Do it

If you want to understand what combat is, you need to think of it as a difficult activity. It is quite similar to algebra in this.

Imagine algebra, with a time limit imposed. You must solve the equation instantly.

When I was a kid, we started algebra in grade 8, and kept doing it until grade 12. Five long years of practice. I could do it pretty fast.

 

This is the problem I have with short, self-defense courses. There is only time to show a tiny part of what fighting is. It isn't enough. The people then head home, and proceed to not practice their small slice of knowledge ever again.

Imagine a person who has only had a few high-school math classes, done a decade before, being handed an algebraic equation to solve. If they cannot do so before the time limit expires, they will lose.

To have a combat skill, one cannot merely be shown something once. It must be drilled over and over, for years, until it becomes part of the practitioner's being.

I am over stating things. A short course does some good. The participants learn a few techniques that are the most likely to ever need. Perhaps they will be able to recall them when required.

Our Jiu-Jitsu school offers a women's self-defense course that is much more involved than most. The instructor really wants to do as much as is possible. This is good, but if any of these students join the main group, it is an even greater victory.

There they will face a more realistic challenge. They will work on a much wider range of skills, and do so in a more intense training environment. They will drill much more. In the women's class, they work strictly with other women. In the main class they work with women, but also with men. It is a much different challenge.

Fighting is a skill. It is one that can be taught, but it must be practiced. Good golfers play golf all the time.

This is true of almost everything.