In serious martial arts schools we train hard. We punch, kick and block with intensity and purpose. We sweat and we pant by the end of class and often leave with bruises and sore muscles. Every now and then there will be an accident resulting in a bloody nose, a very severe bruise that lingers for weeks, a torn muscle or even a broken bone, but these are things that we try to avoid. Unfortunately I have noticed that not all martial arts schools try to avoid these things, and certainly not all students in all martial arts schools. Abusive training often results in bloody noses, severe bruises, muscle tears and broken bones, and it is not at all the same as regular hard training. Sometimes abusive training stems from problems at home or work and they take out their aggression on their training partners. Sometimes it stems from psychological issues that have never been addressed. Sometimes people are just plain mean.
It can be Stopped
The worst part about abusive training is that it can be stopped but it is often ignored. Students who are the victims of this type of abuse often accept it as part of “hardcore training” and never say anything. They want to seem like they are tough enough. The problem with this is that it allows the abuse to continue and people can be injured to the point where they can no longer train, or even injured so badly that they cannot live a quality life. It may start small–an advanced student slamming their well-conditioned forearms into the soft forearms of a white belt hard enough to bruise the bone, for instance–but if left alone it can continue to escalate until people start getting struck full power in the liver (which can potentially kill you) or have knees wrenched until ligaments tear or the joint dislocates.
Instructors have an obligation to keep their students in good health–when they leave the dojo they should be sweaty, smiling and smarter for having attended the class, not bleeding and broken. Students must be watched over to prevent both accidents and intentional abuse and while accidents can be corrected with more training I feel that intentional abuse should be taken very seriously. Martial arts are capable of maiming and killing people, and must be practiced responsibly. If someone is found to be unable to restrain themselves for the safety of the other students they should not be allowed to train, at least not until they have found that restraint.
Look out for Others
Students, from white belt to black, need to remain vigilant as well. If you see another student being bullied or abused in the dojo you must talk to your instructor! If you, yourself, are being bullied or abused you must talk to your instructor! Abusive training is not “hardcore” and it doesn’t make you tougher–it can severely injure you and if you manage to get through it you will be more prone to abuse less experienced students, yourself. Martial arts training is fun, educational and useful but it also carries with it inherent dangers, so please do not put yourself at more risk than is necessary.
Remember–you train for yourself, not for everybody else.
Abuse in MA can easily be “hidden” as hardcore training, as you said it already and it’s sad to see this happen and people abuse their students’ trust. Such articles show all MA practitioners what is a good serious MA class and what means they’re being abused.
Nice to see you again Dojo. The problem is that gray area in anything. It hides so easily because two 240 Lbs guys’ idea of “contact” is two 105 Lbs girls version of hospitalization.
OSU, thank you for writing about this. You make some very good points, and it is true that it is not only the responsibility of the instructor, but also the student. Me, I’m new and I try to not make waves, but I think that my own recent bad incident could have been avoided if I had spoken up the first time I had a bad experience. I thought that maybe it was a fluke, and that the other person involved was just young and embarrassed, so he tried to hide it. I decided to try to make a friend instead of making him lose face and winning myself an enemy. But what if he had gone on to hurt someone else?
As it turns out, he ended up hurting me.
I am upset about it, but I think I would have been more upset if he had injured someone else, and if it could have maybe been avoided if I hadn’t kept so quiet about the issue.
I won’t be making that mistake again.
OSU!
Well Ev, thank you more for expressing yourself through your blog. This was not a coincident topic, your post inspired Noah and provoked a conversation that may help many other people. It is always great to see people sharing their ideas and helping expand the collective knowledge of the world.
For those who don’t know, this article was inspired by Ev’s post on her own blog over at http://kyokushinchick.blogspot.com/2011/01/last-three-classes-part-3-wardrobe.html Please check her out and take in on some of her insight as a new student in Kyokushin Karate.
Please don’t be a stranger from now on Ev and as I mentioned, if you ever want to know something feel free to contact me and I will either answer it for you personally or answer it as post publicly.
Thank you very much! It is always wonderful to make new friends in the martial arts. :} I’ll do my best to keep in touch. And thank you also to linking to my blog.
Fair warning, folks- I’m the crazy kyokushin chick. Literally crazy.
OSU!
And she bites
That Nidan had it coming!
Glad to see you here, Ev! As Sensei Kruczek said, the incident you experienced (bolstered somewhat by an online discussion about bullying) was what inspired me to write this post. I hope you’ll post here more–don’t be a stranger!
It is very well-written, Noah. Thank you for sharing it with me.