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I don't mean to put words in Toudiyama's mouth, but maybe what he means is that an art requiring years of study before it can be applied effectively is not the best choice for someone seeking self-defense skills. I'm thinking here of internal arts that involve elaborate circular movement and depend for their effectiveness on the development of fine motor skills -- aikido, for example. Whether or not aikido techniques as executed by an advanced practitioner can be effective in self-defense situations -- and I know many are skeptical of that -- I think most people would agree the aikido skills of beginners are pretty ineffective.
I'm not knocking aikido here -- even as a non-aikidoka I can appreciate some of its cultural and philosophical aspects, and I can understand studying it for those reasons or as a kind of moving meditation. My point is simply that, if you are looking to develop some level of self-defense skill reasonably quickly, aikido probably isn't the best art for you.
My JKD instructors used to speak of "self-preservation" and "self-perfection" as being dual goals of the beginning martial artist. The idea was that after six months of training, the student should have a reasonable base level of martial arts skill that he can use effectively in a real-life self-defense situation. Of course, other things being equal, he would not be anywhere near as good as someone who had been training for many years. Nor, if he studied under a good instructor, would he have any deluded confidence in his ability to execute disarms, take on multiple opponents, etc., at that stage in his training (if ever).
What he would learn would be proper stance, footwork, basic punching and kicking technique, knee and elbow strikes, basic blocking, parrying and evasion, and some elementary grappling including takedowns and takedown defenses, simple throws and counters, positional progressions, escapes and sweeps, and submissions and counters. He would also learn a portfolio of "dirty tricks" -- headbutts, eye gouges, groin strikes, limb destructions, etc. -- that he could apply, if and when an appropriate opportunity arises, in the context of a fighting system that is sound in its fundamental mechanics and strategy. The point is not to make the student ready for the UFC in six months, but rather to give him credible fighting skills that (i) should enable him to take on most untrained opponents (unless they enjoy an large physical advantage) and (ii) at any rate make him a materially better fighter than he would have been without training.
After that level is reached, the goal becomes self-perfection -- the student's continual improvement of technique and of fighting attributes such as cardio, strength, flexibility, etc. It's that stage of training that can and should last for many years...even a lifetime.
Just my $0.02.
I'm not knocking aikido here -- even as a non-aikidoka I can appreciate some of its cultural and philosophical aspects, and I can understand studying it for those reasons or as a kind of moving meditation. My point is simply that, if you are looking to develop some level of self-defense skill reasonably quickly, aikido probably isn't the best art for you.
My JKD instructors used to speak of "self-preservation" and "self-perfection" as being dual goals of the beginning martial artist. The idea was that after six months of training, the student should have a reasonable base level of martial arts skill that he can use effectively in a real-life self-defense situation. Of course, other things being equal, he would not be anywhere near as good as someone who had been training for many years. Nor, if he studied under a good instructor, would he have any deluded confidence in his ability to execute disarms, take on multiple opponents, etc., at that stage in his training (if ever).
What he would learn would be proper stance, footwork, basic punching and kicking technique, knee and elbow strikes, basic blocking, parrying and evasion, and some elementary grappling including takedowns and takedown defenses, simple throws and counters, positional progressions, escapes and sweeps, and submissions and counters. He would also learn a portfolio of "dirty tricks" -- headbutts, eye gouges, groin strikes, limb destructions, etc. -- that he could apply, if and when an appropriate opportunity arises, in the context of a fighting system that is sound in its fundamental mechanics and strategy. The point is not to make the student ready for the UFC in six months, but rather to give him credible fighting skills that (i) should enable him to take on most untrained opponents (unless they enjoy an large physical advantage) and (ii) at any rate make him a materially better fighter than he would have been without training.
After that level is reached, the goal becomes self-perfection -- the student's continual improvement of technique and of fighting attributes such as cardio, strength, flexibility, etc. It's that stage of training that can and should last for many years...even a lifetime.
Just my $0.02.
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