It is wonderful. It truly is. It is the only thing that is real! It's you against me, it's challenging another guy's manhood. With gloves. Words cannot describe that feeling—of being a man, of being a gladiator, of being a warrior. It's irreplaceable.
~ Sugar Ray Leonard
The Way of the Warrior
The most common perception of a martial art is that of an oriental fighting system: throwing punches and flying kicks. Of course, systems of fighting are not restricted to the East. Boxing, wrestling, and fencing are just some of the martial arts that are common in Europe.
Martial arts can be broadly categorized into three main types: striking, grappling, and weapons arts. This simple classification makes it easier to get a handle on the diverse range of martial arts that exist. Although the original objective of the martial arts was to train individuals how to fight, this is no longer the only reason that people take up training. There are many other benefits to such training. For example, you may just be interested in finding out about exotic training traditions and history, you may be attracted to the health and fitness benefits, or you may indeed be looking to become a competitor.
Some find an alternative categorization system useful in tackling this subject. Internal and external, similar to soft and hard, classes can be used give a different kind of sense about the system. This is primarily a philosophical classification that comes from traditional Chinese martial arts, with an external system being outwardly physical in its nature with big blocks and attacks; and an internal system taking a more subtle approach through fluid movements.
Inevitably, most martial arts contain some sort of sparring. The original aim of sparring practice was to help to train people to fight. However, the false nature of set piece sparring, and sparring with restrictions in competitions can give you a false sense of your ability to defend yourself in a real life situations where there are no rules. That is not to say that sparring doesn't have an important place in any training system. Indeed, taking part in competitive sparring is always overall more realistic than any training method that uses a collaborating partner, no matter how well intentioned the methodology.
Focusing on a single martial art is certainly the way to start your training. However, if your objective is to be a well-rounded fighter, then looking at what the other martial arts have to offer will form an important part of your training. This has led to the emergence of mixed martial arts (MMA) where techniques from many martial arts can be used. This type of training has led to well-rounded, more complete martial artists.
What is a Martial Art?
A martial art is a codified system of fighting. Many martial arts teach you how to fight with a weapon, others are concerned with unarmed fighting. Some martial arts are intended for use against multiple assailants, while others have been designed to duel against a single skilled opponent. Martial arts have one object in common—to gain an advantage in combat through the development of superior fighting skill.
Many people think of martial arts as being primarily a phenomenon unique to the Far East but, in fact, every culture has its own inherited martial tradition. The ancient Greek Olympic games (776 BC-393 AD) included boxing and wrestling events. From 648 BC, they also included an event that was called paukration, which literally means "all powers," reflecting the fact that competitors could use almost any attack that they wanted. The only techniques that were not allowed were eye gouges and bites, so competitors would use a combination of boxing and wrestling moves in addition to kicking techniques.
Historically, martial training was focused on weapon based martial arts because of their use on the battlefield. For example, in Japan, the samurai would fight primarily with the long sword, using kenjutsu, but for those times when they could not use a sword, they had an unarmed fighting art called jujutsu. Similarly, in Europe, many fencing books were produced between the 15th and 17th century. The long sword was held in the highest regard but a number of combat forms were taught alongside swordsmanship including stick fighting, armored combat, mounted combat, and unarmed grappling, as well as the use of various weapons, such as daggers and pole arms.
It was only after the Renaissance that martial arts in Europe started to divide into different fields: civilian dueling (self-defense), most commonly with the rapier; sporting activity such as boxing, wrestling, or stick fighting; and military training which evolved with the military thinking of the time—during the 19th century this would have consisted of bayonet, saber, and the lance.
By the 20th century, martial arts had begun to be taught in schools and universities. In Japan, judo and karate found their way into the public school system and it was in the Universities of Tokyo that these martial arts evolved into sporting activities. In the West, boxing and wrestling became increasingly accepted as sports. For example, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge have had an official annual boxing match since 1896 and, in the United States, boxing was introduced in the 1920s both for its recreational value and for physical conditioning, leading to intercollegiate boxing leagues. Wrestling has been an intercollegiate sport in the United States since 1900 and this soon spread to wrestling tournaments for high school students.
Following the Second World War, there was an increase in exposure in the West to the Eastern fighting arts. Some martial arts masters from the East emigrated to the West to set up schools open to the paying public. Following a kung fu craze in the 1970s, brought about by Hong Kong "chop socky" movies, there was a rapid rise in popularity of Eastern martial arts, especially karate, judo, kung fu, aikido, and jujutsu.
Categories of Martial Arts
From the strong linear attacks of karate to the fast, light movements of Wing Chun or the big throws of judo, the world of martial arts is wide and diverse. Each martial art has its own traditions and each emphasizes different aspects of how to fight. It is possible to break down the different martial arts into three categories based on their emphasis.
The striking arts focus on attacking by striking with various parts of the body, typically punching with the fist or kicking with the feet. Practitioners of these arts will usually also focus on how to defend against kicking and punching attacks, either through deflecting these attacks, by evading them, or by simply blocking them with a forearm or a shin.
The grappling arts focus on close quarters fighting involving throwing their opponent or applying locks or holds to restrain them. Training in the grappling arts also includes ways to escape from locks and holds and ways to counter attempts to grab or throw.
The weapon arts focus on how to fight using weapons. Individual arts will usually focus on a single type of weapon or on a small set of weapons. They will usually practice ways to defend against someone who is also using that particular weapon.
| A CATEGORIZATION OF MARTIAL ARTS BASED ON THEIR EMPHASIS | |
| Examples of striking arts | Karate, Taekwondo, Capoeira, Savate, Boxing, Muay Thai, Kung Fu |
| Examples of grappling arts | Judo, Jujutsu, Aikido, Wrestling |
| Examples of weapon arts | Kendo, Iaido, Fencing, Eskrima |
In many cases, a martial art will fit neatly into one of these categories. If someone practices kendo, then they are going to learn how to fight with a sword, Japanese style. If they want to learn how to fight if they lose their weapon, then they would be studying jujutsu, which pretty much evolved just to fill this gap.
Just because a martial art focuses on a certain aspect of fighting does not mean that it necessarily excludes other ways of fighting. For example, jujutsu, despite being mainly concerned with throwing an opponent or applying locks, does include the art of striking and the art of blocking. It also includes methods for defending against various weapons. Conversely, karate practitioners will spend almost all their time either practicing kicks, punches, and other strikes or defending against those strikes. However, the karate forms (kata) are composed of a significant number of moves that are essentially close range grappling techniques. Many karate practitioners do not fully appreciate this and begrudgingly learn kata so that they can pass their next grading examination. However, the great karate masters of the past seem quite clear on this point: the kata are the most important part of karate.
So, in many cases, the category that a martial art can be placed in is a bit of a gray area. It's not as if the martial art excludes certain techniques, but more that the practitioners prefer to focus on a specific aspect. So why do so many martial artists diligently practice some elements of combat skill while neglecting others that are essential in many combat situations?
SPECIALIZATION IS GOOD
Specializing in one aspect of fighting is better than learning all the aspects badly. Learning a martial art is difficult and it can take many years to master even one aspect of fighting.
MARTIAL ARTS AS SPORT
Many people train in a martial art to compete, not to fight. This distinction might seem a bit subtle when watching boxers doing their best to score a knockout blow or a judoka applying a chokehold. The important difference is that there are rules. The boxer cannot kick his opponent (or bite his ear as seems to happen from time to time) without disqualification. Neither can the judo man, nor can he even throw a punch. And since these techniques cannot be used in these competitions, many of the participants see no reason to train to defend against them.
INTEREST AND FUN
Some people do not do martial arts to win fights or win medals. They just do it because they find the activity fun or interesting. The oriental martial arts in particular are exotic and fascinating. Simply practicing the forms can be a rewarding experience even without any combat application of the moves.
HEALTH AND FITNESS
Some people do martial arts because they believe that it has health benefits. This is quite common among tai chi practitioners many of whom don't really think of it as a fighting art.
Of course, many people do not actually get to make a decision about what to focus on in their martial arts training (though obviously they do get to pick the martial art that broadly matches their requirements as outlined above). Within a martial art, however, the decision of what to focus on is actually made by the instructor and this is almost always predicated on any association that he is operating under. The modern reality of many martial arts is that a major driving force is the grading syllabus. These rules dictate what someone needs to do in order to progress to the next rank and, as is so often the case, their next colored belt. And so, most training will focus on the grading syllabus. In fact, it is becoming more common that students are reluctant and apprehensive about being shown or learning anything else. They tend to not want to waste their time learning anything that is not required for a grading or competition. In real life, however, the opposite is normally true: You can win a fight by knowing something that the other person does not.
Internal and External Martial Arts
External martial arts encourage their students to use big strong moves, confronting every challenge head-on with a tough, aggressive attitude. These martial arts usually encourage the use of "hard" blocks that involve bashing attacks out of the way. Examples of martial arts in this category are karate or kick boxing. An external approach is good because it builds strength of mind and body, and a stronger opponent always has an advantage over a weaker one. It also helps you to overcome problems by training you to struggle against adversity. It is easy for a novice to pick up the external approach because its lack of subtlety makes it simple to understand.
| CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL MARTIAL ARTS | |
| External | Internal |
| Try to change the way things are | Understand the way things are |
| Struggling | Observing |
| Hard blocks | Going with the flow |
| Strong | Fluid |
| Hard blocks | Soft blocks |
Internal martial arts encourage a more subtle approach, using smooth, light movements to slip past attacks or to flow with an aggressor's movements, allowing the internal martial artist to use his opponent's strength against them. Internal arts encourage the use of "soft" blocks that gently direct attacks past the defender. Examples of internal martial arts are aikido and Tai Chi. An internal approach is good because it allows you to fight opponents who are bigger and stronger than you.
Some martial arts tend to emphasize either internal or external skills, but it is very much a personal thing. There are aikido practitioners who have a very external approach to martial arts even though aikido is a very internal art that emphasizes soft blocks and blending with an attack. There are even some internal martial artists who do Shotokan karate, even though the first thing that style does is teach you how to smash incoming attacks out of the way.
There is another terminology that is also used to describe this, and that is of soft and hard for internal and external respectively.
Sparring
"The weakest of all weak things is a virtue that has not been tested in the fire."
-Mark Twain
If you learn a martial art, it does not necessarily mean that you are learning to fight. There is a lot more to a real fight than just using good techniques. Many of the striking arts practice techniques with imaginary opponents—essentially punching the air. This is great to allow you to learn how to use your muscles to do a particular movement or to learn how to effectively put moves together. However, practicing without an opponent will leave you with a head full of ideas but no practical experience. As a result most martial arts have some sort of sparring, and even within a single martial art there will often be different types of sparring.
1. CONSTRAINED PREDICTABLE SPARRING
This type of sparring follows a predetermined pattern so that both parties know what is coming next. This will usually consist of one person attacking with a predetermined attack, which his opponent then tries to defend against and apply a counter attack. This is mainly useful for developing an understanding of distancing and basic timing.
2. CONSTRAINED UNPREDICTABLE SPARRING
With the addition of an unpredictable element, the ability to react to an unexpected attack is tested, while still constraining the engagement to a single attack so that activity happens in bursts.
3. FREE SPARRING
This kind of sparring is continuous with both partners flowing between an attacking and a defensive role.
Sparring with an opponent will help build skills that are essential for combat and that cannot be developed through solo practice. Ideally, the sparring should be in a competitive environment. This does not necessarily mean an organized competition with a referee and medals, although this does act as a strong motivator for some people. For building up skills, it is better to find a sparring partner whom you trust to test you and stretch your abilities. Sparring with a collaborating partner who is not trying to beat you, letting you succeed where you don't deserve to, has its place for running through drills and getting you familiar with techniques. However, this kind of practice will not provide you with some key skills. Sparring with an opponent who is making a concerted effort to win will build the following skills:
1. Ability to improvise
Having a game plan is great but if things don't go as you expect, then the plan can turn into a trap, constraining you to a set of actions that cannot succeed. When you train using traditional forms everything goes to plan every time because there is nobody there to disrupt your plan.
2. Control over your emotions
In order to perform effectively, you need to have control over your actions. If you lose that control because you are afraid of your opponent then you are going to be unable to act when you need to. If you become angry, then you might act impetuously giving your opponent an opportunity to defeat you. Nobody is afraid of the imaginary opponents in the traditional forms so you need to spar with a variety of live opponents.
3. React under pressure
Being under pressure is subtly different from being afraid of an opponent and in sparring matches the results can be similar, for example, an overly defensive posture and weak, uncommitted, or uncoordinated attacks. Through solo practice you can develop great technical skill but this is of no practical use to you if you crumble under pressure.
4. Use tactics and understand your opponent
Tactics are an important part of any fighting art. It is possible to develop some fundamental tactics without sparring and indeed this is what the standard drills and forms practiced in many martial arts are all about. They are a catalog of tactics that in general are likely to be successful. However, every opponent is different so a stock approach will often not be sufficient. Moreover, the state of an individual is fluid in a fight situation, constantly being updated. Instead, you need to be able to read your opponent to best be able to decide what attacks he is likely to be susceptible to or what actions he is likely make. The ability to gain an understanding of an opponent is best developed by sparring with a variety of opponents.
THE LIMITATIONS OF SPARRING
A sparring activity is unlikely to be popular or productive in the long term if there is a high chance of at least one of the participants getting seriously injured. A variety of approaches have been taken to address the issue of safety. Some martial arts introduced protective equipment such as head guards or gum shields. Even with this protection it is still necessary to have "rules of engagement" limiting which types of attack are allowed, how strong or how fast attacks are allowed to be or defining what areas are legitimate targets. For example, International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) taekwondo and most karate sparring matches are semi-contact fights meaning that participants simulate full power techniques. Attacks are made at full speed but the distance must be controlled so that the motion of the attack is arrested before reaching the target. World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) taekwondo and kyokushin-kai karate on the other hand both engage in full contact contests but do not allow head punches.
Another factor that has shaped how sparring rules have evolved in different martial arts is that of sport. In addition to the safety aspects, for a sparring activity to be successful as a sport it needs to fulfill certain requirements:
(a) should be fun for the participants
(b) should be enjoyable for spectators
(c) there should be a clear winner at the end of it
For example, in judo contests, a player can be penalized for taking "an excessively defensive posture." Clearly this rule is not about safety but rather about encouraging the contest to progress.
The constraints that sparring rules place on the techniques that are allowed, tend to make the fight less realistic. The restrictions that are the most necessary, those that try to make the sparring activity safe, are rather obviously at odds with the original objective of the older martial arts, which was to try to use attacks that were as devastating as possible. Many martial artists seem to be oblivious to these limitations and think that the way they spar really is how all fights work. Even those who do have some understanding of the contrived nature of their sparring matches can find it hard to override the behaviors that have become hard-wired during their sparring training. The karate man who has trained for years pulling his punches short might find himself doing exactly that in a self-defense context. The WTF Taekwondo man might drop his hands in a fight disastrously leaving himself open to any head punches.
Overall, sparring contests, which should be the solution to the problem of how to train realistically for combat, can end up being part of the problem. This is especially the case when participants fail to understand the implications of the particular rule set that they are following.
Vale Tudo, the Gracie Family, and Mixed Martial Arts
The stylized nature of many of the traditional martial arts can give martial artists a skewed view of reality. Sparring, an activity that should act as a reality check, actually tends to skew this view even further from reality. The fact that most martial arts instructors are convinced of the superiority of their particular style and go to great lengths to impress this on their students makes this even worse. So if traditional martial artists took part in a contest that was closely matched to a real fight, it should be possible for an opponent to exploit these weaknesses. In fact, this is exactly what did happen.
Style versus style bouts started to come to prominence in the 1950s in Brazil where there had, for some years, been a growing sub-culture of fights called vale tudo (which in Portuguese means "anything goes"). The rules for these matches varied but usually attacks were fairly unrestricted—typically no eye gouges, groin shots or biting, but otherwise you could do pretty much whatever you wanted, making it very similar to the pankration contests of Ancient Greece. The Gracie family generated a great deal of interest when Carlos Gracie issued the "Gracie Challenge." This challenge defied all-comers to prove themselves against the Gracies, and representatives from a variety of martial arts backgrounds rose to the challenge including karate, boxing, judo, and capoeira practitioners. Carlos Gracie initially issued the challenge as a way to promote his martial art, Gracie Jiu-jitsu, which was based on judo but had evolved into a more practical martial art that placed a particular focus on ground fighting.
What the Gracies realized was that:
(a) Most fights would very quickly end up on the ground
(b) Most fights were decided on the ground
(c) Most martial artists were neglecting ground fighting in favor of flashy kicks or throws
Against opponents with a grappling background, particularly those trained in judo, which traditionally includes a significant amount of ground work, the fights were fairly even. However, against "stand up fighters," that is fighters from backgrounds like boxing and karate, the fights would all go the same way: the Gracie Jiu-jitsu fighter would wait for an opportunity to close the distance and grapple his opponent. He would then bring him to the ground so that he could apply his superior ground fighting skills. His opponent would typically have done no training for ground fighting and so the fight could only end with victory for the Gracie Jiu-jitsu fighter, usually by way of a chokehold.
The success of the Gracies wasn't because they were bigger or stronger than anyone else-Helio Gracie who fought most of the original challenge matches was quite a slight and frail looking individual, certainly by the standards of the world of vale tudo. Rather, it was down to superior technique allowing the smaller, lighter fighter to prevail over a heavier opponent.
In 1993, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was created. The cross style fights that were shown in the "Gracie Jiu-jitsu in Action" video series inspired this controversial no-holds barred contest. The UFC was televised as a pay-per-view event and dramatically increased interest in what was being called mixed martial arts (MMA). The first UFC fights were with ground fighters, and Royce Gracie won the first few championships. However, MMA quickly evolved as interest grew and the types of techniques required to win these kinds of fights became better understood. Fighters with a background in the striking arts started to achieve better results as they incorporated grappling techniques into their training. Consequently, those with a grappling background started to pay more attention to training that included striking techniques. Overall, the results were that well-rounded fighters started taking part in these types of contest.
Limitations of Ground Fighting
Based on the success of the Gracie family and the success of their ground fighting against other styles of martial art, the logical conclusion to be drawn is that stand-up fighting is a waste of time since fights are going to be won on the ground. However, this conclusion is not correct for all situations. In fact, the situation that ground fighting fails in is that of self-defense, a scenario that is very important to many martial artists.
The typical self-defense scenario is not against a lone trained fighter but is more likely to involve multiple unskilled assailants. Taking an opponent to the ground and then using grappling techniques is effective against a lone opponent, but against multiple opponents it is a very poor tactic. While you restrain one opponent on the ground, you are prone to attack from his friends.
A good example of how to deal with multiple opponents comes from Masahiko Kimura who has been described as one of the greatest Judoka of all time. But he did not only train in Judo - he also practiced karate. It is quite revealing what tactics he used when faced with multiple attackers in 1946:
The four MP [military police] men surrounded me and took me to the middle of Nagaroku Bridge nearby the station. This was not an ordinary fight to me. I had to win this fight to defend the honor of judo. One of them suddenly threw a right straight at my face. I blocked the punch with my left arm, and kicked him in the groin with full force. He crumbled on the spot. When I turned back my head, another huge MP extended his arms and attacked me trying to grab me from behind. I then hit his right arm hard with knife hand, and then threw him into the river by Seoi-nage [shoulder throw]. The other two were watching this scene in amazement, but charged at me one by one. I delivered a head butt into the face of the third man. He was knocked out. I disposed of the last man by squeezing his balls with full force. Ever since I was in junior high, I have been called Master Groin Squeezer, and had absolute confidence in this technique.
Even though Kimura was an expert in judo, when faced with four assailants he fought more like a karate man, avoiding grappling techniques that would hand over the advantage to his more numerous opponents.
A Complete Martial Artist
Because of the tendency for individual martial arts to focus on particular skills, there is a risk for a practitioner of one martial art to neglect key skills that are necessary to become an all-around fighter. This limitation can be overcome by training in different martial arts that address different elements of combat. At the same time, it is no good to be a generalist who is the jack-of-all-trades but master of none. The most common approach is to initially focus on one martial art, building up an expertise in that approach to fighting, and then to pick up proficiency in a complementary martial art. For example, karate and judo complement each other: karate focuses on striking arts while judo covers grappling and ground fighting.
| COMPONENTS OF A COMPLETE MARTIAL ARTIST |
| Can defend against multiple opponents |
| Can fight at close range |
| Knows how to counter grappling attacks |
| Can fight on the ground |
| Can defend against an armed opponent |
