Zyaga Writing about whatever the hell I want, cuz it's the Interwebz!

Tuesday Tips: Become Versatile

Over the past week I’ve realized one major thing I do all the time, isn’t quite as common as I thought. I train a variety of ways to become versatile, whereas many people seem to just train their style or even if they train multiple styles they may neglect other training such as weapons.

I’ve heard this question far too often, “Why train to be able to use a sword if it’s not an applicable weapon in today’s age?”. I can agree to a certain point, but it’s almost as if those people are looking down a very, very narrow telescope at the problem to the point that they can’t even see the obvious. It is true that a sword, of any kind, is not a likely weapon you’ll be able to “choose” in a real circumstance. Of course, if I got attacked at my home, I’d have plenty to go around but it’s well known most attacks aren’t while you’re in your home. They are while you’re are out somewhere where a sword is not going to be handy. Yet, the purpose of training with any weapon, whether it be a sword, staff, sai, etc isn’t to be able to use those items themselves in a real situation. It’s to be able to use and apply the methods and coordination you learned, from having trained with those weapons, with other weapons. For instance, I may no longer have my staff, sword, etc but hand me any item you can find lying around and I’ll turn it into a weapon of some sort. The coordination needed to be able to utilize any weapon to an extreme efficiently is the key point though. If I’ve only trained in Escrima with short sticks and I’m given a pool stick or some long weapon I’m probably not going to feel as comfortable using it as I would if I had instead been given something shorter like a crowbar(I could break the pool stick in half and use it as two short sticks, but I’m just trying to get the point across ).

Training to become versatile doesn’t mean you just need to add weapons to your training regime, that’s merely just one part of it. Becoming versatile means that in any situation you’re put in, you quickly adapt to the environment to control the situation. One, more common method, is by fighting people of various styles and sizes. Fighting someone a lot taller than you is totally different than fighting someone a lot shorter than you. That’s why it is important to train with as many different people as you can when you get the chance. I train sometimes with a guy who is roughly 6’5-6’7, while I am only 5’11, so I get a good amount of variety when I do get to train with him but I don’t get to fight with guys who are just plain big, very often. Therefore, I get excited whenever I get the chance to, as it’s a completely different experience.