How long will it take?
One question I get quite often is, "how long will it take to get the basics of self defense?"
A lot of people think that if they take a 1 hour crash course in self defense, they will have the ability to protect themselves because they learned "the basics."
My thoughts (and again these are merely my perceptive thoughts) is that you cannot learn calculus from a 1 hour crash course for basics; therefor the idea you can protect yourself from a 1 hour self defense class is not practical.
This is not to say from a one hour lecture on self defense you will not understand better the ideas and concepts which govern self defense, however any learned tactic will not be useful unless trained over and over for muscle memory to program it into your arsenal.
That said, you need to know where and when this new memory filed tactic fits in your skill level. This can be done with training with another human and experiencing different sized people, different energy, different ranges, etc...all the things that makes fighting dynamic. Muscle memory takes thousands of repetitious movements to train into your body to become an automatic response.
This is where continued training in styles such as BJJ or Wing Chun excel. I will disclaim that I have no formal training in BJJ however, respect its flow of training and practicality. Having a 20 year background in grappling, I understand the ground game and the flow of training matches the flow of Chi Sau of Wing Chun. The brilliance of Chi Sau training is that it trains you to become reflexive, or automatic, to physical stimulus. This in turn makes you react in place of "thinking" about what tactic you will use in a circumstance. Chi Sau training also rids you of the flinching associated with sparring or fighting, as you become used to touch and physical assertive movement. But again, this is not something you will achieve in a one hour class...this is a process never perfected and takes years to train in. Wing Chun Chi Sau training is, however, fun and therefore somewhat discourages boredom in training, which makes ongoing training very pleasant.
Most self defense programs do not take this into consideration and only teach a technique and not the "time and place" for the technique. Time and place can only be experienced and "self taught" by physical contact with another human being in training...hence the need for repetitive training.
In my view, you need to take classes for no less than 3 months to grasp a better understanding on which route your training should take. Education in anything takes more than one hour.
Dominick Izzo
Lead Instructor
Izzo Training Systems
www.izzo-training.com
A lot of people think that if they take a 1 hour crash course in self defense, they will have the ability to protect themselves because they learned "the basics."
My thoughts (and again these are merely my perceptive thoughts) is that you cannot learn calculus from a 1 hour crash course for basics; therefor the idea you can protect yourself from a 1 hour self defense class is not practical.
This is not to say from a one hour lecture on self defense you will not understand better the ideas and concepts which govern self defense, however any learned tactic will not be useful unless trained over and over for muscle memory to program it into your arsenal.
That said, you need to know where and when this new memory filed tactic fits in your skill level. This can be done with training with another human and experiencing different sized people, different energy, different ranges, etc...all the things that makes fighting dynamic. Muscle memory takes thousands of repetitious movements to train into your body to become an automatic response.
This is where continued training in styles such as BJJ or Wing Chun excel. I will disclaim that I have no formal training in BJJ however, respect its flow of training and practicality. Having a 20 year background in grappling, I understand the ground game and the flow of training matches the flow of Chi Sau of Wing Chun. The brilliance of Chi Sau training is that it trains you to become reflexive, or automatic, to physical stimulus. This in turn makes you react in place of "thinking" about what tactic you will use in a circumstance. Chi Sau training also rids you of the flinching associated with sparring or fighting, as you become used to touch and physical assertive movement. But again, this is not something you will achieve in a one hour class...this is a process never perfected and takes years to train in. Wing Chun Chi Sau training is, however, fun and therefore somewhat discourages boredom in training, which makes ongoing training very pleasant.
Most self defense programs do not take this into consideration and only teach a technique and not the "time and place" for the technique. Time and place can only be experienced and "self taught" by physical contact with another human being in training...hence the need for repetitive training.
In my view, you need to take classes for no less than 3 months to grasp a better understanding on which route your training should take. Education in anything takes more than one hour.
Dominick Izzo
Lead Instructor
Izzo Training Systems
www.izzo-training.com
posted by Izzo Tactical Combat Martial Arts at
11:52 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home