I have a friend who teaches Shotokan private/semi private lessons.
He has seen me teach and asked me to come over and speak to this 18 year old student he had been training who wanted to go into the Army , he also wanted me to evaluate her training and show them some of what I do.
He had her do her forms and then had a partner attack her in prearranged attacks and defenses.
I watched and saw what I have seen over and over an art,more for demonstartions than Reality.
He said what do you think.
I said she is good at the basics,I would say she is a mid belt level maybe Green Belt.
He hit the roof,he said she is a Black Belt Level if not then high Brown.
I said well you asked my opinion and I gave you that.
She was standing there disappointed as I guess he had built her up that I would be impressed.
(She wants to be a Black Belt before she joins the Army in hopes of becoming a H2H Instructor???)
He asked what about her Self Defense moves ?
I said they were Great for a Demo but doubted she could do anything in a Realistic attack.
He wanted to have the partner attack her again,I said how about I attack her,just a grab,a choke,no real intent or power.
He said OK,she said OK.
I am 6-1 250 lbs approx.
She is about 5-4 maybe and about 120 pounds.
I did not tell her the attacks I would do just grabbed her and she was lost.
I grabbed and pulled her arm (slowly),she did nothing.
I grabbed her in a front two hand choke and pushed her (slowly)to the wall,she did nothing.
I said rather than grab you and pull or push I will stand statically ,grab and just stand there.
I grabbed her arm and stood there,she did a downward hard block/strike with her other arm ,did not break away,stepped back and punched,the punch landing Nowhere near me.
I asked why the punch was so far away.
My friend says she has learned to harness her Ki and does that for safety,if not she could hurt or kill me.
I looked at him and asked if he was for real.
He replied yes,and he was serious.
I said to her to do it again this time with intent to break away and make the strike,to hit me with REAL contact.
I grabbed her arm again,she did the same exact technique with the same intensity,did not break away,this time she made contact with the punch and I barely knew she made contact.
Again my friend says she is using safety measures as the full power of a strike could be deadly.
I said to him,I wanted her to hit me,just step in and hit me with a punch,no grab. nothing.
He tells her to punch.
I stood there in no stance ,no prpeparation and she punched me high in the chest with all her might and again I knew she hit me but it did nothing to stop or deter me ,if I wanted to bash her head in.
I told him,her and the partner that I could have continued on with my attack and once I hit her in the face I could most likely do to her what I want.
Then my friend asked me to attack her different ways,with the same outcome,nothing that would stop me.
He was a little annoyed.
Then he asked me to show them some stuff and I did,they saw what I do,liked the attitude of taking the attackers knee right away,taking his balance and ending the conflict.
He has not asked me back to watch or evaluate anyone else,lol.
I tell this,not that I know something,or that his materials are no good but to show that what many teach and train their students to do is sport,unrealistic for a real conflict in todays world,yet they and the students think they are TRAINED for and can make it work in the street.
(Todays world: I mean the teachings were originally for men of similar size,not women against men,not much larger men against smaller men,they were nationally similar men,so what they did worked more or less against people of similar structure and strength)
To tell people that this kind of traditional stuff works against anyone and everyone is a joke.
To train them to contact large mass/muscle surfaces and allow them to believe they have one punch stopping ability to those targets is a joke.
Have a Big guy attack a little person and see if the response they give works for Real.