Getting Back to Basics

So many martial arts schools have gone sour in many ways nowadays. I wanted to take a look into just a couple ways into what is going on in the martial arts and why so many "black belts" are getting beat up in the street during simple assaults and muggings. Why a woman who has been in the martial arts for years is getting abused by their spouses and vice verse. What is going on?

The first thing we notice is watering down the real thing and making techniques so fancy and complicated that they just aren't functional for real world use. Some instructors use this  and "parlor room trickery" to attract a whole lot of students but their retention is low and they have to constantly market to keep the school up to what the "martial arts industry" or society sees as successful. They may have hundreds of students, they are wealthy financially, and have two or more schools under the direction of only one truly real instructor. I am not saying that martial artists are supposed to be broke. By all means, please give your family the quality life that any person should have but focus on giving quality instruction to the students and not on how much money can we get out of people through marketing schemes and lies. I have attended so many seminars of so called "martial arts marketing geniuses" and they all say the same EXACT things. Things I learned reading the same books they probably read. I have had sales specialists in the martial arts business industry tell me how to run my school and that it is okay to lie to people and tell them I am teaching whatever they are looking for just to get them into my school so I can "sell them on a program" of which I am supposed to have many to choose from. What am I a restaurant or amusment park? So many martial arts school owners have that "a sucker is born every minute" mentality. I see students walking out of martial arts schools everyday that cannot defend themselves in a real world scenario. It is just not right. I see it as they are literally killing their own students. I will put it this way; It is like selling someone a professionally trained German Shepherd Dog to protect their family but only to ignore the fact that the dog has no teeth. Get it? 

Another way is to go to the sport side of the house. I have nothing against this. I do like to see a good fight on TV with all the rules and referees...except that it is a false sense of security. It is NOT martial arts. Think about the fact that the word "martial" means "military". NO friendly competition in the military between opposing sides. Boxing was considered a brutal sport but is now widely accepted. Boxers have a numerous amount of endurance. They suffer from brain injuries and other things that could have avoided if they chose another sport instead. I realize all sports have their risks, but to get hit on the head repeatedly on purpose is an adult choice (we will go into this later).  Back to sports; You had a great workout, your sweat, you're sore, you've built some muscle, and you got a great cardio work up. What did you actually learn about defending yourself on the street against multiple armed attackers? I am being realistic here. People want to be recognized. True. I feel as many "martial artists" do; that it is proper to recognize your students for their hard work and dedication. So why do some feel it's entirely okay to exploit other people's needs in order to make money? They don't seem to care that they will suffer serious injuries related to getting kicks to the head repeatedly as long as they feel good about themselves and they are making you and themselves allot of money? There are some people who legitimately want to be professional fighters and then there are those who have no place doing professional fighting, especially as a minor. If you're a parent and letting your kids destroy themselves with concussions so they feel good about themselves...shame on you. Maybe you didn't know the dangers of letting a child get punched on the head while they are being "choked out". If not...ignorance in no excuse in this area. Common sense should take over. We don't want our kids getting beat up by the bully at school and will sue the other party involved when injury happens, but turn around and put that very same child with another child and cheer them on as they do the exact same thing in the name of "training". I really don't understand "double standards". As a matter of fact, I dislike them as much as I dislike going head first into a cactus.

If you have any feelings about this...please share them. We need to hear from both sides.