A little bit of something about techniques

Folks,

I have been thinking a lot about the techniques taught in most Martial Art systems. As most of you know, I find that most of Martial Arts use an ineffective model,and can lead to a false belief about the efficacy of the art. Lots of techniques have cool names and all of that. In my opinion, those are just mnemonic tools to help folks remember what the techniques are used to defend. My question for you today is: Are techniques the best way to teach intermediate to advanced skills in the Martial Arts?

Let me speak on it. I know that the curriculum is taught to familiarize beginners with the basic techniques and so forth., But once a student has become familiar with them, I believe those techniques are not as useful. Those techniques are to be used to help students improve muscle memory and reaction speed, not to be relied on in a chaotic, real fight situation. My pops used to have us stand in a circle, and have our training partners attack in random order in random ways. Those drills helped us build our threat assessment skills and real live defenses. Our techniques and defenses were not as pretty as previously done in the two step sparring scenarios, but they were effective.

Just a thought folks: Dont skimp on live sparring. It is the best way to sharpen our resolve, and our weapons. It is likely our best learning tool, and we need to use it safely as often as possible. I may speak on this later, but I am tired and I am going to sleep. Later gators!