Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about martial arts concepts and principles.
A question I’m often asked during classes and seminars is “Can I become invincible by learning self-defense?” The short answer is “No” but they are asking the wrong questions. Better questions would be: “What can I do to make myself a less desirable target?” “How can I get in better shape to successfully repel an attack?” “What techniques should
We always taught students not to punch to the head during self-defense training. Yet, we did teach students to punch to head height on pads, when teaching striking. After watching some of mixed martial arts legend Bas Rutten’s fights from Pancrase, it struck me what we were doing wrong. Pancrase banned closed fists to the head. Rutten, an accomplished muay
In the past, I’ve discussed the good and bad of the current situation in the American martial arts scene. While my base style was Taekwondo, the challenges are found throughout the traditional American martial arts community. I believe it is worse in the older styles of Karate and Kung Fu, where tradition is so heavily valued. When I started a blog
If you want to be able to defend yourself, work on your conditioning The greatest technique in the world is only so effective if you do not have the stamina to outlast an attack. Conditioning is one of the most neglected aspects of martial arts training. Cardio Conditioning – Remember the old saying, “Fatigue makes a coward of all of
Michael Hyatt recently wrote an article about retirement being a modern invention and dirty word. I agree with his views with one caveat. At different seasons in our life, it is time to let somethings go to make space for new things. To do new things well, we sometimes have to let go of the old. When I was in
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,