In an effort to draw a distinction between training and competing in sports martial arts and the reality of self defense, I make the analogy: training for sport is to self defense as NASCAR is to parallel parking.

I did sport karate when I was in college, and it was fun. But I stopped because I believe I was developing bad habits which would score in the ring, but make me more vulnerable in self defense. MMA and any other sport martial art fits.

While no analogy is perfect, this one holds up pretty well. Here’s how I break it down:

I’m sure you could keep going with comparisons of your own.

In self-defense, defensive tactics, or hand to hand combat – environment matters.

Early in my life, as a traditional martial artist, I always trained in keiko-gi (training uniform). I would don a white canvas Japanese-style uniform, no shoes, and train on a hardwood floor.  I would train with others dressed exactly like me.

I live in Southern Maine now, and generally don’t wear a jujutsu uniform around during the day. Most of the time, I am not barefoot. Those who have grappled both with a uniform and without can tell you that it makes a huge difference.

In Maine, sane people wear coats for a good part of the year. People wear boots, hats, gloves in winter (and during the latter part of fall). All of these affect how we move, how vulnerable our bodies are to striking, and how we might grapple.

Further considerations effected by the weather

• Training on surfaces that may be wet or covered with snow or ice
• The effect of temperature on physiological processes like breathing
• The fact that being in a higher latitude means it gets dark earlier in the day

It’s fine to train in uniform, but once in a while put your street clothes on and train. Train outdoors once in a while. Limit tactics which rely on your opponent wearing specific articles of clothing.

All martial arts and systems of self defense will, in some way deal with range. Range, in this sense, means the proximity of your opponent, his ability to attack you, and your ability to attack him. Many systems have a ton of different ranges, kicking, grappling, striking, weapons etc. While there is nothing wrong with this, I prefer to simplify. Upon simplification, we can then internalize the principles and realize spontaneous appropriate response.

Let me make this abundantly clear: Until you internalize and intuitively understand range, memorizing a bunch of ranges will be no good in combat. Knowing that your striking range is 28 inches is no good, if you can’t instantly look at your opponent and understand whether or not you can strike without conscious thought. There is only one cure, simplification and practice.

I have simplified my range system into three basic ranges – long, medium, and short range. Why? Because at each of these ranges – choice of tactics changes. Breaking these ranges down any further makes no difference to the way we practice. Here are my definitions.

Long range: At long range, none of your body parts (or your opponent’s) are immediately available to attack without closing the distance. In other words, for your opponent to attack you, he will need to move towards you in some way.

Medium range: Medium range begins where, if you and your opponent were to outstretch your arms, your fingertips would touch. Since every part of the body can attack or be attacked, we are no longer in long range. The limit of medium range is reached when you are able to touch the torso of your opponent.

Short range: Once you are able to touch an opponents body or head area, you are in short range. Short range would include grappling and close combat distance in other systems.

Now, I can hear many people saying – “but that would mean that each range changes as different weapons are used.” You bet. Long range for a sword is different from a kick or a punch. Missile weapons, such as firearms, are really the only exceptions that don’t fit well into this system.

So the next criticism might be, “well then you have to memorize a bunch of ranges for different weapons.” Yes, and no, but mostly no. Remember, the idea is to have a little bit of knowledge and then internalize the principles. You need to intuitively know when you’re inside medium range of someone holding a stick, knife or broken bottle. There are no shortcuts here, you must practice with opponents empty handed and holding different weapons. And, by the way, you would be surprised at the number of sword and machete attacks in the U.S. every year, so don’t count out long blades even for reality-based training.

Your tactics at each of these ranges will depend on your style. If you want to learn ours, you need to come train with us.

Gun Defense

We believe that any training for self defense, whether that’s martial arts, or gun training, or anything else, must emphasize safety. It makes no sense to get hurt while training for self defense.

Most of us have jobs and family commitments that would be impacted by an injury, but injury recovery also detracts from the time we could be training. The effects of sports-type injuries seen most commonly in martial arts studios can be cumulative, causing real problems over time.

However, no activity involving body movement is without risk of injury. Yoga, dance, team sports, running all carry risk of injury. In general, most martial arts are safer than many sports.

In Ketsugo Jujutsu we say that there are three speeds: Slow for learning, medium for practice, and fast for the combat.

When a movement is first being learned we may practice it “tai chi” slow – like we’re moving through molasses. The main reason for this is that we want to learn correct biomechanics. In order to make small corrections, to observe the effect of a movement, and to build efficient neural pathways – you must move slowly.

Once a movement can be executed correctly repeatedly it can be “presure tested” at a medium speed. Medium speed practice adds a sense of reality, builds confidence, and helps to develop strategy.

Ketsugo Jujutsu is a combat martial arts, and cannot be practiced at full speed, even with protective gear. Many of the techniques, when applied at full speed, are designed to attack weak parts of anatomy (like joints).  Speed adds momentum, and we would quickly run out of training partners if we dislocated training partners elbows or shoulders.

As a reality-based self defense school we do try to approach reality in practice, but we necessarily have to work at a slower pace than many systems. We do not spar, and we do not compete or practice sport. This is simply not our emphasis.