Focusing on Keeping the Main Thing the “Main Thing” Part III

So... while discussing martial training in a different forum there was a lot of discussion on the differences of various types. One of the things that we discussed is how people confuse how to train for a real confrontation versus training for the sake of winning in their respective classes.

In this installment, I'm going to focus more on drawing some distinctions and helping you to understand the difference of our focus within Warrior Flow.  You see for us the fight is not in a class, that's the place where we hone our skills for the potential of a real battle. But outside of the class in the world. We focus to the best of our abilities to deal with likely threats and situations and not on crazy unrealistic hypothetical combat with the one in a million chance of getting into a confrontation with Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson who played The Mountain on Game of Thrones.

Folks I'm sorry but if you can't sense a guy that size in your space you have a "serious" awareness problem. Moreover, he's probably the least likely person and the few people like him on earth that you have to worry about. You need to be more attuned to the type of people that populate our prisons that fall in the normal range of physical body types that walk our streets. 

I see this divide most in schools where there is an emphasis on sportive fighting versus self-defense. I think where the confusion lies is that since a punch is a punch a kick well... a kick one could argue that there is no difference and that sportive techniques are just as valid. On a certain level, they have a point there is no difference in the way I throw a strike whether when I’ve studied boxing when I was younger too how I was taught to throw a strike when I studied karate.

The big divide is that in sport fighting there are rules that limit what a person can do this is obviously to protect the fighters, so there are just things that are not trained to for the most part because they don’t have to. This is also the reason why you have to be a better athlete and in greater shape to fight at the highest levels in sport fighting. Also, depending on a person’s upbringing if you’ve never seen or experienced how bad it can really get in a melee if all you know is the physical feel and contact of sport fighting you can develop a false sense of what a real fight is like. True you may know what it's like to get hit and there's definitely something to be said for that but you probably won't see obvious signs that could end a fight quickly because you never trained to them. The posturing for example, that goes on in sport fighting is one thing that could get you killed on the street where the guy may just start swinging the moment you get to close. I see it all the time on YouTube. 

Now don’t get me wrong I’m all about sport fighting and one thing that I do like about sport fighting especially for young people is the fact that they get to experience what it’s like to get hit. I’m sorry but there’s really something to be said for getting punched in the face and getting a little bloodied if for nothing else than to know it’s not the worst thing in the world and that you’re not made of glass.

Truth be told though you see much of the same thing in reality-based systems where because of certain obvious rules in training to prevent people from getting seriously injured. People have a tendency to get lost in the sauce as to where their focus should be on training.

In other words, they're more concerned it seems to be the top dog where they are than to develop skills that could save their lives. I know this may seem like an obvious thing but I've found over the years that people have a difficult time with this one and as a result, at some point, their training devolves into what I call "Fight Club".

I believe a big part of this is,

1) people are human and being competitive or one-ups-man-ship is just a part of who we are as humans, understandable to a point and;

2) the idea that they may have to truly fight for their lives and kill another human being never enters into the equation.

It is for this reason that all training, not some but all training has to be framed in the right context and the skills to be developed have to be trained that way. Learning to punch for the sake of punching is useless if you cannot tie it back to the "why" you do it at all. Also, if you do not train a skill where you are capable of pulling it off because of the way you've developed your body and not because you just know how to strike. All you have is a tool that you do not know how to use. 

"The most well-made tools are worthless in the hands of those unskilled in their use."

• Alexander the Great

Here, here...

When I get into how we in Warrior Flow help people develop Mastery this understanding will become even more critical towards developing the skills as a Warrior you desire.

Res Ipsa Loquitur

The Latins used to have a phrase, "res ipsa loquitur" meaning the thing speaks for itself. When it comes to self-defense training I have seen over the years that there is a thing, the thing that speaks for itself but it is almost spoken of in whispered tones.  The thing that was the reason you showed up in the first place. The thing or idea of possibly having to take a human life. I do not say this lightly because we spend hundreds of hours in the military training people conditioning people to do just that and for the vast majority of people this is something that has never, ever occurred to them in their experience on planet earth.

This is by no means an easy thing. 

The reason I bring this up is that while having this very conversation the other day with another Warrior Flow Instructor he made a great point to me that one of the things you almost never hear people say in the martial arts, and I want to point out when he said this. He was referring to schools that profess to focus on self-defense and not sport fighting so regardless of the style they consider themselves self-defense oriented schools. They never discuss the idea of possibly killing the bad guys. They don't in many cases even hint at the idea. They dance around the issue and try to be clever and insinuate it but never naming the thing or that they may have to kill another human being in order to win the fight of their lives and for their loved ones

Again, don’t get me wrong I understand this is not an easy thing for most people mainly due to how culturally most people are raised. We see this in the military all of the time. To be blunt for the most part it scares the shit out of us to even go down that path unless you are retrained to develop the moral certainty and perfect clarity to understand it and know where the line is. To know when to be prudent and reserved, cautious, benevolent and kind,  or when to hoist the black flag and start slitting throats. 

Like I've said before sometimes you just have to kick that ass. 

Now, I believe a part of this is they are concerned about being held liable if one of their students actually kills someone protecting themselves, which I find ridiculous. I mean there are people all over the country who teach people how to shoot pistols and there is no ambiguity as to what the possible outcome would be if they had to pick up the gun. This idea, this fear to me is just not rational. But I think there is another reason (something I'll probably blog about at another time in more depth), a bigger reason, a mental reason and one of "moral will" or lack thereof.

And that is "they" really don't believe that the people they train or they themselves are capable of killing with their hands.

I know this sounds crazy but think about it how often are people taught to kill with their hands?

People have been doing it since day one of our existence yet it seems as if it's some sort of mystery in most martial systems. 

How often are people taught lethal strikes and practice as if they mean it?

As if their lives depend on it?

Rarely...

People have no problem learning to punch people in the mouth and the like, but cracking someone across the windpipe crushing it? Gouging to the eyes for real? Snapping the neck for real?

Different conversation.

This also is why I believe certain systems are so popular because of their no-nonsense unapologetic approach to fighting. You may disagree with some of what they teach but their minds are definitely in the right place. 

More Myopia

I remember when I was in Iraq and we wanted to supply our Marines and Soldiers working the checkpoints with laser dazzlers. Basically the technology causes a person at certain distances to become disoriented. I idea was to use them at our checkpoints as a means of preventing people from either being able to make a dead run at one of our checkpoints with their vehicles or to stop those people who could not understand nor read the signs directing them how to approach. For those who don't know, most Iraqi's are functionally illiterate and cannot in many cases read Arabic.  So our signs were virtually useless to the vast majority of the population.

It may be different now but when I was there the fact that I could read more Arabic than the average Iraqi was shocking. Well anyway, in order to purchase them they had to go through a review before we could just buy them by the Navy Safety Review Board. Now just by the fact that I mentioned that there was some bureaucratic agency that oversaw such purchases you already know where this is going.

The Navy's board turned down our request because there was a risk of permanent blindness at certain ranges if a person was hit in the eyes with the laser and if I remember it was something like 25 meters. The stupid thing was, and they were being stupid, is that the range in which we were by order required to shoot them which was 50 meters, which was far greater. So let me get this straight, I can't have a laser that allows me at 150 meters to disorient a person where they are unable to drive the car, literally, because they are in many cases not able to read the signs that direct them how to approach. But at 50 meters it's okay to kill them which is what was happening. Trust me when you're a Marine or Soldier working one of those checkpoints you don't have time to determine as we saw whether the guy is making a run as a suicide bomber or just some guy who can't read. 

I bring this story up because it is right in there with the mentality you find in the martial arts where there are just certain things as one well-known instructor when asked about eye gouges put it, "no, no, no, that's not a gentlemanly thing to do". Hey, I get it and have seen it in a lot of training. The idea of blinding someone on purpose for a lot of folks including many in the military is viewed as almost inhumane. If I remember correctly when I was a 2nd Lieutenant there was once a proposal to establish some sort of international agreement on banning the use of lasers that blind in warfare.  Now, shooting someone in the head with a 7.62 high grain match round? We're all about it! Dusting off and nuking people from orbit? No problem. 

But blinding someone with a target acquisition laser? Savages!!!

Un-fucking-real...

Understand, I'm just merely pointing out the hypocrisy and absurdity of the whole thing and the mindset behind it. Mind you these are the same type of people from the safety of their positions in the Pentagon. Who do nothing but polish seats with their asses while they talk about surgical strikes and the like. Trust me if you happen to live on the block where a 2,000 lbs JDAM hit, you'd know first hand there is nothing surgical about it. Trust me having seen the results of those surgeries you're just glad you're on the right side.  It's more like a scalpel was needed but we opted for a chainsaw. 

The Acceptable Level of Risk

Okay now, this is hard for people to get but necessary if you are to ever learn in your training to overcome and manage irrational fear. In almost all that we do there is a level of risk especially if it is worthwhile, if it is worthy of our effort, our lives.

A big part of Warrior training is to develop the ability to stare down fear and push past it or focus it in a manner where is it useful to you. 

You drive a car there is risk, you start a business there is risk, you go to war there is risk, you try to save someone from drowning there is risk, you find yourself in an obvious self-defense situation there is risk.

Folks, "life" is risk and if you are to live it then you need to accept the good with the bad and learn how to manage the two. 

Musashi once wrote that the true purpose of studying the martial arts is to never have to use them. I believe he was talking not only about developing a level of skill where you could spot trouble a mile away but the level of gravitas where you just knew as well as others. That if you had to unsheath your sword it was not going to be good... for them!

But it was also this understanding that life was meant for living and to live it meant not allowing fear to control you. 

The question is what is the acceptable level of risk you are willing to endure?

What chances are you willing to take?

Is it worth your life?

If you listen to a lot of stuff out there regarding self-defense another thing you notice is there are folks who advocate that you shouldn't fight under any circumstances, that you should just run. Personally I find this mentality insulting. But they tell this to people because they either know they haven't trained them well enough to fight back or they have no confidence in the level of skill of those they train. Which, to me is more of a reflection of them as instructors and not a good one. 

The truth is each person has to answer the question of risk for themselves and no one including me can tell you when you have to make that choice whether you made the right one for sure. I mean anyone can Monday morning quarterback what a person should have done in a certain situation or what technique the person should have used or even worse, the keyboard warriors talking about what they would have done in such a similar situation.

First of all the people who find themselves in a self-defense situation are only able to make the choices they need to make based on the information they have at hand and on the information they already know.  This is where we come in as instructors and it is our job to train them so that they can make the best possible choice. But we also need to be honest and that is if they are to have a chance they need to develop not just the skills but the moral certainty and perfect clarity to see and do what must be done. If they have to fight then they just have to fight there shouldn't be any ambiguity about it.

Trust me there are chances that I would take that for others I know they wouldn't but I wouldn't think less of them if they made a different choice because at the end of the day it was their choice. All I can do is train them as best I can to give them the best available options to have the confidence to make that choice. Whatever it is... How they choose to position themselves is up to them I just merely supply the tools and knowhow of combat to make a decision. 

Again, I believe a big part of what fosters the Fight Club mentality is this a similar myopic view as discussed above and lack of focus in training to develop on some level the necessary Ruthless Intent to go there and develop the will to kill the bad guys as a means of winning the fight. I believe this mentality also serves as a cover to avoid the uncomfortable conversation of life and death combat because when you have to answer those questions it brings up a lot of uncomfortable feelings. Like coming to terms with one's mortality and facing the fear that comes part and parcel with it and measuring the risks.

Trust me every soldier from the Peloponnesian War to modern times who has had to look across the line, step off in the attack or set foot into the heart of darkness on a patrol. Has experienced the fear, the anxiety, the rush of coming to terms with death. The prayers we say to our God, our forefathers, the kissing of our St. Christopher pendants and the making of the sing of the cross. All to provide us with some sense of solace, that everything was going to be alright. That we were going to make it back. 

Wasted Years

Student: Master how long does it take to become a master? 

Master: 10 years.

Student: What if I train twice as hard?

Master: 20 years.

Student: What if I study really, really hard night and day?

Master: 30 years?

For those who've been around the martial arts for more than a few years, you've probably heard the above once or a hundred times. I understand the point of what the story is trying to convey and that is everything takes time and will happen in good time. However, how it's usually presented and that's what I want to focus on. It is in a manner where students are led to believe there is nothing they can do on their own to improve and attain Mastery unless it's under the watchful eye of their instructor's ad nausea.  Let me be very blunt here, this way of thinking is utter bullshit...

If true then what's the point of practicing anything?

This understanding of the true nature of what the thing is and how to move past our fears and focus on quality training rather than on quantity is at the core belief within Warrior Flow.

Any instructor worth his salt should be trying to get his students to where they want to be in the shortest amount of time possible.  The meter is running and they don't have time to burn off their existence waiting to learn things that could be a matter of life and death over some unnecessarily long drawn out period.

You know just because someone has been doing something for a long time doesn't mean they were doing it right. Just because they have a lot of experience at something doesn't mean they learned anything from it. 

Here's the deal and this is something that I discuss a lot with the Warrior Flow Instructors to ensure we all have the same understanding of what we need to be focused on. 

When you train someone all you can do is train them to the best of your ability in the shortest time frame possible to win the fight.  And training them in the skills to be able to take another person out now whether they have the will to do so is another matter but at least by having the skill gives them the best possible chance. If not? You're just wasting their time--time by the way they don't get back. 

So you know what if you're a person who has been trained in Warrior Flow and you've done everything in your power to either defuse the situation or you feel you are left with no choice but to fight. As my old football coaches used to say "...leave it all on the field". Let all of the blood be on the front of you and go for broke. 

They have forgotten to keep the main thing the main thing and that is winning in combat which to me is the only thing that matters.

Understand in a real situation, anything you do can get you killed especially doing nothing.

Our philosophy is so do something and either return with your shield or on it!

Warrior Flow is all about this, about moving in ways that give you the combative advantage to crush the enemy or neutralize them before it becomes a problem... “for you”.

“The way is in training…”

• Miyamoto Musashi

Like I’ve said, Warrior Flow is a different art, a different philosophy, a different vibe all together…

Well, that’s it for now. In my next installment, I'm going to get into the other "Thing" you need to focus on in your martial training, this almost intangible Thing we call  "Mastery". 

Thank you.

     Al Ridenhour

     CEO, Creator Warrior Flow™

Al Ridenhour is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the US Marine Corps with 28-years of service active and reserve with multiple combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also served as a Law Enforcement consultant to the NJ State Police Special Operations Section, NJ Transit Police Operations Section, The NJ Regional Operations and Intelligence Center, the FBI Philadelphia Bomb Section, and subject matter expert to the US Department of Homeland Security's, Explosives Division. With nearly 40-years of Combative Arts experience, he is recognized as a self-defense expert worldwide and is highly sought out for seminars, workshops, lectures, and special individualized training.  He is the author of "Warrior Flow Mind" (2019), Co-Author of "Attack Proof: The Ultimate Guided in Personal Protection (Human Kinetics, 2010) and the Co-Author of "How to Fight for Your Life" (June 2010).

For more go to https://protectyourself.mykajabi.com/

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