How to spot a good martial arts club - and how to avoid a bad one.

"A little learning is a dangerous thing....".


So said Alexander Pope. My dad would often say this to us when we were kids, whenever we got a bit too cocky or big for our boots just because we thought we knew a little something.


This could also be applied to martial arts, which is one of my interests.....







Going to work on one of London's famous red buses recently I bumped into a guy from work I recognised. He worked in (inevitably) the IT department. I don't know him so well, but by the end of the conversation I knew one thing about him pretty well.



After exchanging pleasantries the conversation turned to how we filled our spare time. He told me that he practiced aikido - not just practiced it but was a black belt in it. This achievement clearly filled him with pride, I could sense his ego puffing up.



It so happens that I practice jiu-jitsu - a similar, related art. Some people maintain that jiu-jitsu is the original Japanese martial art and that all others (including aikido) come from them. There is some truth in this, but it's not entirely true- although it IS true that judo, the purely sporting version of jiu-jitsu, did indeed come from jiu-jitsu; judo's founder, Kano, deliberately removed those parts of jiu-jitsu he considered to be dangerous. Seems to defeat one of the main purposes of martial arts to me!



I have 'only' a purple belt in jiu-jitsu, and I didn’t mention it in that conversation. I limited myself to telling him that it was great that he was a black belt. Then he said something very revealing. He said: "It's good because I know no-one can hurt me now".



I knew instantly that this man was not a master. I think it is debatable whether he could even be considered to be a 'martial artist' in the true sense of the word, or at least in the way that I believe it should be interpreted. A true master - or at least a person with a deep understanding of martial arts - would never have uttered something so crass, arrogant and ignorant.



They say in jiu-jitsu that only when you have reached black belt are you ready to be a student. As someone who is a relative beginner you might imagine how this made me feel! You give all that sweat and effort to be a black belt and then you're ready to learn? Give me a break! But it's true.



In the early days of martial arts there were no 'belts' in the sense of gradings or levels. Students just wore the same (white) belts and the more experienced the student the more worn and dirty the belt became; until it appeared almost black. Hence the phrase 'black belt'.



Back to the IT-Bruce-Lee-wannabe. In his arrogance he had vastly overestimated not just aikido, not just himself, but any martial art. A true martial artists knows that anyone can defeat him, given the right set of circumstances (a surprise attack, a concealed weapon, a slip, trip, stumble or mistake by the martial artist). He knows that even a 12 year-old can kill him if - even by sheer fluke - he manages to stick even the tiniest blade or edged weapon into his body. He knows that fights - all fights - are inherently unpredictable, follow no script and end in pain and disaster. He knows that cowards come in groups, and that on the street there is no bowing from the waist, no referee, no scoring system, no judges and absolutely no rules. So by saying that 'I know that no-one can hurt me now' he revealed himself not only to be naive, but to have absolutely no understanding of what martial arts are all about.



Martial arts are about discipline, self-restraint, and courage. Courage in the sense that a true master has mastery over his ego. He will not be provoked or fight over a misguided and illusory sense of 'honour', 'face' or 'pride'. He is already secure in himself. He has confidence in his abilities so knows that fighting is only the very last resort. And even if you do fight you fight to escape; never to 'win'. A martial artist knows that no matter what the colour of his belt that he wears in his nice safe dojo (training hall) it counts for nought in the chaos of a real confrontation. Anyone and everyone can hurt him, so there is no arrogance in him. In terms of fighting art, he knows that the more he knows, the more he knows that he doesn't know.



In my short time in the martial arts I have come across what I consider to be true experts; not just through their mastery of technique but through their humility. These teachers are even prepared to learn from their students. A bad martial arts teacher has a big ego and likes to throw his weight around (sometimes literally) on the mats, do show everyone how 'hard' he is. Or they will affect an air of indifference and contemptuous dismissal to less skilled practitioners. And they will make ludicrous and downright dangerous claims like 'now no-one can hurt me'.



So if you are considering joining a martial arts club here are a few pointers.



1. Beware of arts whose teachers or publicity appeal to thuggery - claims to be able to beat people, kill people, walk down the street and have no fear etc.



2. Beware of instructors who put too great a stall by these belts. If anyone tells you "you can get your black belt in X years", stay away. A good instructor will never sell his club this way; in fact they will try to avoid talking about the overrated belt system, especially the famed black belt. (Don't get me wrong , the belt system has a useful purpose in encouraging endeavour and setting goals - just don't allow it to take over your ego).



3. See if the club is affiliated to national organisations - if they're not, ask yourself why not. The most likely explanation is that their teaching is not approved of, or that they have had a falling out with the organisation's hierarchy. This is amazingly common in martial arts. There are too many big ego around martial arts, which is a shame.



4. Beware of 'special offers'. If an instructor tells you that you can have a discount by paying for blocks of lessons upfront before you've even sampled the class, what does that tell you? That he wants your money regardless of whether it's suitable for you. Never join a club that demands payment for many lessons up front, before you even know if it's right for you.



5. A good instructor will have no problem with you changing your mind or walking away. True, they have to make money, but martial arts are about the spirit and philosophy, not about a get-rich-from-naive-suckers-scheme.



6. A good club will allow you to observe a lesson quietly from the sidelines. This, I believe, is the most important rule of all. If they don't, ask yourself what they've got to hide.



7. Avoid clubs where the students (or worse, the instructor) are clearly arrogant, swaggering thugs. You'll be surprised how many are.



8. Avoid instructors who like to bully or hector their students. A good instructor will keep discipline and demand respect from theri students for them, their art and their fellow students. This is right and proper. But sadly some instructors use discipline as a cover for throwing their weight around and fuelling their egos by yelling at and humiliating students for even the most minor infraction. Instructors like this have watched too many martial arts movies.





9. Talk to the students before you join (not during the class itself). Judge their character, their attitude, their reasons for joining, and above all do they actually enjoy it.



10. Ask yourself if you will have fun there! If you don't enjoy it, it will never last.



There is another aspect to martial arts, frequently ignored: the legal aspect. I've heard instructors say "better to be judged by twelve than carried by six". In other words better to stand trial if you've killed someone in self-defence than to be in a coffin because you didn't fight back. But a better narrative (one that no instructor I've ever come across has explained) is the following: fighting is a bad idea for two reasons.



One: if you lose, you could end up scarred, crippled, disabled or dead. At the very least you will bear some physical injury, and probably some psychological ones too.



Two: if you win, you could end up in court.



Number one is pretty devastating, but number two is one that bothers me. We all know that the judicial system in this country - the police, Crown Prosecution Service, court system, criminal law, civil law, judiciary and preponderance of human rights legislation - is hopelessly and manically biased against the victim and in favour of the criminal. To deny this is to abdicate reason and fly in the face of reality. If you're still wondering, ask yourself this: if you saw a group of teenagers pelting someone's car with stones, would you dare intervene? Even you thought you could handle them? No, I didn't think so. It's not so much the kids you'd be scared of, it's the heavy hand of the law too. Law-abiding citizens have now two enemies in our own communities, even our own homes: the criminals, and the system. No government seems to have the guts to take on the human rights lobby. To me, martial arts is about responsibility, restraint and reason. Therefore in those terrible occasions when force has to be applied, martial arts is helpful. Just beware the barrister who in the inevitable court case that follows will attempt to label you a thug just for studying it!



Back to the point: fighting is 'a bad thing' and should be done only when absolutely necessary. A good club, martial art and instructor will hammer this point home. My jitsu instructors frequently emphasise that your first port of call should be to attempt to talk your way out of a situation; if that fails your objective is to escape, in pursuance of which force may legitimately be applied, in proportion to the threat. This philosophy is a sign of a good club with a healthy philosophy.



As another aside, many people, even police officers, fail to understand some legal points. Here are a few:



1. The difference between 'assault' and 'battery'. If someone threatens you, aggressively blocks your path, makes verbal threats against you, abuses or swears at you, or does anything aggressive that doesn't actually involve physcial contact then they have committed common assault against you. That is a crime, and you have become a victim of crime. Did you know that? If they actually strike you than that is battery. The levels go up: ABG (actual bodily harm), GBH (grievous bodily harm) etc.



2. A pre-emptive strike is permissible in law. If you honestly believe that you are about to be assaulted you are allowed to strike first. Even some cops don't understand this, but it is enshrined in law. The problem comes when you have to convince a jury or magistrates....



So which martial art is the 'best'? I don't pretend to know enough about all of them to answer! If I was an expert with many years' experience in half a dozen of them I may be able to hazard a guess. The reality is that all martial arts can be devastatingly effective if employed by a skilled practitioner. The UFC tournaments will not provide you with the answer because they are constrained by rules and have a scoring system. The fights are artificial. From my own biased viewpoint, based on my limited knowledge, I say that jiu-jitsu is the 'best' because it is not a sport, has no rules, forbids no strikes (no matter how dangerous) and involves training for combat in all ranges : weapons (longest range), kicking (long range), hands and elbows (medium range), grappling and throwing (close range), and groundwork (on the floor). Obviously there are many variations of jiu-jitsu which I won’t go into.



That conclusion just my opinion, I have only tried a few martial arts for a short while and am happy for anyone to disagree with me and argue to the contrary. But the reality is: no-one really knows which martial art is the ‘best’ because a real fight has too many variables to be able to predict which style or art is most effective.



Anyway, that is all beside the point. The point is: do start martial arts. One day it may very well save your life or the life of a loved one. It will boost your confidence, your fitness and our self-esteem. And it will teach you (with luck) other virtues, like self-restraint. And if you do well I hope you will never end up like Mr Aikido-IT programmer on the bus and claim that 'no-one can hurt me now'. Because that's how you will get hurt.