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Old 12-04-2012, 02:27 PM   #16
Krystal Locke
Location: Phoenix, Oregon
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 407
United_States
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Re: Like an Unsheathed Sword

My training is partially what I do in a real life situation. It has to be partial, and I have to be very aware of the partiality. I have had to control people much harder irl than I can on the mat, because I dont want to run out of training partners. I've had to either sink a choke in so that the guy actually passed out so I could cuff him and drag him out. My dojomates shouldn't have to go through that. I've picked apart a collapsed mosh pit by picking people up by the hair because I knew there was a small girl under the pile who was getting crushed. I cant really train that way without hard feelings. And I cannot keep a pin on while someone is tapping on the mat, but I have had to on the street.

I have had to modify my training so that I respond correctly when I use my training. Sometimes, I back a pin off quickly, a friend is tapping wildly for a reason I do not see. Sometimes, most of the time, I will back a pin off a tiny bit, but maintain the pin. They stop tapping, but are still controlled, and I can move to a safer immobilization to make space for me to get out of the pin. Taking their pinned arm and sticking it down their belt in back helps a bit, hojojutsu is a nice art I'd like more of. I could keep a pin on while my uke taps, but I will lose friends. Good zanshin is important. How do you train to not fall for a fake tap or to not let someone who still has bad intent up when they tap?

The great paradox of martial arts training is that we cannot fully train the way we would fight. I have to make a careful distinction, that distinction is very difficult, and I have to consider stuff other folks dont in their training. And that's ok.

We are maybe saying the same thing from two different perspectives. You're saying that we have to maintain a dichotomy in our training, and so am I. You seem to be saying that it should be possible for someone to distinguish between their training and their fighting, and lay more on on the street. I am saying that it should be possible for someone to distinguish between their training and their fighting, and lay less on on the mat. I think my direction to that truth is more functional, because it is easier to dial down and not bust a friend and dojomate up in a non-stressful situation than it is to dial up an ingrained practice in a hugely stressful situation.

Folks do lose fights on the street sometimes because they let go of someone who is tapping. Those folks are well trained good martial artsts who did not evaluate the situation properly and did not choose correctly but acted as they had trained.
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