Questions and Answers

Here we do our best to answer some of the more common questions we encounter in our practice. Sometimes we even succeed :-)

Q1: Is there any risk of injury when practicing self-defense?

R1: Of course there is. It is not different for example from driving a car. However, the chances of injury can be lowered by abiding to a set of strict dicipline rules and carrying appropriate insurance can provide adequate compensation.

Q2: Am I going to be capable to successfully defend myself by following this program?

R2: Nobody can guarantee such a thing. And if they do they lie consciously or not. Is like asking a driving instructor whether he can guarantee that you will never have an accident if you learn with him. What you can do is choose the instructor wisely and make the most of his teachings while practicing sincerely and hard. As your skills grow, you become increasingly capable to successfully defend yourself providing of course the skills of the attacher does not exceed yours.

Q3: Is self-defense a Martial Art?

R3: Martial Arts are disciplines used in war, hence the word "Martial". If you regard a situation in which self-defense is required, as a small war, then perhaps self-defence can be regarded as a Martial Art as well. But in general self-defence is just a discipline which uses techniques and ideas from various Martial Arts and other social disciplines for dealing with difficult situations. Some people are so wrapped up and dedicated to self-defense that their skills effectively achieve the "Art" status. Most commonly, the average person learns a number of techniques which could be used for defending against most common street attacks.

Q4: If I learn a Martial Art can I use it for self-defense?

R4: Definitely. Every Martial Art teaches attacks and defenses and it is up to the practitioner to use this knowledge wisely. Use it for aggression and you're on the wrong side. Use it for defense and you're on the right side. Well, it really depends on the situation and how the local laws and polilcies define wrong and wright.

Q5: What is the best Martial Art?

R5: This is a very old question... and arising merely from misinformation and misunderstanding. The simple answer is that there is no such thing. People are not usually aware, though at a second thought is really obvious, that success in a certain area or task is mostly a result of skill not of schooling. When two students from different schools have a fight the winner owns his success to his superior skills only. It is not just a matter of school but a matter of how hard the winner had trained. The schools really provide only a framework and a set of exercises for their students. These may be different among schools but if one looks carefully at the end results, then one can see that as the students advance on their way, they simply improve their skills (speed, flexibility, body conditioning, etc.). The skills are however about the same all the time, so the schools do not differ in their end results. To put it even simpler, the skills of the best math graduate from MIT are not much different from the same skills of the best graduate of an obscure University in a developing country, provided they both studied sincerely and worked hard.