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The Necessity of Competition
By Mike Reilly

Lets cut though some of the bull shall we.

I will start out by saying that 95% of what is sold as Martial Arts is almost useless when it comes to fighting skills. Furthermore much of it is useless and devoid of any value what so ever. Many are even destructive and go more towards producing cowards, fools and wimps. For those who eat, bleed and sweat the real deal it is easy for us to just over look the dojo clowns. I mean who really wants to beat their head's against the wall trying to convince these phony black belts that phony is just what they are? Most of these guys are a little nuts, drunk with power and so wrapped up in their illusion that no light of truth is going to get through. They are sly, arrogant and silly. They easily fool their students but stay clear of anywhere they may have to prove their skills and thus be revealed as frauds. Nope; these people can not be saved. So if you are reading this and deeply covet your black belt in Tang Soo What or Boo Shitzu stop reading this now. Head back to the Kwoon right next to the Great Clips and read a scroll by candle light. You are beyond help. This article is for that TKD Brown belt who just got whipped by a wrestler; or the young Akatio students who wonders what he will do if his attacker doesn't grab his wrist. This is for the parent trying to find a martial arts for their child. Or the teacher of a school who wants to give his students something more. This is for those who want to find the edge of the envelope outside the dojo walls. This is for those willing to walk the walk. If that is you; read on.

Competition is the corner stone of any meaningful martial arts experience. Martial arts in it's best form offers individuals a variety of benefits. The first and most obvious is self defense, physical conditioning and enjoyable activity. On another level it teaches a person a balance of pride and humility. It teaches one how to push one’s limits. It teaches how to push another while also being there to catch them. At it's highest level martial arts is a life long physical and spiritual journey.

I’m going to start this off by clarifying a few terms and ideas. First when I talk about competition I’m talking about high contact competition. I’m not including point fighting or Kata competition (I rank Kata higher then Point Fighting, both beneath Dance contests). Specifically I’m talking about sports like Boxing, Kick Boxing, Wrestling, Submission grappling, Shoot Wrestling and at the highest level Mixed Martial Arts fighting. A sport will have controls for safety but still allows you to go full speed and full contact. You progression in sport should lead you to higher and higher levels of competition as age and heath permit. When the clock catches up with you the progression should head down. Keep your self on the edge but do not exceed reason. For example an NHB match is no place for those over 60; however there are still a number of veterans who can play judo at that age. God Bless them.

Competition is not just for competition sake. The saddest people I know are one dimensional athletes who only learned competition from competing. Sooner or later they become a horrible thing; a has been. Has beens have a vacuum in them that can not be filled by coaching or promoting. Thus they are ever angry, bitter and resentful. The key trait of a has been is endless talk of how much better they were in the old days and how lucky everyone is today. They can not rejoice in the victory of another that does not bring them glory. Competition is vital; but never stands alone.

So before anyone wants to get huffy and say that competition is all about winning save your breath. Anyone with a whiff of a clue understands that competition is about more then winning and losing. A decent coach will push his / her players to reach a personal best. That personal best may be the UFC title. For others that personal best will be a one time shot at a submission match against a fellow team mate. If it is all about winning for you; well that is on you; not the sport.

Now I would like to address several common excuses or explanations if you must, from "Traditional Martial Arts" that oppose competition. First I will point out I use TMA because it is a generally expected term; however I feel in no way are TMA as they commonly exist are traditional. Tradition imparts common experience through ages. Most TMA’s operate with customs that where never known 30 years ago. For one thing all Martial Arts have a Tradition of sport at least on some level. At some point Masters or what have you traveled and took on others of different or similar styles. The Hyperbole of history generally paints these as life and death struggles (makes for a better read) but nearly all competition in the ancient world was sport as well as entertainment. Sport was the forge that created the steel used in battle. If you are not practicing sport; you are skipping the forge and in battle your steel will break. (How is that for a metaphor?) Also what martial traditions include contracts, paying for belts and so on. Shame.

TMAs do not compete in sport because they train for the "real world." I cover this BS fairly well in my article "Training for the real world" but I’m going to expand on it a little here. I want to get down to the specifics of what TMA’s mean when they say "real world." Their criticism that Sport training lacks the real world elements of ‘no rules,’ unpredictable, surprise, surroundings, multiple attackers and weapons. All of this is true. Most sports do have rules, refs, judges and when done right paying customers. Matches are generally held at a specific time, place and against a named opponent; though cards are always subject to change. The surrounding are generally a mat, ring or cage. The footing is smooth and sure. And with the exception of the SCA every sport I have played in has been one on one and devoid of weapons. But TMAs have the same failings and one more; they lack dynamic intent.

Lets look at ‘no rules’ first. TMA’s decry this as the biggest failing of Sport. As though if attacked sport fighters would play in a sport context. This is the silliest, stupidest thing I have ever heard. But lets say that I stayed with in the rules. Lets see, right cross; legal and effective. Suplay on cement: legal and effective, very effective. Neck crank, choke, arm bar, wrist lock, double leg: check, check, check, check; all legal; all effective. When training for hard combat sports folks you are training to be able to do effective damage. For Christ’s sake how is that a liability?

TMAs like to point to things you can’t do. The trifecta of TMA techniques seems to be the bite, the eye gouge and the groin strike. Lets start with the bite? "If attacked thus and such I would bite my attacker." What are you a dog? Mongoose? First of all do you really want to be biting the critter attacking you? You want no holds barred; try going a few rounds with Hepatitis. Plus what position do you need to be in for a bite to be advantageous? If you bite from an inferior position you have just made yourself more vulnerable and likely just pushed the guy with advantage over you into pure psycho mode. I worked in a hospital for many years that had 3 lock down mental health floors. If was common for patients to try to bite you; it was also very easy to avoid. Biting would be the absolute last resort and it’s only real value is the forensic evidence it provides. It also require very little training. If your master is teaching you how to bite; he is stealing from you.

The eye gouge. This is a great way to torture someone. Tie them up and gouge their eyes until they give up the gold. At a TMA school I use to use I watched a student practice his eye strikes, cobra style (good grief) on one of those armless Bobs. Beautiful I thought; against an armless man standing stalk still that would work beautifully. Now the One arm is still going to kill your wife and frame you for her murder; but the no armed man; his ass you will kick. Seriously if you can effectively strike someone’s eyes it will be effective. Trouble is you first have to learn how to effectively strike. That means full speed, full contact. You have to learn gross motor skills before you can gain pin point precession. It is very difficult to hit someone in the eyes on the fly. Most people will naturally protect their eyes. This goes for the throat and groin as well. All these target areas that TMA’s love so dearly are middle of the body and protected by heavy bones above. Positioned to be protected. You see a species that had vital organs floating on a string 3 feet about it’s head really wouldn’t have made it this high up the evolutionary chain.

Now lets address another problem. Unless you strike with surprise or are fighting someone who will give you a free shot; hitting someone is difficult. Hitting with power even more difficult and hitting a specific target more difficult yet. No someone who is easy to draw into a fight is much like a girl easy to draw into bed – It is probably not the first time. I’m willing to bet they know to protect their vital areas and while you are trying to grab the low hanging fruit they are going to kick the holy crap out of you. Unless you know how to grab, ground and control someone (grappling) you are going to have very little luck going after their eyes.

Finally what really gives you confidence in those techniques? How many times have you practiced then to completion? I have practiced my Suplay thousands of times. Same is true of my jab, cross, shoot and arm bars. Each night, night after night I work on fundamentals of body control and techniques. And each night I practice full speed, full power against someone trying to do the same to me. How often do you practice your eye gouge? Your Bite? How many partners do you have you get to kick in the balls? Stomp on their knees? How many necks do your break in an average week? How can you believe in this?

You want to talk about no rules; most TMA practice with no contact. All practice with restraint on their deadly techniques. If they didn’t wouldn’t you be killing each other? This is where it all breaks down folks; this alone should shatter the illusion. In sport you train the way you do; in TMA you train the way you hope it goes. One is reality, one is wish. TMA for all it’s boasts of deadly street self defense has far more rules then any full contact sport played. The techniques at the heart of their systems are never, repeat never practiced full go. TMAs ill prepared you for a "street" situation simply because of the static nature of martial arts training. Sport training leaves one much better prepared because the dynamic nature of sport training is closer "real" combat. Rules are easy to forget my friends (that is why refs stand so close) but dynamic skills are impossible to learn on the fly.

OK now lets talk about unpredictability of time and place. TMAs criticize Sport because; "well in the real world you really don’t know who, what and when you will be attacked; so to really be street safe this is ineffective." So just so I have this straight; TMA’s say training for something that might happen is better then training for something that will happen. Of course this begs the question; how do TMA’s prepare you for the sneak attack. So when guys go to the dojo it is at random times? Maybe random dojos? You train with out rules? Do you jump your students in the parking lot or hide in their house like Kato? Of course not. So how again does TMA better prepare you for that unknown encounter that may but you pray does not happen? Oh wait I know; Scenario training. That is where you pretend your surprised right? You can’t be that stupid can you. By the way if your Master spends a lot of time making up scenarios time for you to leave. Dungeons and Dragons may be a fun game for 14 year old boys; but it does not teach you self defense.

Combat Athletes train technique and they spar and do many of the standard things you find in any MA school (except they do it for real) However Combat athletes also do strength training, conditioning and speed training. They hone their bodies to take on other highly skilled athletes. I'm sorry but your run of the mill drunken jack ass or pretend tough guy does not even measure. By preparing you will in fact be prepared; by pretending…well the results are obvious. Again what better prepared you for a real fight then real conditioning? What better prepares you for a real fight then a real match against another highly skilled athlete? Just how many people do you think an athlete will run into that can handle them just on an athletic level?

When someone asks me the single most important element to winning a fight I say athleticism. All the technique in the world does not matter diddly if it is in a weak, fat, slow body. Great wine drunk from an old shoe; tastes like an old shoe. I find it very interesting that so many people worship Bruce Lee and marvel at what a great martial artist he was and do not seem to see what an athlete the guy was. Lee could Bench press 150% of his body weight multiple times. He was very strong, very fast, very flexible. To think those skills could be duplicated in a flabby body is just plain stupid. I have to laugh at the TMAs who claim their deadly skills while their bellies sag. They don’t lift weights, or run. They want you to believe in their power but couldn’t deadlift their body weight. Equally humorous are the very good athletes who want to believe it is all technique and that anyone can do what they do. I know a 260 pound Akito master who swears how effective it is. Well ya it is for him; but at 260 pounds and 56 inch chest a hard stare also works damn well.

Finally on the whole being prepared issues; this is exactly what those training for combat sports do – they prepare. They set goals and train towards those goals. Each goal is a step towards being prepared. As they move on they prepare for tougher and tougher opponents. Preparations increase, intensity increases. They get themselves to the top of their game both physically and mentally. They know it is going to happen. They know their opponent is getting prepared. The motivation to hit one more set, run one more mile, roll one more go is intrinsic to the training. By preparing they are in fact prepared. How in the hell would this leave them worse off for a real situation? No one can be that stupid to believe that; can they?

Now lets talk about multiple attackers and weapons. If attacked by 10 people your wrestling will do you very little good. However your kung fu will do you no good what so ever. Again your athleticism may save you; if nothing else you should be a good runner. Multiple attackers is the opied of the martial arts world. So many people get sold on the idea of taking on small armies of thugs; but it is all BS. We could get into tactics and debate the value of being able to throw and the cons of trying to throw kicks in a crowd or how easy it is to knock someone down who is trying to punch. When Rickson Gracie was asked how many people he could defeat with Jujitsu he answered 7. Why 7? "My colt holds 6 rounds." That is the reality of multiple attackers. Yes I have waded into a crowd of 30 street fighting gang members and came out unscathed. But it had very little to do with my grappling prowess; it had a lot to do with the 5oz OC fogger canister I was firing off. Don’t fool your self or let anyone else fool you; against 3 or more people, seriously you will need a weapon and you will need one that will hiss or bark. (OC or Gun for the metaphorically impaired)

When talking about survival situations we need to talk about weapons. Now on this web page you can find an article about knifes and why they are such a poor choice outside of prison walls. Most weapon training is so artificial it is laughable. I will say this about training against a weapon; If you want to do it fine; but never really believe in it. Confront a weapon with a better weapon. My two favorites is OC spray (fogger) and a gun. For more on a gun read the Knife article. Why an OC fogger? One you can’t miss; stray it on the ground if you have to and create and area of deniability. Will you hit your self with the spray? Hell yes; but it won’t be the first time because if your going to carry spray you should get sprayed a few times, right? I will not get into all the specifics; but spend a little time with OC and you will learn to love it. An ASP is a fun weapon; but a distant third behind OC and a gun.

On a side note: If I was willing to bite someone I’d be willing to shoot them.

Here I have covered most of TMAs excuses for avoiding Combat Sport. I feel I have successfully shot some pretty big holes in their bunk. Combat sport clearly better motivates fighters to become more athletic, demands a higher degree of skill and is dynamic in nature. Clearly these skills better serve one in the ring as well as the street. But this is just the surface of the benefits provided by combat sport.

The hardest thing to overcome in a fight is yourself. OK yes I stole that from a Kung Fu movie; but it is true (kung fu is not completely worthless you know). Most of the critters who will attack you are crazy, stoned or drunk. Sober, sane people almost never attack. Street fighters are also rarely skilled. If they were really skilled they would be somewhere training as oppose to mugging you for crack money. Both offensively and defensively they are little threat. Working in the hospital and other security jobs I had close to 1,000 hand’s on incidents. I do not consider any of them fights and few presented any real danger. The people I had to control simply did not have the mental or physical ability to do much damage. They were weak, off balance and in poor condition. In situations where the person was very large and mentally deranged their tactics were so shattered that even with the strength of 5 men they were easily contained. The biggest liability and what I saw get people hurt was what they did in the situation. Some people will freeze, some panic, some lash out. With out a cool headed, rationed response any situation can turn dangerous. Thus enter again the role of combat sport.

If all your training is in the dojo it is only effective in the dojo. That means if all your martial arts is with people you know in the safe confines of the Kwoon it is useless (unless your Kwoon buddies are likely to attack you). The real dangerous elements of a fight are fear, shock and pain. There is nothing in the dojo that can emulate that. Even in the Bison gym where we spar 50% of the time; often with great intensity there is very little fear. Guys are not nervous to grapple each other. We do employ a lot of pain techniques; but still something is lacking. That twisting in your guts anxiety that only comes from facing an unknown.

Every fighter on the way to the ring wants to turn and run. Most people make that run choice long before they have to make "the walk." You step on to the mat or between the ropes and look across at that athlete on the other side who wants to tear your head off. They always look bigger then you and they don’t look scared. That is the oddest thing; they don’t look scared at all. Here you are, guts jumping over each other; butterflies ripping a hole in your belly and that SOB looks calm, determined and dangerous. The great joke is that he is thinking the same thing. But that is not important; what matters if how you face that uncertainty, that fear.

Along with fear comes the bodies compensation, adrenaline. Adrenaline is both a great and terrible thing. Adrenaline is fuel to power your direction. If you give into fear, adrenaline will feed your fear and turn it into panic. If you are able to stay cool and directed, Adrenaline will feed your focus. Now tell me do you really want the first time you learn to use adrenaline be in a street fight? Again the value of sport fighting is self evident. No it is not the same as a brutal life or death struggle; neither is anything you do in the dojo. There are added pucker factors however. There is pressure to win, the pressure of a crowd, the pressure of pushing yourself to your personal best. Sport fighting exposes you to fear, adrenaline and hard contact.

Also consider one other factor the ring that makes it such a vital training environment. On the street you may be attacked; but as I said your attacker is likely to be unschooled beyond the standard Haymaker, scratch and bite. They are likely to be drunk, high or insane. While things like PCP or insanity do give people great strength it also robs them of the ability to make tactical decisions (as does panic and fear). Few people walking around are very strong, fast of flexible. In other words your average street brawler should not provide a very challenging match. Now lets compare that to what you face in the ring. If you are on a quality show you will be facing someone of equal skill level. For a high level martial artists this should be a very good test.

The fighter across from you has trained. They are skilled, they are athletes. This isn’t some drunken jack ass. This is someone who has been preparing for weeks or even months for the express purpose of kicking your butt. They have planed, trained, sweated just for you. If they have a good coach and a shape mind they will know your weaknesses, your strengths. They have a strategy to over come your body and your mind. Now honestly; do you really believe that getting ready to face a determined, skilled, powerful athlete leaves you less prepared then training for the random, unskilled blitz attacker?

Here adds another element that is missing from nearly all dojo training and that is fighting from a losing position and fighting hurt. Fight a skilled fighters and I assure you at some point they will have you at a disadvantage. I have heard Kung Fu types and people like Mark MacYoung (BS) who say never go to the ground. Well nice advice guys. You would make great baseball coaches; "just hit home runs." Saying it will not make it so. If you fight a good fighter; you are going to the ground, end of story. If your fighting a good wrestlers not only are you going there; you are not getting back up with out winning.

Now most street attacks that are really scary are blitz attacks meaning you don’t see it coming and your first offence takes place after you have already been hurt. More then likely you are already on the ground. You are in trouble fella. If all your fight training is from your feet facing a charging or other wise foolish attacker your screwed. If your training always lets you have the first shot or see the first shoot coming your screwed anyway. Now in a fight you will see the first shot coming; but at some point your going to be in a bad position; belly down, on you back, tired, dazed, etc. To survive from here kiddies is not a matter of technique. I can show you a million things to do from here and where to go; but they are meaningless unless you have heart and mind engaged. Your heart will not let you die; your mind lets you use your skills. That means can you get there and not panic. When that bastard has you pinned down and is raining down blows do you have enough sense to not panic and bite someone? Can you be controlled when it has all gone to hell? Do you have the heart not to quit? Where do you want to answer these questions in the ring or in the street?

This is one of the great lessons of the ring. It is not about de-evolving into a savage folks. If your master is teaching you to bite, scream, claw, etc they are fools. You don’t need to be trained to do this. It is about being able to react, think and adapt under pressure. That means finding the best path when under stress. Nothing provides this like competition. Brazilian Jujitsu does not train you to pull someone to a guard in the middle of a street fight. It teaches you to use the most effective means possible to disable your attacker. By having been choked many times and learning to deal with that pain and panic you will think far more clearly under pressure. I have never seen a wrestler pin someone in a street fight. I have seen a lot of them dump people on the cement to end an argument. The people who make such arguments are simply idiots. Inexperience can cause mistakes; but competition more then anyone single element will give you the experience needed. Competition does not switch off your animal brain; it teaches you to control your darkest nature.

At the beginning of this article I talked about being well rounded. From the above we can see that competition is absolutely vital for any training that prepares someone to defend himself. However as we understand Martial Art it is about more then being able to win a barroom dust up. It is about mental and emotional balance. It is about character that endures hard times and improves good times. Again nothing does this like competition.

Some think that martial sport has little concern for History, Philosophical, Self Actualization, life long pursuit, inner power, harmony and other such attributes. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most athletes have a very clear understanding of their sports history. They have a deep understanding of what others have had to go through to be successful. Coaches of martial sport place a great emphasis on the development of character. The reason is simple. It takes character to get up at 6AM and do your road work. It takes character to hit the mat or ring night after night. It takes character to endure the pain, injury, the blood, sweat and tears. Plus anyone who plays a sport starts at the bottom; at least in their own club if no where else.

When I started martial sports I had studied Martial Arts for a long time. It made me cocky, and a bit of a bully. When I started training with a team of highly skilled fighter they beat me ragged every single night. Nearly everyone who started with me quite. But night after night I showed up for my beatings. What I learned was humility, determination and most importantly how to learn. A philosophy of humility, desire, passion, compassion, comradeship and self improvement are inherent in Martial Sport. They real difference is they are learned through deed rather then word.

Some think that the goal of competition is to defeat others. This is incorrect. Yes, martial sports like any sport (and many martial arts) has a few self glorying jerks. However the vast majority of athletes have the highest respect for their fellow athletes. While competition in the ring may be fierce; outside the ring these men are brothers in a way only they can understand. Other are there to teach us, learn from us, push us, support us, test us. Failure and success only have a transitory connection with winning and losing. Most athletes only see failure in not competing or quitting. Winning and losing tends to be quite unimportant to many athletes; at least when compared to playing. The game itself; your moment in the sun so to speak is really just a reward. A win a sweeter reward; but just being there is the reward for your efforts. But it is those efforts that build the character so many martial artists claim is their true pursuit.

One of my students recently won the MN Combat Sports Welter Weight title. In the grand scheme of things this may not mean much. However he worked 3 years for that moment. Three years of getting pounded on, humbled, stretched, pushed, slammed. It was a great moment. And yep some day that belt will lose it’s luster for him as all the trophies and medals do. But that doesn’t matter because all they really are is a symbol of the man who won them.

And that man was forged in a test of fire. You talk about building character; what better then adversity? What better then challenge? What you do when your heart gets broken? How you handle it your dreams coming true.? These are the test of a man. That is the value of competition. And what purer competition then the one on one contest of martial sports?

So there is the value at the end of day. Not the man in the spot light; but how that man carries his head when the spot light fades. That is when they will understand that their reward was not won on such and such a date against so and so. It was won a little at a time, day in day out. In practice, in preparation to release their skills. It was won in over coming their fears, over coming their ego, over coming sloth, over coming pain, over coming anger.

Yes some of these things may be learned in the dojo walking through the motions. But remember back to that first competition. The fear, the anxiety. The exhilaration of being on the mat and all the things you learned jumping trough your brain all at once creating a focused buzz. Remember how all the world fell away leaving just you and him. In the aftermath the pride you felt; the justified pride tempered only by the shocking realization of how far you have yet to go.

I find it shocking how many of the so called masters use to compete but now scoff at competition and do not allow or at least do not push their students to compete. They have been there; however with age they have grown disinterested in competition. Perhaps it was losing or feet of clay. Or maybe they had learned all they could learn from the ring. But you did learn from it. To deny that to your students is theft. One of the great burdens of being a teacher is that even a mild disinclination towards an activity can be read as denunciation. For your students to compete they would need your enthusiastic support. I wonder do you really think it is fair to deny them that?
See pushing to compete

Sure martial arts offers so much more then competition. It even offers more then the elements I have mentioned above. But there is time enough to learn it when competition is no longer an option. As long as they have that choice coaches should encourage students to fly. If you read this article with an open mind sit back and ask yourself is your martial art really offering all it could? Are you testing yourself, truly testing yourself? The test is out there waiting for you. I’m sure I can help you get into show anywhere in the US. The test is waiting; step up!