Second Degree Yellow Belt- Damian Ross, The Self Defense Company

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This is funny, but unfortunately it's true. When you train in martial arts you are forced to learn a lot of useless and needless information. In fact, this training does more harm than good.

When it comes to self defense this is what YOU DON'T NEED from traditional martial arts. (I should know, I have 3 black belts).

Traditional Blocks
They take too long and are too slow. By the time your mind identifies the attack and tells your muscles to work, it is too late. Unless of course you're attacked by a sloth...then you might have a shot. Now this appears to work in the dojo when the instructor has a finite number of attacks and the seasoned student actually knows "how to attack".


Don't believe me...how come you don't see these blocks in sparring? what you see are parries, slips and covers. And that's sparring in a controlled environment. When you're trying to locate your car in a dimly lit parking lot and your mind is on other things only one thing is going to happen when some one gets the drop on you: you get hit.


In the SDTS there aren't any blocks. Really. Everything is based on position, distance, momentum and balance. You attack in a way that keeps your vital targets covered. Combine this with constantly taking ground and attacking and there is literally NO DEFENSE.


Form or Katas
Have NO self defense value. They are sets of unrealistic moves based on "quasi-historical" urban legend.


Stances
There is no need to ever get into a stance in the street. You're either attacking or retreating. Assuming a stance only says two things. To your target it tells him you have some type of training. Now he might think twice about fighting you and just grab a weapon instead. Or maybe he backs down only to jump you when you least expect it. The other thing it says to a witness is YOUR WILLINGNESS TO FIGHT. If you have to defend your actions in court while the jury views a video of you "knuckling up and throwing it down", it's going to be a tough to explain your "act of self defense".


In Module 1 of the SDTS you learn how to fight out of a normal standing position. In fact, most of the "situations" you prepare for begin in what we call the interview position. This enables you to actually gain the position of advantage without indicating your intentions to your target. This is the best way to get the drop on anyone who poses an imminent threat to you or your loved ones.

Look, martial arts have their place, but it's really not self defense. I have known good martial artists who are good street fighters. Only what they did in the street had a HUGE disconnect with what they did in the dojo. In fact other than a few punches and a takedown or two, they really didn't do anything else. Of course they tried to draw the line between tradition and reality but it just didn't work.


If you want to learn a cultural fighting art, that's great. But please don't think for a second that what you're learning has anything to do with street fighting. A horse punching stance may build stronger legs, but it's a huge inefficient use of your time regarding self defense.


Graham Elwood is right, "I've never seen a bar fight where the guy attacked the other guy coming straight down on his head".

No B.S. just...
Train Honestly,


Damian Ross, The Self Defense Company
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