Did you know the way you practice could determine how effective you are in a real violent encounter?
Most martial artists don’t train for full contact. In fact, most of us actually practice pulling and missing. And that’s a dangerous habit — because what you practice is what you’ll do.*
Back in university, I met a guy named Trace. He studied Goju Ryu Karate. His training involved punching the bag, yelling “Kiai!” and pulling the punch on contact. The bag would shake, but he never followed through.
Me? Influenced by boxing, I smashed into the bag. Full contact.
One night, we’re talking about martial arts and Bruce Lee. I asked him why he pulled his shots. He said his sensei taught him that the energy traveled through the body, into vital areas. I challenged him: “How do you demo that? What if you need follow-through? What happens when the target is moving?”
He was certain. He told me he’d done thousands of reps and when the time came, it would work exactly as he’d trained.
Then Friday night happened.
Two drunk college kids get into an argument, one of them is my new buddy Trace. Things escalate, threats are exchanged, the guy shoves Trace, and he throws his trademark straight punch to the gut and yells “Kiai!” on impact. The guy screamed like he was hurt. They both froze — Trace waiting for him to collapse.
But the guy realized no damage had been done. He looked at Trace, who had that deer-in-the-headlights stare, confused that his magic punch didn’t work. Then the guy ripped a short hook and dropped him.
A few years later, I was training with the great Benny “The Jet” Urquidez. One of the greatest kickboxers of all time. Benny said something that hit me like a thunderbolt:
“What you practice is what you’ll do.”
We know now from neuroscience that neural patterns drive movement. If you ingrain the wrong movement, you’ll deploy the wrong movement.
That’s why pro fighters always make contact — bags, pads, sparring. Contact is what teaches the brain range, timing, accuracy, and balance.
But in most self-defense classes and demos, almost every strike is implied. They miss on purpose. Why? To protect the training partner. The problem is this trains the wrong habit. And when stress hits, you don’t rise to the occasion — you fall to your training.
To help fix this, I started building protective equipment back in the early ’80s. I wanted me and my students to know we made contact.
If you’re a martial artist or self-defense instructor running scenarios, double-check you’re not training your students’ brains to miss or pull shots. Inadvertently, practicing the wrong habits creates the wrong neural patterns.
Help your students prepare for reality by practicing realistically!
Never practice pulling, never practice missing!
Watch this video and tell me it doesn’t look like a real fight.
Coach B