The other day, I talked about a newsletter I had come across, where the author urged people to find their reason to engage in training.  Now, it is my personal opinion that the mere threat of danger walking right up to you is reason enough to engage in some great combat self defense.  However, I must force myself to understand the fact that not everyone is like me.  AND..not everyone else has been the victim of a violent crime the way my wife and I were.  That being said, I use my own experience as the platform from which I launch my efforts to get everyone into some hand to hand combat training or martial arts training of a combative nature.

There is something to be said for training in general though.  While training is great exercise and a great way to stay in shape mentally as well, the fact of the matter is that there is comes a point in time when the participant just might get a little bored.  Hand to hand combat training may be a little different than your run of the mill martial arts studio stuff.  But that doesn’t mean that you will learn a new and amazing move every time you enter the combat self defense training area.  Even with this type of training, there is repetition involved. And when you are dealing with practicing the same techniques over and over again, it is easy to see boredom set in.

Some studios try to combat this boredom by quickly moving their students through the ranks.  We live in a fast-food world, where we have become accustomed to everything we want being served up on a microwave ready platter.  Well, your personal safety is worth more than that, folks.  Training, be it martial arts or hand to hand combat training, does not fall into place overnight.  If you were to watch some of the Gracie clan show their Jui-Jitsu moves, you would be totally impressed.  You would want to be able to fight like they do.  What you may not want to do is put in the hours and hours of intense training they have put into a single move!

Way back when, Bruce Lee said “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once; but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

What does that mean to you?  Does it give you a different perspective on your training?  I hope so.  Look, I have trained in combat self defense, as well as several forms of martial arts.  For me, I was on a mission to find the ultimate fighting technique.  The fact of the matter is that any type of training you undertake is going to require persistence.  The hardest part of your training, as you get better, is going to be sticking with the basics and mastering each move.

In order to combat the boredom that comes with ongoing training, you need to set up an image in your mind of what you desire as the outcome of your training.  Do you want to be a badass who can handle anything that comes your way?  Then picture in your mind what that will look like and how it will feel when you reach that point.  This way, you can remind yourself when the going gets tough.  When your engine starts to stall and you think you have nothing left to learn, think again.  Be the little engine that could and keep on chugging through your training!

You know the song…you know you do!  It’s impossible not to.  Respect is something that anyone in the martial arts is highly aware of.  In fact, it is the first principle of the martial arts.  This also extends into combat self defense courses as well as hand to hand combat training.   The point is, when you are training with a cooperative partner, you want your “fights” to be civilized.

Without respect, hand to hand combat training would get pretty ugly.  This type of combat self defense has been touted as being brutal to begin with; so can you just imagine if such training were performed under circumstances where the participants did not have a high degree of respect for one another?  I shiver to think of it!

My purpose for bringing up the issue of respect is twofold.  First, when you are training you need to learn respect.  A traditional martial arts training studio will instill this in you – I hope.  This cannot be said of all studios, sadly; but most should follow the main principle of teaching students to respect their art and respect one another.  Even if you train in martial arts, and I train in combat self defense and hand to hand combat training (which I do); I will show respect for your art because it’s the right thing to do.  Sometimes you do it just because it’s the right thing to do.

What you need to remember – always – is that respect is given to those who earn it.  In martial arts training, hand to hand combat training, whatever training one engages in; there is an unspoken camaraderie amongst practitioners.   Those who understand the principle of respect will find value in any art.  Really, in my mind, there is no room for bashing one style of training over another.  What works for one may not work for another.  If you are learning how to adequately protect yourself, then you are on the right track.  So, instead of bashing one style and telling you that you need to change your mind and study my way, I will accept the many forms of training that one can engage in and understand their personal reasons for doing so.

On to the second point.  On the street, in a fight or attack of any sort, respect sort of goes out the window.  Here’s the thing; anyone who wants to engage you in a fight is showing a great lack of respect – for themselves, you, and everyone in the general area.  So when it comes right down to it and you are forced to defend yourself, you certainly don’t waste time bowing to your opponent in a show of respect.  You let all of those principles go to the wayside and you focus on eliminating your threat quickly and effectively.

This does not mean that you trash talk and instigate a fight.  No, self defense, even combat self defense, will teach you to do your best to diffuse a situation before you have to fight.  However, this is not always possible.  When it becomes necessary for you to end a situation; end it.  Period.