The illusion of choreography

One of the biggest problems I find with many of the so called “self defense” techniques, and training is based on choreographed moves. Steps and maneuvers that were agreed upon ahead of time by the people training together. These techniques are done with little, to no resistance.

This sort of training is not only a waste of time, but it's also dangerous. It gives people the illusion that they could actually use their training in a real life attack. That kind of thinking could lead to a deadly surprise.

How can you ever trust a technique that wasn't battle tested, under pressure, and against real resistance? The answer is, of course you can't.

For this reason, your training should be done always with resistance from your training partner, and under pressure.

After you understood the principles of the technique, test it. Full force. Over and over. Don't work with agreements, stay away from choreography. You won't see any person who does full contact sports training without resistance. That's why they spar, and grapple. Because they know their competition will give them hell in a fight. So how is it that people who claim to train “reality fighting” barely even spar? Makes no sense.

Choreographed training may make you feel like a hero in the gym, but might prove to be terrible in the real world.

It's better to fail hundreds of times in training, than to lose one battle in reality.

Train smart, stay safe,

Sharir R, ICCS head instructor