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Fraudulent martial arts teachers are aplenty in traditional and modern martial arts. If a person is interested in training a martial art they should become familiar with the principles, tactics and overall strategy of the method they pursue. Just like some Doctors are good doctors and some paid for an internet degree and are just hustlers. Dont be afraid to question things that seem impractical to you, good teachers enjoy questions. Not all personalities are going to be compatible so you can have a skilled instructor who is unable to pass on the lesson because the personalities clash and in such a case it may seem like that teacher is teaching something impractical to the student but it is not always the case. For example, an instructor is always smiling and very relaxed, he speaks with a soft voice and takes his time with each student often spending what seems like forever on a single step while a student who came to learn practical self-defense to survive the mean streets of his neighborhood, is looking for more of a kill! Kill! Kill! Type of personality who is going to show him the lethal stuff Well, in such a case you can see how the student may simply miss the treasure.


Some techniques look fake to the untrained but in fact serve the purposes which they are being trained for well. For example, you may see a martial artist training some staff techniques that seem very impractical but come to find out they are working on an advanced method of issuing force, the staff being used as a training tool. You may see a martial artist doing what looks like a graceful dance with a sword and jump to the conclusion that they have been taught an unrealistic martial art but in fact they were using the sword as a tool for moving meditation. There are a lot of ways to train to develop different elements of a martial art that may look silly or crazy but in fact produce very real results when all the elements are combined. A good technique has a pattern that is applicable in many different situations with very little adjustments. If a teacher shows you one application for a technique it does not mean that it is the only application for that pattern. If the body mechanics are sound they can be used to address numerous variations.


When some people talk about unrealistic techniques they can have this vision in their minds of a particular situation, maybe one they have seen or experienced directly and they use that as the frame of reference to form the conclusion that the technique is unrealistic. For example they watched a boxing match where the opponents were throwing short, fast combinations while darting in and out of each others punching range. Upon seeing a martial artist apply a lock in response to a single punch they conclude that this technique is fantasy as it would never work on a skilled boxer. What they do not seem to grasp is that if the opponent changes so does the martial artist. That one technique is not designed to be an answer to every possible attack, it is not even designed to be applied in a real self-defense situation; rather it was designed as a stepping stone in the learning process.


No technique can stand alone in the face of all possibilities however good training will help you change efficiently enough to improve your ability to survive. My advice is to keep training as best you can and while you may never attain immortality with a given technique, you can still attain a deep level and constantly improve yourself and enrich your life. When it comes to knife and/or gun you do not have to know everything about them or obsess and worry about if your teacher has killed enough people to be worthy of teaching you the subject. In the end it will depend more on how good your body mechanics are and how awake you are lol. Knowledge of weapons is worthwhile but knowledge is not going to move your body for you.