General Category > Frequently Asked SFC Questions
Complicated? Naahhh!
Hock:
This looks to complicated? Too much?
I have my own favorite 6 to 10 things I like, that works for me. My favorites.
A regular person wants to know a few tricks on the parking lot to get home.
I teach a lot of stuff and here's why.
I do not tell anyone what their favorites are, as that should be based on a person's size, shape, age and strength and our experimentation in class.
We demand personal expression and expect personal selections from people. They develop their own favorites for what is right for them. They pick what they think from the big textbook.
Students work through the process and get their 6 or 8 or 10 things to emphasize.
Instructors who teach people from all shapes, ages, sizes and strengths should know the textbook to properly to give their students the same freedom to experiment and select.
The instructor should-
> have his own personal favorites and,
> offer a lot for their students so:
-they can be instructors to properly teach all and,
-they too can have their favorites too
...and so it goes....
...and so it goes....
Hock
Hock:
Size Matters.
Invariably smart people ask about what style is good for me? My body shape? My Size or gender. That is why there are weight categories in competition fighting. It is really not a "style" thing.
Generally I think techniques/tactics are best meant to possibly work when both opponents are about the same size, strength and weight. About. I would say give or take about 15 percent.
Take the average size person and see where you are, then get busy. If someone is out of this range, then they need to get back into the 15 percentile range. Get 10 percent faster. 10 percent stronger. Even smarter. Etc. (Weapons are equalizing agents)
I am always amused at seeing photos of say…the latest Dan Severn seminar. He is teaching in middle of a group, all 600 pounds of him, and there is always some 98-pound guy listening attentively in the crowd. Poor guy. Does he think that he can do what Dan can do? What can Dan do that more mortals cannot? Does Dan understand this?
Pee Wee Herman will always have trouble fighting Hulk Hogan. Now work the scales from there...
Pee Wee a bit bigger. Hulk a little smaller.
Pee Wee a bit bigger. Hulk a little smaller.
Pee Wee cheats.
Pee Wee armed.
…at what point to you think Pee Wee has a logical chance?
Hock
Hock:
Only a novice looks at the college list of material and says WOW. I have to learn all that?
The simple answer is...simply no.
"Simple" is always defined by the eyes of the beholder.
>KISS (keep it simple, stupid) means you are to remain stupid, the instructor is stupid, the course is stupid and we all plan to remain forever stupid. God help us if we dare do a new thing or try a new thing.
>Einstein's "keep it simple-but not too simple!" is a far better, more free standard, as I will always believe in the freedom for a student to try to take one more step for their personal development. I like things just a few clicks above dangerously over-simple and plain "stupid."
Everyone's definition of simple is different, and everyone's skill level is different, also their body, shape, age and size. There is not one system that suits everyone. Not one uniform that fits everyone. Their needs are different.
Material in almost all established martial arts systems won't work for everyone, their situations, their jobs, their problems. My favorite things are not your favorite things for these very reasons.
I have my favorite 8 or 10 things I know and like and I practice them over and over. I too do the same tired things over and over again. How simple is that? Everyone is also supposed to work with hand, sticks, knives and gun. A its best, there are basic concepts of movement that bridges these caregories. But also, there are not similaritries.
What do we do for these people, the many who can't do one-punch/one kill. Or, fire rabid jabs and crosses like a Thai Boxer? Or, for anyone that cannot fit one mold? What do we do with them? keep them simply stupid in a system that doesn't fit their needs?
They have to research form a broader group of techniques to pick their favorite simple things out of. That is the simple part. How complicated is that to understand. Instructors must know more for more people, their missions and than jobs.
I have a hand, stick, knife gun college course for instructors to guide people to their favorite, workable, 8 , 10 or 12 simple things. I have many challenges to shave things done, make parallels and similarities in movement and so forth, try to bridge the gap between hand, stick, knife and gun.
"Does anyone know why my best students are best in what they do. Easy. They stay within their field of endeavor. They do not bite on more then they can chew."
This is a quote sent me recently form another martial arts figurehead.
But, just how big is your bite? Your chew? Your neighbor's? Your 20 year-old student? Your 50 year-old female student? Differing!
Not only are people different sexes, shapes, sizes and strengths and psychologies, they have different skills levels. Some can handle more. Do more. Do better. WHY KEEP THEM STUPID! Why draw a line in the sand and declare - LEARN NO MORE ELSE YOU WILL FAIL!
As the head of an international organization of near 10,000 regular customers, I simple cannot draw such a line and say, "stop here, stupid!" Is that how a college works? Students need the freedom to push their personal envelopes. It is wrong to tell them not too. People can bite off and chew more than others, and this really is the difference between the basic, the advanced and the expert courses.
Everybody's different. Everybody has a different level of chewing and biting.
People could spend their whole lives working on the the first three levels of my Unarmed Combatives Course. It is my most generic, most simple, collection constructed to reach out to as mnay people as possible. But many want, need and can do more! ergo, the rest of the systems. SOMEBODY has to be a clearinghouse for this information.
I am also committed to the concept of pushing the envelope. Just a little every day. Tiny! Challenge yourself. Push just a little. That sound too complicated?
Hock
Hock:
You are a college graduate in teaching history.
You teach elementary school.
You teach high school.
You teach college.
Do you teach college level history material to your elementary school and high school classes? Or do you teach age (skill) appropriate material for the group? Obviosuly college history would appear too complicated for elementary and high school.
But is your college attendance and B.A. considered too complicated?
Are you a better history teacher in general because you have graduated college? Maybe have a masters? PHD?
Is there a parallel in martial education?
Basic training - elementary school.
Advanced training - high school.
Expert training - college.
Hock
Hock:
One Size Coffin / Cookie-Cutter fits all
I got an email asking me what I mean by cuttie-cutter martial arts.
This relates to the "complication" issue because-in theory the less things you know, the less complicated you are.
Any martial art that is a system that makes you, no matter your size, shape, strengths,weaknesses, age or skill to perform and move like the system's titular head. It is a system that imposes its techniques upon, whether you like them, or can do them or not.
He kicks high? You must kick high.
He cartwheels? You must cartwheel.
He power punches? This is your main solution too.
He wears this? You must wear this.
He head butts? You must head butt.
He flinches? You must flinch.
He only vertical fist punches? You must too.
He shreds? You must shred.
He tackles and wrestles? You must tackle and wrestle.
He restricts your training in other systems? You stay nice and dumb.
He dictates. You must mindlessly follow.
He makes the cookie cutter? You must force yourself into his pattern.
Aren't most of these systems flexible, too?
No. It does seem that if they have a handicapped person? They will fudge on the requirements (and it often makes the evening news-why not!) but, that is as far as any improvisation and individual expression is allowed to grow and go.
Will they offer lip service/hot air on your freedom?
Yes. Maybe. Will they walk the talk. No. And then, some say right away, no- "you cannot train outside this system." It will "confuse" you. "Distract" you. This is where you hear the KISS method and Hick's Law tossed about incorrectly to keep you down and in their cookie-cutter.
"Isn't any training program a cookie cutter? Aren't you making cookies?"
It is very difficult challenge to set up any training standards and steer clear of this cookie-cutter problem. It must be woven carefully into a systems' doctrine. A doctrine must have freedom built right into it.
A baseball player learns how to swing a bat. Simple, huh? Ahhh-KISS and Hick's law at its best. "Just swing, dude!" "That is all a stupid SOB like you can do under stress!" But each hitter must develop a unique swing based on his abilities and potential to be successful. What size bat? Who is pitching and what? A good hitting coach knows a lot about this. Your unique swing must become your simple swing from muscle memory repetition. How sophisticated and educated is your system head, to even understand these issues and then implement them into doctrine? Is he just a Thai Boxer? Just a soldier? Just a karate devotee? A college wrestler?
I have created a college-like system that tries to expose people to all the mainstays of striking, kicking and grappling with hands, sticks, knives and guns. But, your favorites and your final product is your selected end. It is the freestyle combat scenarios that YOU have to construct. Not me. That journey is your personal growth and knowledge. That is emphasized in how YOU construct your level 10 tests. I don't tell you how to execute each scenario! You do. Fighting first - Systems second, is a big SFC motto.
And of course, as this exposure and journey-steering is my job, so to it is our instructors' jobs to expose a variety of people with these common mainstays. The idea is EXPOSE people to fighting tactics, not IMPOSE ones on them. For many years now, I have said in seminars-
"I am here to inspire you, not confine you."
a) Pick some for themselves (with appropriate KISS-like and Hicks-style limitations.)
b) Learn all moves to be good instructors for all shapes, ages, sizes and strengths.
...and so it goes, and so it goes. A legacy of maximized training, not mental and physical restrictions.
It is getting better out there on the marketplace! These traditional, restrictive programs really are slowly shrinking and dying off the charts. Traditional is good for kids. Not good for adults. BUT, I fear I do see the similar problem now arise in newer programs!
- Everybody Shred! - Everybody Flinch! - Everybody tackle and wrestle!
Just because the instructor is younger and in a t-shirt, doesn't mean they aren't making the same silly, damn mistakes.
One size does not fit all. Not even one coffin fits everyone.
Hock
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