I have to wonder what you mean by 'work'. Perhaps it is because I study martial arts in Japan now, and I have forgotten the gung-ho Western interpretation of it. I noted earlier in the thread that the purpose of Martial Arts in this day and age is not to learn how to 'kick ass' but to learn how to kick your own ass. To beat the crap out of your complacency, lack of self-esteem, laziness, ego, personality flaws, whatever. The most valuable thing I learnt from a childhood of Martial Arts is self-confidence and esteem. I learnt also many life lessons and great self-sufficiency. I never started learning so as to become a head cracking mutha, though many people do. One of the purposes of dedication and committment to the Arts is to lose your ego. That's what posers and self-proclaimed 'warriors' have in abundance.Dr Snakeman said:
No whether the techniques work or not depends entirely on how you measure them and which techniques you measure. There are techniques and patterns used for display and co-ordination. But there are techniques used for real-world functionality. We were always taught never to try the fancy footwork and flourishes taught in 'kata', but to stick to the short and direct blocks, parries and counters that defined the core of 'real' combat technique. They have helped me out of a few bad situations, and what's more, the training had prepared me for how much of a shock it really is to block something or hit somebody. How much of a shock it is to be blocked and hit.
In the end, the fanciful and elongated Martial Arts of displays doesn't really work in real situations. It needs too much space and honestly, it has been designed to mesh with other techniques from the same Art. It is for display and co-ordination after all. What does indeed work are the grounded and direct techniques derived from these. Of course, most importantly it is the wisdom and understanding of the self and situation, and the self-confidence eventually learnt by practicioners. Really, only an idiot would try Matrix type stuff in a real fight. What they would use would barely resemble what pop-culture considers and readily identifies as 'Martial Arts'.
Many such techniques wouldn't even be done from anything more than a neutral 'standing around' stance. Many of them wouldn't come from a noticible 'guard' either. Nothing makes a fight worse than sticking your fists up at your opponent. Relaxed, natural and loose. Don't look like you're in a fight, and there might not actually end up being one. That's what I've always been taught in almost every style I've done. In the 'exposes' on Martial Arts I have seen, the most sensational and irrelevant techniques are used, and mixed with so much artifice and pseudo mysticism as to make me sick. That really isn't what Martial Arts are in the real world. And that's not taking into account that you can use Martial Arts every day, at work, at home, in bed with your partner ...
