Watering Down The Arts

[Andy Moynihan]

Oh don't let me stop you by any means, sir, go right on ahead.

 

[Danjo]

As I see these discussions, and watch the classes of these representatives, I seem to notice one funny thing. Watered down or not, the same strikes, kicks, stances, blocks are taught. It's the focus of these attributes that are different in the schools.

Unfortunately, the arts have achieved soccer mom status here. It's about making money, day care, a good workout, etc... The people and the personalities in the dojos are much different now, and will remain that way. The Genie is out of the bottle.

I agree that it's largely a different breed that takes a martial arts class than did 30 years ago. People actually think they are learning to defend themselves with Tae Bo. etc. The true arts are only sought out by a few and even then they are likely to be lied to by the sellers of the watered down garbage trying to convince them that they are indeed the real deal. Thank God for the internet and the ability to weed out the phonies. Not that there aren't a lot of them on the net, but there is the voice of reason as well.

 

[YoungMan]

Keep in mind, how you teach and the syllabus used is going to depend greatly on the student body. If you decide you are going to teach children, you pretty much will be unable to teach a traditional class without watering it down, since children are in no way prepared to learn traditional practice and all it entails. They will be able learn elements of traditional practice, but to think you can teach children in a traditional manner is absurd. They will not understand and most likely will be unable to keep up.
The same can be said for any other student body you focus on (college students, housewives, older students, teenagers etc.)-what and how you teach will depend on who your students are.

 

[Xue Sheng]

People actually think they are learning to defend themselves with Tae Bo. etc.

I have heard that before and although I should not be surprised I am. I have heard the same about those Aerobic classes that include what they call Thai kick boxing as well (it is far from Muay Thai) many who take that feel the same way about their skill and that they are great fighters... God help them if they ever have to actually fight.

 

[Danjo]

I have heard that before and although I should not be surprised I am. I have heard the same about those Aerobic classes that include what they call Thai kick boxing as well (it is far from Muay Thai) many who take that feel the same way about their skill and that they are great fighters... God help them if they ever have to actually fight.

I always tell them that they better hope they are attacked by a wet paper bag, because that's all they'll be able to fight their way out of.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I always tell them that they better hope they are attacked by a wet paper bag, because that's all they'll be able to fight their way out of.

I have often wondered about Budokon as well but not enough to actually go check it out.

 

[shinbushi]

Sad but true. But, the wake up call is going to be when little Johnny tries to defend himself and ends up getting the crap beat out of him.

I do think that this happens a lot.

I know an excellent black belt who has transformed his school from adults to kids and now back to adults again. Like me, he had marketed to kids and cloned what the “Big Schools” were doing for character development. He began to pass kids for their “effort” in order to save their “self-esteem.” More and more he found his school had become a kids’ center with hundreds of children yelling “YES SIR!” at all the right moments during a speech.
Never mind that many of the kids really didn't know what they were responding to. They just knew at the end of a question to scream “YES SIR!” He also noticed that his upper-ranks began to look pretty weak. His exams became celebrations of mediocrity with lots of smiles, high fives, and weak technical skills. While passing every kid in exams may be good for retention, that very fact means eventually you are going to have a school full of Pooh Bears. Kids who are soft and nice, but easy targets, despite the color of the belt.
In time, my friend began to dislike his own school. He didn't want to be there. He missed the camaraderie and pride of creating black belts to whom he could teach fighting, without upsetting the student's mommy. Then one day, a threshold event occurred that left him disgusted and ready to make some serious changes. One of his 11-year-old Pooh Bears came running into the school, bleeding and crying. It seems another kid, who was no bigger or older, had popped him in the nose. The student had been standing in front of his karate school, wearing his uniform and his BLACK BELT while waiting for his parents. Somehow he got into an exchange of words with a neighborhood kid who punched or slapped him in the nose.
My friend was sickened. Not only had an unfortunate incident happened in front of his school, but one of his black belts was crying and bleeding. To paraphrase Tom Hanks in the movie A League of Their Own,” there’s no crying as a black belt!”
My friend was humiliated. That's not supposed to happen. When we were students, stories of our school’s black belts defending themselves always ended with the bad guy in the hospital. That event was the catalyst for the end of the student creed and passing exams for merely making the effort to show up. It has taken him two years, but he now is back to nearly as many active students, with only 20 percent under the age of 12--a complete reversal of where he had been when the kid got popped.
He looks forward to going to his school each night and is enjoying running the school with a healthy mixture of personal development and realistic training and expectations.
My friend is one of the best black belts I know. He and I have talked about this new dynamic in the industry dozens of times. The conclusion that I've come to is that the introduction into the classroom of positive character development is a good “undercurrent” for a school. It's the perfect counter-balance to good physical training and self-defense.
But many schools are out of balance. The line that, “We don’t just teach punching and kicking…” has become a cop out for not teaching strong core self-defense and technical skills. Don’t apologize for teaching punching and kicking (or grappling).
Technical execution and self-defense have become an afterthought to personal development. Why? It's a heck of a lot easier to teach a kid to act like a Boy Scout with a belt than to take the time, effort, and honesty required to produce a black belt who can defend himself or herself.
But, as many people have discovered, in time you may be teaching at a school you hardly recognize. You will have students who stand up straight when shaking hands during their “polite greetings” but who have rubber backbones.
Now we have guys promoting that the “Ultimate Black Belt” is earned only when you’ve spent time in a wheelchair to “understand the plight of the disabled” or spent a day blindfolded so you too can feel the pain of someone who is “sight challenged.” I think this is “reality challenged.” This sounds more like a freshman sociology course or the Peace Corps than the martial arts.
It’s important to be OK with the fact that martial arts can’t be all things to all people. The very term martial means military. Military relates to matters of war. This doesn’t mean each class is devoted to killing or war tactics; it means that our foundation is one of peace through superior firepower. It’s a program of self-respect and self-worth that starts with the concept that ‘I am worth protecting. No one will touch me without my permission.’
In a good program, as your skills improve, your sense of contribution, respect, and responsibility increases as well. To me, the ultimate black belt is a noble warrior who uses the martial arts as a method of personal and physical growth. It is a very individual pursuit that is better taken eyes wide open than blindfolded.
These are core attitudes and benefits that were inherent in the arts long before any student creed or “Ultimate Black Belts.”

 

[Brandon Fisher]

I won't teach kata without bunkai its meaningless without the bunkai. Really as all ready said its a dance. But true kata is not a dance its fighting application and many of the techniques in okinawan kata are devastating but there are different levels that must be taught appropriate for ones rank, ability and knowledge. I teach shorin ryu but not watered down I don't hessitate to show the more effective / devastating techniques to my advanced and some intermediate students.

 

[meth18au]

I have heard that before and although I should not be surprised I am. I have heard the same about those Aerobic classes that include what they call Thai kick boxing as well (it is far from Muay Thai) many who take that feel the same way about their skill and that they are great fighters... God help them if they ever have to actually fight.

Don't you hate it when they do that!!! My local gym, where I go to lift weights, has night classes called "Body Combat" run by a "fully qualified fitness instructor". I hear they do an 8 week course to qualify for as an instructor. Talk about the easy way. The description of this class is "a cardiovascular based class which includes boxing, kickboxing and Muay Thai- a great workout for anyone". Geez, I've sat back and watched these classes. Absolutely disgraceful, and it really gets on my nerves. I feel it just pimps the arts out, and really waters them down. Now i know how Karate guys must feel when they see McDojo's pop up around the place!!!

 

[Danjo]

Don't you hate it when they do that!!! My local gym, where I go to lift weights, has night classes called "Body Combat" run by a "fully qualified fitness instructor". I hear they do an 8 week course to qualify for as an instructor. Talk about the easy way. The description of this class is "a cardiovascular based class which includes boxing, kickboxing and Muay Thai- a great workout for anyone". Geez, I've sat back and watched these classes. Absolutely disgraceful, and it really gets on my nerves. I feel it just pimps the arts out, and really waters them down. Now i know how Karate guys must feel when they see McDojo's pop up around the place!!!

Yeah. I always want to walk in and ask, "When do we spar?"

 

[Xue Sheng]

Don't you hate it when they do that!!! My local gym, where I go to lift weights, has night classes called "Body Combat" run by a "fully qualified fitness instructor". I hear they do an 8 week course to qualify for as an instructor. Talk about the easy way. The description of this class is "a cardiovascular based class which includes boxing, kickboxing and Muay Thai- a great workout for anyone". Geez, I've sat back and watched these classes. Absolutely disgraceful, and it really gets on my nerves. I feel it just pimps the arts out, and really waters them down. Now i know how Karate guys must feel when they see McDojo's pop up around the place!!!

yup

I recently saw the Tae Bo kick bag in a catalog, it looks like one of those blow up things I use to hit as a kid. My first thought was “give me a break” My second was “that is pretty funny”



I do not think the tae bo founder is calling it a martial art but many who do it think it is and I got to wonder how much reality in striking do you actually get from hitting a balloon?