You ARE going to get cut! . If you think that knife attacks look anything like those typically seen in martial arts classes—you can be dead (sic) wrong. . Real attacks, by people who are familiar with a knife’s properties and true potential, are a blur of short, non-committed stabs and cuts that are practically…
Tag: Self-Protection
The goal is to live a life that avoids violence, not encourage it.
Whether you’re a Karate practitioner, MMA fighter, combat fighter or any other competition martial artist, you train for are a very specific arena, dealing with very specific parameters. Outside in the real-world, if you use those parameters, oftentimes you will find unskilled people, who just have the ability to want to hurt you, are going…
“I teach karate as a life protection art, not as a sport.”
“I teach karate as a life protection art, not as a sport….. My son commands the 4th Marines he trains Marines to go to war, and then you pray you never have to. It’s the same thing in training karate, that you train to win, there are no silver medals in a life protection situation.”…
Ikken hissatsu – One fist, certain death.
“Ikken hissatsu” (一拳必殺) – What does this maxim mean to you? How do you interpret it? . “Ikken hissatsu” is a Japanese term that is used quite frequently in karate. The term means simply; “to kill with one blow”, or “one punch, one kill”. The exact definition is “One fist, certain death”. . Recently a…
Every kata move is designed for use in combat.
“Unfortunately, many experienced karateka, having learnt numerous kata, mistakenly believe they have mastered them when, in truth, they are merely dancing. To ensure kata are what they should be, you must completely understand the significance of the movements.” – Masutatsu Ōyama . . The principal purpose of the movements and techniques in kata is to…
Fighting should always be the last answer to a problem.
For all the importance we place on learning how to fight and defend ourselves, the martial arts should at their core, teach that it is best not to get into a fight in the first place. . There are dojo and instructors that just teach fighting as self-defense! With no consideration taken to other important…
“In budo karate we all train to make ourselves a better person.”
“In budo karate we all train to make ourselves a better person. The only competition is within yourself.” – Tomoyose Ryuko (1928-2019) 10th dan Uechi Ryu . Masters of the martial arts believe that a strong body and mind go together: you can’t improve one without working on the other. Martial arts are just as…
“Blocking with one hand and then countering with the other is not true bujutsu.”
Prior to karate’s Japanification and move to a more sport oriented system, Okinawan karate (Tode, Te) was created for self-defense, or self-protection. One of Okinawa’s greatest fighters, Motobu Choki stated that; “Nothing is more harmful to the world than a martial art that is not effective in actual self-defense.” . Today’s concept of blocking with…
Sparring is NOT real fighting.
Sparring is a training activity frequently used in just about every martial art style or system. While there are many different approaches to martial arts sparring, generally all of them follow a predefined set of rules and unique customs. . Unfortunately, many martial artists think their sparring skills are a good indicator of their ability…
“Hikite”…is NOT for power generation.
“Hikite”…is NOT for power generation. . In several martial arts, it is very common to see practitioners performing techniques with one hand while pulling back / drawing back the other hand. In Japanese, this is called “hikite” (pulling hand..there’s a clue in the translation) and is evident in most of the basic “blocks”, strikes and…
Every attacker is unpredictable so make sure your skills are reliable in unpredictable situations.
“Remember, fighting skills aren’t the key to self-protection: fighting is what happens when self-protection goes bad.” – Iain Abernethy 7th dan . Self-protection, martial arts, and fighting, are NOT the same, they are related, but they are most definitely not the same. There remains so many teachers / instructors that still do not understand this,…
Your karate is FAKE!
It’s time to admit that the karate you are learning (teaching) is FAKE, and it doesn’t actually teach you how to fight. . Practicing karate at certain schools does NOT prepare you for an actual fight! . The real problem is that regular people are being peddled traditional karate snake oil, by fake teachers who…