Are martial video moves effective in real life?

It is a known fact that a lot of us martial artists first got inspired to learn martial arts after we saw our first Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan movie. With those martial movies, we have come to admire their gravity defying and gracefully executed, smooth moves. A true martial artist however, knows that flashy martial video moves are not that effective in real life.

There are a lot of things that could go bad in a street fight. Believe it or not, your martial video moves could put you in a really bad situation. We know that in a real fight, a lot of things could be thrown your way. Your opponent would do anything and everything that would make him achieve that fighting edge over you.

Let’s face it. Winning and surviving a real life fight would depend on the amount of training you have as well as your ability to think straight when it comes to facing life threatening situations. I would admit that the moves that we see in martial videos could be pretty cool to look at but it’s the practical moves that could save your life on the streets.

Let’s talk about some of the most overlooked reasons why emulating martial video moves could be potentially dangerous in real life:

Movie directors emphasize fancy aerial kicks - These are the most common moves that we see in martial movies. Although it is pretty impressive to look at, these moves are usually emphasized by the director for the aesthetic purposes of making a martial arts movie. Aerial kicks are proven to be unreliable in a real street fight since they are hard to land.

You wouldn’t just expect your opponent to just stand there and watch you beat him up. When delivering high kicks, there’s a big possibility of leaving yourself open for a counter attack. High spinning kicks are also pretty easy to intercept and telegraph.

Fight scenes are choreographed - This only means that the techniques they show in martial movies are telegraphed and rehearsed to perfection before they even start filming. This should never be the case when you get yourself engaged in a real fight. Telegraphing your moves would result to landing only a few not-so-effective blows.

This would also make your strikes very predictable. You never really know what your opponent would throw at you in real life. Being predictable could lead you into a very ugly situation when faced with a real attack.

Movie directors would often show you flashy techniques instead of the most effective techniques - Again, directors choose to show the fancier side of martial arts in movies instead of the more effective ones for entertainment purposes. These spectacular martial video moves are only meant to impress naïve and oftentimes, very ignorant audiences.

We should always remember that movie fights are meant to entertain. I would agree that there are a lot of instructional martial videos out there that could be considered legit and useful on the streets. When faced with a real fight, our aim is to end the situation with as few moves and with as little time possible.

A real martial artist would be wise enough to know what moves would be practical to use on the streets versus the ones that are thrown just to look good. The key to a winning a real fight is getting rid of the complicated moves. I would assure you that the martial arts heroes we’ve seen would not fight in the street like they do in the movies.

In real fight, you should expect the unexpected. Stay focused; avoid copying the moves you get from martial movies, remember that the aim is not to impress but to survive.