Apr 22, 2023

Conditioning and drilling emphasis in the school balanced by competitive sparring when potential skills are made obvious is a tried and tested instructional path and approach. The military does this.

We don’t use live munitions against each other to prepare for combat in the military. Yet we get the job done in combat. This is the approach we have developed in my school. We never do anything more than situational drilling in our school. We know it’s all about the individual with regard to performance. But they must have the foundational skill and physicalities to perform in fluid arduous situations.

I am told by my professor that while I may not have the most students those that I do have are trained safely and effectively given review of my teaching and their competitive performance. But my professional and applied academic background allows for this as I wrote in my book. And of course my own Competitive experiences indicate the efficacy!!!

Ya fail forward. School is for developing technical skills, for developi in themselves the six physicalities. Competition is for the gauging of weaknesses and development of warrior ethos. The skillful application as Professor Matakas says… is for the development of character which evolves the modal behavior (thinking, feeling and actions) into the fullest version of self.

Jiu Jitsu is worthy of being called a religion based on the faith that if one immerses in the process they will reach an avatar state. There must be pain and injury in order to be the best one can be and learn to overcome manageable trauma. But let’s not kid oureelves. It is one of the most lethal martial arts in the world. If we approach it with such respect as instructors and practitioners our curriculums will remain effective and relatively harmless but never painless.

This is how we separate the wheat from the chaff. And let’s not kid ourselves. Statistics don’t lie. What we do is invest in loss. This means pain. The more we can learn to bear mentally, physically and emotional dictates the power of our art. It was never meant for most people to acquire this skill. It is founded upon a science that trumps natural reactions to violence. Jujiteros learn to control violence within and without. Thisjis why we possess superhuman self control skills. It was not designed for the massess. It is when we make it so that it becomes less. This does not mean we can not have large classes … it does not mean we can not be reasonably safe. It does mean that most will not become experts. Luckily as a self defense tool… ya don’t have to!!!