Wow, I read this and said, "Wait a minute, this is important." I quote, "He was telling students to use <body part here of your choice> as weapons, but he didn’t know how <the body part> worked."
How may people in karate and martial arts classes are taught how to utilize some part of their body as a weapons then just dive in without understanding how that body part works and how it handles the stressors and pressures of the actual technique.
How many people learned how to make a fist and then drive it however into the target? How many of them understand, were taught, the strengths and weaknesses of the fist and hand when applied to a target, i.e., hint, hint: the hard to soft/soft to hard thingy?
People talk a lot about "body mechanics" but is there any lesson on how the joints work, how the muscles and tendons and cartilage work, and how the entirety works against what ever methodology is applied as it relates to the target, the power and force applied and the physiokinetic’s way the body part works. Such as how a ball joint works vs. a hinged joint; how the muscles stabilize one while only party stabilize the other simply because of the joint differences.
This is just another example of how we dive into things because of the gratification and triggering of the pleasure centers of our minds. What happens when the method applied is applied incorrectly because it was applied to an inappropriate target for that method. Like hitting a very hard part of the body with the bare fist, can you say broken hands? Wait for it, the knee-jerk response is going to be, "That is what the makiwara is for!" Not really, to develop the hands, fists, ridge-hand, etc., for demonstrations and the art of tameshiwari is fine but when the chaos and unpredictability of an attack happens even the most makiwara developed calloused hands break.
Now, as to teaching stuff for self-protection when grave harm or death are on the table, teaching multiple methodologies, etc., needs to teach how that part works as related to the targets if the body part is going to continue working in case you haven't stopped the attacker and damage to self's-body is still happening.
Example: Teaching the limitations of the hand for striking and punching where the maxim of hard-to-soft/soft-to-hard apply. It can be a game changer. Teaching how the open hand is superior to the fist if for no other reason than the vulnerability of the bones in the hand vs. the flexibility and pliability of the open hand applied properly does more damage or achieves goals faster, etc.
This adds another layer onto the responsibility of one who teaches a physical manifested discipline of martial arts and karate regardless of its end intent, i.e., sport, self-help, philosophical or self-protection.
There is a strong reason and benefit that professional sport teams have staff, outside the players and coaches, who are there to advise and take care of athletes who misuse their bodies and cause self-damage. Does your dojo have a professional who does this kind of work in case of injuries or who can explain to the practitioners how the body works so when certain pressures are applied they cause damage or remain stable and cause the adversary damage? Sensei, even several with several senpai, cannot become masters in all disciplines, it is not humanly possible.
Do you want to assume and accept that your sensei is a, "Jack of all trades and master of none?" If you are amenable to that, then expect to experience the void's in that training. If your dojo and sensei don’t explain all this don’t worry, you must take personal responsibility to learn that yourself long before injury, especially injuries that are debilitating - for life.
Note: the inspiration for this came from the blog, “Swimming in Deep Water, by Anna Valdiserri.” This is a quote from the article, “Neurodivergent #2” “It isn’t peculiar to that field: it shows in any field that allows enthusiasts to raise to teaching positions by being good at doing the thing rather than at teaching the thing. A lot of self-defense teachers get into teaching because they are passionate about the subject, which is great, but they do so without ever acquiring a background in teaching.”Doesn’t his strike a cord, make sense and get your ole-grey cells a churnin?
No comments:
Post a Comment