Mike Stone is a legend in American Karate. Well, he used to be, anyway. I doubt there are very many martial artists, even guys my age who have even heard of him. Mr. Stone remains in the same category of such greats as Chuck Norris and Joe Lewis. The 60s through the mid 80s were the golden age of "blood and guts" karate where fights were pretty brutal; no pads and a few rules, but just about anything was legal. When you train to be a competitive fighter, you tend to develop a certain mentality towards any so-called martial art that doesn't abide by the same views; it isn't really worth studying. Mr. Stone more or less expressed this view in a 1976 martial arts documentary called, The Warrior Within where he talked about seeing a lot of practitioners who could do "extraordinary" things, but then asked the question, "Can they fight?" In other words, "sure, you can break all those bricks...but how many rounds can you go?"
I recently came across a portion of a Joe Rogan podcast where he compares Krav Maga to MMA fighters and notes the latter are, "trained killers" and would destroy the former "hands down." That's an interesting assessment given the fact that Krav Maga is not only a mixed-martial art, but was developed specifically for street fighting and continues to be vigorously practiced by the Israeli Defense Forces along with other militaries throughout the world. The same can be said for other traditional martial arts, like karate, judo, Japanese jujutsu...and aikido, considered by many to be bullshido -- a bunch of crap. And why is there such destain for martial arts that either don't compete or have strict rules? Because it all comes down to the same type of opinion expressed by Mike Stone...if you're not fighting in an octagon somewhere, your martial art is basically worthless.
To be fair, I have always believed that martial arts training should be as vigorous and as realistic as possible given an individual's age, limitations, etc. Moreover, the longer I train and study, the more linear and less "fluffy" my own technique becomes. That's because age and wisdom eventually win out over youth and vigor. If you stay in the game long enough, you learn that the simple, boring techniques are far more useful in the long run. For example, aikido, karate and jujutsu is much different in my late 50s than it was in my 20s and 30s. It's a tough transition and an even tougher realization that you are not invincible, that you don't heal up like you used to and that walking around with a black eye and a misdirected nose is no longer cool.
However, my dedication to studying and training has paid off in so many other aspects of my life. First, I think I'm a pretty healthy guy, far more so than many other men my age who are just trying to make it to retirement so they can sit and watch TV, maybe fish once in a while. It's not just because I work out; I lift weights, do calisthenics and stretch daily because I have a purpose. I want to continue to progress in martial arts (budo). I also thoroughly believe that teaching a martial discipline requires me to apply that discipline to every aspect of my life; what I eat, what I drink, what I watch, what I say...even how I pray. It's not just about fighting. It's about living a disciplined life. A disciplined life is worth pursuing.
I studied Iaido for two years during my time in Japan. Iaido is the art of drawing the Japanese sword, or katana. It is a performance art, much like the tea ceremony or Ikebana, flower arranging. While Iaido has competitions, it is purely a form based martial art; there is never any contact between two people. It is extraordinarily detailed and difficult and requires an intense level of physical and mental control and discipline. And while there are tactical principles that can be gleaned from its training and study, there is no real practical application. I ended up having to give up my training so I could focus on aikido for the reminder of my time in Japan, but I still enjoy practicing the few forms I know. Would I be able to fend off a group of disgruntled samurai or ninja warriors? Hell no. Has this training added to my skills and understanding of the "practical" arts I continue to study? Absolutely.
If you study a martial art, you gain very little by training just a couple hours a week at the dojo...and nowhere else. If it is more or less a hobby, that's all it will ever be. You will not be able to use it to fend off a real threat and you will derive little more than an ego boost from your training. If that is the extent of your training, then you definitely fall into the camp that guys like Mike Stone and Joe Rogan talk about. Train on a regular basis with the proper intention, and you will add the the quality and quantity of your life.
Dave Magliano
Tatsu Dojo
Jissenkan Budo
Dojo Cho
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