I’m a national champion in Taekwondo sparring, this makes me great at self defense, correct?

I’ve been training self defense for years and have even successfully used my training in the streets, I should have no problem winning a sparring tournament, correct?

Of course not, most people understand these two statements are untrue. Yet, I still constantly see this misconception all over the place throughout the martial arts. Recently this misconception is due to the popularity of the MMA/UFC (which I love by the way). What do most all of these fighters use to compete with? They primarily train in Brazilian Jujitsu and Muay Thai kickboxing. Therefore these two arts should be the best of the best when it comes to self defense, correct? Not necessarily. While these arts are excellent for sport fighting, they don’t always transfer directly to Self Defense. Keep in mind sport has rules, this is one of the biggest differences between sport and self defense. Kicking an opponent in the head while they (or both of you) are on the ground is illegal; therefore other techniques must be applied to overcome this obstacle. Also, one must understand that there are no mats, cages, or referees in the streets, nor is it generally a fair fight. Many times there are weapons as well as multiple (and larger) attackers. There are no rules in self defense. However, there are “laws” that need to be understood or one may find themselves behind bars, even if the other person started it. Does this mean sport arts are useless in self defense? Absolutely not, they still build on all the necessary skills needed to defend oneself, speed, power, accuracy, coordination, etc.. On the other end of the spectrum you see occasional fighters go into MMA with only a traditional style background, and more times than not, it doesn’t work out for them. Why? Because most self defense arts are not catered to the sport. It’s quite simple, sportsman train for the sport and self defense practitioners train for the self defense. Does this mean they can’t cross over? Of course not, that’s the best option. Look at the best in the business of sport, most of them have an extensive traditional background. Same is true with self defense practitioners, many have roots in sport combat as it helps develop the speed, movement and “safe” application of self defense skills.

While sport has potential to help self defense and vice versa, it’s my belief that these two practices are on opposite sides of the martial arts spectrum. So much so that I’ve seen one aspect have a highly negative effect on the other. Let me tell you a quick story about my personal experience. I’ve trained many years in Taekwondo and have considered myself quite good at the sport of point sparring. For those who don’t know, point sparring involves simply making contact to a scoring zone (torso and head) on the opponent with a kick or a strike. How hard you hit not only makes no difference when it comes to scoring, but it can possibly get you disqualified for excessive force. Because of this, most practitioners use “recoil”, which involves pulling the kick or strike back as soon as contact is made to eliminate unwanted force. On with my story; for a drill one day in class, I and a few students threw on full chest and helmet gear and decided to go full contact. Long story short, I was physically incapable of making a forceful strike. Why? Because I had spent years training my body to simply make contact, not to drive force into the target. Needless to say this was eye opening. I was a black belt unable to inflict striking damage to a fly. I promptly changed the way I was training and corrected my issues. Sadly, I see this same thing happen nearly every “sport martial arts” school I visit. Impressive, amazing, and incredibly talented martial artists who are unable to defend themselves in a realistic situation. If they knew this, it wouldn’t be a concern; unfortunately most have no clue and will continue training thinking they can defend themselves in a realistic situation. This will lead to disaster if that day ever comes.

More Myths and Misconceptions about Martial Arts

Part I – Martial Arts are all about Fighting

Part II – Sport vs. self-Defense

Part III – Size and Strength are of no importance in Martial Arts

Part IV – Horizontal Punch vs. Vertical Punch

Part V – Dim Mak (pressure points)

Part VI – Military fighting systems, such as Krav Maga, are the best self defense systems to be learned for self defense.

Part VII – My martial art is better than your martial art

Part VIII – The Hook punch is the most powerful punch you can throw