Which Is More Likely to Save Your Life - Taijiquan or Krav Maga?
"Health is not valued until sickness comes." - Dr. Thomas Fuller
Now, if I someone told you they wanted to learn a martial art that would be the best for sving their life or keeping them from dying, what would you tell them? Alright, so the ones who agree with our policy of there not being one 'best' art would tell that person either there isn't one, or it depends. However, for argument's sake, how about that person asks you what type of art would be best suited for keeping them alive. I think for most people the initial answer would be a no-holds-barred practical self-defense system. An art which deals in efficient, possibly even military-style ruthless dispatching of an aggressor with no reservations about what kinds of techniques are allowed. That certainly sounds reasonable, right? I mean, if you don't hold back and are using a style focused on efficient combat with survival as the only concern you're going to have an easier time staying alive. Is that really true though?
The key here, is to look at the question originally posed without being tainted by preconceptions. Most people assume that when a person says they want to learn a martial art to be safe/avoid harm/not die, that the best way to not die is to be able to defend yourself. That assumpton, however, is based entirely on the untrue supposition that you are very likely to die by way of someone else attacking you. Let's take a look at the Centers for Disease Control mortality statistics for the United States ranking the leading causes of death:
- Heart Disease 26%
- Malignant Neoplasms (Cancer) 23.1%
- Cerebrovascular Disease 5.7%
- Chronic Low Respiratory Disease 5.1%
- Unintentional Injury 5.0%
- Diabetes Mellitus 3.0%
- Alzheimer's Disease 3.0%
- Influenza & Pneumonia 2.3%
- Nephritis 1.9%
- Septicemia 1.4%
- Suicide 1.4%
- Liver Disease 1.1%
- Hypertension 1.0%
- Parkinson's Disease 0.8%
- Homicide 0.8%
- Pneumonitis 0.7%
- and so on....
Notice anything interesting about that chart? Homicide isn't even in the top ten. It's the fifteenth one down, and notice that the percentages of each have severely diminishing returns. A little math shows us that it's not just about rank, you aren't 15 times more likely to die of heart disease than be murdered, you're 32.5 times more likely. In fact, if you die from one of the 16 leading causes of death here, your odds of it being something other than murder are 101.875 times higher than it being murder.
Now, since we're being statistically minded here, if we really wanted to keep from dying it makes the most sense statistically to do something that would keep us from falling victim at least to the number one cause if not several of them up top. I mean, you have a 49.1% chance of dying of heart disease or cancer. A 1 in 2 chance. You have a 0.8% chance of dying because you didn't know how to defend yourself. That's a 1 in 125 chance.
Now, I want to reiterate here, we firmly believe that no art is inherently superior to any other art. Whether it's an internal art, external art, self-defense system or sport we love it all. The point here is to encourage people to be a little more open with the way they think. You have an extremely small chance of being attacked by another human being, however you have just shy of a 50% chance of being killed by heart disease or cancer. Statistically speaking then, you are practicing significantly more efficient self-defense if you're practicing martial arts for the health benefits, rather than for the ability to survive a fight. In fact, it may be significantly more important that you know to eat real foods than that you know how to fight. In that context then, returning to our original question, the best answer to give that hypothetical friend of yours would be an internal art like Taijiquan, any art that has a significant emphasis on fitness, health and wellness or possibly even Qigong (although there are significantly varying opinions as to whether Qigong can be classified as a martial art).
Hopefully this article has at least gotten you to think a little about what you're doing for your own safety and health, and what you aren't doing. Do you have anything to add to the discussion? Do you think it's more important that you learn to fight well, that you develop yourself physically, mentally or spiritually or that your art gives you a good balance of all of them? Share with everyone in the comments.
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