I remember when I was at University, I was training in Ju jitsu after training in karate. Felt like things weren't working and that I didn't have any style or ability. I got attacked by 2 guys at night and i reacted instantly, throwing the combo we drilled over and over and a thrusting side kick......felt completely off at the time but, it worked and I'm still here :) My training and muscle memory got me through
Yes, effective self defense is a result, no matter how achieved, not a method, a set of techniques, or demonstration of technique. There's a difference between defending yourself and just trying out or showing off what you know; real self defense isn't just a sparring opportunity.
My pet peeve is people saying that marital arts is useless because you get confused from having too many techniques to use, when in fact all those techniques only branch out from a small foundation.
That’s a great point! Just because a style offers 1000 techniques, doesn’t mean you’re expected to master all of them. The variety in a complex style allows for a diverse range of people to choose their own adventures. Thanks for the comment, sir!🙏🏻
Very nice. Yeah, as a 59-year-old who still practices solo, I am honest enough to say, if attacked, I don't know if I'll "win," whatever that might mean. Assuming I don't get sucker-punched or freeze and it actually comes to an unarmed fight, I do think the other guy's going to get hurt, possibly badly. And I might at the same time. I sometimes say the big difference between me and some random person on the street is that I at least have a plan. Hopefully I'll never have to see if any of this training works.
I remember when you talked back in the day about the Shuto "Any technique can work if you make it work." In real life and probably in the ring as well, most chances you won't see me doing moves that requires jumping because that's not me. What I love are the simple yet effective down to earth moves. And it happens in every art you may learn in your life, you receive an arsenal from your teacher and you decide in your brain what do you take and what you don't take but there is no such a thing "bad move" and "won't work."
Good memory-yes! It’s up to us to choose our own arsenal, and then do the work to make it work. And definitely, some choices require a lot MORE work! But that’s what makes it fun. Thanks for the comment, sir! Happy training!👍🏼
@@AndoMierzwa Hello Sensei Andrew, I remeber your video about Martial Arts / Karate. The core of your content was very similar likewise "playing the odds" or to learn to have control of your body and sense the situation. Thank you for your time and effort. Kind regards from Germany.
Good video and good advice. I find that the middle of sparring is the worst time for anyone to try to tell someone sparring what to do. They are too focused on the opponent to do much of anything else well. Instead, it's better to talk about it and work on it after the sparring session, and as you say, only work on one thing at a time.
As someone famous once said i fear not the man who practiced 10,000 kicks once but i fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times, and thats what martial arts is all about learning a multitude of techniques but using 1 that works for a given situation...
@@AndoMierzwa ha ha I’m just curious because I just want to know how old you are because sometimes I feel like I’m a little too old to get started with martial arts and I might not be tall enough or strong enough to really be capable
@AndoMierzwa oh yeah definitely My old instructor once said imagine your walking down an alleyway and someone goes to throw a punch you need to give a strong middle section block to block the punch that was a red flag there the odds of blocking the punch is very low indeed, anyway i love watching your videos they are very educational 👍👍👍
"You win battles with the timing in the Void born of the timing of cunning by knowing the enemies’ timing, and thus using a timing which the enemy does not expect." - Miyamoto Musashi
Here's what matters? What's your goal? Know that first, before you go in to a studio. Then if you're not asked that same question w/in the first 3...dip.
Good information as usual. You should do a video on your system if you haven't already. I would be interested to hear more about it; I'm sure other's would too.
Hello from Pakistan. My experience. Two important things for a real fight. Courage and technique. If one is courageous but lacks technique, they will get their a** kicked. If one is skilled but lacks courage, they will still get their a** kicked.
Agree, but with well there is a but, here it comes. We are playing the odds with some universal rules, like for example how body is build, like internet is dark place and there are schools and master redefining laws of physics. Examples like doing 5 moves on attackers one (nobody is that fast) or clams that with crossed leg you can be stable and generate power that will never work as it violates principles. btw grabbing knife is not so stupid it will give you leverage and it is possible to grab blade safely. Not the expert on knife fighting, but that sounds plausible.
The thing I appreciate most about the Rear Naked Choke is that it teaches the lesson that securing the most dominate position of back control usually results in victory. It not really the RNC that is effective, it's all the steps that led you to being in a position to defeat your opponent! I think it has some philosophical value in that you can see how in life, success is the result of many careful and less dramatic steps that bring you to the right place at the right time. I really enjoyed this video Sensei Ando, you consistently have the some of the most balanced and reasonable discussions about martial arts!
Thx for that video and nice edit and effects that you added. Some guys in a fight they say that won't work or ain't work in real life thats to disappoint your martial arts to defeat you so we need to unlisten to them 👍
I think much of this is very good food for thought but, by extension, kicking a knife out of somebody's hand probably won't work for most people most of the time, if we're really talking about playing the odds and not just saying that "there are no guarantees and so anything is possible with any technique". Playing the odds means prioritizing the perceived probability of outcomes over just the sheer possibility of outcomes even though both can be valid. As with the rear naked choke, all techniques aren't of equal value or utility just because someone somewhere has probably made virtually any technique work under some set of circumstances. Rightly or wrongly, any set of techniques within any system of martial arts is an assessment of what probably will and won't work in combat, even though there are often surprises when various systems and their assumptions about combat collide. As just a practical matter, many people become best at countering fighters using their own style because that's what they are most familiar with, and train against, most often. In terms of time and resources, you have to train in something at the expense of not training in other things, even though as Bruce Lee famously pointed out, you also need to keep your mind open to other things that work and various systems can be too rigid in their combat assumptions. To bring the thing full circle, how many instructors who were present and saw the knife kicked away twice would or wouldn't advise it to their students as a technique with a good probability of success? Saying it could never work obviously does go too far, but what is the probability of success for most people? If the answer is "nobody can say because there are just too many variables involved" - and this could be said of any technique - then there are no odds to play because there is no way to assess/calculate them to begin with. If the knife defense instructor had said "that probably won't work in a real fight" instead of "you can't go kicking knives out of people's hands", would the instructor have been wrong?
Thank you for insightful comment! More food for thought for sure. My main point is to encourage students to include more variables in their training. If you only train in one format, under one set of rules, you might find yourself freezing up when life doesn’t match your expectations. So, if you’re a boxer, sparring two people once in a while is a good idea. If you’re into BJJ, tossing in a knife once in a while will encourage some different problem-solving. Thanks again! 🙏🏻
@@AndoMierzwa- You're most welcome! Some of what you're touching on there are also the differences between martial arts, combat sports and self defense, although there are obvious overlaps as well. Combat sports are often good for pressure testing techniques but, as sports, also assume fair, one-on-one, fights. Many martial arts are not as good in pressure testing but can also train in a wider variety of fight scenarios and bring weapon training into play. I'd argue that someone interested in self defense needs both, but that self defense itself is nothing more than a successful outcome, however achieved, which minimizes damage; that self defense is just successful self preservation and that technique is only one means to an end and not an end in itself. "Winning" in terms of self defense is a very different thing than "winning" in martial arts and/or combat sports. Coming back to the knife kicking scenario, I still find it a bit of a paradox: that a good instructor could see it actually work twice, but, quite legitimately, wouldn't necessarily recommend it to students based on the probability of it working for them. But again, it's the difference between the possible and the probable.
@@Malt454 "The possible and probable"-that's a great title! 😁 I agree that winning in self-defense is not the same as winning in combat sports. Which is why finding those "overlaps" between different training modalities leads to our best chance at success in any realm. Thanks again for the discussion! (And for the first proper usage of a semi-colon in the comments!) 👍
"Playing the odds." I couldn't put it better myself. Thank you, sensei. Also, the best self defence tip I've ever heard: Fight! Fight!
Great to hear from you, my friend! Thanks for being here!
I remember when I was at University, I was training in Ju jitsu after training in karate. Felt like things weren't working and that I didn't have any style or ability. I got attacked by 2 guys at night and i reacted instantly, throwing the combo we drilled over and over and a thrusting side kick......felt completely off at the time but, it worked and I'm still here :) My training and muscle memory got me through
Thanks for sharing that story! Glad that all worked out!
This is why situational awareness is the best self defence strategy. It helps you illuminate some of the unknowns that you mentioned.
Hopefully! Thank you for the comment!
Yes, effective self defense is a result, no matter how achieved, not a method, a set of techniques, or demonstration of technique. There's a difference between defending yourself and just trying out or showing off what you know; real self defense isn't just a sparring opportunity.
@@Malt454 Well said! The hope is to walk around hoping to NOT show what I know! :)
OODA loops!
My pet peeve is people saying that marital arts is useless because you get confused from having too many techniques to use, when in fact all those techniques only branch out from a small foundation.
That’s a great point! Just because a style offers 1000 techniques, doesn’t mean you’re expected to master all of them. The variety in a complex style allows for a diverse range of people to choose their own adventures. Thanks for the comment, sir!🙏🏻
My "pet peeve" is people trying to figure out what art "Really works".
@@oldnatty61Fair enough! 😁
You tell them brother!!! Short knifes don't bother me much. I have been practicing JKD since 1981!
@@AndoMierzwado you understand what JKD is all about?
Very nice. Yeah, as a 59-year-old who still practices solo, I am honest enough to say, if attacked, I don't know if I'll "win," whatever that might mean. Assuming I don't get sucker-punched or freeze and it actually comes to an unarmed fight, I do think the other guy's going to get hurt, possibly badly. And I might at the same time. I sometimes say the big difference between me and some random person on the street is that I at least have a plan. Hopefully I'll never have to see if any of this training works.
I hope you're never put to the test, either! :D Thanks for contributing!
I remember when you talked back in the day about the Shuto "Any technique can work if you make it work." In real life and probably in the ring as well, most chances you won't see me doing moves that requires jumping because that's not me. What I love are the simple yet effective down to earth moves. And it happens in every art you may learn in your life, you receive an arsenal from your teacher and you decide in your brain what do you take and what you don't take but there is no such a thing "bad move" and "won't work."
Good memory-yes! It’s up to us to choose our own arsenal, and then do the work to make it work. And definitely, some choices require a lot MORE work! But that’s what makes it fun. Thanks for the comment, sir! Happy training!👍🏼
@@AndoMierzwa Hello Sensei Andrew, I remeber your video about Martial Arts / Karate. The core of your content was very similar likewise "playing the odds" or to learn to have control of your body and sense the situation.
Thank you for your time and effort.
Kind regards from Germany.
@@salvatoreplacidoplumari3840 I am honored by your close attention! Thank you for the support!
Thank you for sharing this video Ando! The clean, simple, no-nonsense "most" approach here is encouraging and inspiring. All the best good sir!
Very glad it made sense! Thank you for the kind words! 🙏🏻
Good talk Ando!
Much appreciated, sir! Happy training!👍🏼
Thank you
Thank you for watching!
Good video and good advice.
I find that the middle of sparring is the worst time for anyone to try to tell someone sparring what to do. They are too focused on the opponent to do much of anything else well.
Instead, it's better to talk about it and work on it after the sparring session, and as you say, only work on one thing at a time.
Makes sense! If the brain is focused on sparring, that already counts as one task to focus on.😁👍🏼
It's all 50/50 any fight can go ether way at any time.
Thanks for your vote!😁
Sound advice.
Thank you very much!
@@AndoMierzwa oh you're more than welcome. I've yet to see any of your videos that were not helpful and informative.
@@mattinthehat3 Much appreciated, sir!
@@AndoMierzwa 👍😉
As someone famous once said i fear not the man who practiced 10,000 kicks once but i fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times, and thats what martial arts is all about learning a multitude of techniques but using 1 that works for a given situation...
Good vid. Only speking the truth
Thank you for the kind words! 🙏🏻
Hey ando! curious how tall are you without shoes and how old are you? Great content
Howdy! 6’ and 53. Please use this information for good. 😄
@@AndoMierzwa ha ha I’m just curious because I just want to know how old you are because sometimes I feel like I’m a little too old to get started with martial arts and I might not be tall enough or strong enough to really be capable
@@jackx341Listen carefully, my friend- you are tall enough and young enough to sign up and get started! Go for it! 😁👍🏼
Is there a link to the robbery video?
I don’t have one. There are so many crazy videos! 😄
Are you saying the grasshopper move can work?
That’s a solid maybe.😁
One thing I never get from this channel - Bad Advice.
I appreciate that. Thank you! 🙏🏻
I wish my old Taekwondo instructors gave this type of advice
@@MaddogKernan Hope it helped! Happy training!
@AndoMierzwa oh yeah definitely
My old instructor once said imagine your walking down an alleyway and someone goes to throw a punch you need to give a strong middle section block to block the punch that was a red flag there the odds of blocking the punch is very low indeed, anyway i love watching your videos they are very educational 👍👍👍
@@MaddogKernan I'm sure he meant well. And we all have to start somewhere! :)
This guy looks familiar.
The point of martial arts is role playing as Power Rangers and Batman and John wick XD
If you are getting your knife kicked out of your hand repeatedly, then maybe you shouldn't be teaching knife defense.
To be fair, he’s not teaching how to ATTACK with a knife! 😄
All of these youtube talking heads expending so much energy denigrating the traditional arts make themselves look desperate.
Definitely a band wagon that many people are too quick to jump on! 😁
Thank you, man!!! I've been trying to communicate almost the same message for more than ten years!! 😅...very well condensed, straight to the point 👊
Glad to hear we’re on the same page, my friend. Keep up the good work!👍🏼
"You win battles with the timing in the Void born of the timing of cunning by knowing the enemies’ timing, and thus using a timing which the enemy does not expect." -
Miyamoto Musashi
I won’t be arguing with him! Thanks for the comment. 😁
YOU ARE THE ART.
Beautiful!!!
Thank you, Sensei 🙇🏽♂🙇🏽♂
Thanks for watching the whole video, my friend! 😁 Keep fighting! 👊🏼
A wise *and* cool sensei
I appreciate that. Thank you! 🙏🏻
Great to know
🙏🏻
👍
🙏🏻
Totally agree with what you said. Low kicks works better on the streets. Be like water.
Especially as I get older! 😁
You have to try, right? Might as well practice it, even if it’s low percentage, it can work. Be safe
Always keep a couple of wild cards in your deck! Thanks for the comment!😁
Paradoxically, sometimes a low percentage technique ends up being extremely successful because it’s so unexpected
@@KevinHuangPhasorQuantaG Funny how that works! :D
Here's what matters? What's your goal? Know that first, before you go in to a studio. Then if you're not asked that same question w/in the first 3...dip.
Clear goals save time, for sure.
Hi, long time no see!
yepp, missed the happy man, too
Happy to be back! 😁
I appreciate that! Thank you! 🙏🏻
This is a perfect counter point to Gabriel Varga's video about useless Karate moves.
I like Gabriel’s channel! 👍🏼 There’s room for everyone. Thank you for the comment! 🙏🏻
Anytime, any day 🤔 will problems stay away,,
If in luck that's okay,, if not, prepare to duck 4 times,, ,y,just never know who wants to cook you 😎⚡
That is pretty good! 😄👍🏼
If it works, it's a good technique, if it gets you killed, not so much.
Right! 😁
Good work Andy. Keep it up
Will do! Thank you very much!
Good information as usual. You should do a video on your system if you haven't already. I would be interested to hear more about it; I'm sure other's would too.
I appreciate the support, sir! It’s always a work in progress! 😁
Good sir do you know what exercises I could us to get stronger in arm wrestling
I have no background in that sport… sorry! 💪🏼
One of the most sensical videos on this topic I’ve seen.
I appreciate that. Thank you! 🙏🏻
Hello from Pakistan.
My experience.
Two important things for a real fight. Courage and technique.
If one is courageous but lacks technique, they will get their a** kicked.
If one is skilled but lacks courage, they will still get their a** kicked.
Well said! :D Thanks for sharing, sir!
@@AndoMierzwa You da man!
@@maliktariq5553 Back atcha!
Motivational...
Thank you very much!
WELL SAID!
Thank you very much!
Yes I agree.
👍🏼👍🏼
Agree, but with well there is a but, here it comes. We are playing the odds with some universal rules, like for example how body is build, like internet is dark place and there are schools and master redefining laws of physics. Examples like doing 5 moves on attackers one (nobody is that fast) or clams that with crossed leg you can be stable and generate power that will never work as it violates principles.
btw grabbing knife is not so stupid it will give you leverage and it is possible to grab blade safely. Not the expert on knife fighting, but that sounds plausible.
Good point. Yes, life is chaotic, but if we can discover and utilize universal laws, then our odds of success go way up. Thank you for the comment!
The thing I appreciate most about the Rear Naked Choke is that it teaches the lesson that securing the most dominate position of back control usually results in victory. It not really the RNC that is effective, it's all the steps that led you to being in a position to defeat your opponent!
I think it has some philosophical value in that you can see how in life, success is the result of many careful and less dramatic steps that bring you to the right place at the right time.
I really enjoyed this video Sensei Ando, you consistently have the some of the most balanced and reasonable discussions about martial arts!
I love your philosophical interpretation of a RNC! Good thinking! Thank you for the insightful comment! 👍🏼
Thx for that video and nice edit and effects that you added. Some guys in a fight they say that won't work or ain't work in real life thats to disappoint your martial arts to defeat you so we need to unlisten to them 👍
I like your attitude! 😁 Thanks very much for the kind words. Happy training!
Thank you Governor
My pleasure! 😁
I think much of this is very good food for thought but, by extension, kicking a knife out of somebody's hand probably won't work for most people most of the time, if we're really talking about playing the odds and not just saying that "there are no guarantees and so anything is possible with any technique". Playing the odds means prioritizing the perceived probability of outcomes over just the sheer possibility of outcomes even though both can be valid. As with the rear naked choke, all techniques aren't of equal value or utility just because someone somewhere has probably made virtually any technique work under some set of circumstances.
Rightly or wrongly, any set of techniques within any system of martial arts is an assessment of what probably will and won't work in combat, even though there are often surprises when various systems and their assumptions about combat collide. As just a practical matter, many people become best at countering fighters using their own style because that's what they are most familiar with, and train against, most often. In terms of time and resources, you have to train in something at the expense of not training in other things, even though as Bruce Lee famously pointed out, you also need to keep your mind open to other things that work and various systems can be too rigid in their combat assumptions.
To bring the thing full circle, how many instructors who were present and saw the knife kicked away twice would or wouldn't advise it to their students as a technique with a good probability of success? Saying it could never work obviously does go too far, but what is the probability of success for most people? If the answer is "nobody can say because there are just too many variables involved" - and this could be said of any technique - then there are no odds to play because there is no way to assess/calculate them to begin with.
If the knife defense instructor had said "that probably won't work in a real fight" instead of "you can't go kicking knives out of people's hands", would the instructor have been wrong?
Thank you for insightful comment! More food for thought for sure.
My main point is to encourage students to include more variables in their training. If you only train in one format, under one set of rules, you might find yourself freezing up when life doesn’t match your expectations. So, if you’re a boxer, sparring two people once in a while is a good idea. If you’re into BJJ, tossing in a knife once in a while will encourage some different problem-solving.
Thanks again! 🙏🏻
@@AndoMierzwa- You're most welcome!
Some of what you're touching on there are also the differences between martial arts, combat sports and self defense, although there are obvious overlaps as well.
Combat sports are often good for pressure testing techniques but, as sports, also assume fair, one-on-one, fights. Many martial arts are not as good in pressure testing but can also train in a wider variety of fight scenarios and bring weapon training into play.
I'd argue that someone interested in self defense needs both, but that self defense itself is nothing more than a successful outcome, however achieved, which minimizes damage; that self defense is just successful self preservation and that technique is only one means to an end and not an end in itself. "Winning" in terms of self defense is a very different thing than "winning" in martial arts and/or combat sports.
Coming back to the knife kicking scenario, I still find it a bit of a paradox: that a good instructor could see it actually work twice, but, quite legitimately, wouldn't necessarily recommend it to students based on the probability of it working for them. But again, it's the difference between the possible and the probable.
@@Malt454 "The possible and probable"-that's a great title! 😁 I agree that winning in self-defense is not the same as winning in combat sports. Which is why finding those "overlaps" between different training modalities leads to our best chance at success in any realm. Thanks again for the discussion! (And for the first proper usage of a semi-colon in the comments!) 👍