If you are a serious martial artist, there comes a time when you must ask yourself "Do I really know what I am doing?"  No doubt you have spent countless hours performing techniques shown to you by your instructor(s) because you were told those moves will work on the street. But will they really? How many of your instructors have been in an actual street fight, or, for that matter, a hands-on fight of any kind?  Why exactly would your technique work? Certainly not just because your teacher said it would. Are assailants predictable?  Do you believe that just because you do X, your assailant will do Y? If you’re unsure, are you willing to risk your life on a blind assumption?

Any certain technique may not work in a given situation. The truth is, you cannot predict the movements of another human being. Attacks do not come in neat and tidy packages. There is no way to know how an attack may happen, but you can be prepared for what might happen.  How?  By knowing the principles behind the techniques you have learned. Let's take a look at how they are each defined.

A principle is defined as "an essential truth upon which other truths are based". Technique is defined as " the entire body of procedures and methods of an art, the way of achieving a purpose". (Webster’s Dictionary, 1989 edition)  What exactly does this mean?  Let’s take first things first. A jump kick is a technique. Gravity, however, is a principle, and gravity wins every time! No matter how high you can jump, or how hard you can kick in the air, the principle of gravity will pull you down to the floor. Gravity always works, where as a jump kick may not. See my point? Principles are the force behind why anything works. If we can know how and why something works then we can anticipate when it will and won't work.

For example: If a piece of straw hits you going ten miles a hour, it bounces harmlessly away. Why? It's a piece of straw without any velocity. The same piece of straw hits you at one thousand miles an hour, and it goes right through you. Again, why? Its velocity has increased 100 times. Any object, moving fast enough, has the ability to pass though another -- not because it got stronger, but because it is moving faster. Molecular structure is a fun subject!

If you don't know why what you’re doing works (or fails), then I strongly recommend you seek out others who can tell you why or why not a technique will work. I myself have studied martial arts for thirteen years now and am just beginning to understand that many techniques I truly believed would work -- won't. Why not? Because they are based on a false assumpation.

Here’s an example: Say someone is grabbing me from behind in a bear hug. I decide that the best technique is to drop and do a hip throw. Sounds good so far, right? The only problem is the attacker understands the principle of the center of gravity, so they drop their center below mine. Now I cannot do my hip throw because the technique won't work.  The principle of the center on gravity and breaking of balance is no longer there for me. This technique has failed.

However, if I understand the principle of gravity and stance balance points I can still win. If my attacker is in a horse stance all I need to do is thrust out my hips toward him, shoot my shoulders and arms forward and he will lose his balance. A horse stance has strength from side to side, not front to back . If he is in a front stance, I would just circle quickly. He won’t be able to hold on because this stance moves his body away from mine. Of course this requires sensitivity on my part, and martial artists' sensitivity is another subject.

Learning and working with principles will give you innumerable tools from which to choose, tools which will fit virtually every situation you will face. This is true regardless of the topic.

Take computer languages, for example.  Computer languages are based on the principle of binary code.  Binary code is made up of 1’s and 0’s. The computer that you are now looking at uses binary code to do all it does. From this simple principle comes all the different techniques (programs) that your computer uses.

So how do you successfully make the transition from techniques to principles when it comes to your martial arts?  Here are a few steps you can follow:

1. Forget fancy technique, and go back to basics. Basics are the things that work best anyway.

2. In every technique, look for the underlying principle. Find out why it works or what makes it effective. What do you do if it really doesn’t work? Throw it out.

3. Learn and embrace the counter principle.  Everything you can do, someone else can counter and use against you.

• It is true that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

 

4. Learn exactly how the human body moves, and how to use it to your advantage.

5. Learn about and understand how to work with the balance of the human body.

6. Learn why circles work.

7. Concede that size does matter. Don't be fooled. Why do you think Judo and wrestling have weight divisions?

8. Speed! Remember the straw analogy from above. If you're 145 lbs. (like me) then you have to be moving a whole lot faster than a 230 lb. person in order to offset their mass.

9.  Never ever take someone's word on any technique unless you’re willing to die for it. Take responsibility for your knowledge and skills.  Find out for yourself if the technique will work.

10. Be flexible in your mind and spirit.  Think creatively, based on principles.

11. Never stop being a student.

Author’s Note: Two people have revolutionized my thinking about martial arts, Bob Orlando, and Marc MacYoung. I in no way mean any disrespect to any of my many gifted instructors. We all perform according to our gifts, and I am grateful to them for all they have given to me. It is simply true that in my ongoing quest for growth and excellence, I must move into other arenas of relationship and knowledge. Change and adaptation are part of growth and maturity for all of us.
 

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Danny Young's personal testimony
Danny's-Martial Arts Background
Danny's Ministry Background
Calendar of Seminars and Events
Shape Up
Making the transition from techniques to principles
For every negative ... God has a positive!
The conquest of one's soul is the greatest journey of all.
General Colin Powell Quotes and Comments
What Happened to Innocence
Bob Orlando's personal testimony
Bob Orlando
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7/18/03