Tag Archives: self defense

Beginning Jiu Jitsu: Defend Your Guard

While there are many tips for preserving your guard – don’t let an opponent control your knees, get an angle on you, press your legs down, etc. – there is one that I frequently see beginners not applying properly. Head control is critical in retaining guard. Continue reading

Jiu Jitsu: Get Better Faster!

Everyone who wants to learn jiu jitsu knows how vital it is to learn quickly. For those of you who have been in training for awhile, you already know you have to progress quickly to survive. You probably already know a few moves like a sweep or a submission, but it is hard to get better because you can’t use these moves on other people in your class. You can grapple for hours on end, but it’s not making you progress quickly enough. Continue reading

Pepper Spray And Why We Need It

Not too long ago a friend of mine was assaulted in the parking lot while she was walking to her car after work. She is fine now. But, she had quite a few fears to overcome immediately after getting home from the hospital. If she had had some sort of self defense product to defend herself with the night she was attacked, she might not have wound up in the hospital. Pepper spray is a non-lethal way to protect yourself if someone is trying to harm you. Continue reading

The Puzzle of Using Yoga to Master the True Martial Art

There are two paths to take when one studies the martial arts. These directions are art and sport. One of these methods leads straight to decay, the other leads, ultimately, to enlightenment. Continue reading

Five Things You Don’t Ever Want to Hear in a Martial Arts Class

A Martial Arts class is a place where you learn to be healthy and strong and fit. It is filled with dedicated, hard working, serious and intent people. The five following items are things that you don’t want to hear in any good and serious martial arts class. Continue reading

Taking a Gun Away from a Thug the Right Way!

I was teaching a martial arts class in a small town some years ago, and I had one student whose father dropped his son off, then sauntered over to the bar next door to enjoy himself while his son was getting healthy and strong. Class was just over one day, when the father staggered in and pointed a gun at me, and asked me what good my karate was now? I moved, he gaped at his gun suddenly appearing in my hand, and I grinned. Continue reading

The Final Frontier in the Martial Arts!

The deadliest tool I know, in the martial arts, is also the one least used. I am talking about the actual and effective use of space. Space, if properly understood and utilized, can win any fight. Continue reading

How the Martial Arts have been Corrupted!

The sad fact is, the martial arts are taught in the most inefficient manner possible. Done properly, the martial arts are a blessing and the most incredibly efficient method of combat on the planet, the method for their teaching is woefully inadequate. Monkey see monkey do is the name of this incredibly slow method. Continue reading