All martial arts are defensive minded. Never attack oriented. “I must never misuse Taekwondo” is one of Taekwondo’s tenets. We, as martial artists, should never enter into a fight unless it’s the last resort and we must defend ourselves. Right?

Years ago, in the mid-nineties, I was playing baseball for the Norfolk Legion. We didn’t have a high school baseball team at the time, so this was the equivalent. A fellow player had found out that I trained in martial arts. He asked me, “Is it true that martial arts are only defensive and no offense?” My response was, “No, we have plenty of offensive movements…” and before I could finish my sentence, our coach interrupted. “No, martial arts are all defensive, it’s against their code to do anything offensive”.

I was kind of stunned. I knew coach had never trained in martial arts. I wasn’t sure why he was so confident. I was also confused as to what he thought a punch was. I didn’t respond as I was quite taken back, and it was time to take the field for practice. That question and our coaches’ response stuck with me for years. Do people really think that a martial artist only does defensive techniques? Or was this just my coaches misunderstanding of something he had heard.

A situation I use and teach in self-defense courses tends to lead to many people asking me a similar question or comment once demonstrated. “I thought martial artists only defended and never initiated an attack?” It’s clear there is some misunderstandings going on here. Let me explain.

The situation I teach is as follows: You’re in a situation where someone is approaching you from a distance and you, for whatever reason, are unable to run away. Such as, having a child locked in your car and you can’t just run away and leave your child. You are uncertain of this approaching persons’ intentions. I give a list of things to do and say to determine if they are friend or foe.

When it is determined that this person has ill intent, I demand the participant not wait to be attacked. Initiate the attack! This is what prompts that question of “am I allowed to attack someone that isn’t attacking me?” Or “I thought martial artists only defended themselves, not attack people that aren’t attacking them?”

Yes, most all martial arts are trained in the mindset that any physical attack is done in self-defense. But please understand, just because we initiate a physical attack does not mean we are not defending ourselves. When you have determined that someone has clear intent to do harm to you, but has not yet physically attacked you, you have every right to go on the attack. This attack is done with the purpose of self-defense in mind. Self-defense is not just limited to deflecting punches and kicks coming at you.

If you wait for that person to initiate a physical attack, you’re chances of success drop dramatically. I would like to re-iterate that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this
person has ill-intent towards you. This is not an excuse to randomly punch people who you disagree with. No matter how much “they have it coming”. Someone quickly walking towards you wielding a weapon and yelling out, “I’m going to kill you” warrants you going on the attack if escaping is not an option. Your attack will be seen as self-defense.

Yes, most all martial arts tend to follow a “code” or “tenets” that state that the techniques learned are for self-defense only, but that does not mean that all elements learned in martial arts are strictly defense oriented. Also keep in mind that many martial arts styles are trained for sport. These too are not used in self-defense. They are used in a competitive manner. Therefore, no, martial artists are not restrained from striking first. Sport arts aside, there are plenty occasions in which striking first is not only considered self-defense but could save your life or the life of a loved one.