“It Doesn’t Work!”
You hear this statement, or something very similar, often about martial arts or self-defence techniques.
Whether it’s from a competitor in a small ‘first-time’ competition, or someone who has done some self-defence training and had to ‘use’ it in a real situation, this statement must have been heard by training partners and instructors countless times.
I’ve heard this many times over my 40 plus years of instructing, never mind my nearly fifty years involved.
Let’s face it, we all expect our techniques, methods and principles to WORK when we put them to the test. So, what do we REALLY mean when we say “it doesn’t work”?
There are several factors that can influence a supposed ‘failure’ in applying techniques and methods.
I have listed some below with a short explanation on how we can turn what has become a negative into a positive.
- A lot of people would simply say a ‘Lack of Training’ as the main reason for techniques not to work as well as we would like. But I don’t believe that is true. For me the main reason is “Expectations”… We often expect more than we should from a move, and that is the fault of the Instructor and no one else. I have an expression “Minimal Guarantee versus Maximum Expectations”. Let me give you an illustration. Suppose you line up TEN young men aged 25 years of age: All ten are 6ft tall and 90kgs. You hit each one with the same right cross. Now for the purpose of understanding ‘’Guarantee v Maximum Expectations’ lets assume the following.
- All TEN men STAGGER back.
- SIX of the ten then fall over.
- THREE of the six who fall over are knocked out.
This breaks down as follows:
- 100% stagger;
- 60% fall down;
- only 30% are K’O'd
Yet when we train and practice this Right Cross, our expectation would be 100% K.O.s. In truth our MINIMAL GUARANTEE is only 100% STAGGER. So that is what we EXPECT in reality. Anything else, the 60% fall down and the 30% K.O.s, are BONUSES. All your techniques should be trained this way …. Try and work out what you can GUARANTEE and work to that… NOT what you would like or expect. By being sure you get X RESULTS, you can plan your follow ups better. Then also if you get MORE than you can expect, that’s GREAT … but don’t work to LESS than you can guarantee
- The Opponent … Your opponent is actually more important than YOU in a real situation. By this I mean what he does or doesn’t do. How he responds/reacts or not is the main influence to what you do next. For example, suppose every time you use a power push on your training partner, he staggers back 3 steps. You have to practise your ‘follow up’ to work with these distances. Then on the street in a real situation, ifyour opponent staggers back 5 steps or NONE … can you make your follow ups work when the initial results are different to those you have experienced in training. So allow for ‘failure’ in your training … It’s more important than you may think.
- Now comes TRAINING …. Or should I say the THREE most important aspects of training.
- ADAPT … that is make the technique fit YOU – not you fit the techniques. By this I mean if you are 5ft 3 inches and fat, how can you do the moves the same way as your best friend who is 6ft 3 inches and slim? PERSONALISE the techniques in the same way we buy clothes. Make them fit you… If you are well over 6ft tall and your wife is under 5ft and you both drive the same car, what is the first thing you do? YES, adjust the seat … you are making the car fit YOU.
- APPLY … It’s no good learning a technique, then not knowing how to apply it successfully. Half hearted applications produce half-hearted results. Work hard on applying your moves and techniques.
- CREATE … In a real situation, you won’t know how your opponent will react to your initial move/s. So ask your training partner/s to vary their responses to your opening moves. This way you are better prepared to CREATE a new or different technique. It’s no good thinking “OOPS” now what do I do?
So often when you hear “It doesn’t work” , it’s other factors than just the technique which caused it to fail.
Plus, what do we consider a ‘failure’?
If you hit a guy and he staggers and falls but isn’t K.O’,d is that a failure or a different kind of success?
There are varying degrees of success. And provided you end up unscathed and home safely, it probably wasn’t a failure; it just didn’t give the degree of success you expected.
Finally though, look at yourself… are you applying yourself diligently to your training?
I remember talking to a former Mr Universe many years ago… The great BILL PEARL from the USA was at a show in Manchester, and I was one of the officials.
The question of training methods working came up, and although this was bodybuilding, not self-defence/martial arts, his comment runs just as true.
He said, “All my training methods work well… sadly many of my pupils don’t work as well”
Keep training.
Oh yeah, if you want to see more articles like this one, leave me your comments. What would you like to see me write about? Let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
Dave Turton 8th Dan SDF Head
P.S. This really is me, Dave Turton, not that wannabe, Rezbi, posing as me. 
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