I recently picked up a book by Mark Hatmaker at a second-hand book sale - No Second Chance - A Reality-Based Guide to Self Defense. You may be familiar with the author from his No Holds Barred series. Whenever I come across work like this I am immediately reminded of the television series Doomsday Preppers.
I think we can draw some parallels between martial arts and survivalism that may be beneficial to people in either camp. Indeed many people I know, with a few exceptions, started training martial arts with a view to 'self-defence'. This in itself could be likened to a form of prepping, and I'm sure a lot of survivalists love to pull on the cargo pants and knee the hell out of the odd striking shield.
In No Second Chance, the author focuses on the worst case scenario - you are accosted by someone who is pure evil and are in the fight for your life. Every other scenario is considered a folly, not 'real' enough. Many true examples of the grotesque things people can do to each other are given, and the author sets out some quite convincing predator vs prey theories.
Whilst this information is not untrue, it is entirely similar to survivalists who have become fixated on a single catastrophe:
- A financial crisis leading to a total breakdown of society.
- A nuclear strike leading to a total breakdown of society.
- An epidemic leading to a total breakdown of society, and zombies.
- A natural disaster, leading to a total breakdown of society.
- Etc, etc
In my opinion, people focus on these sorts of worst case scenarios because they are actually easy to deal with compared to normal life.
You may ask how a sadistic killer or a nuclear strike is easy to deal with - it is easy in a sense of knowing what to do.
When the 'martial prepper' defies me to deal with the sadistic killer using Jujutsu, rather than whatever system of super effective street techniques, it is actually a relief. In this situation the path is clear and the shackles are off - twist their neck, stab them in the eye with a pen, run them down with a car, throw them out the window or literally beat them to death with the kitchen sink. All of these things are legitimate Jujutsu techniques in the right context - real Jujutsu has no boundary.
This is a lot more fun than attempting to navigate a legal mine-field in an unclear situation.
This is a lot more fun than attempting to navigate a legal mine-field in an unclear situation.
Similarly, if you are worried about a nuclear attack move away from population centres, build a shelter, stockpile food and weapons - knowing what to do is easy, although actually doing it is a little harder.
There are unfortunately a couple of spanners in the works for survivalists and 'martial preppers'. One is that 'reality', which has come to signify ultra aggressive black and white scenarios is, unfortunately, a large spectrum of grey. The good guys start behind in bad situations - events are typically in motion before what is happening is clear. Situations develop and escalate. By the time you realise you should have jumped in your armoured jeep and headed for the hills, it is typically too late. That stockpile of weapons is no use if you don't have them when you need them.
The other lesson one can find in Doomsday Preppers is that fabled 'reality' is actually real. I recall an episode where dad and the kids mock evacuate to somewhere in the desert and then practice shooting balloons (to represent the lawless bandits who are now after all that stuff they have stockpiled). Dad manages to shoot himself in the thumb and then, despite having a field surgery kit, has to be airlifted to hospital (obviously wasn't keen to do the Rambo style home surgery when it came time to do it).
Like the preppers, the 'reality-based martial arts', after all the talking is over, are typically the usual mix of good, bad and indifferent techniques that may or may not work. For example one of this books ultimate techniques has the female, with a much larger male opponent on top of her, somehow see off her attacker by biting his torso. In another, she round-kicks the approaching male's leg from the ground. After 140 pages of hearing how desperate situations call for desperate measures, the walk doesn't match the talk. It would have actually been a much more useful book if the 50 pages of 'reality-based' martial arts techniques were left out completely.
The human body hasn't changed all that much in the last few thousand years. Just because someone says "this works on the street" doesn't mean it will or won't work, and your training will not model the real thing all that well no matter what you do - which is probably just as well or training would be terrifying.
The human body hasn't changed all that much in the last few thousand years. Just because someone says "this works on the street" doesn't mean it will or won't work, and your training will not model the real thing all that well no matter what you do - which is probably just as well or training would be terrifying.
Does that mean you shouldn't consider the sadistic killer if you are a martial artist (or the nuclear strike if you are a prepper)? No, I'm not advocating a mass shift to Aikido, but you need to consider a spectrum of possibilities and train for them based on a combination of likelihood and severity. You should spend a lot of your time on things that are likely and severe, some of your time on things that are either likely but not severe or unlikely but severe and not very much time on those things that are unlikely and not severe.
The key here, be you a survivalist or martial artist, is really the acquisition of a broad range of skills.
Skills are the invisible tools or weapons which you always carry with you. If you are a prepper, learn how to fix cars rather than focussing on buying lots of accessories for your 4WD.
Being in good health can't hurt either - it would be a folly to die unnaturally young from lack of exercise and eating poorly whilst spending your time training for psychotic killers and stockpiling canned vegetables.
Skills are the invisible tools or weapons which you always carry with you. If you are a prepper, learn how to fix cars rather than focussing on buying lots of accessories for your 4WD.
Being in good health can't hurt either - it would be a folly to die unnaturally young from lack of exercise and eating poorly whilst spending your time training for psychotic killers and stockpiling canned vegetables.
Jujutsu should be good martial prepping - acquiring a broad range of useful skills and considering a range of contexts. It is one of the things that sets it apart from a lot of other martial arts and combat sports, which tend to have a more narrow focus. It is also one of the reasons people who practice Jujutsu (generalists) should train in other arts, to acquire the basic skills others have developed within their narrow (specialised) context over many years.
When it comes down to it, dispatching a killer or murdering a terrorist is technically far easier than arresting a knife-wielding offender. The technical requirements for a martially competent police officer, be it in the time of the Samurai or the modern day, are far more advanced than those of the typical soldier, who can be trained in a manner of weeks.
This is why I say the worst case scenario is easy - it's dealing with everything else that is difficult.
When it comes down to it, dispatching a killer or murdering a terrorist is technically far easier than arresting a knife-wielding offender. The technical requirements for a martially competent police officer, be it in the time of the Samurai or the modern day, are far more advanced than those of the typical soldier, who can be trained in a manner of weeks.
This is why I say the worst case scenario is easy - it's dealing with everything else that is difficult.