HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS IN MARTIAL ARTS?

This blog is part of an ongoing series on what’s real in martial arts. Historically, there were four main ways to “prove” an art had validity in a self-defense context:
•Argumentation: “This art strikes all the major pressure points one after the other, so it is far too dangerous for mere sport.”
•Demonstration: Students attack and master flails around, while students fall to the ground dramatically. Master then breaks ice, boards, blocks, etc.
•Anecdote: “Graduation from the karate college in Korea included driving your fingers into a bull and pulling out its heart.”
•Appeal to Authority: “Navy SEALs have used this, for thousands of years!”
Under this approach to establishing efficacy, all styles ended up being better than average.

Then, in the mid-90s, MMA rose to prominence, and experts from countless different appropaches actually fought, and in so doing, across time, learned what parts of their method work, and which are useless or worse. But MMA is not the sole means to determine the effectiveness of a given martial art.

Cellphone and security cams are everywhere, which has opened a window on thousands of cases of martial arts being attempted on the street. These can be roughly divided into several main categories:
•Mutual Combat;
•Dojo Storm;
•Bouncer;
•Informal fights;
•Style vs. Style; and,
•Self-Defense.

In the self-defense example below, a female judoka some call “Rwanda Rousey”, is being accosted by an unfortunately inebriated man.

JUDO ON THE STREET

A previous video, no longer available, shows the initial interaction between the two. It seems heated, but also potentially playful to some degree. Suddenly, without telegraphing her intentions, the female judoka uses fluid technique to drop the man directly onto his face. This is in effect hitting him not with a fist, but with the planet. The man is immediately rendered unconscious. The woman helps the man to a sitting position, and even tries to help him stand, unsuccessfully.

TECHNICAL BREAKDOWN

This is a textbook example of using judo for self-defense. The concept of off-balancing (kuzushi) is so central to the art that founder Dr. Jigoro Kano said kuzushi is judo, and without it, your judo is not judo. The woman first off-balanced her assailant by driving him backward with an attempted Ouchi-gari.

When he overcompensates and drives forward, she employs another central aspect of the art – using an opponent’s weight against him. She executes ippon seoi nage, and the man topples over her, until he is hit in the face with the Earth, and goes unconscious.

HOW TO DO DROP SEOI NAGE

Below, Coach Travis Stevens demonstrates Drop Seoi Nage. He is an Olympic silver medalist in judo, a black belt in jiu-jitsu under John Danaher and Renzo Gracie (the fastest promotion in BJJ history, at 18 months), and a force of nature.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

There are truly compelling arguments to be made for why judo works on the street. But the same can be said too for ludicrous approaches. Villari Kenpo and Aikido experts, for example. will argue efficacy for hours. The reality is not in talk and words – if you practice a martial art, and can see evidence of it working, either from experts testing their art against trained, active resistance, or from real self-defense moments, or both, then you are in all likelihood on the right path to developing legitimate self-defense skills.

On the other hand, if your art has no adepts willing to test it, and there are no verifiable instances of it actually working (public video, not anecdote), then in all likelihood it is worthless from a self-defense perspective. There are countless benefits to the practice of martial arts, and a lack of self-defense can be irrelevant to your goals, so this is not a call to change. It is however a call for reality.

And lastly, if you practice judo, you are in amazing hands. Anyone in Western Massachusetts with an interest in judo is encouraged to check out Kuma Judo in Florence, Mass.