I occasionally get some exposure to other combatives and martial arts systems, and get to work with some very skilled practitioners of these different arts. One thing I frequently run into are “techniques that are too dangerous to do – even in training.” I have a very hard time with this.

It is my core belief that practicing things as close as you can get to full-speed, full-power, against resisting opponents is a key element of self defense training. While the InSights combatives system has a few techniques that fall into the “too dangerous to practice” category, one key difference I see is that none of them are the primary part of an escape or defense. Eye gouges and the like are not first thing we are going do, and the rest of the technique doesn’t hinge on the successful execution of it.

Clearly we can’t begin training at ‘combat speed’ because we still need to learn the mechanics of the particular technique, but eventually we need to progress to training under stress, against resisting opponents that change their pattern of attack, and with real speed and power. This is why we spend so much time fighting against opponents that are wearing Fist Suits in our unarmed classes.