Drills For Learning Self Defense
Posted on | April 9, 2010 | by Peter Freedman | No Comments
We use drills to to learn all the positions that we can possible be on another human body. Once we have the drills down ,later comes the fighting, the locking, the breaks and all that is necessary for your self defense. Our ground drill teaches you how to balance on a human body while on the ground in all different positions and places you can be on the ground.
Drills are designed and structured to teach different things, build attributes that are needed for combat and self defense. When drills are easy then fighting is easy. Remember drills are not fighting, sparring is not fighting, they only prepare you for fighting. The only way to get experience is really fighting but that means injuries, crippling or killing. We do not want that in our training. We only train in theory. Despite our kicking, throwing, punching and locking drills, this is only preparation for a fight, so that one day if you get into a fight, you just reflex right. When you are attacked or go into battle thinking, you are in a world of hurt. There should be no thought just reflex. When someone goes to stab your belly, you should not think “should I block or kick.” By the time you think that, you are dead. Someone pokes a knife at your belly, you move your belly, it is a reflex. Someone pokes a knife at your shoulder, you move your shoulder, it is a reflex. All our drills are structured in a way to make us reflex. Someone goes for the arm we move our arm.
If you think that these drills or sparring are actually fighting, you are fooling yourself. What you do in the dojo is different from the street. In the street or battle field you have adrenalin; you have chaos; you have fear and anger. In the dojo, you do not have that. It is a learning environment, you have safety; you pick up new skills; you ask questions. Then you go home and practice and research in a safe way without getting injured. This is the real teaching methodology that got lost. People think that getting hurt and sweating is real martial art, It is to some degree but it is dangerous and unnecessary. We try to keep it as real as possible and to keep learning without injury.
When doing the drills, ask questions. If the teacher does not know the answer they should research the answer not admonish the student for asking. If you ask me a question, that is a challenge for me. I now have something new to research and bring it back to the dojo. I will let you know what every movement of your drill is for and why you are doing it.
So practice hard. Keep learning. Stay safe and be prepared for whatever comes your way.
Related posts:
- Footwork as The Path to Action
- Train Slow to Learn Fast
- The Importance of Principles over Technique – Part II
- Defense From a Seated Position
- Why I Train for Knife Self Defense
Tags: drills > learning > Martial Arts > repetition > self defense
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