Perfect Clarity: Dangerous Freedom Part II

  “My style… you can call the art of fighting without fighting.”

• Bruce Lee, Enter the Dragon

In the last two blog posts, I put out, “Perfect Clarity: Dangerous Freedom” and “The Myth Of Grappling for Self Defense” they both not only sparked some lively debate but they made me consider something that I think is remiss in the martial arts world for a lot of folks. You see this whole nonsense of who’s Kung Fu is better than whose is in truth a bunch of nonsense.

The Art of Fighting Without Fighting?

Parsons:  (throws a couple of strikes at Lee) “Do I bother you?”

Lee: “Don’t waste yourself.”

Parsons: “What’s your style?”

Lee: “My style… you can call the art of fighting without fighting.”

Who can forget the iconic lines from the movie Enter the Dragon when Bruce Lee spouted off this philosophy people were like “what”?  But he brings up a good point. When you think about the martial arts one of the things that people are all consumed with is “what’s your style?”

The problem with this kind of thinking is that it ignores the most fundamental reasons why at least in my view, you train in a martial art in the first place and that is to be able to crush bad guys and bust skulls. You see one thing that has over the years perplexed me is how folks in the martial arts place so much emphasis on style or technique which is fine but at the end of the day, it’s all about dealing with motion and being able to "bring it" if you have to.

A Kick in The Balls is a Kick in The Balls, is well...  a Kick in The Balls

"Before I learned the art, a punch was just a punch, and a kick, just a kick.

After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick, no longer a kick.

Now that I understand the art, a punch is just a punch and a kick is just a kick."

• Bruce Lee

Say what you want about Bruce Lee but during his brief 33 years on earth, he said a lot of profound things as they relate to martial arts training and philosophy. Anyway, in my blog post on ground-grappling and self-defense, as always there are all sorts of lively debate as to the effectiveness of this technique or that technique. I think one mistake folks in the martial arts world and get wrong like all of the time, is that the bad guys don’t really give a shit what your style is.

You see the bad guys don’t play by anyone’s rules which, is kind of like why they are the bad guys. This is the very reason why it is imperative that when training to fight for real that if you're an Instructor you focus on developing people in the body rather than overly focus on techniques and as a student you focus on keeping the main thing the main thing and that is on fighting to win the fight for your life.  To develop the ability to move in a way to get ahead of movement and either crush the bad guys before it becomes a problem or cut it off and neutralize their movement in the first place.

The "What If" Game Part 5,967

Anyone who's been in the martial arts for more than "five minutes" has probably had to deal with people playing the "what if?" game. I get it, people want to know how to deal with this or that because it provides them with some basis from which to deal with whatever they deem is a threat to them. Totally understandable. Some of the questions that I always get are,

“Well what if a guy goes for your legs?” or “what if someone tries to grab you?”

Reasonable questions but the truth is a person trying to grab my legs regardless of who they are is a person trying to grab my legs or as one of my fellow Instructors who is also a Law Enforcement Officer once said,

“Here’s the deal Al, a motherfucker trying to grab my legs is still a motherfucker trying to grab my legs so what’s the difference? The fact of the matter is he better be more worried about what I’m going to do to him if he tries it.”

Here, here!

I’ve been hit with this type of question over the years perhaps I don't know a thousand times. My thing is if you go for my legs what’s to stop me from pulling your eyes out? Or using your head like a basketball on the concrete? If you try to grab me who's to say I'm not willing to pull your arm out of the socket and then turn your head into a sack of gravel? 

In a real fight, anything goes.

And that is the damn point!

Now to be fair, by the same token much of the same could be said on the other side of this argument, something I’ve seen done. Where people attempt to kick someone with a high kick or use a knee and their leg gets caught and they get slammed on their head. The point is you never know what people can do or what they bring to the battle which is why you need to focus on developing practical abilities that you can execute without conscious thought based on movement, and not worrying so much about developing a matching counter to a specific technique worrying whether your “flying mantis” technique matches up with their “inverted monkey foothold”.

Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

I always liked this sign because it speaks to the mindset that I'm going to discuss here. Folks I’ve got to tell you all this business about whose style is better than whose, is all a bunch of nonsense and comes from the minds of people who truly don’t understand the nature of the threat. And as a result, they cannot get to a place in the mind where they can live a Dangerous Freedom.

Something that has always puzzled me about what I call the "Fight Club" mentality in the martial arts is this notion that it's all about as I've alluded to whose kung fu is best?  Who is the biggest badass? Who is the king of the hill in their respective schools? etc...

This is bullshit...

The enemy is not in your school...

He's the guy who stands between you and your family, he's the guy accosting you on your way to your car, your home, to the corner store, from work. He's the guy who harasses your daughter, your wife, your young son.

The truth though is that the vast majority of martial artists "by far" are law-abiding citizens. The vast majority are decent hard-working people. We are generally the kind of people who were drawn to the martial arts by a desire to be able to protect ourselves and our loved ones should the need arise to have to stand in that space and be that person who can bring it and kick that ass.  

Whereas the vast majority of criminals are the kinds of people that let's just say if you were going to have tea with the Queen, they're probably not on your list of invited guests. Folks, most people who are criminals are, to put it bluntly, fucked up as people. Say what you want but the truth is many of the stereotypes about criminals are rooted in more truth than people think. So the issue is are you going to make yourself an easy mark or a hard target?

When I used to work as an advisor to the NJ State Police Regional Operations Intelligence Center one of the things I used to have access to was the “Crime North / Crime South Report” this is a weekly report of all reported crime within the state of NJ and folks I have to tell you when you read and see some of the stuff I’ve seen you quickly realize the bad guys don’t give a crap about what you know. You’re either a target or you’re not, “predator” or “prey”. It really is that simple and in my view, this is the place where your mind needs to be in the first place when you train.  You must learn and understand as well as train to the reality of the true nature of the threat and the possibility of having to fight to the death during an encounter. What I'm saying is when you live a Dangerous Freedom it is a different mindset, and an acceptance of the nature of evil in our midst and one of the "predator", the "hunter" and not that of the "prey". 

Forget about "this style" or "that style", a punch is a punch and a kick, a kick. So, can you spring into action when you need to and unsheathe your sword striking the enemy down in the most brutally efficient manner possible?

Because at the end of the day it's about you and what you and you alone can do... 

The bad guys aren't waiting for you to prepare yourself with some sort of stance or technique. They just go!

Can "you" go?

You see the vast majority of criminals are not martial artists and in fact, many criminals "laugh" at martial arts. Trust me I have this on good information from people who've worked in corrections and including from relatives who were once "wards of the state". They think martial arts are a joke. Now, considering the way most people train… they’re probably right.  A big part of it is once again, the minds of many practitioners are not in the right place in the first place and neither are the minds of their instructors so they can’t get there from here. This is important because the proper mindset is the only way in which you will be able to focus your training in the proper fashion for real street combat.

Within this whole idea of living a Dangerous Freedom, I believe that operative word that is missing for people’s lexicon is a healthy understanding of the idea of “Freedom” and what it truly means. You see to me freedom is not just some word or idea that nothing will ever happen in your life or that from time to time you won’t have to step up and step into that space and own it. To me, freedom is about “choice”, about having the ability to step up if necessary and do what must be done or neutralize a situation before it becomes a problem in your favor.

This is why regarding martial development it is imperative that people focus on training for real threats and not imagined threats such as the folks from around the corner at the local dojo coming in like the movie “Chinese Connection” challenging your school to a rumble.

Now, if it’s a sparring competition or an organized match that’s one thing but the idea that you need to be prepared for the local BJJ school or Krav Maga school to roll up on your position for a real fight like a real street encounter is bullshit!

It is a waste of energy to even go down that path...

Within the system of Warrior Flow at the heart of our philosophy our etymology is this ideal of Dangerous Freedom. The Freedom to choose to crush or not to crush the enemy because you've developed a level of skill that gives you the ability to stand in that space. The Freedom to walk in the light, head heald high,  and not in mental bondage as a prisoner of irrational fear, but to have the ability to manage your fears and not take council of them.

Warrior Flow is just a different vibe...

Like the sign says, "Forget the Dog, Beware of the Owner". Does your training give you that level of confidence? 

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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