Hello all,

My message will be long so please bear with me. The reason I am writing is to get peoples’ perspective on whether it is worthwhile to train in other martial arts in general if you have SDTS. To give you a quick background on my martial arts experience I have been training in different martial arts on and off for about 15 years; I have a 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, an Orange belt in Krav Maga, just obtained a Blue Belt in BJJ, and have dabbled in some other arts such as Systema, Boxing, Thai Boxing over the years. Although I enjoyed doing these arts it always seemed like I was essentially practicing for a fake reality or just sport competition which is basically what’s mentioned in several SDTS articles. I have read many of the blogs/articles you all have on the SDTS website talking about martial arts, instructors, realities of combat, sport fighting, and others. I thoroughly enjoy them and highly respect the ideas presented and found the ideas were particularly impactful because the main contributors (Damian and the other SDTS instructors) have very strong martial arts backgrounds (or at least way better than mine) and real-life experience. After reading through the articles, I have come to question whether training in martial arts generally is truly still worth it because the proposed benefits may not really be there.

For example, the primary benefit of training in martial arts is self-defense or fight preparation. It seems like if I want to be prepared for a real fight, martial arts (such as those I mentioned) distract or get in the way of the STDS skills. Meaning, I may resort to skills I picked up in those arts which would put me in more danger during a real fight. For example, trying a spinning head kick, going to the ground, trying to out-punch an attacker all are big problems in a real confrontation. Additionally, the more “skills” I possess (more blocks, joint locks, chokes and such) the slower reaction will be because I have more choices. Also, and this is just my opinion, it seems that whenever you are around martial artists from any style their conception of combat is very skewed in some way. Meaning it is hard to get a real sense of real self-defense from other martial artists. Maybe that is just me and other SDTS members have had different experiences but what I mentioned has been my experience so far. Finally, and this is something that has been brought up several times, martial arts practice requires you back off and don’t go full throttle. This is probably the biggest issue because you are basically training yourself to be nice to your attacker.

Another proposed benefit of martial arts training is fitness. Indeed, you can get in some great shape depending on what style you choose. However, it also seems like there are much more effective and cheaper alternatives to staying in shape (lifting weights, running, rowing, hitting a dummy, etc.) that are less likely to get you injured.

Finally, a selling point for martial arts tends to be around community or getting friends. I admit I have made some friends over the years in martial arts but most of the time, and I notice this with many other people, the people you talk with in martial arts are more acquaintances than friends. Additionally, and again you all might have a very different experience, but most of the people in those martial arts classes are constantly competing with one another and trying to beat each other (who is tougher, who can go longer, who can hit harder, who can “choke you out”, etc.). Again, I know many members and instructors have much more extensive martial arts backgrounds than I do so I don’t want to make it sound like I know how all martial arts work.

Perhaps this brings the risk of becoming “tribal” in my thinking but it seems to beg the question, is it truly worth it to train in other martial arts when you have the SDTS?

Thank you to all the great SDTS members and instructors.