Understanding Limitations in Martial Arts Training
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Now, I approach this topic from the perspective of a fighter and a combative mindset—where there are no rules. In combat, the principle is simple: cheat first, cheat in the middle, cheat last.
A while back, I came across an online thread where someone asked for advice on which martial art to train in. Predictably, most responses were biased, touting the superiority of one style over another. However, one comment stood out:
“You should learn something that works on the street.” While I agree with this sentiment, the question requires more depth.
There are hundreds of fighting systems, some with techniques dating back to times when people relied on hand-to-hand combat for survival. Many suggest MMA as the ultimate solution. But is it really true that only the systems dominating the UFC hold self-defense value? Absolutely not.
MMA is an exceptional sport-based combat system, offering many skills relevant to self-defense. However, like all systems, it has its limitations because it’s fundamentally a sport. Let’s examine some limitations found not just in MMA, but in other systems such as traditional martial arts (TMA), boxing, Wing Chun, JKD, and beyond. If your style or system fails to address even one of these areas, it has limitations that could stem from the instructor, the system itself, the mindset, or the organization behind it.
Key Areas of Limitation to Consider
- Lack of training for multiple-opponent scenarios
- Absence of modern-day weapons defense techniques
- Neglecting the importance of avoiding fights
- I teach the “3 D’s”: Detect, Diffuse, Defend (or Destroy)—which align with the stages of a physical altercation: pre, during, and post.
- Ground combatives
- Training in edged weapon combat
- Combative pistol and long-gun training
- Full-contact fighting experience
- Practical deployment of defensive weapons
- Understanding self-defense laws specific to your state
- Adaptability to modern-day altercations and evolving threats
- Use of improvised weapons or weapons of opportunity
This list is just the starting point of the criteria I use in my system. Each category has subtopics, but I won’t go into those details here.
Reality Based Self Defense / Combatives
The Reality of Real-World Scenarios
A few tragic examples highlight these limitations. A Muay Thai champion was fatally shot in an altercation, likely because he was unprepared for firearm scenarios. Similarly, on September 4, 2012, an MMA fighter and instructor in Alberta was fatally stabbed. While it’s possible neither could have done anything to save themselves, the lack of training for those scenarios undeniably played a role.
Conversely, there are examples of TMA practitioners subduing assailants. But more often than not, they fall short—not due to incompetence, but because their training did not prepare them for the level of aggression or specific circumstances they encountered.
Adapting and Evolving
As any experienced master or combat instructor will tell you, success in combat comes down to adaptability, evolution, mind set and real-world training. Your training must reflect the complexities of modern-day altercations, preparing you for any scenario.
WHAT IS REALITY BASED TRAINING?
Training and survival skills based on modern conflict situations that the practitioner is likely to encounter in their environment (their “reality”), in an accordance with the use-of-force continuum of that jurisdiction.
Jim Wagner
“When the mind is tethered to a center, naturally it is not FREE; it can move only within the LIMITS of that center.” –Bruce Lee.
“You don’t grow unless you go out of the
confines of your own system/style...
it is from the old we get security and the
new that we get growth” – Dan Inosanto.
“The
superior fighter has no emotional attachment to any particular range of combat.”
-BTCMS Maxim
The
man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of
the mind.
~William Blake
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