Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about martial arts concepts and history.
Have you seen any of the self-defenses against multiple attackers? Two people hold onto each arm and stretch themselves out perfectly, so the defender can kick both of their knees and get away. Unless they are stretching someone out to avoid being sliced with a samurai sword, which went out in 1867, you won’t be attacked that way. Unfortunately, few
The problem with too much martial arts’ self-defense instruction is that they are low percentage defenses against unrealistic attacks taught by some instructors, who have limited knowledge of street attacks. Some systems were created for street or military training and are better than others. However, the insularity of too many martial arts keep some instructors from exploring defenses for different
After you earn your Green Rank, you will have completed your first year of training. Congratulations. On average, 75 percent of students who started with you have already quit training. Lucky for you, they will be much better targets for criminals. A humorous anecdote is told about two campers worried about a bear attack. One of the campers tells his
Orange Rank is the next step on the path to obtaining a 1st Degree Black Rank in the Zimmerman Self-Defense System. You will continue to learn new techniques and start to figure out what you are naturally good at and what you need to work on more. Orange and Green Ranks sometimes trouble students because the novelty of training in
Despite its worldwide popularity and it’s rank as the most popular martial art in the United States, (TKD) is beginning to lose some of it’s luster due to its perceived lack of success in Mixed Martial Arts. (MMA) is the biggest thing to hit the martial arts world since Jigaro Kano decided to go to a colored and black belt system to denote rank within his school,
When I first started martial arts with a Shotokan karate class at our local junior college, the instructor handed out an article for everyone to read. The article covered a study with statistics. The study found that out of every 10,000 martial arts students only 100 would go on to earn black belts. Most beginning students quit after six months
One of the biggest arguments in martial arts is still whether grappling or striking techniques are best for self-defense. Unsurprisingly, grappling arts advocate grappling techniques, while striking teachers hold up striking as the best method to defend yourself. The argument ignores the best self-defense technique in martial arts. Do not put yourself in situations, where the need for self-defense techniques
I was recently made aware of changes that the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) is making to the interpretation of forms. What else is new? Olympic Sparring rules or equipment changes almost yearly. With the popularity of the Hanmadang forms competition, it appears forms will start changing yearly now. With these changes, I have to decide whether I am going to
Anderson Silva, widely recognized as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, lost his rematch with Chris Wiedman for the UFC Middleweight Title on December 28, 2013. Wiedman had defeated Silva for the title on July 6, 2013. It was Silva’s first loss in seven years with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the middleweight champion for over 6
Georges St-Pierre has been the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) Welterweight Champion since 2007 and has been fighting for the title since 2005. While he is only 32 years of age, the grind of being world champion has caused him to relinquish the belt and step away from the sport for the time being. Some pundits have speculated that he is