The biggest thing my Karate teacher taught me: Being athletic can be learned.

Before and after I got my black belt. Before and after I took up training in kickboxing, BJJ and MMA wrestling, people always said my movement was slow and awkward, but somehow I landed well and I defended well. But I was never described as explosive. Weird timing, good fundamentals once they understood what I

Yes, there is such a thing as training too much to be efficient.

I almost feel dirty for writing this article. Because frankly, if focussing too much on efficiency is a problem, then focussing on getting something done regardless of efficiency is an even bigger problem. I’ve seen collegiate wrestlers do arm drags and take downs with pure ‘hulk smash’ energy than smooth technique. So the problem I’m

Leaning forward in a triangle vs standing verticle like a tree. A discussion on posture.

Back when I could afford to be a patreon for people, I was giving patronage to Steve Morris. I learned a few things reading his posts on mechanics, the neuro-science of stress and learning between the rants. And there were rants, often about how useless most karate, kung-fu and general traditional arts are. He’s an

Continued and constant rotational change for Knife defense and takedowns.

Locks too, but the title is crowded enough. See that doofus dressed like your grand mothers couch? That’s me. I helped pose and play around with progressions for this book. Now I can go into details about everything taught in the book, which is not only a system on how to defend against a knife,

The base of my fighting style.

These days I do kickboxing, MMA clinch and BJJ more than anything else. But my foundation for all my fighting and theory comes from Okinawan Karate (Uechi-Ryu) and an informal education in Taiji. To get a good set of drills and principles for counter assault and general martial arts concepts, you can visit my old