YSB Combatives - Knoxville

Ground fighting needs to be trained, but there are inherent dangers of being on the ground on the street, mainly multiple opponents.

The claim that 90% of fights end on the ground is a myth; the actual percentage is likely much lower, and the 90% figure originated from a misinterpretation of LAPD studies involving police and resisting suspects, not typical street fights. Studies on real-world encounters show lower percentages, such as 62% in the context of police struggle with resisting individuals or even lower figures like 42% from analyses of YouTube fight videos.

Origin of the myth: The claim was popularized by Rorion Gracie in the late 1980s to promote Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by misrepresenting studies of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers controlling resisting suspects.

LAPD study findings: The original LAPD data suggested that approximately 62% of encounters between officers and resisting suspects ended on the ground, not 90%.

Real-world context: The context is critical. Fights between civilians or in other situations may have different outcomes than law enforcement encounters. Studies on civilian fights show lower percentages of ground fighting.

Lower percentages:
Some analyses of YouTube videos found that only about 42% of fights ended with both participants on the ground.
Other sources report figures around 50% or just over 50%, depending on the study and criteria, says Reddit.
Dangers of being on the ground: Especially in a multiple-attacker situation, being on the ground can be extremely dangerous, as you can be kicked or stomped by others.

Time to sweep!

The following post nails the problem with the majority of folks that practice traditional kata. We don’t have that problem in YSB.

In Karate, there is a widespread belief that if one simply performs kata long enough, with enough polish and grace, understanding will appear on its own. The body will absorb meaning through repetition. The practitioner will become refined. So the training becomes a slow polishing. Angles corrected. Lines straightened. Posture level. Breathing measured. The kata gleams with aesthetic perfection.

It is not unlike the Japanese practice of dorodango. One takes a handful of ordinary dirt, presses it into a sphere, wets it, dries it, polishes it over and over until it shines. The result is beautiful. But it is still a ball of dirt. It does not gain new function. It does not become more capable. It simply becomes more pleasing to look at.

Kata, when treated the same way, suffers the same fate.

Many practitioners attempt to polish kata as if the polishing itself carries wisdom. They repeat forms year after year, but the external shape is the only thing that changes. They become elegant movers of air. Their kata shines like lacquer under good lighting. Yet when confronted with the physical reality of another person’s violence, the kata cracks. Timing is off. Distance is misjudged. Power lacks root. The hands know the dance, but not the fight.

Because kata was never meant to be polished into a decorative object.

Kata is a record of tactical solutions to violent problems. Each motion is a response to something. A grab. A strike. An attempt to seize the throat or pull you to the ground. Kata is a memory of conflict, encoded so that it could be passed from one generation to the next. If the practitioner does not seek that memory, if they do not explore the pressure, the angles, the impact, the grappling, the entries and exits, then the memory is lost. What remains is choreography.

The futility is not in kata itself. The futility lies in believing that polishing form alone develops function. Dirt cannot be polished into steel. And kata cannot be polished into skill without contact, application, correction, and the honest chaos of training with another person who is trying to shut you down.

If kata is to mean something, it must be unpacked, tested, stressed, and rebuilt under pressure. It must be tied to drills, partner work, and varying intensities. It must breathe. It must struggle. It must fail and be refined through that failure.

Otherwise, it is only dorodango. Beautiful, fragile, admired from a distance, but empty when needed.

The world does not need more dirt polished into spheres.
The world does not need kata performed like theater.
The world needs people who can understand conflict and navigate it with skill, clarity, and restraint.

Kata can be that path.
But only if we remember what it was meant to teach.

In general, the martial arts have devolved. Just my most humble opinion.

Here is a chance to train with one of the most legitimate martial artists in the world. It’s coming up fast! If you’re interested now is the time to move. Thanks.

I just uploaded a new article on my becoming stoic website that might be of interest to some of you. It’s a fairly short read. Link below. Enjoy

Retaliation and Anger What is it that we are angered by enough to want to lash out at the doer? Should we? Rand Cardwell tackles this question from a stoics perspective.

Are you interested in training Yin Style Bagua? If so, I’d like to invite you to a training event on Sunday, November 6th at noon. Location is Victor Ashe Park off Pleasant Ridge Road in Knoxville, TN. We’ll be on the knoll above the soccer field. Send me a message if you’re planning on attending. The arrow points at the location.

https://www.knoxvilletn.gov/cms/one.aspx?portalId=109562&pageId=211306

These are all lesser variations of YSB strikes IMHO. Which of the YSB strikes do you think they share the most similarities?

Watch this reel by kinetic_motions on Instagram Kinetic Motions () added a video to their Instagram account: “Martial arts. No one art is the best. With the right practitioner, the same move can be expressed…”