Live

Live training separates what works from what doesn’t. When you train against resistance, it is the only way to know if you are doing something correctly. The rules of the game may allow things to work that wouldn’t be effective outside a gym environment, but overall sparring and live training separate effective martial arts from martial arts that are showier. If you actually want to defend yourself, there should be an element of live training against resistance. Otherwise, what you’re doing is purely theoretical and it is not being practiced under duress, and self-defense is definitely duress. Make sure that what you’re practicing lines up with your goals and aspirations. That could be self-defense, competition, or just being the secret savage at your gym.