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SW Portland Martial Arts Blog
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September 14th, 2024Which Martial Art is Best For Self Defense?
August 2nd, 2024
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It’s a silly click-bait question, because even a single martial art is not a monolith.
Let’s take the example of BJJ. If it is presented as a game in which you learn to beat other BJJ players at BJJ, that is one approach. If it is, instead, presented as a self defense system against someone who has no concern for the rules of BJJ, that is a very different approach and the results will be different.
In the first scenario, the student will probably become quite competent at handling BJJ practitioners in the context of BJJ rules. If they choose to compete, they might do quite well. If some idiot in a bar decides to take a swing at them, they might do pretty well if they can manage to take things to the clinch, then the ground.
In the second scenario, the student will probably gain a wider understanding of martial arts and self defense outside of the context of BJJ. If they choose to compete, they might find they are fairly outclassed by students from other schools who have invested much more time in the specific tactics of the game of BJJ. If some idiot in a bar decides to take a swing at them, they might do pretty well if they can manage to take things to the clinch, then to the ground. They might also draw on any de-escalation or scenario work they have done in the broader context of self defense and try to avoid getting any deeper into the fight.
Is one better than the other for self defense? Maybe. It depends on what happens. The trouble with evaluating the value of martial arts when it comes to self defense is that self defense can encompass an extremely wide number of scenarios.
So what’s the answer? What is the best martial art for self defense? It’s very difficult to say. My inclination is to pick something that you enjoy, where the instructor is realistic about what they are focusing on, and where people train hard but with compassion.
Yeah, but less Seriously
July 14th, 2024
We are, for better or worse, stuck inside these mortal bodies. Given that, it makes sense to put some effort into maintaining a decent state of physicality so that you can have some fun during your brief sojourn on planet earth.
So yeah, physical fitness is serious business. It is, in the end, the only business we have. If your physical fitness reaches zero… then you’re no more. Given all that, we use CrossFit as a methodology to do out best while also realizing that if you take anything too seriously, especially things that are serious, you ruin it… and if you treat everything as a joke, you also ruin everything.
CrossFit is hard. Put some comedy in your seriousness and some seriousness in your comedy. You’ll last longer, or at least die smiling.
A Padded Difference
July 11th, 2024
Look at all those pads. Padded mats, padded gloves, padded shin guards.
Why so many pads? So we can play.
Is it still a real fight? Absolutely not. So is it martial arts? Absolutely yes. We make sure to be clear with all our students (young and old) that the games we play are just that – games. They are related to fighting, of course, but they are also designed to reduce the risk of injury and thus… aren’t fighting.
But then if it isn’t fighting, how is it martial arts? It’s a tricky balance, isn’t it? You’ve got to figure out how to train the things that might happen in a fight but not so hard you get hurt because then you can’t train. Plus you can’t train all the things that might happen because anything could happen. Add on to all that if you take any of it too seriously, it gets very boring and who wants to come back day after day to boring stuff.
So put on the pads and let’s play.
Do the CrossFitters Get a Theme?
July 10th, 2024
Yes they do. It’s not fair that the martial arts people have all the fun. The CrossFitters get the super cool themes… like July’s theme: bagel jokes.
I mean, also we focus on two movements for 10 weeks at a time, test on the first week, do work for 8 weeks, and then retest on the 10th week but that’s the boring stuff. Bring on the bagel jokes.