Are Women Doomed On The Street?

By By Fran Joseph

Are Women Doomed on the Street?

Imagine a tennis player judging the power and accuracy of herserve solely by its form. Visualize a volleyball playersharpening her "spiking" skill by hitting only air. Alsofinally, picture a pole-vaulter competing in today's event whilerefusing to use a fiberglass pole? Ridiculous; you say? Asfarfetched as the above scenario may sound, many women martialartists, unlike their female counterparts in other sports, havenot availed themselves of modem training methods. Instead, theyare still relying on so-called "traditional" training methodsthat are all-but obsolete when applied to sell-defensesituations on today's urban streets.

What's wrong with tradition? Nothing at all, as long as wedistinguish between stylized forms of kicking and punching, withtheir emphasis on pre-arranged or choreographed kata, andcombat-oriented martial arts that stress actual contact overaesthetic or ceremonial considerations. Furthermore, mostclassical martial arts have a preponderance of "passive"blocking movements that women can ill afford to use against muchlarger, stronger opponents when precious seconds can mean thedifference between life and death. So we can further distinguishbetween "blocking-type" martial arts regimes, and hitting, or"striking-type" martial arts training.

At this point, it should be understood that we are notdiscussing "this" style versus "that" style, but rather,evaluating a methodology of training. This approach to traininghas an underlying premise: All martial arts training shouldparallel actual combat as closely as possible. With this premisein mind, we now have a checklist with which to analyze whatevermartial art we are presently studying, so we can be confidentour training is truly applicable for someone of relatively smallstature in realistic fighting.

Women's marital arts study must incorporate impact-training fromthe inception of the program. After all, how else can you know?How hard you kick and punch unless you are making solid contactwith something? Impact training can be broken down into threeprogressive stages. At the first stage of training, thepractitioner develops power by striking (or kicking) stationarytargets, be it a focus glove, air shield, heavy bag, etc. whichwill also acquaint her with her own reach (distance) and bodymechanics.

The second phase of impact training requires the female martialartist to hit moving targets, such as the top and bottom bag,air shields, focus gloves, Thai pads, etc., which an alert coachor training partner can move randomly at a variety of angles,thereby compelling the student to deliver strikes while moving.Unlike the performance of forms, nothing in this stage oftraining is pre-arranged, since the coach moves her targets inan unpredictable manner. This phase not only enhances mobilityand precision, but also acquaints her with the attribute oftiming, since the targets are constantly moving. The third phaseof impact training is the unrestricted force brought to bear onan "opponent" who a wearing full body armor. This is not aself-defense mode of training, because the partner wearing theprotective gear will not cooperate, but rather be hitting,kicking, and striking you as well. The "assailant" is not amodel "mugger," but an aggressive adversary changing the combatranges with no consistent pattern of attack.

This brings up another item on our checklist of combat-orientedtraining; a method of training that encompasses all four rangesof combat. How often has a well-meaning male martial artsinstructor encouraged female students to develop their kickssince the "legs are much stronger than the hands?" Yet,statistics show that most assaults on women occur in the"in-fighting," or close-quarter range of combat. Whileback-spinning kicks may-be beautiful in the gym, it is unlikelythat you will have time to even launch any kick, since the rangeof combat closes in less than one-tenth of a second. To restrictoneself to a martial arts method

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that emphasizes long-rangekicking is to limit one's coping abilities in the other rangesof a violent confrontation.

So important is this in-fighting range for women that it isimperative we have the necessary "tools" to deal with aggressionin this "war zone." Strikes that convey the most damage in theshortest time must be perfected. This means hitting, and notblocking, on the first move. Since no referee will say, "break"when the combat range closes, women must launch damagingshockers so that the assailant cannot continue his attack. (Thisconcept eliminates most restraining-type arts that weredeveloped when professional warriors were clad in armor, thusprohibiting striking or kicking of any sort.)

Some of the most efficient (if not artistically pleasing)strikes are: the finger jab, which should be cultivated onsomething harder than a pillow since you will likely run intofacial bone. (You can build up to striking padded diving gogglesby starting to finger jab your shower curtain.); elbows, kneesand headbutts can be perfected on focus gloves or Thai pads; lowkicks (below the waist) should be directed to the groin, knees,femur bone, or shins and can be practiced on a partner wearingshin guards or long "banana bags."

Now that We have discussed impact training and rangefamilliarity, let's examine another cornerstone of combat-readymartial arts training - contact conditioning. This is the phasepf training that most women (including myself) would ratheravoid. Contact conditioning is the progressive and controlledwillingness to absorb impact, and can only be obtained by awillingness to don gloves and headgear and "go for it" Taking apunch is critical, because women have not had the exposure tofull-contact sports, such as football, in which most men haveparticipated. This is not an endorsement of two partnersstanding toe-to-toe and "duking it out," but enough conditioningin your martial arts training that will allow you to continuepast the shock of pain and impact in a real encounter.

While we are on the subject of conditioning, you must realizethat you are much more likely to be struck by a jab or hook onthe street than a sidekick or ridge-hand. A familiarity withbasic boxing will let you feel confident in effectively dealingwith it Rest assured that there is nothing unfeminine aboutwomen who can deliver jabs, crosses, hooks and uppercuts withexplosive power. Once again, however, it is important that afteryou master the basic mechanics, you attempt to execute thesestrikes while someone is trying to hit you back. After all, it'svery different shooting a handgun at a target range under idealconditions than it is attempting to shoot with accuracy whensomeone is firing back at you. Familiarity with boxing will helpto "demystify" realms of combat that until recently werereserved for men.

Our checklist would not be complete unless we mention two otheritems. It would be ludicrous to imagine a running back infootball refusing to be tackled by anyone except those of hisown height and weight. Yet, when women train exclusively withother women, that is exactly what they are doing. Women mustexperience the aggressive energy and greater strength of men intheir martial arts training regimen, or else, like the runner,they will not develop the evasiveness and resilience necessaryto compete. Like the professional athlete, female martialartists must take advantage of supplemental training, along withpracticing just technique.

What female tennis player could hope to compete even at anamateur level without some sort of weight training program?Supplemental training (weights, conditioning, etc.) will notreplace skill of movement, but will surely enhance it. Merelylooking smooth, flexible and yelling while delivering a kick orstrike is not enough to make it powerful. Once again, the femalemartial artist could do well to observe the training programs ofprofessionals athletes, who do not rely on sheer repetition ofmovement to increase skill, but rather supplemental trainingregimens to develop "attributes" necessary for their particularsport.

Finally, a martial arts program that does not include weaponstraining is basically incomplete in preparing the femalepractitioner for street combat. No matter how diligently a womantrains, she is at a disadvantage when facing a much larger,stronger assailant, let alone multiple attackers. The abilityand willingness to use a knife, stick, or other weapon will givethe female martial artist an "equalizer." Just as the feudalsamurai in Japan would never walk the streets without theirsword, women in urban areas of the U.S. must likewise be armedand ready to protect themselves with their weapons of choice.Like empty-hand training, weapons training should emphasizehitting (cutting, stabbing), rather than blocking or wide,flowery movements that look beautiful in kata or forms, but havelittle or no application to combat.

Are we going to continue to pretend that the traditional methodsof martial arts training are sufficient, or will we discover thehard way that our training regimens do not work against someonewho is not a cooperating partner? Are we going to availourselves of a way that allows us to fight back? Modem trainingmethods will eliminate many of the unpleasant surprises thatfemale martial artists would encounter in an actualconfrontation. Ignorance on our part of modem martial artstraining methods will only benefit our aggressors. So let'savail ourselves of innovative training techniques so that wehave the power (and speed, coordination, conditioning, etc.) tofight back and win.

Fran Joseph's website: http://www.franjoseph.com

This article originally appeared here)http://www.realfighting.com/issue6/josephframe.html

About the author:Fran Joseph has been training in martial arts since the age ofseven. She holds black belts in hwarang do and taekwondo.She isa Senior Instructor of Jeet Kune Do and Eskrima/Kali & an expertin nunchuku, (which she taught to "DRAGON" star, Jason ScottLee), Fran has choreographed fight scenes for several majorfilms along with her partner, Jerry poteet. She also works withvarious law enforcement agencies.