A topic that has been coming up in conversation and discussion over and over again over the past few weeks has been the differences between combat sports, self-defence and martial arts.
To the average person with no martial arts experience, they are often overlapping, perhaps even interchangeable. Indeed, most martial arts schools advertise all three regardless of the style they teach.
But are they exactly the same? If they are not, do they overlap and to what extent? Or are they totally different, or even mutually exclusive, modes of training?
Hock Hochheim has taught force necessary combat strategies to citizens, the police and military all over the world in places like South Africa, Australia, Germany, Europe, The United Kingdom, Southwest Asia for the military and of course, throughout the United States. Hock has actually done more in real life than most people reputed to be "famous and experienced.” Currently Hock teaches hand, stick, knife and gun combatives in some 40 seminars in 12 allied countries a year. More on Hock - click here to visit his website.
Dates: Fri 18 July 6-9PM; Sat 19 July 10AM-2PM; Sun 20 July 10AM-2PM
Cost: $90 per day; $250 for all 3 days
CAIA members get 10% discount
‘Reality-Based Self-Defence’ (RBSD) is a term that has gone viral in the martial arts community over the past few years. The proliferation of Krav Maga schools and a variety of other modern self defence systems (combatives, as they are often referred to) has seen many schools and instructors add Krav Maga or some variation thereof to their curriculum in order to capitalise on the current market trends – which is fair enough. Our industry is hard enough to survive in, and adaptation and innovation are crucial components in the business world as well as in martial arts.
That being said, there is still a huge gap between reality and what most people believe will happen should they get attacked, in terms of how, where, when, who, why and what will happen. Not only in terms of student expectations, but also in terms of what instrutors teach.