This week, I’m jotting down some rumination on the connection between writing and martial arts, so I don’t have a thesis or a lesson to teach, but the reader can follow my musing toward their own meditation on the topic. I’m partially inspired by Major Wes who sent me a copy of the book on […]

A recently translated book shows a combination of martial arts taught for Japanese police officers in 1888. It was translated by Eric Shahan, who specializes in translating 19th- and 20th-century Japanese martial arts texts. Read the article on LiveScience: http://www.livescience.com/53582-samurai-martial-arts-manual-for-cops-revealed.html I have to mention the caveat that I haven’t read the book. On top of […]

The single most important factor in learning any new physical skill is general strength, or the ability to press and pull with different parts of your body in all directions. By conditioning, we generally mean the endurance to perform work over an extended period of time. Both general strength and conditioning are essential elements to […]

It’s both emotionally satisfying and productive to summarize the previous year and take stock. In this blog, it can also have a benefit to the reader to gather the links and events from the previous year in one place. So, I hope this retrospective benefits you as much as compiling it benefits me. Very shortly, […]

In many old boxing books, they claim that the first question students ask is “How shall I stand?” but I’ve never had a student ask such a question. However, it is the first question to ask yourself when you think a fight is about to start — whether you have just stepped into a competitive […]

This week, I am left speechless. We have three items that could spawn entire essays because there’s so much to exclaim about each one. Instead, kindly read each and think about the implications. Yes! Taking away the fear of punching girls in training. http://boxwrestlefence.com/kajaswords/2015/11/26/hitting-girls/ Nope! Selfie-sticks as self-defence weapons? http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/23/theres-now-a-self-defence-class-teaching-people-to-use-selfie-sticks-as-weapons-5519563/ Double yes! Rank examinations were […]

Our sympathies go to the victims of the Paris terror attacks yesterday and their families. Like all terrorism incidents, we are all affected. How were the attacks coordinated? Who bears the responsibility? We don’t know at present, and it’s not important to today’s post. The question is: what you would do if a terrorist attack […]

An excellent series of videos — Mastering Savate by Professor Salem Assli and Panther Production — has been uploaded to YouTube from VHS instructional tapes. Here is part 2 of the series which defines many of the core kicks and concepts: If you want your kicks to improve, take the time to review these videos: Volume 1: […]

At Open Floor on Friday night, there were several attempts at single-leg takedowns, but not with a lot of success. My main advice was to stay low and twist while driving the shoulder. The goal is not to lift the opponent, but to take them down. Picking the leg then twisting will prevent them from […]

I noticed a bunch of videos in my news feed recently about punching. If you want to improve your hand strikes, check out these tips: The Lead Punching with the hand that is already forward is known as a jab in modern boxing. It’s considered a light punch because there’s not much room to accelerate […]