In an earlier post I discussed the major differences between Krav Maga and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu as self-defense systems. In that post I outlined that the most important difference between the two was that Brazilian Jiu-jitsu was not just an assortment of fighting techniques but was more importantly a collection of combat principles.
The rebuttal is usually that Krav Maga also has combat principles that it operates under. I agree that Krav Maga certainly expresses “combat principles” but the problem is that so do almost all other well developed martial arts “styles” and self-defense systems. Furthermore, they usually have very different combat principles and theories governing them and so it becomes obvious that not all of these many and conflicting principles and theories can be valid.
Therefore, I would be forced to argue that most of these “principles” are really just arbitrary concepts or theories that have very little if any relationship to the actual conduct of unarmed combat at the fundamental level. For example, Japanese Karate has its “one punch one kill” principle, need I say more. Wing Chun Kung-fu, is predicated primarily on “center line” theory. Center line theory postulates that whoever controls the center line of his opponent controls the fight. Krav Maga as I pointed out in that first post, states that “simultaneous attack and defense” is one of its most important concepts.
There are many, many more of these kinds of arbitrary “principles” and theories but they are proven to be largely arbitrary because people consistently win fights without using these principles or even know they exist. In fact, most Mixed Martial Arts matches seem to be won with tactics and techniques that are in direct opposition to the vast majority of martial arts theorizing.
When was the last time we saw any Wing-Chun blocks based on center line theory stop a hook punch in a MMA match? When is the last time we saw a simultaneous attack and defense take out an opponent in a MMA match? In Fact, when have we seen these kinds of methods even attempted in a real fighting situation like MMA matchs? We don’t, because they are misguided arbitrary theories and not true combat principles. Thus, we have a lot of pseudo principles being taught by a lot of pseudo experts.
Once again, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that a lot of people in the martial arts world are not well meaning or that they are out to purposely deceive you. Nevertheless, I must point out to the public that a big Part of why there are so many different principles and theories is because different styles and people want to keep a separate identity. This “identity” is far more important to them than a search for the objective truth. They want and need their style to be different or unique so that they can claim that their “master” or their “style” alone is the true path. This is what gives people their perceived authority, or “expert” status or all kinds of other empty ego gratification that honestly, lot of the time is pretty flaky. I should know, Ive left styles, organizations and individual instructors because of some of the bizarre ego antics Ive witnessed.
If you are thinking that this “exclusive path to the truth” approach sounds a lot like religion then you have hit the nail right on the head. Furthermore, this religious comparison reminds me of the saying that “religion divides us but spirituality unites us”. In the world of self-defense we could similarly say that “styles” divide us but principles unite us. In other words there must be a fundamental truth behind all the conflicting beliefs.
I think it was exactly this idea that motivated Jigaro kano and why so many of the old Jiu-jitsu masters felt so threatened by him. Many of them feared they were going to lose their identity and their prestige as Jiu-jitsu masters. The identical thing happened in the 1990s when his concepts were reintroduced in the form of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Much of the martial arts world was horrified to find that there were Brazilian Jiu-jitsu stylists who could actually fight under street conditions and were willing to test their system against all comers in this kind of format. Suddenly fighting wasn’t about theory, belief and trust in your master, it was about objective evidence.
Remember; back in 1882 when Jigaro Kano set out to synthesize the ancient Jiu-jitsu schools or “ryu” into one complete system he ran into this problem as well. We forget that these old Jiu-jitsu “Ryu” were often more like separate martial arts styles and had a lot of conflicting theories and principles. The real brilliance of Kano is not just the physical techniques he preserved and developed but how he sorted through all these contradicting theories and principles and discovered the ones that actually affected the out come of real conflict by scientifically testing and fighting with them.
He wanted to unite us with principles not leave us confused and divided by separate styles. Ergo, it is the emphasis on these scientifically testable principles and not arbitrary theories that is absent from Krav maga and most other self-defense methods but were preserved and developed with in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.
Furthermore, and I think most importantly, these combat principles are not difficult to understand nor exotic or esoteric. They are at the basic level really simple but all pervasive things that we can not ignore if we want to be able to actually “fight” and defend our selves. Therefore, it follows that if these principles are really universal then dedicated people would arrive at the same objective conclusions independently. This would be an observable objective indicator that a reoccurring underlying principle is more than an arbitrary ideal that only one person dreamed up so his personal approach to martial arts would be unique.
In the case of Kano’s Jiu-jitsu, we see many of the same principles being applied in many forms of western wrestling, long before there was any cross fertilization. Furthermore, similar applied concepts usually lead to similar expressions of those principles, or in other words ,they develop the same techniques.
A perfect example is the startling similarity between standing Judo throws and traditional Celtic jacket wrestling like “Cornwall and Breton”. Cornwall and Breton is what you would call a “folk” wrestling style that has verifiably been practiced in parts of Europe for thousands of years. If you didn’t know better you would swear these were Judo guys who just changed the design of their jackets, the techniques are pretty much identical. moreover, the histories of these methods are also similar because the Celtic warriors of old used these “wrestling” methods as there system of unarmed combat in the same way the Samurai of Japan used their Jiu-jitsu.
How is this possible, that two systems that evolved on opposite sides of the world would be so similar? The answer is simple, they both were based on the same underlying principles of gripping , unbalancing and throwing that had to be done against live resisting opponents. They where not trying to be unique from other styles, they where trying to be effective in the real world. In other words, they both were looking for the “truth” and found a large portion of it through the universal concepts they both uncovered by observable , testable, repeatable methods.
Therefore, enough theorizing, let me give you a concrete example of what is usually cited as the very foundationtional combat principle. Then you can tell me if this does not make a lot more sense than trying to confuse you with center line theories, energy flowing along meridians or simultaneous attack and defense.
Out of all the principles and factors that can affect the outcome of a self-defense encounter there is one that is more important than all the others. However, It is yet another condemnation of the “pseudo profession” that something this crucial, simple and fundamental is so poorly understood.
Unlike some attributes that should not affect your ability to execute your defensive techniques (such as strength and speed), without this element in place your techniques will surely fail. What is this all-mighty Principal? Is it power? Is it explosiveness? Maybe agility? or even timing? The fact is that these other attributes cannot even function without this other component or “first principle” being in place.
Is it starting to sound like magic? Well, it certainly works like magic sometimes but this attribute is so basic and all pervasive that it is overlooked or glossed over by many if not most self-defense instructors and systems. It is so important that it has to be your first principle that the others then get based on . If you understand this attribute and can put that understanding into practice you will know more about real world self-defense then 70-80% of the so called self-defense experts out there.
You will be able to easily analyze and understand what is going on in a real fight while to them it is just confused chaos. But most importantly you will understand what is the number one reason that self-defense can seem so difficult and why it can be so hard to apply even well practiced techniques in the real world.
This very most important first principle is none other than “balance” or more technically “stability”. I need you to understand that this is not just more martial arts mumbo jumbo or merely my opinion; this is a fact of physical performance. Without balance you cannot perform the simplest of tasks, you cannot reach down to tie your shoe or walk across the room to answer the phone and you certainly cannot defend yourself in a state of destabilization.
Sound too simple? Think about it, in order for all your other attributes and skills to function you have to be stable. This is so utterly important that it is almost always taken for granted and its importance to self-defense is lost, we can’t see the forest for the trees in other words. Jigaro Kano could and he had to apply it to all his techniques and methods as his first applied principle. In Judo the method that expresses this principle is called “kashushi”, which means “to break the balance” and all the very diverse Judo throws begin the same way, by unbalancing the opponent with Kashushi.
Let me give you some real world evidence that you can try for yourself. For example, no matter how strong you are you cannot lift a heavy weight that you normally could if you are stumbling around or even just trying to recover your balance as your weight keeps shifting from foot to foot or place to place.
Don’t take my word for it, pull out the old curling bar and find a decent weight that you have to work at, bang off a few reps, pretty simple right? Now look at your feet, how are you standing? Probably wider than shoulder width apart in a naturally stable position. Now put your feet right together so that they are touching each other and come up on to the balls of your feet. Try to curl that same weight now, you might be able to do it depending on how heavy it is but it is a lot harder.
Now have someone stand beside you while you are still up on the balls of your feet and as you curl, have them shove you on the back or shoulder, even lightly can make it impossible to lift that weight and even if you can manage it at low intensity, no matter how strong you are at some point as the force increases it will become impossible. Did you suddenly become weaker? No, you are exactly the same but you were not able to use your strength because you were off balance or “destabilized”. In other words, you were not governing yourself with the principle of balance.
This is the same for the other major attributes that people spend so much time talking about in the self-defense context. you cannot be fast if you cannot keep your feet on the ground and you cannot be powerful if you cannot shift your weight where it needs to go. Try to punch someone while standing on one leg if you don’t believe me . Basically you can not function as a human being even at a rudimentary level without balance and stability.
This is why we say in Brazilian Jiujitsu that when talking about standing self-defense “your base (or base of support) is the most important thing”. With out a stable base as a starting point you can not apply your techniques no matter how effective they otherwise would be. Like it or not, this is a hell of a lot simpler and more important than pseudo-professional mumbo jumbo like simultaneous attack and defense, or pressure points etc.
Ergo, I am going to leave you with a reminder of an old but vitally important axiom, the old Jiu-jitsu saying: “Balance is strength and unbalance is weakness”.