99.9% of Martial Arts...

...magazines and ads are crap.

I'll explain.

You see, it's a very common trend for the more popular martial arts-related magazines to post picture after picture on their cover of screaming, angry men and women breaking things or hurting people.  Before the explosion in popularity of Ultimate Fighting and the MMA revolution ("MMA" itself being a vague-to-the-point-of-incomprehensible term) the covers all advertised secret deadly techniques, new combinations of moves that can hurt people more effectively and efficiently, and all kinds of recently developed, discovered, or declassified "secrets of the (blank)."

Flip through any one of these magazines.  For gods' sake don't buy one, but find a newsstand or grocery store where they won't hassle you for browsing and pick one up for a few minutes.  After watching a half-dozen subscription cards slide out onto the floor, I'm willing to bet the first thing you'll notice is that the magazines are roughly 70% advertisements.  Of the ads, roughly 70% of those are for equipment and gear (60% of which is aimed at children), 20% of the ads are for specific schools/styles, and then the last 10% of ads are for secretive new unnamed "martial arts" styles and systems that they GUARANTEE are the ultimate martial art and that if you just send in your ten easy payments of $29.99 they'll send you some combination of DVDs and books that they say will make ANYBODY a lethal weapon, ready to take on green berets, ninjas, terrorists, and muggers alike with ease.

Now what you WON'T find while casually flipping through this magazine is the kernel of truth that the editor includes to assuage their conscience about publishing 99% bullshit.  It's typically about ten pages in, right before the letters section. 

The editorial.

Now these editorials are practically the same anymore because they've run out of things to say (or they can't find new ways to say the same thing again and again and again), but like I said, it's only there for old-timers and newcomers.  They'll talk about the good old days, or how martial arts are evolving and changing, maybe they'll drop a name like Bill Wallace or Jim Kelly to give themselves some extra credit or make themselves sound important...  Frankly, it's gotten kind of depressing to read anymore. 

My point in all this?

Martial Arts Magazines aren't really about the martial arts.

You see, studying and practicing martial arts is a devotion to peace.  It's not about hurting people or fighting or going out and knocking the shit out of people, it's quite literally about the exact opposite.  The very best martial artists in the world only ever have to fight for real once or twice in their whole life.  Gichin Funakoshi, founder of Shotokan Karate and a legend in the martial arts world, only ever got into one fight in his whole life.  He was attacked by a mugger on the streets of Okinawa and he defended himself, but felt terrible about it.

That's the thing about TRUE martial artists -- they hate fighting.  People who know how to fight, don't.  Anybody who calls themselves a martial artist and enjoys fighting is lying to you, and you should call them a liar to their face. 

It's okay, those kinds of people typically take a week or two of free karate classes at the YMCA, order every UFC on pay-per-view, and somehow think that they know something when in reality they couldn't tell you the name of a single kata or legit instructor in their neighborhood.  If you call them a liar and they try to bully or threaten you they'll either back down and do nothing or they'll throw the world's sloppiest punch which you can dodge with a thought, or will break their hand if they actually connect.

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble here, so lemme bring it back around for you all...

Martial arts ARE an ever-evolving art-form.  Like any other art they're heavily influenced by the areas in which they're developed and the time, culture, and technology the founders or artists or developers are in, but throughout it all there are a few constants that you can count on:

1)  Martial arts are about peace.  Anybody who is violent is not a martial artist, they're bullies or brawlers.

2)  People who are good at it never have to prove it.

And finally 3) There is no one single style or form that is the be-all, end-all of self-defense and martial arts. 

This last point is quite a point of contention among many (if not most) of the existing teachers out there who fanatically guard their school and "secrets" because they've been doing it for so long that they can't imagine that there's anything wrong with what they do at all.  It's troubling, in many ways, because in 99% of existing martial arts schools around the country they are either openly hostile towards anybody who has different ideas/concepts/theories, or they're dismissive of alternatives.

It's understandable, to a point; after all - the style these teachers have devoted their lives to works beautifully for them, but because they've gotten so good at this one thing they think that it applies to all people equally when nothing could be further from the truth.  If there was one magic system that was equally effective for all people in all places and all situations, that one style would have long since eradicated all other styles and stolen all students for itself.  But the fact that you can typically find five entirely unique schools and styles being taught within a five mile radius of anywhere, we know this simply isn't true.

And that's what brings us to the revolution.

Like every generation, the newer, younger crowd grows and expands upon what they're taught by the previous generation.  It's only natural, of course, as more and more information becomes available and each person finds what works for them.  But what is really and truly necessary for actual growth in the field of martial arts is for this current generation to NOT fall into the same trap as the previous generation.

So to all current STUDENTS out there, I implore you to open up.  Share what you know, but also be willing to learn from ANYBODY - even complete strangers.  Listen and learn and then take what works and incorporate it into your own studies and practice.  NEVER stagnate and NEVER think for a second that you found "the style" for you.

As Bruce Lee said, "Using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation."

I'll close this with a story that illustrates this point perfectly:

Ip Man, the most prolific practitioner of Wing Chun Kung-Fu for several generations (arguably since Wing Chun herself invented the style) lost his whole life when the Japanese invaded China.  His wife, his children, his fortune, his home...  Everything.  He was reduced to living as a homeless man on the streets of Hong Kong until one day a local kung-fu teacher found him and, thinking to do his good deed for the day, invited this nameless bum off the streets to come live in his studio and serve as a janitor in exchange for room and board.  Ip Man took the young man up on his offer and lived in the school, sleeping in the corner just off of the practice floor.

One day the young master was giving a class and demonstrated a particular technique that he was quite proud of.  As he was giving instruction to the class, he heard laughter coming from the corner of the room...the small space where his "janitor" had made his bed for himself. 

The homeless man whom he had taken in off the street out of the goodness of his heart was laughing at him.  Openly mocking his kung-fu in front of his students.

Outraged, the young master invited the janitor onto the floor so he could demonstrate the technique upon him and shut him up.  The janitor tried to wave him off at first, but the young man had been insulted and he had to save face - for the honor of his school and the sake of his business.

The old janitor slowly got up and shuffled onto the floor to square off against the young man, who attacked with the speed and power expected of him...and promptly got knocked on his ass.

Outraged further, he stood up and attacked the old man again...and again ended up on his ass.

The old man just stood there smiling.

The young man was amazed -- he hadn't even seen the old man move, he was frail and weak, stick-thin and malnourished from his homelessness, and yet the young master couldn't touch him.

Before throwing him out onto the street he demanded to know the old man's name, so Ip Man told him.

And the young man summarily handed him the keys to the school and begged Ip Man to take him on as his disciple.

So for all my martial arts friends out there, remember:  The next time you meet someone who says they know a little something about martial arts, give them the chance to teach you something.  If nothing else, you'll feel more secure in your own knowledge.  But if you're lucky, you'll end up learning something new.