Expert: Keith Patton - 9/3/2007

Question
I have been taking Kenpo Karate in Colorado, I am not in any advanced ranks or anything, but when I read this forum online:
http://www.all-karate.com/forums/index.php?s=178d6c16513d2271393445595d81d311&sh...

it has me worried that in fact my karate will be worthless on the streets.
I am 20 years old, I have lived outside of the country most of my life, in Africa, and I can tell you that the fact is not that maybe I might get in a fight, the fact is that I plan on going back there, it is like my 2nd home, and the fact is I WILL end up in that sort of situation, as I have at least 50 times been in a fight situation, none of which I really instigated, hard to believe in America, but in Africa it is another story, I have literally been walking and had people step out in front of my path and begin pushing me around, even when I move with friends, allot of times they are drunk, and it's not just being in a bad place at a bad time, it is everywhere, it's part of living there. Most people there actually know Taekwondo, or kick-boxing/boxing, they have many gyms and instructors of those type there, they really know hardly anything about karate. I need something effective that I will have real confidence that I can in fact fight and win.
I am worried that I will continue in Kenpo and I know the movies show that this stuff works, but I do not want to spend 10 years to learn how to make fancy moves or 20 years, however long, I am also aware that things depend on me, how much I put into it, that it is MY kenpo etc. But even so, we train with willing partners, we never actually have the contact with anyone like we would on the street, I myself had a recent eye opener, I went to see a friend of mine, who owns a financial institution, he knew I was in Karate, and we were in his office he turns around and jumps at me quickly, I could actually see him coming for a moment but I completely froze up, and all those moves and sets and forms and blocks and strikes and everything went right out the window, and as if he's fighting on the street, pushes me to the ground and lifts something up as if he's going to smash my head in, if that was on the street and he wasn't my friend, I would have been finished right there.
So maybe I don't have enough training, which is how I defended myself and my Kenpo, and my Kenpo instructor says that it doesn't matter, you will use what you know to defend yourself even if you are not black belt or what not. I know enough about fighting mostly getting beaten to the ground, to know that it happens so quickly usually you end up on the ground with no time to even think about stepping back into a stance, no time for a stance, just allot of confusion, grabbing fast punching noise and shear strength, big black guy grabbing you and throwing you to the ground.
I also am cross training as of recently, with Aikido, but allot of Aikido is so submissive on the behalf of the training partner, and in such slow motion, I'm almost convinced that they can't perform that type of Martial art on the street with an experienced street fighter.

Answer
Danny:

What you feel you are lacking is called internalization.  Constant practice internalizes techniques and movements so that you can respond without having to think.  If you have to think, you are lost.  I wouldn't worry about your "friend" and your reaction to him.  If you did the same to him, he would have been caught off guard too.  My son was taking Kenpo too and found out it was all show and not much else. From what I have seen, it looks like slap fighting.  He and I worked out and every time he tried to throw a kick, I stepped inside and dropped him to the ground.

One of the fallacies of a lot of martial arts is that they work.  They have so many limitations built in that you learn those too and your skills become worthless in real life situtations.  The other thing about striking arts is you have to be willing to take a punch or kick to give one.
Aikido is different in that you wait at a safe distance and if they close the distance, you act.

Since you aren't the aggressor, Aikido might be what you need.  Whether it is any use to you on the street, depends on what style you choose.  Ueshiba is the classic style, but not to my taste since they do a lot of playing japanese.  I am not into that so much.  Their style is also very much strength based.  Tomiki aikido has kata forms derived from the many Ueshiba techniques.  It too can be misapplied and be executed from strength.  If you do that the techniques soon become bastardized and loose much of their effectivness and as you get older and loose your strength, you will not be able to execute them as you once did.

The style I practice is an offshoot of Tomiki it is taught by this association: http://www.karlgeis.com/

I am no longer affiliated with the organization for personal reasons.  However the style is very effective and street oriented.  Check their dojo listing for possible teachers in your area.  

As far as the teaching goes, we practice it slow with Uke compliance, because the techniques can be very dangerous and injurious if practices at full speed.  The great swordsman Mushashi said "Fast is slow and slow is fast."  Meaning doing a technique fast retards learning and only slows your progress, while practicing slow allows you to internalize and perfect a technique more quickly.

The first time I had to use my new skills I put a guy upside down 4 feet off the ground.  The other two guys with him turned and went the other direction.  I didn't do anything fancy.  He stepped in to throw a punch and I stepped in raised my hand to his face in a straight arm and did a sliding step forward (shomen-ate)his own momentum of the punch kept his lower body moving forward as I pushed his head back with about 500foot pounds of force (M X V = Force.  I weight 250lb and the average step is 2 feet per second)  He didn't know what hit him.

The other thing to remember is awareness.  You must always be aware of things around you and be ready for a confontation or not.  I avoid confrontations now, because I know I can hurt someone and don't want to go to jail.

The technique I described above can be practiced on a door.  The sliding step is executed more by collapsing the leading knee and falling forward in a step about 1-2 feet.  Don't lift and place your foot, just let the knee collapse and kind of slide forward.  The arm is raised to the guys chin or chest, like a battering ram.  Don't lock the elbow, just keep the arm tensed.  

Try pushing some doors open like that at the mall or in an office building, be careful no one is on the other side. You will be surprised how powerful it is.  Don't ever use it on someone unless you are in a dire situation.  Practicing with a partner it must be done very slow or you can injure one another.