The colored belt ranking system is a commonplace feature of modern martial arts. It’s even a part of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP), with colors like tan, grey, brown, green, and the ever-present black. Most other martial arts still use what have become the usual colors, with white, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, brown, red, and black. I’ve even earned a camouflage belt in Taekwondo once. Every organization has their own order for the colors, as well as their own meaning. Some systems even assign meanings to the colors themselves (white means a blank slate, purity, and so on). What is clear is that, whatever you think of the current trend in belt ranks, it will probably be a feature of martial arts training for a long time.
As for Jiu-jitsu, I stumbled upon a nifty explanation for it’s belt system. The visual metaphor is effective and makes use of the popular martial arts visual of seeing techniques as tools. Read and tell me what you think…
A nifty visual for understanding the Jiu-jitsu belt system…
The only thing harder than becoming a good fighter, in my opinion, is making a good fighter. Training other people takes a higher amount of artistry and understanding of the art than being taught. I think this is the defining characteristic of the martial arts. Martial arts is not so much about fighting as it is about teaching someone how to fight. This is where we get creative little labels for stances, techniques, and positions, such as horse stance, leopard’s paw, tiger claw, and so on. It’s about seeing significant patterns in how a fight is conducted and won and explaining that pattern to others. It’s also about finding new solutions to complex problems. Fighting is, after all, a form of problem solving.
So that brings us to today’s challenge. I want you to watch a video. It’s not inspirational, professional, funny (or not meant to be, anyway), or even all that interesting. It’s footage of an amateur MMA match in Canada, and the fighters are, shall we say, inexperienced? For those of you who’ve taught martial arts before, it might just make you cringe. Here it is:
Now that you’ve seen it, here’s my question: what would you have taught either one of these fighters to win this fight? Assume you had only a little time to train them, say a month or two. What do you think would have benefited them most in this particular match? Be specific, and try not to use blanket terms like “how to fight”.
I will say without apology that the skill levels represented in this video are horrendous, but I still have respect for the two young men who stepped into that cage. It’s more than I’ve done, and it takes courage to face someone on such an equal playing field like they did.
My personal answer: this was a match between two very inadequate strikers. I would have taught either one of them the most basic ground fighting strategies. Close the distance, body fold takedown, pass the guard, mount, ground and pound. Submissions would be hard with those gloves on, so I would simply drill some heavy-handed punches from the top of the mount, side mount, and rear mount. I would keep the list of techniques short and drill them over and over and over again against live, resisting opponents. I think that kind of training would have given either fighter an immediate advantage in this fight.
How would you have prepared either fighter for this fight?
These Jiu-jitsu practitioners address the problem of eye gouging when ground fighting. For those who don’t know, eye gouging and other dirty fighting tactics are a common argument against Jiu-jitsu training.
Fighting multiple attackers would be way more possible if shadow clones were real…
What kid did not fantasize about taking on hordes of enemies with his bare hands, like a character from Naruto or Dragonball Z? Heck, I still do! But it’s all part of the martial arts appeal, isn’t it? The training makes us feel competent, strong, maybe even powerful. Knowing you’re the toughest guy in the room feels pretty good. That brings us to the subject perhaps most contended and debated among martial artists: defeating multiple opponents. In martial arts culture, the idea of engaging and prevailing over more than one assailant at a time is a big deal, especially in arts that emphasize self-defense, and the ability to do so is considered the epitome of martial prowess.
As a matter of fact, this feature of martial training (or lack thereof) is sometimes used as a criticism of certain styles, such as grappling arts. You can get a pretty good summary of this argument by looking up a Jiu-jitsu video on YouTube and skimming the comments below. There’s always a critic who mentions Jiu-jitsu’s inability to engage multiple attackers. The argument goes like this: if you’re rolling around on the ground with one guy, his buddy is just going to kick you in the head, therefore Jiu-jitsu and other grappling arts are not realistic or effective against real opponents.
I call that bluff. Show me the evidence. I want to see the martial art that can fight off multiple attackers at once. And I don’t mean a choreographed demo. I mean video of a street brawl. A news story. Facts. Because as of yet, I have never seen evidence of a martial artist successfully fighting off multiple attackers with any martial art. It certainly never happens in sport. There are no two-on-one cage fights as far as I’ve heard. So how do we know what works and what doesn’t in these sorts of confrontations?
Actually, there are fighters who regularly engage multiple enemies at once successfully. They’re military personnel. Marines, SEALs, infantry, and so on. Also, law enforcement professionals. And how do they all do it successfully? Tools. Weapons. Anything that extends your range, or enables you to deal damage from farther away than your own arms and legs. Assault rifles, grenades, and mortar shells all accomplish this. But how do you do it without those things? Say, if you’re ambushed in a bathroom at a gas station? Good question, and not an easy one to answer.
Combat, you see, can be divided into parts. The big part, the sum of the whole, is the engagement. An engagement can be divided into smaller exchanges. An exchange is a relatively short trade of techniques between two combatants. This is where all the punches, kicks, blocks, chokes, and throws occur. A small one-on-one encounter may involve one or a few exchanges between fighters. This is a simple fight, the sort of thing most martial arts training prepares you for. It gets really complex, however, when you throw in additional opponents, since most human beings, regardless of athletic ability or martial arts experience, can only exchange with one opponent at a time effectively. You only have so many arms and legs, and you can only reach so far. You can’t hardly pay attention to more than one person at a time, for that matter. The big danger for martial artists occurs when they try to exchange with more than one opponent at a time. While you’re throwing a punch at enemy A, enemy B could be doing the exact same thing to you from directly behind. Don’t even mention enemies C, D, E, and F!
So how can it be done? First, if you absolutely must engage more than one opponent at a time, position yourself so you only have to exchange blows with one at a time. This requires mobility and survival skills. It might require you to escape from your current position (say, trapped in the middle of a group) and retreat to a more defendable position (like a narrow hallway or doorway). You must know how to minimize damage to your vital areas and how to escape a variety of common holds and bad positions. You must be willing and able to frequently withdraw from the engagement when your position is no longer defendable and you can no longer exchange with one opponent at a time.
Sound difficult? It should, because it is. The situation becomes further impossible when your opponents are armed and with every additional opponent. In order to prevail, you must hope that your assailants are unmotivated, untrained, unarmed, or unfit. Otherwise, your best bet is a firearm.
To get a feel for what this sort of situation is like, try a little two-on-one sparring. I recommend your opponents take it easy on you, since injury will be easier here than it would normally be in a one-on-one match. Try to position your opponents one behind the other for as long as you can, and try not to get cornered.
Here are a few videos with very different views on how to engage multiple attackers. Be sure to tell me what you think…
Martial arts culture is full of rivalries and dichotomies: traditional training vs. sport training, eastern arts vs. western arts, hard vs. soft. The list goes on. One rivalry, however, is one I’d eventually like to see put to rest. I’m talking about strikers vs. grapplers. In my mind, striking techniques and grappling techniques are but tools for achieving an objective. I began my martial arts training in the striking arts: Kenpo, Karate, and Taekwondo. Now I train Gracie Jiu-jitsu. Very seldom did these two different strategies meet for me in class, but now I see a little of one in the other can make a good fighter great. Since I usually talk about the many virtues of Jiu-jitsu, I want to point out the incredible usefulness and versatility of strikes. I do agree that grappling is more appropriate for all levels of violence, since grappling techniques can be as gentle as they are effective. Strikes, however, are useful tools for opening opportunities, disrupting your opponent’s movements, and causing some quick, obvious damage. This is assuming, of course, that your opponent has become assaultive, and you are legally justified in hitting him. Striking has so many great uses besides simply knocking someone out. One is to simply cause your opponent to move. Throwing jabs and crosses at your opponent’s face, for example, can cause him to cover his face with his hands and even change his posture, thus making him easier to approach and grapple. Mounting your opponent and striking him from above can, besides causing him to surrender, force him to raise his arms in defense, opening the way for an armbar or a shoulder lock. Strikes can also cause your opponent to hesitate, stumble, or otherwise abandon their intended movement. Is he rushing towards you with his fist raised, ready to strike? A simple push kick to his leg or hip can stop his movement dead in its tracks, or even cause him to stumble and fall. Is he trying to grab your groin when you’ve mounted him (don’t laugh, we’re all adults here!)? A simple elbow to his face, even if it doesn’t connect, can convince him that such an exchange would not be in his favor. I like how many things you can achieve through a little blunt force trauma. I’ve never been confident in knockout strategies. Knockouts are harder to get than most people think. As a grappler, however, I highly value any tactic that can help me close the distance with my opponent or illicit a predictable reaction from them. Though Gracie Jiu-jitsu takes up the bulk of my training, I sometimes pull out the target mitts and drill a few combos and my footwork. Grapplers: how do you incorporate striking into your training? Strikers: how do you incorporate grappling into your training?
Recently a New Jersey mom was cooking breakfast when a man broke in through her locked back door and began to savagely beat her in front of the woman’s 3-year-old daughter. Please watch the video below:
As martial artists and self defense practitioners, it is our business (and likely our moral responsibility, considering our training) to consider this footage and examine these circumstances. How did the assailant behave? What were the strategies and tactics employed? What were his goals? Also consider the environment. How did the setting of this assault affect the progression and outcome of events? Which objects were present that could have been used to make a difference? What training could this woman have had to help her prevent this from happening?
In other words: how could martial arts training have helped this woman?
I want your honest analysis. I would appreciate your assessment of the circumstances as they occurred, as well as your proposal for training that could have helped the situation. Here’s mine:
The attack occurred in a home furnished with large furniture, which may have hindered some movement. The attack initially occurred in the kitchen, where I assume there was an abundance of weapons of opportunity.
The assailant was larger and physically stronger than his victim. He appeared to be unarmed and to have little or no combat training. He employed the universal fight plan, overwhelming his victim with inefficient strikes until she was immobilized. It appeared his goal was to incapacitate her so he could rob the home undisturbed.
The victim was a woman of medium height and medium build. She was not so small that fighting back would not have been an option for her. She had little or no combat training. She employed instinctive, but inefficient defenses against the attacker’s strikes. With her daughter present, she was unable to escape quickly.
Conclusion: This woman, with the right training and preparation, could and should have fought back. The presence of her daughter made simple escapes slow and dangerous. It also made the attack all the more dangerous, since the daughter could potentially have become a victim as well. Ground fighting training, especially bottom positions with defense against strikes, could have reduced the injury she received during the assault. I also would recommend training in weapons of opportunity, since the kitchen was likely filled with utensils and other small objects that could have been used to great effect. Firearm training could also have been very beneficial, though she would have had to fight to get to it. Either way, dedicated self-defense training could have changed the outcome of this assault. She could have injured her attacker and delayed him enough to escape with her daughter.
Please share your assessment of this scenario. How will you train yourself and others to prevent this sort of thing from happening?
A lot of people like to argue about which of all martial arts styles is the best, “best” meaning “most effective” most of the time in those arguments. Never heard this argument before? Go to YouTube, look up a self defense video, and proceed to the comments section below. It’ll be there. The hard part about this argument is, of course, that fighting is a form of complex problem solving, the complex problem in most cases being interpersonal violence. And, like most complex problems, violence has many possible answers whose effectiveness is hard to quantify or measure. That is why, I believe, martial arts can be considered arts. Just like there are many ways to paint a portrait, there are many ways to navigate the progression of violent acts from an opponent. Hence so many martial arts styles.
There are a few, however, that stand apart from all other styles. These are the combat forms and martial arts of armed forces. These are the martial arts practiced by those who regularly experience combat on its grandest scale. The most notable of these arts is MCMAP, or the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. It is a heavily researched, well formulated program that tries to instill in every marine far more than simple hand to hand combat techniques. It is also the military combat training system most recognizable as a martial art, complete with a colored belt rank system. This program, I believe, is head and shoulders above all other military martial arts styles, not only for its physical training aspects, but for its mental and character emphasis as well. Their challenge is unique and daunting: to produce warriors who are not only unafraid to run towards the sounds of gunfire and engage the enemy at any range, but also capable of functioning as emotionally and mentally healthy members of the societies which they protect.
Physically, MCMAP is everything you could hope for in a combat-ready martial art. It emphasizes the use of strikes, grappling, arrest techniques, disarms, and a dizzying array of modern and improvised weaponry. It ties seamlessly into the principles of armed combat, so marines are able to switch between armed and unarmed techniques without hesitation. It is a flexible art that trains marines to be as lethal or non-lethal as is most appropriate for the situation. Marines are more than just killers, after all, and regularly deploy on peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.
More impressive to me, however, is the fact that the Marine Corps tries to instill moral values and intellectual lessons into their warriors as part of their martial arts program. To sum it all up in a few words, these lessons of moral accountability and warrior tradition are called the warrior ethos. In an article in The Marine Corps Gazette, Andrew Lubin explains what the warrior ethos is.
“The warrior ethos is a code of conduct… that embodies a life where integrity, loyalty, honor, and selflessness, and courage are one’s guide. Starting thousands of years ago with the hunters, these concepts evolved into the warrior societies where protection for the tribe was best achieved as a group working together. The rudimentary laws arising from the successful tribes evolved into the warrior ethos practiced by the Spartans and others where courage, cooperation, and acknowledging the strength of the group over that of the individual, enabled the tribe or the nation to survive.”
I often get skeptical when I’m presented with a list of pseudo-Asian philosophical values in a martial arts class, but the warrior ethos speaks to me. I think this is evidence that there are martial arts out there that are truly American, as opposed to distillations of Asian or Brazilian culture. I wish there were more civilian martial arts schools patterned after this program, complete with bayonet training and all!
How does the warrior ethos compare to the ethics taught in your martial arts training center?
Here’s a subject I would appreciate your feedback on, especially if you’ve ever kept a martial arts training journal. I’m currently brainstorming ideas for developing journals dedicated to martial artists for recording the details of their training sessions. The first, of course, will be geared towards Jiu-jitsu practitioners. Instead of simply having writing space, I thought of including some of the following:
Dedicated spaces for recording the techniques you covered and the people you trained with.
A list of symbols and shorthand script for common Jiu-jitsu terms (mount, guard, trap, sweep, ect.).
Monthly and weekly goals.
Competition dates and results.
Space for recording warm up exercises and fitness training.
I’m still in the concept phase of this project, but my ultimate goal is to mass produce these and make them available to martial artists everywhere. This is the sort of thing I think can be helpful to a lot of people, especially since some martial arts require such detail-rich instruction many people forget much of the material the next day. This will probably be one of those things I’ll work on every once in a while over the next year.
After that, I’ll be sure to publish them in scroll form, complete with ninja spells to guard your most forbidden techniques from the eyes of the uninitiated (patent pending).
Here is a trailer for the upcoming Pro Jiu-jitsu Invitational, Metamoris 2:
I am excited. For those of you unfamiliar with Jiu-jitsu tournaments, this is a unique movement in the art. Normally, Jiu-jitsu tournaments have a point system and a relatively short time limit of about 7 minutes or so. If no fighter has been submitted by the end of the time limit, the winner is decided by points accumulated through takedowns, sweeps, and establishing positions. It’s a lot like wrestling. Metamoris, however, features no points and a 20 minute time limit. You must win by submission. If neither fighter submits the other by the end of the time limit, the match is declared a draw. This is Jiu-jitsu at, what many practitioners agree, its purest. It’s a competition that accurately captures the finer points of the art as it was originally created.
This is also an opportunity for those uninitiated into the intricacies of grappling to see the art in action. These are among the best fighters the art has to offer. I hope you enjoy it. I know I will!
What should be a part of every white belt’s training?
Growing up, I moved every time my parents got stationed on a new Navy base. My adult life was even more transitive. That meant not staying at one dojo long enough to achieve any rank of consequence. As a result I’ve worn a lot of white belts over the course of my martial arts career. I think a Zen master would have something wise and positive to say about something like that, but I know, to many people, that the white belt status can feel a little low.
However, no matter how high we climb on the martial arts ladder, aren’t we all still white belts? Think of this: our belt ranks mean virtually nothing the moment we set foot outside of our gyms! A Jiu-jitsu master is a nobody as soon as he steps out of his own academy, and is nothing more than a white belt in the dojo of any other martial art.
That’s why I like to take the white belt rank very seriously. I’m even considering getting one embroidered! I think this is the rank where you learn the skills you will use every time you fight. Almost every good martial artists out there still goes back to some of those first techniques and concepts they learned years ago as a newbie. I certainly do.
In my humble opinion, and I surely hope this becomes a discussion in the comment section below, the white belt’s first priority is to survive. It is the first and foremost priority of any fighter in any situation, to survive long enough to complete your objectives. That of course means learning the instinctual fight patterns of most people (the US Army calls this the “Universal Fight Plan”), and learning how to beat it. It also means finding the safe places in a fight, which may mean safe distances, safe positions, blocks, postures, and stances. It also means learning to use some basic techniques that can achieve a variety of results (e.g. punching, kicking, submissions, falls). Most importantly, I feel this is the period where a normal, everyday person becomes, by nature, a fighter, which is a definition that could and probably will take up a whole post on its own.
I think the modern white belt makes up a very important part of the population of our martial arts training centers. They have, perhaps, the most useful curriculum material and the most down-to-earth perspectives. They often are able to spot problems in fight strategies and detect holes in our training (any Jiu-jitsu practitioner who’s ever rolled with a strong white belt can attest to that!). Perhaps we should make a habit of dusting off those old white belt curriculums every once in a while and see if we’ve forgotten any of those basic lessons.
What do you think should be a part of every white belt’s curriculum?
Jiujitsu 