The art of adding weight to war
My coach has always diversified my Mixed Martial Arts training by exposing me to the reality and dangers of different types of weapons. It is not usual for an MMA fighter to make the time to train weapons. He encourages me to recognize how to connect each weapon to its complementing style of Martial Arts. He has taught me the basics of kbars, long swords, kali sticks, throwing knives, tomahawks, spears, nunchucks, war clubs and more. It is important to understand that most martial arts movement or style has been constructed around the consideration of a weapon. The practice of a singular Martial Arts results is the effect (death) being removed from combat. The problem I see is that when the effect is removed then so is the cause. A weapon is a reminder of the effect in combat.
Experimenting with a variety of ways to effectively engage in combat is a supplement to newer styles of Mixed Martial Arts. MMA can be looked at like this: the art of learning how to kill in as many different ways as possible and as efficiently as possible. I personally believe that the practice of Martial Arts goes deeper, with a multitude of layers but, when we are looking at the root/primal level of combat, it is carnage.
When you have a weapon in one hand or both, it becomes an extension of you. A weapon expresses your intent. Every specific weapon represents your specific limitations. For a weapon to be effective it must be used in such a way that considers all components of combat. Using a longsword versus a spear as an example: the sword's obvious limitation is the range that the spear is able to maintain using its length. In the spear's case; once the distance has been closed its limitations are that it has no space for the blade to pull back and then penetrate the target. I have always told myself that limitations are the birth giver to creativity. Training with a weapon paints a more undeniable image of why large consequences are created by small mistakes. This increases the weight of the actions taken in a fight, making what you do important.
Fighting is high-risk, high reward. If you are a visual learner like I am, seeing the consequences represented
in extremes is a highly effective way to learn. Incorporating weapons into regular training gives reason to move "this way" instead of "that way". Training with weapons can be theatrical, it highlights the risks and its rewards. I have found that exposing myself to my own mortality repetitively through the concept of armed Martial Arts has forced me to respect the dangers of hand to hand combat.
Weapons training becomes a tool used to tap into the God of war that which everybody has within them. The word Martial Arts directly translates to "the art of Mars" (Mars being the god of war) so, when you are in practice on the mats you are preparing to go to war.
