When I was a kid I remember wondering what was best, wrestling or boxing. At the time I thought boxing was the best but when karate became popular in the 60′s – the argument became boxing or karate! Well fast forward past the 90′s (was a very confused time) and now if you ask any kid… they will no longer say jiu-jitsu but mma! Why to a teenaged kid that would not even watch a boxing match – MMA is king!

So why am I not impressed with the flavor of the day? I am not out to challenge anyone or trying to get an accomplished martial artist in judo, muay thai, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, or boxing to come over the dark side. But what I do want to do in this post is to examine how effective various martial arts would be in a real fight for an average guy/gal that has a couple of years experience under his/her belt.

I also want to look at some other factors such as the point of each martial art… you know what is it good for anyway? Don’t get mad but if your martial art has lots of rules that don’t easily transition to a real fight – what good is it in a fight (unless you are a world class fighter – then it makes no difference what you learn… it will all work)?

Let’s look at boxing, wrestling, muay thai, jiu-jitsu, judo, aikido and karate (including kung fu with karate as both are similar) in light of how easy is it to learn, what is the goal of the martial art, and does it work in a fight for most people (is it effective in most situations?). Then I’ll look at karate and kung fu in general terms because our stuff is not immune to my criteria (80% of karate and kung fu as it is taught would not work well in a real fight).

Now that I have made a lot of friends and I don’t think I’ve excluded anyone I would like commenters to keep your responsive civil and to the points. I will not post personal attacks but please feel free to civilly disagree and make your points. I will be happy to respond comments.

Boxing is fairly easy to learn the basics but really hard to do it right. One has to get into great physical shape to excel in this sport. The goal of boxing is to win on the street or in the ring with one’s punches. All other strikes are illegal. I do not think boxing would work very well unless you were a good boxer in a fight with someone else that did not want to do anything but punches. Boxing can work in a mass attack if he can avoid the ground so I give boxing two kicks (out of five).

Wrestling is taught in school for most males at some point so there are many good basic wrestlers (as I would categorize myself). Again wrestling like boxing takes a lot of conditioning if one wants to excel at wrestling. The goal of wrestling is mostly sport as it has no defenses against striking unless the wrestler learns additional skills. While the UFC is awash in wrestlers that have transitioned to fighting, the average wrestler can win most fights if he can take the fight to the ground. As most untrained fighters have no defense against ground fighters – wrestling can be effective sometimes. However one cannot easily defend against a mass attack nor avoid a bystander punting a goal at wrestler on the ground so I would give wrestling one kick on my scale.

Muay Thai is a sport that is not easy to learn because of the conditioning. While muay thai does strike with hands, elbows, knees, and feet – the rules do not favor fighting as the groin is not open. I would say that muay thai does come closer to an effective method of fighting because it would work well against a mass attack so long as the fighter does not get taken to the ground. Because of the major conditioning of body parts (deadening the shins for instance) I would only give muay thai three kicks on my scale.

I’m going to lump in jiu-jitsu, judo, and aikido together as one came from the other and share many common moves. While it is true that judo is more dependent on transitional moves (getting the opponent to the ground), jiu-jitsu is more of a ground fighting method and aikido mostly uses ones attack against the attacker, none of these are easy to use and are not really striking martial arts. Practitioners would have to learn striking to effectively survive a real fight with no rules. I am grossly oversimplifying here but my point is still valid. I would say that none of these styles would come out well against a mass attack. So based on the complexity of learning and the lack of striking – I can only give these styles one kick on my scale.

Now let’s look at karate and kung fu as it is taught. No paneca here either. While karate can be a good fighting style – as it is taught it does not have the conditioning of many type of fighting – it is for the common man (read person). Karate learning styles can be easier than most styles as it does not take more than a couple of years to be proficient for most people. Karate can work if a student was taught by a proficient teacher. Karate/kung fu works well against mass attacks if the student is any good. Before I assign karate/kung fu a kick scale consider the types of schools and ways to teaching.

• Some karate/kung fu styles do not allow sparring.
• Some karate/kung fu styles teach non-contact sparring.
• Some karate/kung fu styles teach semi-contact sparring.
• Some karate/kung fu styles teach the equivalent of kick boxing.
• Some karate/kung fu styles are old school – meaning no gloves and flat feet.
• Some karate/kung fu styles are more modern and use pads and move around.
• Some karate/kung fu styles have open groin shots in semi-contact.
• Some karate/kung fu styles give more points for kicks and flying kicks than for punches.
• Some karate/kung fu styles emphasize more conditioning than fighting (karate aerobics).
• Some karate/kung fu styles’ instructors have never been in a real fight.

So let me opine about karate/kung fu styles and weed the 80% of karate that does not work.

If the style does not sparring or uses non-contact sparing I give that style one kick on my scale.

If the style does not have groin shots or gives more points (in training) for kicks or flying kicks than punches – I give that style one kick.

If the style is for yuppies wanting to get into shape (karate aerobics) I give that style no kicks.

If the style teaches kick boxing but no groin shots – I give that three kicks.

If you instructor tells you he thinks it will work if he ever had to get into a fight (meaning he does not know) – Run from that school. Why pay money for something the instructor does not believe in?

If the style allows groin shots in sparring, uses hand/food pads of some kind, moves around, uses semi-contact (can get hard at top levels), the instructor is confident and has fought before, counts the same for a kick or punch… the student has a chance…  that is only about 20% of the schools out there.

Lineage means nothing unless it works. All of the black belts, trophy’s, free karate babysitting services and such are just meaningless unless a student and learn how to fight pretty good in a couple of years.

So if you find a good school as I have outlined – I would give that school four kicks – on a five kick scale? Why not five kicks? That is up to the student. I cannot guess how hard the student wants it.

So I want to clarify I do not dislike other styles and I think very highly of them. And I think most any style can be very effective against most attacks – all I reviewed here is if a person only had a couple of years to invest – what would he or she need to learn to fight back!

I am interested in your opinion – please let me know your thoughts!

On the face of it – What? Am I a masochist? Do I like pain? What the heck am I talking about getting hit? Well to a non-fighter – it might seem strange but when I sparr… one of the things I really enjoy is getting the crap beat out of me in an initial exchange!!!

Backing up a bit – fighting is call an art. One past instructor told me fighting was a way of communication. Kind of a dance between partners. Well to use that metaphor – when you are attacked with everything but the kitchen sink and you are not really ready… there is nothing quite like that to wake you up!

In this post I will talk about how getting hit is good for the learning process and I would say a necessary part of the training process (if one is to excel). But first watch some MMA come backs for your viewing pleasure.

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I remember many times going into Thursday night sparring and got hit hard – I instantly had a choice to make – did I want to take it or dish it out… if I wanted to dish it out – I had to weather the storm somehow and strike back!

It seems like a simple thing now but it is not if you can take the other guy that is important but if you can take the other guys best shot and come back and take him that makes you tough!

While I admit it is not smart to take the other guy’s “best shot” – it is importaint that you learn to take a punch or you will never be a fighter.

One time when I was attempting to sell life insurance to a young couple – they learned that I was a black belt and wanted to know more. So I started telling them how every once and a while I needed to get hit. They did not understand. I tried to explain how it made me feel alive!!!

When I was a young black belt – if I was given the company of a young woman or getting into a good fight as a choice – fighting always won out.

Part of the learning process is while you are fighting – if you get tagged by a good shot that you cannot defend against – you have to learn how to handle that attack. I used to dream about getting hit after a night of sparring – where my subconsious was trying to work out how to defend that attack.

I recall asking my instructor, Dick Willett one time how to avoid getting smacked on the way in – when I was throwing a lunch punch to the body (I was great at body shots – but got tagged with a head shot sometimes)… he told me to duck my head after I started my punch. I practiced that punch and got good at it… not getting tagged on the way in.

Have you ever lived near the beach and got used to jumping into the water every week? While I did as a teenager to the point when I moved to the desert – I had to drive to San Diego once a week to go body surfing at least once a week!

Fighting is kind of like that – if you ever were a good fighter – you need to do it now and then – even if you are not as good as you used to be – but you need the feeling of putting all of your chips on the line to see if you still have what it takes to overcome your opponents attacks and win the day!

So how can pain be good? Pain is a indicator that for me wakes me up to excel to the challenge. One time I was fighting at the studio for some testing – what I don’t recall and Todd (the head instructor) asked me if I wanted head hear – as a salty old dog, I said no. After the first minute the guy I was fighting lit me up with head shots – more of a boxing attack. I weathered the storm and woke up – started incorporating more movement and upped the pace to increase my attacks to keep my opponent honest. Boy I loved that fight!

So while I do not enjoy feeling pain – it does make me feel alive and in a fight – it helps me rise to the occasion. I’m not sure everyone enjoys fighting like I do  – It has been years since my prime and although I do not think it likely I will ever fight in a real self-defense situation again in my lifetime – I hope I get the chance (understand hoping does not matter – I cannot make it happen) to beat off an attacker again… I cannot think of a better form of enjoyment – even now.

Yes I guess I am a glutton of punishment.

The news has been full of knife attacks and even the TSA has been considering letting people fly with small pocket knives. It is even scarier to some so removed from fighting or using hand tools that in my estimation I think most people think that a knife attack is not survivable!

I would like to make the point that as in any other kind of attack (read club, gun, baseball bat, hand to hand or whatever) – they are all serious. You can get hurt if you are not a trained fighter. Heck even if you are a trained fighter – you can get hurt.

In this post I’ll evaluate the obvious (to me) about knife attacks (or really any attack – they are all the same from a self defense point of view). But first review this video for a realistic overview.

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Wow that first video with the cop shooting point blank at the guy with the knife and he missed? Most people would never think it would be possible to miss at that range – but as you saw it happens.

The rest of the videos should show you that your best defense is to lean how to fight. But say you learn how to fight – what are your chances?

First off a knife, gun, bat, rocks or whatever gives the attacker an advantage he thinks. And correctly most people that are not trained fighters have not ever come up against a weapon or multiple attackers – would not know how to fight back.

But say you are a trained fighter – are you going to give up because some guy is going to try and kill you? That would be a forgone conclusion that many that are attacked face every day. But that does not have to be the case.

If you like I did – immerse yourself in learning self-defense or fighting arts for several years – if you take to it you tend to learn how to overcome obstacles including ways to face weapon attacks. Really what do you have to lose?

For me a knife attack puts the attacker at a disadvantage. He does not know I’m a trained fighter as I’m not a braggart (I guess other than when I blog) – all he knows is I am a middle-aged man that does not look too intimidating.

So the guy does not want to rob me but wants to slash me – that means I have to defend myself… no other choice (letting the guy stab me is not a reasonable choice – he might kill me).

The first thing to realize – he is depending on his knife – whereas I have at the very least two hands, two elbows, two knees, two feet, teeth (I could go on). However you were trained to fight – it is time to kick in your defense… no rules (that attacker does not have any) but use whatever is at your disposal to mitigate the attack and use all of your tools against his one knife (weapon attackers tend to use the weapon – ignore the rest of their limbs).

So unbeknownst to the attacker – you have superior firepower if you don’t lose your cool. The big thing is to fight the way you train… if you like to fight inside – do it. If like me you like to fight on the outside – do that.

Remember the attacker is banking on his weapon scaring you so if you don’t lose your cool – you should do ok.

So what weapons have I defended against? Knives, clubs, pool cues, tall bar glasses projectiles, tree branches, and at least three of these times against more than one attacker at a time.

I’m nothing special – just a guy that has trained in my youth and enjoyed learning how to defend myself!

Please do not think that I am saying anything is easy – it is not but it is fun to learn how to do something you like… it does not matter if it is boxing, karate, judo, wrestling, or whatever – just so you enjoy it and train for that odd day with the rules of society breakdown.

So I hope many of you are like I have been – ready for whatever the world throws at you.

This is kind of a Catholic vs Protestant argument that still goes on for some reason. What am I talking about? You know – If a school opens up in a strip mall for profit – many of the purists (read traditionalist Karate Ka) will smirk and wonder if the “McDojo” can trace its roots back to the old country (Read Japan or Okinawa). Traditionalists like to recite their lineage to prove their black belt is meaningful.

This is like the Catholics (disclaimer – I am a Catholic) or Orthodox Churches argument of Apostolic Succession (meaning they can trace their bishops back to Christ’s apostles. The thing about having an unbroken line of succession the church (or in the case of this post – karate lineage) is a valid church (or karate style).

The above lineage or succession validity based solely on an unbroken line makes no difference (argued by the new karate styles and Protestant religions). In this post I will evaluate the karate arguments both pro and con but would like to point out my position that old does not mean it is better the new (although it can be). New does not mean it is better than the old (although it can be). My only criteria is what works. Anything else is meaningless to me. Read on if you want to expanded version.

In the old days many fighting styles were created the world over but the orient had fighting styles that were new to Westerners. Many thought these were superior fighting styles and elevated the “black belt” as almost invincible. Well now that MMA is here you know that karate is just one piece of the whole package and nothing special. If you want to learn to fight today – you have to pick striking, transition, or ground work or a combination.

Karate is still good as a striking style but as in religion – there is a lot of infighting between the modern and formal styles. I’ve always been trapped in between because as Tracy’s taught it – Kenpo is a semi-traditional style. We have a lineage and formalities such as bowing but we also have semi-contact fighting (really full contact in the upper belts). We (Tracy’s/American Kenpo Karate, Jiu Jitsu and Kickboxing) understand kata, techniques, and basics (after all they are required for our belt tests) but we only use what works in fighting.

When I ran a school in the 1980′s – if someone came off of the street and wanted to fight me – all they would have to do is sign a freestyle waiver and I’d oblige them in a sparring match. The thing was fighting other stylists did not bother me as I understood that 80% of what was being taught (at the time and I’d guess now too) did not work. That includes formal stylist. Only 20% of the schools turned out good fighters.

When a uptheenth degree black belt came to talk me (I was a first degree black belt when I first owned my school), I would listen respectably but would soon try to get him to spar with me. You see words and belts did not matter to me then or now. The only thing that mattered is what they could do on the mat. If they were too old to spar I would not bug them (as I hope young-ins would not bug me now) but if they challenged me – all bets were off.

Why might it matter what an old Master might say? Well my view is although (no matter what anyone tells you) a person may have a 10th degree black belt – that does not relate to fighting ability. That can relate to them being a great coach that can help you in your quest to learn the martial art. So I always respect old Masters like I would an old boxer or MMA fighter.

So the only question I would have if I was bringing my kid to a new karate school in a strip mall – is the instructors worth anything in a fight? If you don’t think so – politely thank them for allowing you to watch a sparring class and try elsewhere. You or your kid deserves to find a school where you will learn how to defend yourself. The belts from a good school are meaningful but other than that – they are just a bunch of pretty colors.

So I am ambivalent to the type of school you try - Formal, Semi-Formal, or school in the strip-mall. Lineage has nothing to do with fighting. Fighting is the only criteria that one should consider when learning a fighting art. While you have options as the kind of fighting you choose (judo, karate, boxing, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, aikido…) – if you choose karate – find a style that can teach you to fight. Remember if my experience is accurate – you are looking for the 1 in 5 schools that is worth anything – the rest are just trying to get your money.

We will be teaching Tracy’s traditional Kenpo, the Joe Lewis fighting system of competitive tournament sparring and kick-boxing.

If you know anyone in the Phoenix area that is interested in lessons or an upper belt looking for a place to work out and/or help with coaching, please contact me at dhays@azakka.com

Thank you in advance for the support.

Well now in the post-boxing era – kicking is a generally accepted form of fighting. There are many fighting methods and no real acceptance of “the right way to fight.” One guy might favor boxing, another karate, and yet another jiu-jitsu. Each martial artist thinks they have an edge over the other.

The question in this post based on the popularity of sport fighting (boxing, mma, judo, wrestling…) – would you use a groin kick in a fight – or do you even know how?

Heh heh… I can see it now. I’ll get a lot of comments from the salty old dogs like me saying of-course! And a bunch more that are luke warm to the idea since they never train with them.

When I watch fighting on TV – it all seems fake to me – even my beloved kick boxing because in a real fight there would be no high kicks, rolling around on the ground or even forward fighting stances (unless they had iron cajones). In a real fight where you could do what you wanted to do (assuming you trained for it) – fights would last a couple of minutes – tops. If you were only fighting one guy – maybe seconds because one groin kick would end it. [no - there is no such thing as a super man that can take a good shot to the nuts unless he is on PCP.]

When I was coming up the ranks – I soon learned who I could get-away with kicking high. In tourneys it was cool to kick your opponent in the head – not because you got more points (I did not in open tournaments) but  because it was a decisive strike that had a lot of power if you needed it!

Whenever I fought some guys – they would nail me with a scoop kick to the nuts whenever I kicked high. Even with the wrap-around cups – that hurt! So I soon learned who I could not kick high on.

The key-learning is in self-defense – one cannot throw kicks above the waist unless the other guy doesn’t know what he is doing (I don’t like to depend on my opponents mistakes). Now there is another reason to keep kicks low – Wrestling or Jiu-Jitsu. Both martial arts can take advantage of high kicks and either use the kick for leverage or kick out your supporting leg.

Now as a former wrestler in school and dabbling in jiu-jitsu a few years ago – I have always had the highest respect for the ground fighter. Why one of my hardest fights while working the door was against a wrestler. The thing is once you go down to the ground – you are fresh meat for anyone’s buddies to kick you in the head. In my experience you often do not know how many people you are fighting before you have to start.

Even if you are a ground fighter – in self-defense – use your standing skills (hopefully you have some) because in real fights – going to the street is not good (unless you are lucky).

What about those muay thai, boxing, kick boxing, or mma forward stances? They are cool for developing a lot of power for kicks and punches but only if you have a gentlemen’s agreement to avoid the family jewels.

My last point is the old addage that you fight the way you train is true! If you do just sport martial arts without throwing in some point fighting or at least doing that in the gym – chances are you will fight the way you train… if that is without groin kicks – then no groin kicks.

I will say any world class fighters in any martial art will get by since they are at the top of their game… it is the rest of us mortals that have to train the way we expect to fight!

What do you think? By the way my answer is Yes – I would (and have) kicked the nuts in a fight and Yes I know how!

I received a call from Dave Hays (8th Dan – AKKA) that Joe Lewis died on Friday, August 31, 2012. He was battling brain cancer I believe. This has been the year for passings as his friend Richard “Dick” Willett passed in May. Dick was my instructor and always had the highest praise for Joe’s fighting ability. First I’ll put some links about Joe’s history and then share some personal experiences.

• Joe Lewis Wikipedia
• Joe Lewis IKF Kickboxing
• Joe Lewis Fighting Master

The last time I saw Joe was at Dick Willett’s 40 anniversary event. I asked Joe about his movies and he mentioned that James Coburn helped him get work as I recall. One great thing about taking karate from Tracy’s or AKKA was that Joe used to have seminars to teach us how to use his angular attacks and initial movement. Those techniques are what helped Tracys/AKKA produce some of the great fighters.

We will all miss Joe Lewis as a fighter, friend and one of the martial arts greats! As Joe lived his life and would say Semer Fi.