The Ugly Truth

 Your brain is your greatest weapon, not the number of applications you learned against a wrist or lapel grab.

Technical memorization only goes so far and becomes exceedingly complex the further one goes.

In truth there are only a couple ‘techniques’ one really needs to know and these have endless applications that do not require memorization.

How to move you move your body to apply power is of most importance, falling into that, how your body lines up, and, still within that sphere, where you move… Footwork.

Do you see a target? Is it close to you? Destroy it.

What is a target? How about an elbow bending the wrong way? Forcing the knee to bend the wrong way? Punch to the liver? Strike to the throat? A thumb in the eyes? 

Most of what holds a person back is their own mind.

The rest is training incorrectly if their goals are actually meant to achieve useful, practical, and applicable skill.

If someone threatens my family, if someone threatens me, being the provider for my family (an indirect threat to my family) and I have no way to escape then I am going THROUGH them.

Style does not factor in, school, belts, etiquette, none of that matters in that moment.

I’ve been down that road… You know what works? Everything when it is well applied to a viable target with intent to injure/incapacitate.

I am not seeking pressure points, I am not seeking specific targets that are favored. Whatever target they give me is the unlucky target that gets destroyed.

I once had someone tell me they were training ‘with a more combative mindset’ now.

Yet what I saw was more of the same equation-type thinking, if they do X then I will do Y, and very little actual hands on training… A lot of talking.

Boxing Gyms have it somewhat right, people get in the ring and actually DO rather than talk about doing.

Ti has this aspect as well, as do many other schools, but the majority of the time is spent punching at air and listening to the Teacher talk about something that may or may not be related to punching said air at these Karate schools.

I don’t look down on that sort of thing, at least you are doing something with your life, but you want to keep that life for a while don’t you?

Sometimes you have to face the ugly truth, that the truth is, indeed, ugly.