This has sparked some groups to investigate the reasons behind this phenomena. Surveys have been conducted both in the United States as well as in Canada. Additional inquiries may also have been conducted in places like Europe and Australia as well.

What the researchers found was, to them, incredible. They found that, by and large, the number one reason for adult students dropping out of their programs was…

…no real-world self-defense training early on in their training!

“How could this be?”, was the question. The researchers were stunned. After all, they were martial arts teachers and they certainly taught self-defense as a part of their classes.

How could these adults say that they weren’t being taught real-world self-defense techniques?

Perhaps, the problem was not that “self-defense techniques” were or were not being taught. Because, even after these studies were conducted and karate programs started to “import” third-party self-defense packages into their product offering, adult dropouts remained high.

Maybe the problem was in perception. Maybe students just couldn’t see how the “stylized” movements of a centuries-old system could be applicable against a street attack against a stiletto or ‘Saturday Night Special’-wielding assailant.

It’s certain that students were not seeing and hearing what they thought they should in order to believe that they were getting what they needed to survive such an attack. Even if these students don’t know what ‘that thing’ really looks like, their gut-level feeling was that, “this stuff isn’t going to work.”

Maybe the problem – what adult students are looking for – is in something even more crucial to learning self-defense against violent attackers. And maybe this “thing” was easier to identify by novices than by trained instructors who had been indoctrinated into sport systems.

Maybe what was lacking in all of these programs was something the real experts like to call…

…Experience!

Regardless of the subject, it’s fairly easy to see when someone has experience with the information they have, isn’t it? I mean, experience in actually applying that information to produce viable, proven results. As the old saying goes, “those who can – do; and those who can’t – teach.”

And, what adult students are looking for is someone who “can” AND “teaches” others how they can as well.

Now, this isn’t to say that most martial arts instructors don’t know their arts and the techniques and skills that come with them. Most certainly do. And these people are very good at what they do.

However; there is a huge difference between knowing how to ‘perform’ a skill – any skill – and being able to apply that skill in a particular context. And self-defense is no exception.

No matter how hard they try, most martial arts and self-defense instructors will not be able to convince most adults that they know what they’re talking about without the experience to back it up. Adult students are not children. They have seen far too much in there lives to let these less-than-able instructors slide.

And with the new threat of terrorism being added to the ever-present concern with crime, most adults have no desire to learn martial arts for purely ascetic reasons. They want – no, they demand – and rightly so, that the person they place their trust in, not to mention their very lives, knows what he or she is doing.

So, what’s an instructor to do if he or she lacks actual real-world experience? Should they rush right out and get into a few fights? Should they go hang out in the seedier side of town and wait to be mugged, raped, or beaten?

No, of course not. But, they can, like their students, go in search of real experts – people who have “been there” and who can help them learn what they need to know in order to help the people who come to them for this type of knowledge.

Of course, this may require that they suck in their pride and get a check on the old ego. But, as everyone knows who has been in an actual violent confrontation with a dangerous attacker, you need to “check your ego at the door” if you’re going to survive.

Teaching self-protection skills to others is a huge responsibility. And one perhaps that’s too great for a lot of people who are teaching for purely personal reasons.

There is another option available, however; just in case the primary one is totally unacceptable. And that option is simply to…

…stop trying to teach self-defense if they’re not qualified.

By all means, an instructor can, and should, continue to teach his particular style of martial art. But he should stop trying to convince intelligent, grown adults, that he knows what he’s talking about with regards to surviving a violent attack if he doesn’t. He should remember that people are placing their lives in his hands every time he open’s his mouth, or demonstrates a technique. I’m not sure whether or not many instructors have thought about this. But they should.

After all, most martial arts instructors teach honesty as one of the major tenets and character traits of a black belt master and leader. Wouldn’t this be the “honest” thing to do?

The moral here is that, if a martial arts or karate teacher wishes to teach self-defense – if he or she wants to get and retain adult students looking for this type of training for the long-term, they really have no choice but to do what they must.

They, like every other information-based professional, are in business to provide a service. They must decide what that service is and whether or not it includes real-world self-protection against violent attackers who don’t follow the rules of fairness and respect found in martial arts schools and karate tournaments.

They should also know this…

…no company, whether it’s a furniture store or a martial art school, stays in-business very long if it can’t give its customers what they want and need. Their clients and students may never tell them that they don’t believe or trust them. But, rest assured that if they’re not getting what they’ve paid for, they’re gone.

As a final thought, and one that I live by. What if, some day, “I” must depend on one of my students to protect me from a dangerous assailant for whatever reason. Wouldn’t I want to make sure that what he or she learned was really going to work?

I know I would!

Jeffrey M. Miller is the founder of Warrior Concepts International, a Pennsylvania-based company specializing in helping private, law enforcement, and corporate clients to develop time-tested and proven self-protection and personal development skills that work in the real-world. He is the author of the highly acclaimed, educational video, Danger Prevention Tactics. His latest book, “The Karate-Myth” shows the reader why most martial arts and self-defense programs don’t work and how to insure your safety in today’s violent world. For additonal information about having this internationally-recognized expert as a guest or keynote speaker for your organization’s next meeting, or to sponsor a seminar with Mr. Miller, you may contact him through his web site or by calling WCI in the U.S. and Canada, at (570) 988-2228.

There’s more to it than that. Basics are your fundamental skills. They provide the foundation for all your studies – how to stand, how to move, how to generate power, what targets to hit, what weapons (hand and foot positions) you can use, how to read an opponent’s intentions, how to breathe, stay healthy, relaxed and of course learn the fundamental techniques of striking, locking, throwing, kicking and stance work.

Line work isn’t basics. Line work is drilling techniques. There’s a problem with line work in that you cannot learn your basics in an efficient and natural way. The origins of line work are in the Japanese military where large groups of people were learning how to react to orders.

I found that beginners have difficulty with line work. They are expected to get into a stance and hold their arms in a certain position then move in a particular way. Why does it take 3 months to learn a handful of basics and a couple of kata for your next belt. You can learn a kata in a couple of hours. The reason is simple – inefficiency.

It takes a while to become accustomed to traditional karate movement which isn’t the same movement you perform when out walking, dancing or working. So why do it? Times have to change. Line work is no longer suited to skill development especially with advances in sports science and biomechanics.

At our dojo we learn basics working with a partner in a freestyle environment so students can clearly see what is happening. We make use of focus mitts and other equipment so new students begin with actually hitting things. Progress is much better than the old way and when they come to learn their traditional karate movements and kata they already understand the applications and the mechanics of the techique. The approach means they learn the best angles for working each technique. They get the body movement, entry points through the opponent’s guard and control of timing and distance.

We then progress to kata, applications, 2-person drilling and push hands, then onto freestyle practice and attack/defence sparring. We will shortly be introducing scenario sparring where one partner is, say, limited to grappling and another is limited to striking, or we start from on the ground with the aim of one partner being to stand up while the other prevents him.

You can chop and change your partner work and sparring formats to suit different environments. There aren’t really advanced skills, just fundamental skills with different levels of understanding – which, to newer students appear to be “advanced” in the sense that they are moving towards greater understanding.

“That’s not traditional karate!” I hear you cry. Well, if traditional karate is nothing more than marching about in lines that’s fine you can keep it. The only traditions worth maintaining are the ones that evolve and grow with the times.

But it begins at Day 1. No more “stand at the back and follow as best as you can.” Invest in some good focus mitts (I’ve just discovered the joys of training with Thai pads too!), hang a kick bag and get on with it.

Stephen Irwin

http://www.totalgoalsetting.com

Like most things that come out of Hollywood, they tend to go for the
flashy, most over hyped parts, and then blow it up a bit more. You
only have to look at the most recent World War II films released in
the past few years to see that.

Well the historical Ninja were just a group of people living in the
Iga region of Japan, who didn’t want to live like samurai. That
appears to be their only crime.

They created their own system of self defence, and strategies that
enabled them to survive for over a thousand years to this day. These
strategies are now taught around the world thanks to the 34th
Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi.

Masaaki Hatsumi has many personal students around the world teaching
Ninjutsu, the system created by the Ninja, including 8th Dan Black
belt Brian McCarthy, of the Bujinkan Brian Dojo, who teaches
traditional Ninjutsu throughout Europe. Here in Portsmouth, Ninjutsu
is taught by Andrew Thomas, 4th Dan, who has studied under Brian for
18 years, as well in Japan with the grandmaster.

Andrew has been teaching in Portsmouth, Bognor Regis and Brighton, for
18 years, and has recently celebrated the 1st anniversary of the new
Dojo location at Warrior Crafts in Highland road with two days of
training and a meal at Rickshaws.

Unlike nearly all the other martial arts, Ninjutsu evolved over a
thousand years and is still evolving. Only recently a new throw was
created by a student of the Grandmaster, so that he could throw a man
much bigger than him. The throw is named after him.
Ninjutsu isn’t the system portrayed in films and television. In fact,
until you’ve actually done some, it looks nothing like you would
expect it to. It’s very subtle, and it works.

With Karate you can see the punches and kicks, in Judo you can see the
throw. In Ninjutsu, we try to keep things hidden. Why let the person
who has just attacked you know what you can do to defend yourself?
The other big difference between the other martial arts and Ninjutsu,
is that we are not a sport. Ours is a system that was created over a
period of time to protect the people of a certain area in Japan, not
as a way of keeping fit, and entertaining others.

Does Ninjutsu have a place in a modern society? Yes, of course it
does. No only is it a way of keeping yourself active the 33rd
Grandmaster trained the day he died, at 82 but in this world with
growing crime rates, protecting yourself and your loved ones is always
a good thing.

We can punch and kick, throw and lock joints, we can defend against
weapon attacks, as well as learn how to use weapons such as the humble
stick effectively. We can fight standing up, sitting down, on the
floor, in confined spaces and in the open. We train to be able to
operate in all environments, and to learn to perceive threats before
they become dangerous.

You can’t expect to be good in a few weeks, but you will start picking
things up. If all you learn the first week is how not to be hit, then
you’ve learnt a very good lesson. A lot of martial arts give out
grading’s like sweets, but it doesn’t mean that you have any real
ability, just a nice coloured belt.

In the Bujinkan Brian Dojo, you will only be graded when you have the
ability of the grade. This doesn’t mean that you could walk into the
roughest pub in town and take anyone on, it means that you can
recognise threats, and avoid them.

But what does Ninjutsu mean to me? It’s more than a martial art, but
I don’t want to give you the old line, “It’s a way of life”, although
to the Ninja of past it really was. To the 21st Century Ninja, it
means more than that. It means training with a group of friends in a
relaxed, fun atmosphere, with people from all walks of life from the
taxman, to the Kebab man, to the masters degree student. It means
learning how to move your body in a way that is natural to how your
body wants to move.

As an example of the training given, on the anniversary weekend the
training was split into learning the basics on the Saturday, to
defending yourself on the street on Sunday. Saturday was about how to
move so that you can set up throws, locks and the sort of subtle thing
that would leave your opponent on the ground will you get away.
Sunday was about how you would do that in your normal clothes, with
the restricted movement you get from modern clothes, to learn how to
do all the things you did on Saturday, with less movement because
you’re wearing jeans. It gives you a new perspective on how you
behave.

We learn how to use the more traditional weapons such as the sword,
and the spear, and how to defend ourselves against such weapons. For
the 21st Century Ninja, this would be a chair, a baseball bat, or a
snooker cue.

If you want to learn how to disappear in a cloud of smoke like the
movie ninja’s, you’d be better off speaking to Paul Daniels. Movie’s
are movie’s, real life is more interesting.

To finish, I’ll give you some wise words written on new years day,
1891 by the 32nd Grandmaster;

1. Know the wisdom of being patient during times of inactivity.
2. Choose the course of justice as the path for your life.
3. Do not allow your heart to be controlled by the demands of
desire, pleasure or dependence.
4. Sorrow pain and resentment are natural qualities to be found
in life. Therefore work to cultivate an immovable spirit.
5. Hold in your heart the importance of family loyalty, and
pursue the literary and martial arts with balanced determination.
Now does that sound like the assassin, thief and vagabonds of
Hollywood?

Learn more about every aspect of martial arts here.