Knowing and Knowing

You can know about something but to truly know it takes a bit more then merely learning in an academic form. Being knowledgable is knowing the book stuff. It comes down to experience, this is the key to all things. To truly know something means you know it from all directions and having experience in the discipline is probably the most important part of the equation.

In what I have been informed about traditional karate is that one can fight/defend if they practice hard and long enough. It has also been told to me that practicing the basic techniques, the kata and the drills for self-defense is how you traditionally learn to fight/defend. When I hear of this I question it.

I question it because "experience" either in real life violent encounters or through some form of reality based training how can you possibly learn about all the things that are part of a world of violence if you are not involved in that world - either as a professional working in it or as a person living in it. I, personally, don't feel sparring, as most sparring is sport oriented, will not do the trick if that is part of you regimen. 

As to basic techniques, kata and drills, wonderful training tools on a fundamentally basic learning level but as to working in real life encounters I tend to have my doubts. Even if you take them as a training tool and go beyond the repetitive visualization stages as possible it does not introduce you to the heat and stress of combat along with all the effects you have to deal with in the state of mind-body. You may be able to get a good start with this traditional model but will it take you the full distance, that is the question I have. 

I am not saying there is no benefit to this type of training, there is in spades. To assume that it will take you the full distance all by itself is what I will question, now and in the future. It is a question all should consider in their training, regardless, if that training is about fighting, defense and/or combat. There are just to many conditions of violent encounters that tell us that this type of training, although still of great value, may not take us the distance necessary for defense. 

I have studied a lot of things over the years and have to admit that without a certain level and type of "experience" that the training may or may not actually work in an encounter. 

Yes, I have written about this before and I will write about it again in the future if for no other reason but to keep my reality on the ground, as much as any human can, and to keep reminding myself that just because my practice and training "seem" to be valid they may or may not actually work if for no other reason than the unpredictability of any encounter with all that it brings. 

Example: when your heart rate and pulse reach a certain level and you visual ability diminishes, your sense of time slows. Sound, memory and broader social understanding go out the window so that your lizard can achieve more heightened awareness of an adversary - directly in front of us. We get aroused until our bodies start to shut down many sources of information. Our motor skills go to the crapper. As our heart rate and pressure increase we then can lose cognitive processing, i.e. the lizard has take over completely. Your behavior becomes more aggressive, etc. etc. etc. (courtesy of LtCol Grossman's books - redacted and paraphrased for brevity). 

Practicing basics, kata, drills, etc without some reality that induces such states of mind-body may not be enough (personally, I don't think it is enough). Then there is the question of how can these ROTE practices achieve the chaos and unpredictability of attacks? Even the military training recognizes that until one can gain experience that their training is limited, it works to achieve enough experiences so that when the real thing occurs the Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine will not totally freeze and die. This is why military work diligently to have the experienced combat veterans train and lead the uninitiated. 

Just something to think about, knowing is not necessarily knowing without experience. I have a formula that is similar to the use of the makiwara where karate-ka shall include at least 25% of all training either hitting something or being hit by someone or something or the combination of both, i.e. bag work and makiwara for fifteen minutes of every hour in training. If your training does not include at least 25% at a reality based experience gain then you might want to look at what you are doing and most of all the reasoning for doing it or doing it that way. 

Ahhh, just some more mindless meanderings - just saying.