Martial Arts is dangerous. Not really to do, but more dangerous if you know it, but don’t know how to control yourself. If you do not know how to control yourself, you become a very dangerous person to your community.
So what teachers would do is put the people who want to learn martial arts through tests, to see if they have the strength and the ability to control themselves to be good martial artists.
When the right people learn martial arts the right way, you have a happier and safer community.
Some of these are tests of mental strength, through physical exercises. They want to see what you are like when things get difficult. If you give up too easily, they will give you easier things that are not really part of the real training. If you don’t give up very easily, then you will probably start experiencing the more authentic training.
Some of these are tests of patience. They want to see what your level of self control is. If it is at a very low level, and they will give you things that are not really part of the real training. If you demonstrate patience, resiliency, and self control, you will probably advance faster, and start getting closer to the authentic training.
Many people think martial arts is all about the techniques. The techniques are only a small part of what Martial Arts is all about. Martial Arts is about the training, the self-discipline, and having the right mindset. It is learning to have good skills, but being very humble about it. It is learning that you can strengthen yourself by strengthening others.
So part of getting the real Martial Arts authentic training is seeing if you can make it through a process that requires commitment, perseverance, patience, and confidence.
When these character attributes are proven to the teacher, the teacher will then decide to take the student through a training process that will coach the student through a slightly altered process that will help them attain the skills faster, and develop them to be executed at a higher level.
Just because you learn a few self-defense techniques in one day does not mean you are ready to defend yourself.
Just because you learned a few chords on the guitar in one day does not mean you are ready to join a band.
Just because you learned a few words in a different language in one day, does not mean you are ready to hold fluid conversations about politics with native speakers of that country.
It is one thing to learn some basic martial arts techniques, it’s something entirely different to be a martial artist.
It is one thing to learn a few basic chords on the guitar, it’s something entirely different to be a guitarist.
It is one thing to learn a few words of a different language, it’s something entirely different to be fluent in that different language.
The goal of a martial arts teacher is to teach everyone some basic martial arts techniques, but then out of those people, find out who are ready to become martial artists.