We have classes for men, women and children divided by age and rank. Different ages train differently so we divide our classes.
Our focus is on self-defense skill building. Although the program utilizes some traditional aspects, the instructors understand the nature of modern fighting. People are no longer under the threat of sword wielding samurai, black clad ninja or hoards of kungfu practitioning monks. Martial arts traditions are fine as long as one understands the purposes of tradition to enhance the training experience but they don't really add value to defense skills.
The program draws heavily on what's called reality-based training or street fighting. There is a difference between what works on the street and what's taught in the dojo. Kicks to the head, jump spinning kicks, one hit stops, dozens of different hand strikes, complicated joint locking techniques and detailed defenses for different scenarios really don't work that well.
In the past 20 years there have been a number of military, street fighters and police who also trained in traditional martial arts. These people have detailed their disappointment with the techniques, philosophy and training in those traditions. From them has come a blended philosophy or a thining out of 'stuff that doesn't work' where only techniques or principles that have been used or proven in real combat are taught. Similarly, Mixed Martial Arts competition (MMA) has changed the face of training with an emphasis on being well rounded with kicks, hand strikes, locks, chokes and takedowns helping to break the mold of traditional martial arts. In addition there are a number of police training organizations who study, organize and teach opponent control techniques and there are very few traditional martial arts techniques among them.
In conclusion, it is counterproductive to spend huge amounts of time training for attacks that will never come, trying to master techniques that won't work in modern scenarios and rejecting tools that are useful because they are not traditional.
