By Damian Ross of The Self Defense Company

 

“There I was, in the middle of my fist Black Belt test at the tender age of 22 ready to begin the Random Assault Drill. They were circling me, attackers with knives, bats, clubs and guns, but I was ready. I had been training for years. The panel of sensei watched me, Ross, Cestari, Blandino, Betts, they were all there and I was ready. One by one they attacked and I dispatched them neatly and swiftly. The knife was taken away with ease; the bat was mere child’s play. They were dealt with as fast as they came with no problem- I AM INVINCABLE!!!”

 

Flash forward to my real life. While visiting a friend at college we went for a typical night out. Well, one thing lead to another, as these things often do: who touched whose girlfriend, or who spilt whose beer, it really didn’t matter. Before I knew it I saw my buddy got sucker punched and he was out on his feet. I immediately tried to make my way to him as fast to as I could offer some retribution but before I knew it I was hit on the back of the head with something hard. When I turned in the direction of the attack I found myself face to face with two or three very pissed off frat boys.

 

The rest is hard to recall, a lot of pushing, shoving and occasionally hitting someone that wasn’t me and being it by someone or something that wasn’t. It wasn’t pretty, it was frustrating. There was no time to be scared, adrenaline coursed through me. After a short time (which felt like forever) a little voice popped in my head and told me: You’re boxed in here and you need to get out side.

 

When we finally pushed out the door, the entire fraternity house (about 60 men) seemed to converge on us. Garbage cans and beer bottles were hurled at us from the second floor and all I wanted to do was make sure my friends were OK. Finally after what seemed like an eternity (which was only about 10 minutes) we made it out of there. Banged up, cut and bruised, but alive. I was in pretty good shape and you could say I gave more than I received but this was crazy. These were college kids, future accountants, lawyers, executives and doctors using bottles, pool cues, garbage cans and whatever weren’t nailed down to beat us as best as they could. They were just as bad and just as dangerous as any criminal you would meet.

 

Where did all my training go? What happened to all the nice throws and take downs? Why was it so hard to get a good shot off? I know my martial arts training helped me survive, but it didn’t “feel” like I practiced.” I felt a little misled but rather than blame my training, I looked for a real solution and a plausible answer.

 

Unfortunately this as not an exclusive event and I have had the same results. The one question came to mind: What am I doing wrong in my martial arts training?

 

One of the deadliest problems with martial arts and self defense is the magic pill notion that you will be able to protect you and your loved ones against multiple vicious attacks regardless of who and how many. And you’ll be able to do this without a scratch or even a blemish. This is something we all want to believe. Who doesn’t want to know with 100% certainty that you will be able to fight and protect your loved ones from harm? You spend countless dollars and countless hours training, watching videos going to seminars hoping to come back with the answer.

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