All Different Shapes and Sizes
Instructors know it more too well that everybody in the martial arts comes in all 
different shapes and sizes. Age, gender, height, weight, strength, fitness, attitude, mental and physical ability (have I missed any) all have a bearing on the ability to learn, level of performance and results. Instructors, including students must be made aware of these variables which will be either a hindrance or an advantage depending on what skill they are trying to master. Speaking from experience, traditional martial arts training often demanded an amost similar physical outcome from each student. This was achieved by the natural selection of the few who stayed on to get Black Belt. The rest had to move on. I remember one of my Black Belt's attitude, in the mid ‘80’ with his students, ‘you’ll never be any good, take up needlecraft instead’. I don't think that sort of sarcasm exists today.
Martial arts have come a long way since then, encouraging everyone to take up training and Instructors are willing to help students achieve their goals. This can be done in many ways which does not necessarily has to be solely based on physical attributes. But having said that, I can’t remember any student who has not impressed me with something they can do better than the other person in the classroom. It's all about discovery, students will eventually do particularly well in some specific area of their discipline. I don't know whether they are good at it because they like it, or whether they like it and that is why they become good at it. Maybe, John Will would like to do a bit of research on this.
Everybody in the martial arts, with time, will gain confidence, and become faster, stronger and fitter, that's the way the body works. So there is no cause for concern to anyone hoping to achieve their goals.
GA
perspective on the reality of self defence. But that is OK if it is done purely for entertainment value and creativity. However, the opinion of the few Instructors, who are skilled in Reality Based Self Defence, will agree they have a duty of care to their students. What concerns me is the ‘wow’ look on some of the unwary students’ faces. The truth is, it is only the most simple and effective techniques with a good base of street knowledge, will work. 
ability to see things, and clearer, than other people. Martial arts students tend to loathe the basics when shown to them because humans tend to get bored. But that is all a matter of perspective because, to an advanced student, a basic technique looks a whole lot different to that from a beginner. In fact, an advanced student probably finds its more exciting because they discover new detail in a basic technique just as a Forensic Scientist sees things which are usually oblivious to that of an ordinary person unless given a magnifying glass. For a beginner to appreciate the advanced student’s perspective, they should look at a difficult technique and they will soon realize that it has more than one shape.
has been the most excruciating experience of my life, to say the least. This painful experience has virtually immobilized me. Richard Norton calls it the tooth ache of the back. Now I can really appreciate the saying, ‘pain in the back’ (or whatever). However, I have slowly been improving and trying to get to the schools and contribute in some way whilst I’m there.
Recently I bumped into an old student. I didn’t immediately recognize him but after a few glances I realized he had been a student when he was about five years old. His face looked the same but he sure did grow up. I said ‘hello’ and he immediately said ‘Sensei’ and bowed to me. He is now 19 years old and told me he thinks of our school often. I asked him to come back to train again. He said he wished he never quit. We spoke a bit more and I asked why he had given it away. He said he was a kid at the time and his parents let him quit. Students often tell me they will be back someday but this very rarely happens. 
If you cared enough to keep up to date with what is going on in the fitness industry you will have noticed the never ending discovery and challenges of new exercises. To the fitness junkie these are pretty exciting because something new on the market, just as exciting as the arrival of a new fitness apparatus, marketed on television, brainwashing millions of people this is the answer to thei weight and fitness problems. Like many Instructors, we have been introducing new fitness routines to compliment the martial arts rather than stay with the old fashion push-ups and sit-ups, specialty of the ‘70’s and ‘80s. As martial artists, our exercises have to be sports specific and not to get carried away with the many new thousands of exercises. Exercises have to suit our needs; eg it would be a waste of time training a boxer to be flexible like a ballerina. Whilst exercises should be specific for each particular sport, consideration should also be given to some exercises which may only be suitable for specific people. To avoid any confusion, sticking to the basic fitness routines will just about suit everyone – they worked very well for me when I was training to be a Police Officer, 29 years ago; I was super fit by doing just the basic cardio and fitness routines!
Perfection can be defined as faultless or high degree of excellence. However, it is more of an ongoing pursuit than an end result. Perfection in the martial arts is what keeps us training because, to the martial artist, there is no end to the pursuit of excellence. As students, we do like praise from the Instructor but too much of it can breed complacency resulting in a reduction in enthusiasm to further progress. That's how it was done in the old days.
This is not about buying drinks for friends in a pub. This is the yell made by martial artists during training called KIAI. There are many purposes for this, but to begin with, it is when one focuses all the energy to one particular strike (or any other movement) with explosive power. Another, is to control the breathing at the moment of impact. A third reason is to distract or even intimidate your opponent. But it doesn’t end here if we start talking about the spiritual side.
A Black Belt is has been often thought of as a licence in the martial arts. Some of us older guys might remember the rumour you had to have your fingerprints taken when you got Black Belt because you would be considered lethal (the title of this blog is supposed to be a pun, hopefully, not offensive). If a Black Belt is a licence in the martial arts then there is almost a direct correlation to that of a drivers licence. People training for these ‘licences’ are students required to log the minimum amount of hours, gain the experience to be able to handle situations and demonstrate both mental and physical ability.
Like most young people, my teenage daughter has a saying ‘get real’ (typical teenage response which means nothing). However, that could mean a lot in the Martial Arts which have come a long way from the mystical perceptions of the 70s & 80s where they had people believe they can beat their opponent with one strike. This may be true depending on how well the person is trained, where the strike is placed and who they come up against. But that is usually not the case.