The Reality of Combat: Are You Combat Effective?
Let’s be clear about something. Martial arts and armed and unarmed combat aren't the same thing. I’ll probably get a lot of flack from...
The Anatomy Of Fear and How It Relates To Survival Skills Training
An officer assigned to jail duty conducts a prisoner bed check when he observes that a male who was lodged in the drunk tank...
Old Karate is About Interpreting Kata
I prefer "old karate." I mean this in three different ways.
When I first used the phrase, I had been training for about ten years....
Stressing Over Competition In The Martial Arts
Stressing over competition in the martial arts is common. Many people in the martial arts get anxious when they going against a tough opponent....
Be a Moving Target
Everyone knows that shooting a moving target is much harder than a fixed one. It requires additional efforts and skill. Something similar happens in...
Israeli Martial Arts and Deadly Mistakes in Gun Disarming
Gun disarming is one of the most important skills you want to obtain when training in a martial art that claims to be about...
The Jim Wagner Metric Arm Striking and Blocking System
Walk into any traditional-based martial arts school and ask the instructor, “I want to learn how to defend myself. How long will it take?”...
The Function of Kata Training
History
An elaborate code of movements of the arms and hands, and a flowing posturing of the body, "kata", meaning form, model or structure, uses...
Chuck Merriman on Kata and the Meaning of Bunkai
"The kata are the essence of karate; without them karate would be the mere learning of various fighting and self-defense techniques, expressing nothing and...
Stripes and Bars: Maintaining Focus
IF YOU ARE A STAR WARS FAN, you might remember that in Episode I, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn tells young Anakin Skywalker, "Always remember,...
No Lie Blades: From Martial Artists to Combative Practitioner
I started my martial arts journey at age 15. It was a search for a method of self defense that would be empowering and...
The Pinan / Heian Kata Series as a Fighting System: Part 3
Welcome to part three of this series of articles. In the first part of this series we looked at the background of the Pinan...
The Tonfa Enters the 21st Century with the Defensive Leverage Device
Ever since man first picked up a rock for self-defense he has been on a never-ending quest to improve the weapons at his disposal....
Police Officers Survival Guide – Staying Alive on the Job
Tom Kohl's Police Officers Survival Guide was written to help educate police officers on staying alive on the job as a police officer.
Tom Kohl...
3 Types of Fear – 3 Ways to Breathe
We can view our fears on three levels.
The first one we can call Personal Fear. It is the type that develops without any...
Martial Arts Vs Crash Test Dummies
How many of you out there have ever wondered just how powerful a good karate spinning back fist is compared to a boxing right...