The Reality Factor

By Peter Vermeeren

Looking around at different martial arts and the practitionersthere is one thing that surprises me very time. Many, may peopledon't have an R-factor in their training and techniques

You see people who get almost punched in their face and theyjust stay standing up with a big smile on their face. Others getalmost kicked in the groin and keep moving on as if nothinghappened and their "parts" were made of steel. Even worse arethose who tell you to go with the flow...???

all these people a lacking an important part in their training:the reality OR reality factor (R-factor)

If you get hit in the face you won't be laughing, your head willbe propelled back or sideways, you will lose balance becauseyour body follows your head. The kick in the groin will make youthink your stomach wants to come out and the floor will be veryclose by. Those who practice"flow jutsu" are rather hilarious.Who to make a street fighter to go with your flow. Will you tellhim who to catch you, hit you or how to roll? Oh and tell himalso he can't resist because if he resists your Ki can't flow.

These are only a few examples but take a look around. You willbe surprised how many people are lacking the r-factor. no matterwhat martial art they practice Even high ranked practitionersoften make these mistakes on seminars you can see them teachingelaborate techniques of 10 different combinations who lack everysense of reality. They will give you some explanation like thisone: "First you block his attack, you kick him in the groin,break his right at while you stick your finger in his eye, thanyou turn around, kick his right knee, enter on the opposite side, break his neck and throw him head down. subsequently you goand sit on top of him, pull his head back by grabbing his hearand applying a lock to his arm."

This looks very macho but not realistic. If you block and kicksomeone in the groin, than the fight is over. He will go down sofast you can believe it. If you kick would miss the target thanyou can break his arm as a secondary option.

There are really very few people willing to continue a fightwith a broken arm. If this too misses I suggest you review yourtechniques and train more because there is something lacking inyour execution of the techniques or the martial art you practice.

A true fight doesn't take long, all is over and done with injust a few seconds. Give it 2 OR 3 seconds more between 2equally experienced fighters who know how to counter and blockbut it's over before you know. The first one to make a mistakewill loose.

The 2 things that have most influence on the R-factor are theteacher and the martial art. as a practitioner you must clearlydistinguish between martial arts and martial sports. Martialsports are as the name already suggests a sport. Based onmartial art but with rules, regulations, protection andcompetition.

The forefather of these sports, Martial arts has no rules ,protection or competitions. Therefore the mind set, techniquesand approach is different So ultimately their goals are alsocompletely different. Whereas the sports oriented martial artsgive their practitioners a chance to demonstrate themselves andtheir skills to others , martial artists on the other hand canonly fight with themselves and every real confrontation withanother person results in big damage for one of the two or both.Martial arts are more realistic oriented than sports because oftheir different goals. So let's focus on them. Those who claimto be highly effective in true cases.

Be carefully with those martial



things who claim to be martialarts (on the outside they look LIKE martial arts) but whosurround themselves with a vail of mysticism and special powers.(these special powers may exist but they will be accompanied bya very special personality) Those martial things are easy torecognize : no intense physical training, a lot of talk aboutKi, their masters and instructors hardly get involved intraining, and you need many years of practice to develop thesespecial mental powers. During these "many Years" you will bebrainwashed and teaching this mystical martial art yourself toother people in order to make the NEXT generation of "flow-kas"

Until you meet reality on the street...

The other risk factor is the teacher. as a basic rule you cantell his R-factor by his Macho behavior. The more macho he acts,the less R-factor he holds. His macho behavior will tell youall. Why is there a need FOR a teacher to act macho? Who does hehave something o prove to? What does he need to prove? If histechniques are ANY good than they will speak FOR themselves, noneed to prove this to people with no OR little experience. ORmaybe he has to prove his poor students that he is the best?(Keep in mind that there is always someone better than you are)This points more to a weak character rather than a martial artsmaster

some masters are very professional and perfect teachers but theyfeel the urge to test the affectivity of their techniques. Thisis very understandable and unfortunately this occurs many times.How ELSE can you know if your techniques are ANY good? Theproblem is not to be found in the fact that they want to testtheir skills but in the fact that they use there students to dothis.. The students who are already convinced of the affectivityof the techniques and impressed by the teachers authorityusually don't resist the techniques. off course this will makethe techniques work perfect. If they dare to resist than thereare 2 possibility's: 1) the technique works just fine. 2) thetechnique must be forced.

This is the cause of technical quality going done the drain.when USinG a lot of physical force most techniques can be forcedupon a weaker opponent but onLY by superior technical skill youwill be able to EXECUTE your technique on everyone. A perfecttechnique needs a balanced use of skill, speed and force.Thereis no need to be a superman to be a great master. The best wayto test your techniques is to do this with someone of your sameskill LEVEL/grade. This apply's for both students and teachersalike. Both will learn a lot from this type of training.

How can you bring the R-factor in your training as a student?

one of the problems is the great amount of techniques to befound in the Genbukan Ninpo Bugei system. We have over 300techniques from 10th kyu up to 1st dan. How do you cope withthis? First of all you must understand that as a kyu grade youare learning to write and read so to speak. ( kyu waza) some ofthe kyu waza are taken out of their context, other look uselessin true cases. Other look like old fashion and the last group oftechniques seem to be very effective. Which one do you train?The answer is very easy:

All techniques must be trained...

Useless and old fashion looking techniques will teach youconcepts or moves that will result of the highest importancelater in your training. Out of the effective techniques you cantake 15 or 20 techniques and repeat them thousands of timesUntil they become a reflex. This is what I call your F.H.T.C.box (first help in true cases) Training the basic form though isnot enough. Try to do your techniques in another form. Against abody grab, wrist grab, attack from different sides, sitting onthe floor or in a chair,. etc...

Soon you will be very skillfully in defending yourself. But awarning is in place here: This training must only be done undera master instructor with many years of experience. If I haveenough with 20 techniques , why must i train hundreds andhundreds of techniques?

Because techniques are not the final goal. They are only a wayto... We use them in the same way we use mathematic formulas tosolve complex questions and get to the core of the technique.Those 20 techniques won't save you when confronted with aspecialist. Especially noT if you don't understand theunderlying principles behind each and every technique. Ma-ai,metsuke, kuzushi, etc... are only a few of them Every techniqueand kata you learn will teach you a lot about the essence ofcombat. to discover them you need a good teacher and lots andlots of training. 3 hours/week is not enough. You need dailypractice to be able to discover the secrets within thetechniques. Every discovery will make the R-factor go up and up.

During all these century's the way to make war has changedenormous but the CLOSE combat, man to man fight is still thesame. A punch is a punch and a kick a kick. We didn't grow 3arms or legs suddenly. The same principles and conceptsdiscovered in century's of wa and man to man combat are stillactual and highly effective. The world changes but man is stillthe same man he was 2000 years ago.

About the author:Peter Vermeeren is a martial arts practitioner and teacher forover 30 years and runs the martial arts and fitness informationportal called Kamikaze : http://www.kamikaze-portal.com , home of the magazine called RENSHU. Peter teachestraditional martial arts and self defense all over Europe. Hereis his personal site : http://www.takaharudojo.org