Let’s talk about pain. Specifically, pain experienced during self-defense or martial arts training. More importantly, let’s talk about the importance of pain experienced during training.
I teach – specifically – a unique system combining military close quarter combat (special forces training) and certain martial arts. This system is bloody painful. It’s also efficient and deadly when applied correctly. And by deadly I don’t mean you’ve murdered a set of planks. I mean you crushed a larynx and broke several bones in a single strike. After all, the special forces aren’t trained to hand out flowers in Syria. They’re trained to kill, efficiently and effectively and preferably as fast as possible. Personal feelings about war aside, the same combat techniques can be applied in a self-defense scenario.
The technique used to quickly and quietly dispatch an enemy combatant is, in my opinion, good enough to use on a masked man with a machete in your living room, when your wife and child is sleeping in the next room. Yes?
Now, to get to the point where you’re good enough to quickly and quietly dispatch an intruder, special forces style, you’re going to have to go through a lot of training. And a world of pain. I went through it. I made it out the other side and I served several years with my unit. I know pain, inside and out.
I’ve developed a system that is unique, effective and deadly, to make self defense in criminal situations more accessible to people who aren’t military trained or 4th Dan Black-belts. Every strike has been measured, mathematically and scientifically researched and developed to inflict the maximum amount of pain in the minimum amount of time, and with minimal damage to the practitioner. Sounds like a sweet deal, doesn’t it?
And then, after a few classes, big muscled boys drop out because it hurts too much.
I had to literally stop and think about that for a moment, because by God, that doesn’t make sense.
To become an expert in anything, you will be required to train for it. Art critics are most often artists themselves that have spent years suffering for their art before becoming world acclaimed critics, by putting in years, and years of hard work.
We’re all familiar with Gordon Ramsay, Michelin star chef and owner of several world famous restaurants and very entertaining television shows, yes? How many horrible, disgusting dishes, painful dishes, do you think Gordon Ramsay had to go through to get where he is today?
Steven Seagal. Tony Jaa. Bruce Lee. Jet Li. How many broken bones do you think they suffered? How many cuts, dislocations, breaks, twists, sprains and other miscellaneous injuries do you think Tony Jaa suffered to become what he is today? What do you think would have happened if they decided after three classes, it hurts too much, the sensei or teacher is “sadistic” and “enjoys hurting” them. They would have been – no one. No-one would even know their names.
And what do you think a world-renowned martial artist would think of a little puffed-up gym bunny who comes to a few classes and then quit because it hurt too much?? Actually, never mind. What do you think a criminal with the intent to rob, rape and murder you and your family is going to think? I’ll tell you – he’s thinking, “Easy fucking target.”
Alright. So why is experiencing the pain you’re training to inflict on others so important?
It has to do with the scientific principle of application of force. You need to feel the strike to know what it’s going to do to the person you’re going to strike. (And when you practice on me, I don’t cry about it.) The reason you need to know what you’re doing is twofold: if you don’t know how hard (or soft) you’re striking, you have literally no control over what’s going to happen to the other guy (and being in control of him is kind of the point) and you will be using either too little or too much force.
Too little force, and he’s going to kick your little ass.
Too much force, and you’ll kill him and then stand trial for excessive use of force – a law in South Africa you might want to look up. That’s the best case scenario. If you’re playing “tough guy” at the bar after a few drinks and you decide to practice your incomplete and not-properly-understood few techniques on a guy that was “looking at me funny” and you lose control because you don’t know how much force you’re applying (because you wussed out of your training) and your friend dies, you’ll be facing either manslaughter or murder charges.
You need to know the pain you’re inflicting in order to control it. You signed up for self defense lessons for a reason – to protect your family and yourself. How are you going to do that if you cannot push through the training to actually learn something?
Let me ask you this: do you think the man with the machete is going to be gentle? Do you think, once he’s taken your firearm, he’s going to say please before raping your wife? Do you think having your face burned with a clothes iron, your arm cut off with a machete, boiling water poured into your ear, your wife raped with sharp objects, or being gagged with barbed wire will hurt more, or less, than the strike you didn’t want to take in class?
These are the things being done to people in South Africa. These are the things you wanted to defend your family against. And then you…gave in? You quit – because the strikes hurt too much? Excuse me? In what reality are you even living in?
It may sound like I’m being cruel or harsh. Well, I’ve been through Iraq and Afghanistan and I didn’t cry about it. I expect you to man up.
I don’t teach people to stab attackers with keys, poke their eyes and use safety whistles. I teach self defense. I teach how to hurt people. And if you want to learn how to hurt people, you better be prepared to get hurt. If you can’t, I’m sure there’s a knitting club somewhere better suited to your abilities.
There will be pain. There should be pain. The question isn’t how much it’s going to hurt. The question is what are you going to do about it. Are you going to give up and go home to cry? Or are you going to push through it, learn to handle it, and emerge on the other side, victorious and stronger?
Just remember this: I don’t hurt you because I get a kick out of it. I don’t expect you to take more pain than I myself take. In fact, I take a lot more than you do. I want to teach you to defend yourself as effectively and efficiently as possible, which is why I spent 20 years developing this system.
Your life has value and you should know how to defend it. Pain will make you stronger and better. Unless you quit before you ever had the chance to grow, in which case I think you really should go look for that knitting club. Maybe they can teach you to stab attackers with the knitting needles.
Come on, boys. I’ve got girls and school children doing this. Surely you can’t be that lazy? Let’s go.
— Jaque
Chi-Do Combat Arts 