Reality Based Martial Arts are a newer trend that has become popular

 

in the last decade. These systems are usually refined systems based

 

on simple tactics pulled from various arts. There overall strong suit is

 

the focus on realistic attacks. They are known to work actual scenario’s

 

that would happen in the street. Fights don’t usually start from across a

 

ring when you are ready in your stance so these systems teach you to

 

fight from natural stances and work on reacting to surprise attacks. The

 

tactics taught in these systems usually includes things that would be

 

illegal in a sportive setting such as strikes to the eyes and groin,

 

Headbutts, biting or whatever it takes to survive. They also tend to

 

address wild and unorthodox attacks that would not be common from a

 

trained fighter but are very common in an attack from an angry

 

untrained opponent. Physical training is usually accompanied by

 

situational awareness and general safety tips. Stress Inoculation and

 

handicap type training is often used to prepare your mind for the reality

 

of combat. These systems usually incorporate weapons training and

 

defenses of some kind and also teach methods and tactics of fighting

 

multiple opponents. The down side to these arts is because of the

 

violent nature of their training they can’t really train their tactics

 

realistically against a full resisting opponent without a lot of unnatural

 

protective equipment or someone getting seriously injured. This can

 

cause students to lack realistic timing and ability to apply the tactics

 

they know. Often the founders of these systems come from a previous

 

martial arts background from one of the other categories giving them

 

the time and experience to be able to functionalize their art but this can

 

sometimes be difficult to transfer to students who only train in these

 

systems.