They aren’t trying to pick a fight. Sifu Robert McDowell’s Aikikenjitsu street fighting class, though, will teach his students to be prepared if they happen to find one.

“It’s doesn’t mean we’re going to go hurt anyone,” he said.

McDowell got involved with karate in the mid-1960s, eventually becoming a fifth degree black belt.

In the mid-80s he began developing his own martial arts form, using a combination of kenpo karate, aikido and jujitsu, he said. He spent several years perfecting his new form, taking out what he considered unnecessary moves and making it usable in small places and for a wide variety of people.

“I made them so they work for a weaker person, a smaller person,” McDowell said, who stands 5-feet 2-inches tall and weighs 130 lbs.

In 1989 he began teaching Aikikenjitsu in a back room at Total Body Fitness, where a group still gathers every Saturday morning to perfect moves and learn new skills.

“It makes you feel alive,” said Ken Loots, who has been taking the class for two years.

The stripped down version of traditional martial arts, Loots said, is practical in a real life situation and a fun form of exercise.

“I feel more comfortable with myself in an hostile environment,” said John Smith, who has earned a purple belt in the class.

The class isn’t open for children younger than 18, McDowell said, but they can join at 11-years-old if they have a parent attending with them.

“It’s not a game,” added Jake Hoeks, one of the students.

McDowell said he wants people to be old enough to understand the seriousness of the techniques he teaches.

“It’s been a life saver for me,” explained Marty Williams.

In the several years he’s been learning from McDowell, Williams has lost a significant amount of weight while learning how to defend his loved ones – something which most students said is an incentive for taking the class.

Williams has a teenage son, he said, who he’d like to be able to protect in they were ever in a dangerous situation.

“At least I’d have a fighting chance if something happened,” Williams said.

The class isn’t designed to simply take someone to the ground, McDowell said. The basic principles are to crush bones or lock joints – to make certain an attacker can’t keep fighting.

“We use violence as a tool,” Williams said.

An attacker’s goal, he said, is to injure, rape or kill.

“A person who comes out and attacks you ain’t going to take you for dinner,” he said.

The objective of Aikikenjitsu, McDowell said, is to end a fight swiftly before too much harm is done or innocent bystanders are injured.

“It’s over with in a couple of seconds,” he said. “Everything is clean, clear and it’s done and nobody is hurt except for the bad guy.”

The martial art form was designed so it can be done low to the ground and in small spaces, making it ideal for women and people who are older, people who might not be able to easily fight off an attacker.

“It would be very effective for a female,” McDowell said.

They’ve had women in the class, he said, though there aren’t currently any enrolled.

Many men join the class for the fun of it, McDowell added, while women tend to join to learn ways to protect themselves.

One of the most helpful tools he teaches women to use is a pocket stick, which can be used to hit attackers in strategic locations, like joints.

“It won’t kill someone but it will pretty well put them down,” McDowell said.

They practice techniques in possible scenarios every week so the moves become second nature, he said.

“You learn how to move without thinking,” he said.

McDowell stresses that the class is not to teach people to be on the offense, to go out and pick fights, but to protect themselves – to respond to an attacker’s actions.

“By [his] actions toward me they are telling me what I am going to do to him,” he said.

Luckily, he said, most of the people who take his class will never have to use the skills he teaches. He just likes knowing he educates people to take care of themselves and protect those they care about.

“We move like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” McDowell said.

Aikikenjitsu

The Aikikenjitsu class meets from 10 a.m. to noon every Saturday at Total Body Fitness, 15718 Main St. E. in Sumner. The class is $35 a month. For more information call 253-863-2755.