Martial artists: Do you believe in testing your skills?

I believe in testing skills.

My teacher always set up shiai with other dojo, some friends and others. I have a few Classical Jujutsu friends with whom I exchanged hands with regularly.

Besides that, I worked in Executive Protection, Clubs and other entertainment venues were I had to use my art in a variety of situations...

Yeah.

Edit:

Why is testing your skill being equated with starting fights?

How did this happen?

It doesn't have to be in a ring or cage, although those have benefits I'll address in a moment. But I do believe one should test ones skills under pressure that simulates a real fight, primarily through hard sparring and rolling. It doesn't have to be every day (and probably shouldn't for safety purposes) or even every month, but simulating the pressure of a real fight pays dividends when it comes to not only refining ones technical skills, but psychologically preparing for the reality of violence. Pain sucks, but it's reality, and "soft" training without pain is far less beneficial than getting knocked around now and then.

Competition is beneficial if for no other reason than to up the level of stress, which naturally simulates a "live" situation somewhat. The dojo or kwoon is a relatively safe place where we're surrounded by friends and injuries are accidental; a competition means that all eyes are on you (stressful) and that the person standing across from you may not be thinking about your well being. The first time I competed at a grappling competition the adrenaline dump was so big I felt tightness in my chest; the first time I got hit hard in a striking competition I really just wanted to go home. Both were valuable learning experiences. It's a little bit different with point sparring but I believe full-contact competition is almost entirely beneficial. You don't have to make a career out of it, and the average practitioner should treat it like a "bucket list" item.*

I don't think going out and getting into bar fights is the answer, though I do think that can come from self-doubt which can be alleviated, to a degree at least, by pressure-testing. Which is, once again, why I'm such an advocate of hard sparring and randori. There are many schools in which the danger is simulated, and not actual. I know my partner will stop short of contact, so my defenses might become lax. This isn't a problem I've had when hard sparring, as any time I don't take the guy across from me seriously, I get some well-earned pain to remind me that taking a shot to the nose, liver, or temple really, really sucks, and that I should do something to make sure that doesn't happen again.

British black belt turned bouncer Geoff Thompson takes pressure testing to an extreme with his "animal day" sessions, which may involve things like bareknuckle contact and biting. The Dog Brothers, a Kali group, have similar "gatherings" where people fight full contact with weapons, primarily sticks, but also allow for the full MMA curriculum, and then some (including, I think, groin shots and back-of-the-head shots). Their protection is minimum. These are not competitions per se, and to my knowledge there are no symbolic or concrete prizes; just the philosophy of "higher consciousness though harder contact".

*I also, incidentally, find that training for a competition generally forces people to get into better shape, watch what they eat, and focus on perfecting their best techniques while eliminating their biggest weaknesses. Even this short-term change of focus has long-term benefits, albeit ones that are not germain to this discussion.

No I don't think that you should go out and pick fights for the purpose of testing your skills. That is wrong on several different levels and I know a lot of professional fighters that don't even do that along with martial artists as well. At the same time for those that want to test their skills and abilities there is usually ample opportunity for that to be done and it usually involves competitive fighting on some level.

Testing your skills, knowledge, and ability against others that are similarly trained is a better test I think than starting a fight with some joe-blow off the street who may have no training at all. What does it prove besting someone that has little or no training or skill like your own and say about you as a person if you put others to such tests. Why not just go out and pick on some ten year old then? That's pretty much what it says about you as a person and a skilled, trained fighter or martial artist is that you are just a bully. It proves nothing to test your skills and ability against others who are not trained-while it speaks volumes about your skill and abilities besting those that are trained like you is what I think and was taught and teach my students and fighters.

>> Do you believe that you should go out an pick fights to prove your ability?

No. It's not socially acceptable, and I'd be putting myself at risk doing that. My family has enough to worry as it is now, I don't think they need any added stress from me picking random fights. (My wife will kill me if I get beaten up... )

>> Have you had enough experience to know firmly what your ability is?

Nope. And hopefully, I'll never need to find out.

>> Do you believe that testing it in a ring or cage is an accurate representation?

I don't believe that any kind of formalized competition or training method can be a fully accurate representation of actual fighting. The map is never the territory. But I do believe that it's a good way to see how you'll fare under stress and against an opponent who wants to win just as bad as you do; it's just that how experience in competition translates into real life situations depends on a lot of other things than the competition itself -- just like anything else.

>> Tell me: do you believe in testing your skills and how?

A good training regimen should put your skills to the test without the danger, fear, anger, and frustration from an actual fight.

To go about picking fights is to dispense with all that you should have been trained to avoid. You might as well go join the UFC, pump up with steroids, and hang out at a bar.

I can say that, having my *** handed to me (and without significant martial arts skills to help me), I know the difference between the ring and street. In the ring, it's a safe bet that no matter what happens, you'll probably go home for dinner that night. In the street, that's no guarantee.

The adrenaline you feel in the ring or in the schoolyard is not the same adrenaline you feel on the street. On the street, things move about almost in a slow motion. The lighting seems to turn a strange tint, kind of like on "tales from the darkside". There's an ominous "buzz" about. You don't hear it, but you know it's there and it's sort of like your brain snapping it's fingers in front of your face and you get an admonishment like "Hey man, this is the real thing. You might die in the next few minutes, let's get the f*ck out of here now."

It's easy to train with a tanto or a rubber knife. But when the real thing comes out, you hear that buzz, and it gets loud. Like the smell of corpse, it's a sound you've never truly heard, but one you'll never forget.

The ONLY way to truly know your skills is to do as you suggest, and deliberately place yourself in such danger that there is the real possiblity for death. The trick, then, is to find out how far you are willing to go - like kill another human being - to see if you can do what you're trained to do.

For me, I really don't want to find out.

I have been tempted, numerous times, to test my skills.

While I was bullied all throughout grade school, never once did we get into a serious fight.

I understand how precious life is, from techniques I've seen and had demonstrated on me, my perspective of using the arts I have learned is one where I aptly abhor the idea of harming others.

In class, I forge my body for the sake of needing only one strike to fell an assailant.

The idea that I should use my body and skills for anything but life or death is to then trivialize the point of my training.

Don't get me wrong, I love watching UFC and MMA, but the idea of sport fighting for any other reason but self-improvement in a few areas is silly to me.

You get all these rags to riches stories, but these fighters are only athletes, training like other athletes where technical skill is less important when everyone's conditioned to take a few good strikes.

When everyone knows how to put on an arm bar or throw a roundhouse kick, we've developed a generation of violence-mongers with respect for personal safety of others; for the benefit of everyone.

But no, I've never had the opportunity or the serious inclination to test my art out in Sports or outside the Dojo.

Unfortunately, I had an Ex- who always complained that I wouldn't knock a guy out if he was starring at her.

Maybe I'm just a push-over...

Or maybe I've just broken a few too many noses inside the Dojo.

Who knows.

No I do not believe in picking a fight to see if my skills can hold up. A martial artist should never boast about having trained, and picking a fight would basically be bragging. You should train to defend yourself or others and that is all. I am glad to hear that your training had helped to get yourself out of situations and it seems that you have shown your skill. However, never think that just training in your dojo isn't testing your skill.

I also believe that tournaments are a good way to test your skills. What I have written above is mainly towards street fighting. However, tournaments or a get together with friends who are also martial artists is a great way to test your skill and fix things that you aren't applying correctly.

Not in the street I won't, because I'm no criminal. I will admit when I was younger I was tempted, but never gave in to that temptation.

Maybe if the training is realistic enough there would be no reason to test your skills in the street...which could easily lead to lawsuits, imprisonment, serious injury, death, or the death of a loved one.

Hm, i dont believe in starting fights but i do beleive in testing your skills some way. but i will admit...i DO walk down certain areas so i would look like a easy target for someone to try to start with me..... I dont know why i risk myself to possibly get injured, but my friend said that From what he knows of me, im willing to risk injury for a bigger achievement. so its a good thing and a bad thing.

Im sorry if i disappoint people, its just that even though i never fought in my life, i dont want to be bullied and messed with ever again. I just want to be certain i can protect myself now. i cant go to the gym to have formal testing from a teacher, so i must think of a way on my own.

It is fine to test you skills in a safer situation like sparring, but if you want more of a real experiance you could do what my tae kwon do teacher does- gets a job as security at a store on black friday

Test your skills in the gym, it's a sport. No such thing as a fair fight, throw dirt in their eyes, kick them between the legs then run your life is on the line. There is a time and place for everything and when your at the gym is the time and place to test combat sport skills.