Martial Arts Curriculums: Problems and Solutions
One problem I’ve had with almost every martial arts instructor I’ve trained with is their organization of techniques and training methods. Understanding what you’re practicing is important not just on a physical level, getting a feel for techniques and their application, but also on a mental one. If you don’t have a feeling for what fits where…how and when you’re going to use this or that, what you’re learning isn’t worth much more than the enjoyment you get out of the training.
A proper martial arts or self defense curriculum should be ordered such that it presents material in a way that helps the practitioner to understand how to use it. Let’s take traditional Japanese jiu jitsu for example. In traditional jiu jitsu you’ve got kicks, hand strikes, standing joint manipulations, clinch, throwing, and ground work. Standing joint manipulations should be shown in the context of what can precede them, what can happen during their attempted application, and what can proceed them. The problem is that many instructors will train ground techniques one day, striking techniques another day, and small joint manipulations on another. The student may KNOW the techniques in each area, but will very likely be unable to APPLY them. Without being able to go from striking to clinching to locking and back to striking…being able to flow from one area to the next, it will be nearly impossible to effectively us the techniques in self defense.
In Hertao, we begin self defense training with basic stand up kickboxing. This gives the practitioner a realistic understanding of the dynamics of a stand up fight…movement, timing, and speed. Then we add self defense techniques to the mix, the Fundamental Five. If all you’ve got is a finger jab to the eye, but no context in which to apply it, or no understanding of what to watch out for, you don’t have much. Right as we begin with the Fundamental Five, we introduce clinch fighting, techniques to prevent the clinch, and move onto ground fighting. This gives students what Marc Denny of the Dog Brother’s calls the “fighter’s understanding”.
If your self defense or martial arts training doesn’t follow a similar logical progression, you need to at least arrange it properly in your own mind. No matter what, you need to question all the techniques, training methods, and strategies you learn. You need to ask: When should I use this technique? How does it fit in to the “fight”? What will set this technique up? What might happen when I’m trying to apply the technique? Will it actually work? Where does this technique fit into MY strategy?
If you’re taking a self defense class and you want to be able to use what you’re learning, you’ve got to be able to answer the above questions. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below. What’s your curriculum like? Does your instructor do a good job with presentation? What’s your strategy?