Knowledge vs. Skill and Your Self-Defense Ability
by Brad Parker

In the self-defense, defensive tactics or fighting trades, there are lots of experts out there.  But when it comes down to performing what they talk about, a large number of these experts fall by the way side.  

If you can’t do it, you don’t know it.

This is so obvious to be laughable, but what I’m going to say here is going to make a lot of readers uncomfortable. A lot of people can talk a good game about self-defense, but they are actually less prepared for an encounter than they think. There is a hugely significant difference in being able to talk about self-defense and actually being able to defend yourself.

And it’s not just beginners – or what Front Site calls the “unconsciously ignorant”. I’m talking about people who have trained in the past and some of those who are training right now!

The focus on the mental aspects of self-defense at the expense of the physical aspects is a trap -- a trap that many can fall into.  Sometimes it's blatant, like the blowhard trying to impress you and anyone else around with his Navy SEAL tales and cryptic talk of esoteric Asian martial arts systems that are "too deadly" to demonstrate.  Sometimes it's insidious, like the people who let time slip by and remember their past exploits through rose-colored glasses, deluding themselves in thinking that fighting skills are not perishable.  Sometimes it's comical, like the woman who told me that she didn't need self-defense training because her ex-husband was a black belt.

Yes, I contend that your brain is the most powerful weapon you have.  But having the intellectual knowledge of tactics and techniques is not enough. You must be able to physically perform at a level of violence that exceeds the level that is levied against you by an attacker. I’m using “level of violence” as a somewhat figurative term here since physical techniques such as superior evasion, and slipping and techniques that do not include hitting are appropriate here. However, I’m not talking about actions like calling the cops on your cell phone, running or driving away, etc.

I am thinking about the black belt that gets thrashed by some cowboy at a nightclub. Or the advanced martial arts student who is completely befuddled by an attacker who grabbed their hair and began punching away like a hockey fight. I’m thinking about the Internet-surfing NHB know-it-all that has never stepped into a ring or onto a mat.

You must regularly train. And you should train in a manner and method that is realistic.

Josephus, the Roman historian of the first century says the above keys are the same that led to the success of the Roman army:

“If one looks at the Roman military, it is seen that the Empire came into their hands as the result of their valor, not as a gift of fortune. For they do not wait for the outbreak of war to practice with weapons nor do they sit idle in peace mobilizing themselves only in time of need. Instead, they seem to have been born with weapons in their hands; never do they take a break from training or wait for emergencies to arise…One would not be incorrect in saying that their maneuvers are like bloodless battles, and their battles bloody maneuvers. “

Four hundred years later, Vegetius, a fifth-century writer on the Roman military said:

“Victory was granted not by mere numbers and innate courage, but by skill and training.”

Training is the key to self-defense. The more you train, the more skillful you are. The more skillful you become, the more confident you are. The more confident you become, the more powerful you are. The more powerful you become, the less likely you will be attacked.

That’s a strange one. The more able you are to defend yourself, the less likely it is that predators will single you out.

Now, to be sure, there are times when the rank amateur, through a determined and ferocious response, can and has repelled an attack. But I contend that, while we might have the instinct to fight, we are not born with the know-how or the tools in offering us a way to fight. That we must learn.

I’ll grant you that visualization has a place in your training. Also important is the gathering of knowledge. But if your training only consists of the mental aspects of self-defense, you are at a huge disadvantage.

You cannot just read back copies of Black Belt or Soldier of Fortune magazines and expect to progress.  And watching the Chuck Norris movie marathon does not count either.

Find a school. Get some like-minded friends in a garage or park. But train. And train like your life depends on it. Someday it might!