Last weekend Scott and I went down to Raleigh, NC to train with Masters Robert First and Elizabeth Roman at the Shiwa Dojo. They are both 6th degree black belts in Cuong Nhu, an in integrated martial arts style comprised of Shotokan Karate, boxing, judo, wing chun, aikido, vovinam, and tai chi. They were my first introduction to the martial arts world and the path that has led me to where I am. They are fantastic people that continuously improve their communities and they have a tremendous amount of knowledge about martial arts and self-defense. Something that I really respect about their training is that they continuously evolve what they do. In the combative training world, it's easy to get caught up in "we do XYZ this particular way, because that's how we've always done it." Regardless of what type of training you do (weight training, self defense, martial arts, etc) it is important to ask the question, is this progressive or a routine? Another thing I like about the way they train is how they articulate what it is they are working on. If they are working on kata, they are clear that they are working on art and form, not combat. If they are working on stick-training, they are clear as to what the goal is- learning the mechanics of certain strikes. When we were working on Scott's black belt demo (a choreographed demonstration of attacks/techniques) multiple times I heard them say something along the lines of this isn't what you would actually do, we're just modifying it a bit so that your audience can see and understand what strike you just executed. Some people advocate that training in a martial art can negatively affect your self-defense skills and abilities. I don't necessarily agree. Martial arts training can provide you with desirable attributes and a good skill-set. I think the bigger issue is martial arts instructors that either do not know the difference between martial arts and self-defense, or do not properly articulate the difference to their students.
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