| The debate as to whether karate is effective on | | | | testing. It's not about being trendy by bolting on a |
| the streets continues to this very day and with | | | | bit of submission wrestling onto your karate |
| current interest in mixed martial arts training it | | | | syllabus and neither is it about going with the |
| seems that karate is on the losing side. The no | | | | crowd and pretending your karate is something |
| camp are winning this one, and to a certain | | | | else. I'm not advocating mix-and-match or using |
| extent I have to agree with them. | | | | similarity between techniques and kata |
| The problem with a lot of karate is the way in | | | | movements to justify putting MMA into karate. |
| which it is trained. If you want to be able to get | | | | It's not about combining styles or pretending to |
| through a live situation in one piece you have to | | | | be an MMA player for self gain or promoting your |
| train for it. Marching about doing your kata and | | | | school. |
| inventing clever bunkai, for instance, simply won't | | | | It's about taking on particular training philosophies |
| work. | | | | that put you where you need to be. Kata has its |
| Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) as promoted by such | | | | place along with basics, pad work, flow drills, |
| events as Pride and UFC are potentially the | | | | pressure points, push hands, sparring, grappling, |
| closest thing you can get to a live fight without | | | | bunkai and intensity training. |
| getting seriously hurt. So if we are to be | | | | MMA is simply a distilled form of pressure testing. |
| effective on the street it makes sense to switch | | | | Any technique within MMA can be found within |
| training and take up MMA. But that is not | | | | karate or any other traditional style. What we |
| necessarily the case. | | | | need to do is listen to the MMA people, learn from |
| Think about MMA as a philosophy of combat and | | | | them, take their fighting skills and put them back |
| a training framework for high pressure survival | | | | into our karate. |
| situations, rather than a self contained style or | | | | There is nothing radical or new here. |
| system. MMA represents a certain way of doing | | | | Karate is a holistic art encompassing health, |
| things which means that it can fit nicely into any | | | | personal development, physical training and self |
| other training system. | | | | protection. How many schools foster bad habits |
| Karate is a catalog of movement - the application | | | | that go against the grain of karate? Ballistic |
| of that movement, in order to be street | | | | stretching, bullying, inflexible hierarchies, endless |
| effective, has to be trained in a realistic manner. | | | | rules and regulations, lack of understanding and |
| The concepts and philosophies of MMA provides | | | | bad "self defense" should not exist in modern |
| that mental and physical stimulus. | | | | dojos. |
| We can keep our kata and bunkai, basics, kumite | | | | Old-style karate was a complete art and today |
| and all the other exercises and traditions that | | | | we can encompass those values without taking a |
| define karate. What we need to do is look at how | | | | step backward, thanks to increased knowledge of |
| to implement them. You have to develop skill, | | | | sports science, psychology,combat training and so |
| sensitivity, balance, power and reflex and good | | | | on. The sharing of knowledge is another important |
| karate should already provide the means to | | | | factor with the availability of instructors, DVDs, |
| achieve these qualities. Pressure testing is | | | | books, web sites and forums. There is no longer |
| important for students who require street | | | | any excuse for anyone to teach bad karate. We |
| effectiveness, either to satisfy themselves or | | | | have to go to where the good information can be |
| because their line of work puts them there. But | | | | found - and that includes MMA. |
| pressure testing is still just part of the bigger | | | | To answer the question - Is karate street |
| picture. | | | | effective? - Yes, if you do it right. |
| MMA provides the framework for pressure | | | | |