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Street Fighter Moves - 3 Categories of Martial Arts - Why You Must Know the Difference (Part 1 of 3)

Author: Charles Prosper
Date Posted: April 30, 2009

Are you studying Chinese Kung Fu, Korean Taekwondo or Japanese Shotokan Karate? Then you are studying:

• Traditional Martial Art - the 1st of the three categories of martial arts.

Are you cross-training in a combination of traditional martial arts techniques with an emphasis on Brazilian jiu jutsu to prepare yourself for a Mixed Martial Arts cage match? Or, are you possibly sparring everyday in the dojo for an upcoming Karate tournament? Then you are studying:

• Sports Competition Martial Art - the 2nd of the three categories of martial arts.

If you are training with an instructor with a background in one of the traditional martial arts, but has also worked as or has had real-world combat and street experience as a bouncer, bodyguard or special forces military personnel and your entire training takes place in as little as 2 or 3 days of an 8-hour a day intensive scenario-based fighting simulating real-world modern situations, then you are studying:

• Reality Based Self Defense - the 3rd of the three categories of martial arts. Reality Based Self Defense is also known as Reality Based Fighting or RBF.

Here in Part 1 of the 3 modules, we will look at the defining characteristics of category number one of fighting.

Traditional Martial Arts Instruction

These are the typical types of fighting systems that have gotten stuck in a time warp of the past. The tradition of what was learned, taught or practiced 500 years ago takes precedence over the immediate practical applicability to modern 21st century urban situations. (In traditional martial art instruction, you are still asked to dress in ancient Asian garb and walk around in bare feet.) There is absolutely nothing wrong with this and studying a martial art with all of its countless techniques, forms, katas and history is a choice like anything else. I am only being descriptive here.

All Art In Its Truest Since Is A Life Long Study

Traditional Martial Art focuses on perfection as does all art. The perfection of an art indeed should be a life-long study and experience - BUT - and this is a big BUT, learning an art that involves fighting moves, should not be confused with learning real-world self-protection. Parenthetically, I can imagine that 500 years ago, the traditional martial arts systems that we know today were reality-based, but they were the reality based on the society and the situations that happened at that time. (I have never seen a kata to handle a carjacking.)

Traditional Martial Art Teaches You Countless Techniques And Thus Increases The Likelihood That You Will Become Confused When Faced With A Real-Life Encounter

The more techniques you learn and the multitude of things that you stuff in your head will only serve to confuse you when you are face-to-face with someone who has much more street smarts and is much more used to real street violence than you are.

You take your average martial arts black belt guy and put him to bounce at the door of a club, and most will fail miserably - because even if you have a black belt - you MUST have a reality-based mindset.

So, study your martial art for its beauty, its grace and its tradition, and not to say anything about how it will also aid you to get in better physical condition, but please, look and what you are studying and honestly evaluate if you truly believe that you are being trained to be combat ready in the real world of the 21st century - because nobody really cares what color belt you have in a real street fight. It is all about the last man standing.

About The Author

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From Charles Prosper - The Street Fighting Sifu

Article Source: JKD Street Combat - online collection of Street Fighting articles.

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