You have those that passionately train unarmed or armed self defense. They read all the articles, they drop money on various trainings and new “kits” or gear. They spend hours in the gym perfecting that drop seoi nage or that 1 inch punch. That bruce lee shit baby. They pursue that coveted black belt. Dedicated to being able to kill anyone!
Then you have your intense athletes and fitness goers. They work on getting their diet in check. They lift heavy things, run crazy miles, crush bro reps in the gym and post about their workouts. They read their articles and go to their trainings and pursue those coveted certificates. Dedicated to being able to kill a physical challenge.
All too often fitness and self defense are separated into two separate categories. Looked at through two different lenses. This produces doughy and out of shape “masters” in the self defense world making excuses for why they don’t need to “fitness” and puffed up egos in the fitness world that have never taken a punch.
What good is your fighting ability, if in 5 years you’re going to die from a heart attack because you eat like shit? Or if you can shoot a bad guy from 50ft away with one hand behind your back, but you can’t sprint 400m to save your wife (or husband) from an attack because you’re too out of shape?
And on the other side of the coin, what’s the good in having a badass deadlift, when three guys break into your house at night to kill, steal and/or rape? What’s the point in a sub 3 Fran if you are going to just freeze, and pray, when you’re forced into an armed attack?
Fitness isn’t it’s own category, separate of self defense, it IS A CATEGORY OF SELF DEFENSE.
And how can you expect to improve your quality of life without focusing on the ability to survive shitty situations? (see “unknown and unknowable”)
This might not resonate with anyone who trains sheerly for sport, or too look knocking in those booty shorts (or kung fu pants) but again, you aren’t doing much good in your sport or showing off “dat ass” if you’re dead.
These two areas are vital. You don’t have to obsess over both, but you should sure as hell be comfortable and knowledgeable in each.
There’s no excuse to never live to your potential and in this world, you need to be able to lift heavy things, run a fair distance, throw a punch, shoot a gun, know how to apply medical care and more.
If you’re a fitnesser, add a fighting system to your regiment. Learn to wrestle or grapple, learn to shoot, take a krav or self defense class. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the positive effect it has on your coordination, accuracy, balance, speed, flexibility and more. And even more happy with the benefits it will have if you’re ever attacked or stuck in an odd situation (both physically and psychologically)
If you’re out there day in and day out studying self defense/martial arts, then you need to start lifting heavy things, running sprints, and learning to move your own body outside of your “specialty.” Learn how to eat at least semi good, what things effect your body in a positive and negative way. You’ll be pumped at your increase in energy when you fix your shitty diet. You’ll be even more excited at how much easier it is to fight other people when you are capable of lifting heavy things and amping up your intensity off the mats or range.
The moral of the story is this… don’t claim you’re training to protect yourself and your loved ones or that you train to improve your quality of life, if you’re not working on the whole pie. It’s all together…
You can deny it all you want but remember..
“Nature punishes the specialist.”
Be good, stay safe… one love
-aj
Aaron Jannetti 