Martial arts are more popular today than ever before, particularly as spectator events and other entertainment venues. Martial arts as a practical matter are almost extinct. The former has, in many ways, led to the latter.

Full-contact matches, tournaments, movies, TV, and chain martial arts schools all contribute to the tremendous popularity of martial arts-flavored activities. At the same time, they encourage a view of martial arts training and application that is completely divorced from reality.

Ask yourself what tournament sparring skills will help you when a knife is to your throat (it takes but a flick of the wrist to cut). How will pushing hands or performance wushu skills prevent an intruder from harming you and your loved ones late at night? If grappling is your thing, what prevents the friends of the guy you've just wrestled to the ground and are attempting to choke out from beating you to a bloody pulp while you're occupied?

Yes, some valuable skills are to be gleaned from boxing or kickboxing - timing, distancing, and rhythm. Grappling may teach escape from holds. These skills are but components of real combat skills, and training within the framework of these sports may diminish one's ability to react properly to actual violence or the threat of violence.

When faced with a hostile attacker (rather than a sparring or ring partner) there is no time to set up and feel out the opponent. The encounter must be ended almost as soon as it begins, within a second or two at best. The end result should be a would-be perpetrator who is either unconscious or severely incapacitated. When weapons enter the equation, ending it quickly is all the more vital.

The sort of training which yields these results is the antithesis of sport martial arts. The student must practice realistic, simple techniques repetitively, to the point where conscious thought is no longer required. The techniques must then be further practiced under stress, in as close to a realistic format as possible. Only then is there a chance that the techniques will be there when needed. The techniques must be inherently violent and capable of doing maximum damage with the least-wasted motion and effort.

Willingness to use the force necessary to hurt or even kill is absolutely essential. This quality, what the British call "bloody mindedness," is what distinguishes survivors from victims. This quality is not anger; rather it is a kind of ruthless determination and emotional detachment.

I have seen these qualities and skills in many places, but seldom among "martial artists" today. Members of the Shinbhet (Israeli secret service), SAS elite forces and Soviet GRU agents possess similar skills from similar training. The martial arts teachers I've known who had these qualities were almost to a man from backgrounds that required them to be mean, suspicious individuals. For the most part they were at least peripherally involved in some aspect of either organized crime or intelligence. What these individuals had in common was not just similar training, but the need and opportunity to use their training.

Which brings me to my last point: few martial arts teachers today have had encounters that seriously put their skills to the test. I still cringe when I recall a prominent writer of kung-fu books telling me that he had never had a real fight, or even witnessed one, but he taught what he imagined would be useful. Sadly, he is not the exception. He is perhaps just more honest than most teachers.

Originally appearing in "Inside Kung-Fu," Dec 2000, Used with permission.