and into my adult teen years and did BJJ, Judo, boxing and kick boxing from 19 through my early 20s I can easily say which group was more ready to be attacked. That said self defense is honestly not a great reason to do martial arts unless you are actually someone who considers that likely to come up. Enjoyment and exercise are I think the best reasons.

[@dsimon33871]

Why do you think research and development are lacking in Self protection systems? There are bad schools and goofy kinds of approaches one does see... But If I buy a pint of Thunderbird wine, I should not expect a Chateau Rothschild vintage wine. Quite the contrary. Good self protection teachers form two varieties: those who do exstensive research on scenarios one will encounter, and those teachers that grow up in a certain environment and teach to that environment... That would be my bias as a student back in the 80s so called Ghetto Ryu which focused on training to make it home in one piece. People like Rory Miller have stated that violence is situational, which means one literally has to research a context in order to teach anything. I don't want to sound chauvanistic but its just plain wrong to assume self protection training lacks R&D. And there is a whole system of knife arts based exclusively on how South African thugs attack with knives! just a few examples.

[@JustSomeGuy69420]

100%. Lee Morrison is another excellent example. These martial arts dudes are just in a bubble.

[@facruas]

You made a great point that I had already thought. That criminologists should be the tip of the spear in the self defense realm. Not martial artists. Of course, a colaboration would be a good thing. But criminology definitively is an underrated body of knowledge for many "self defense experts". It would be great to create some prevention protocols.

[@aasdqwwcacfwavdsvwe6013]

British criminologists are the reason the UK bans the mere ownership of nunchuks, gaudy neon colored machetes and swords that aren't actual antiques. They do these prohibitions only for knife crime to go up and up, as the weapon of choice is usually a simple kitchen knife or a screwdriver. You give them too much credit.

[@facruas]

@@aasdqwwcacfwavdsvwe6013 I think that criminology can be useful when used to study the crime and provide some prevention tips. I agree with you with the fact that when used to create unreasonable laws, it can be problematic. I write as a brazilian that have to live under the most strict firearms control laws that simply don't work.

[@AikiCircus]

Martial arts (at least for those who train them) are about creativity, i.e. dopamine release cycle. Like drawing or dancing or whatever. You first learn the techniques, then start using them to build something. As regarding which art is good or bad or better or worse, there are five or six principles that are defined by human body mechanics and reflexes. If you know them, you recognize them in any martial arts master, be it Bruce Lee or Rick Hotton or Saotome. Like Ueshiba said: it is always the same.

[@tjbjjtkd]

I recently watched a video where they were highlighting military combat and police training. One combat instructor explains that rhere isnt enough training in tge world that will 100% prepare you for a real life threat! There are just way too many variables where things can go left quickly.

[@uberdonkey9721]

Sucks to say, but if you want to learn street fighting you need some street fighting experience. Everything in the dojo, including sparring, is a training method. BJJ is something I believe everyone should do, cos people can land on the ground... but it's a crap self defense. You don't want to be on the ground, especially with multiple attack. We need to train in awareness, de-escalation, stopping fights without getting into them (yup, aikido sucks on sparring, but you break grips fast when someone grabs you, it can make people think twice). I've needed and used martial arts in real life. It saved my life. That doesn't mean it always will. Combat is beautiful cos it's so random. With competition matches you see a random strike that ends it for the other person. Fights are like that. There are ALLsorts of functional stuff. I do Capoeira for fun, but in fights I hardly use anything from Capoeira.

[@Leonidas3888]

Definitely agree with what you're saying ive been saying it and morefor years as a fan of both mma and traditional MA. But idk if you're aware but the Japanese guy in the first scenes actually got his ass kicked in the 1st ufc I believe lol. Just a funny choice as a demo

[@TenguMartialArts]

lol that is a funny goof on my part. I often just choose clips roughly "in theme" with the topic. On some of these more abstract videoes, it can be challenging to "show" whatever I'm talking about. In this video, I just decided to pull on some old kudo clips since its kind of an "MMA adjacent" (or at least fashions itself as such) practice that the big MMA companies won't flip out about and ask you re-edit your video over. Definitely a pretty funny mixing of signals, but totally not on purpose in this case.

[@punymagus]

There are rules on street fight, it just so happens that the referee is at the court and the consequences come later.

[@TenguMartialArts]

Correct.

[@JustSomeGuy69420]

Speak for yourself slick. I think you are projecting a fair bit here. If I'm not mistaken, you live in one of the safest cities in the world. I don't get it. Some people live in more dangerous places than others. I like to go out and party and sometimes people get sketchy. Some people work jobs that carry a risk of violence, etc... It's fine to worry if the stuff you are practicing is functional for self-defense. I like to worry about if what I'm training will save my ass or not. You have to get into the weeds and think about the specifics. Even if you never have to use it, you get to walk around knowing you have the skills, and that brings comfort. Other people pick up on that and it can even dissuade problematic people. I'm not gonna have that if I go roll for fun at my local BJJ club 2x/week and that's my entire martial arts experience. Not unless I'm delusional about the art. Martial arts is for fighting, for me....and it doesn't matter to me why someone else is doing it. I mean if I was gonna do a martial art for enjoyment I'd probably go sword fight at a ren-faire and try to pick up nerdy chicks while I LARP as Sandor Clegane. That sounds fun. Training for self defense isn't necessarily "fun"...but it means a lot to me to have the skillset. I don't think I'd even be the same person if it weren't for training "realistic" stuff.

[@astonprice-lockhart7261]

Video of someone impaling someone with a spear while wearing heavy armor on an ancient battlefield or it didn't happen bro. This is sarcasm I must say as these days it's incredibly easy to see that some actually think this way. Thank you for another great video analysis.

[@TenguMartialArts]

Yeah, the need for video evidence for every little thing is something. Funny enough, though, even when there is video evidence people still seem to have selection bias.

[@jonathanadler6983]

I would like to know what Krav Maga "street realism" has to do with flying over Gaza dropping white phosphorous on civilians.

[@Max-ki6df]

White phosphorous? That's some conspiracy my friend. Don't believe everything you read online

[@Dan0rioN]

Women should carry weapons at all times.. Even a man should at least conceal a blade at all times.. Gun at all times is a bit extra for a man imo.. If anything, outside of for sport, it is nice to have an honorable way to handle common disrespect. There is no doubt an ideal way to handle street fights.. I've been forming my own style & assure you it'll fuck up most other styles in honorable combat on the streets

[@mellowdeath666]

I feel so seen...

[@AlexanderGent]

Good video, where abouts in Japan are you based?

[@TenguMartialArts]

Classic Tokyo bubble, friend. Out where Yokohama and Shinagawa and all those areas blur together.

[@AlexanderGent]

@@TenguMartialArts Nice! I'm visiting for the first time, been here a week so far and loving it! Not sure if you are familiar with Shoot Aikido, I attended a seminar with them last week, which was interesting. On Tuesday I plan to travel up to Iwama. Currently I'm staying near the Sumo Stadium and on Monday I move to a hotel near Sophia University for 1 night. I've been looking for a grappling club that's catch / shoot wrestling or sumo perhaps (not Bjj) who would be open for me to attend a class. Any you could recommend? I potentially have some time to kill Monday afternoon /evening or Tuesday morning.

[@theghettogourmet6762]

As someone who has been in more "real" fights (on the street, no rules, no guarantee of walking home [not bragging, lost more than I've won]) than most pro fighters: 1. There is no such thing as a fair fight. No one starts a fight they don't think they can win for one reason or another. 2. A ground fight ends when somebody's buddy shows up. Will it be yours? 3. There are no refs in a "real" fight, the guy jumping on your back is there to ruin your life. 4. "Prove it in the ring" only goes so far. In a ring everyone is there for your safety, real life not so much.

[@Bevallalom]

100% agree. In my youth I only learned wing chun (we did spar a lot) and out of my self defense fights I got hit only once and I got out all of them "winning" aka I walked away. Would I be good in MMA fights? I don't think so. I did not train for sport fight. I do battojutsu now and I do it for fun and health reasons. I even do Ninjutsu classes for fun. Does it work? I don't care...

[@TenguMartialArts]

All of my own encounters have been, at best, "martial art adjacent" in the sense that they never were one-to-one with expectations. I kind of have misgivings about leaning on my own anecdotes too much, but I once had to wrestle down (with two other grown men who had training) an ex-college football player who was hopped up on who knows what. The drug use was a funny thing because the dude just didn't feel pain. My point in this is just to illustrate that when people say things like "I'd just to X, Y, and Z," no plan survives first contact.

[@theghettogourmet6762]

@@UnjustVerdict To be clear: I'm not saying that people who train mostly for sport or competition can't handle themselves on the street. What I am saying is that when you train for competitions or sport there are habits you build up that don't translate well onto the street. I'll go to my example of the ref jumping on your back in an MMA or BJJ match. On the mat, that's the end of the fight, on the street that guy is probably going to try and bash your head in and if your conditioned to stopping the fight even that spit second of compliance can end it for you. That's not including the potential for weapons, controlled substances, dirty fighting and the fact that if you try to punch someone in the head full strength with bare knuckles when you're used to using wraps and gloves, the chances for self injury skyrocket. Point is, you train as you fight and whatever habits you build on the mat will follow on the street. That's my point.

[@theghettogourmet6762]

@@Bevallalom I trained Bujinkan for 4 years and it's tied with Judo for my favorite art. There are a lot of quality control issues in the art as a whole, but if you find a good school with a strong lineage where they take their training seriously and ban all mention of Naruto, they've got some good tools for your tool chest.

[@mikethau6426]

Might not be getting it, but seems to me that the apparent contradiction is an illusion that arises from treating "martial arts community" as if it referred to an individual. Some people are looking for "what works" (whatever that's supposed to mean), others are tribal, communities (if such things really even exist in any robust non-nominal sense) aren't people, and hearing two contradictory opinions from a community doesn't mean anyone is being irrational. You need to show that a significant number of individuals hold both contradictory views. Maybe they do... maybe a lot of people interested in martial arts claim to be rational but are really tribal... that sort of delusion is ubiquitous in our culture (e.g., "Follow the science!"), so I guess it would hardly be surprising if it were true here. But, regardless, focusing on the community doesn't establish that anybody is being irrational.

[@danielb.7224]

if there is sparring, it's realistic

[@BlackMartialArtsSociety]

old wise saying... you don't play boxing. MMA is not a game

[@tacocatdeboss7665]

It is a sport...which is a form of a game. Is it a serious sport? Yes. But at the end of the day it's a sport...therefore a game.

[@stuffilike6755]

Functional martial arts are not concerned with foolproof techniques. There are enough variables in a sport-fighting situation to make the outcome unknown, let alone a "real" fight with no rules, and no referee. Only a fool would speak on such situations with any certainty. But "reality based" martial arts aren't concerned with arguments over foolproof techniques. They are concerned with principles that are effective against real-time resistance. It's as simple as that. If anything "works," it has a place in MMA.

[@sirpibble]

Just learn to wrestle You can do it for sport, you can do it for fighting, it works if you're small, it works if youre big, you can study its thousands of years long history, you can be a meathead that cant even read. it has something for everyone, it just works

[@lainhikaru5657]

Except in muggings where I live. The mugging usually goed like this: Two dudes in a motorcycle. One is driving and the other is holding a cocked gun...

[@Thomazbr]

@@lainhikaru5657 the brazilian experience

[@lainhikaru5657]

@@Thomazbr kkkkkkkkkk exato

[@SINdaBlock411]

bjj is supposedly "reality based" ... tell that to Tiago Guma and Leandro Lo though ... oh wait, that's right, I forgot, you can't ... they're both dead

[@SINdaBlock411]

@@UnjustVerdict that can't be right, after all Jocko Willink called it a "superpower" on countless occasions, are you calling Jocko a liar, or could it be that he's in on the whole fake marketing scam too, interesting ...

[@stuffilike6755]

​@SINdaBlock411 get off the internet for a while, try to enjoy life. Very poor taste that you'd "love" such a comment also, @Tengu Pretty disgusting, actually.