I love grappling. I’ve been doing ground fighting literally all my life. Grappling is a great sports, with lots of applications to the real world when done correctly. In fact, those of you who know me, know how much time I devote to street grappling, and street wrestling in my training. For being able to survive a fight, the knowledge of how to wrestle and grapple is a must. However, thinking that doing only grappling is good enough for wining a fight for the life in the street is a big mistake. Yes, many fights end up on the ground, but all fights start on the feet. Furthermore, even if you'r ..read more

Too often people teach complicated, and fancy techniques as a solution for dangerous fighting scenarios. Most of these solutions will never work under the pressure of a real fight. On the contrary to that, what actually works isn't the fancy moves, however the basic and simple solutions. A basic technique, executed at a high level is not basic at all. Life isn't an action movie. Being able to stick to the principles and finding simple solutions out of complicated fighting scenarios is not basic at all, it's genius. Trying to pull action style movie techniques, that are choreographed, might loo ..read more

“self defense” is a legal term, not a strategy for winning a fight. Having a “defend yourself” mind set, can get you, and the people you care about killed, or badly hurt. A line of defense can only hold for so long without attacking back, eventually it will get breached. It's extremely hard to go on offense, when stuck on defense. Want to win the fight? Instead of you defending, have the mind set to attack right back, but do so with more efficiency, and aggression than your enemy. Attacking your attacker, will force the opponent out of his comfort zone, causing him, rather than you, to defend ..read more

I believe in training hard, and training smart, with no excuses. Too many people, are packed with reasons and stories as to why they can't train; it's too early in the morning, it's too hot or cold, I didn’t have enough to eat, or sleep, my head hurts, I can feel my back, my legs are too sore, and so on. Yes, of course listening to the body is important, however you need to draw the line between that, and developing a habit of creating excuses. This habit of creating alibis eventually leads to self pity, and weak pushover mentality. It's beneficial to train when you're tired, sore, or hungry s ..read more

Often, I get asked “what is the best way to avoid a fight?” The best way of avoiding a fight is being a hard target. There are two parts of being a hard target. - situational awareness. Be aware of your surrounding area. By being alert to what's going on around you, most fights can be avoided from ever starting. An attack is hardly ever random, the attacker always chooses his victim. One of the main things the attackers search for, is someone who isn’t aware of the world around him. - The second part of avoiding a fight. is by training your body and mind to fight. If you want peace, prepare fo ..read more

One of the most popular questions I'm asked when I teach hand to hand combat to people who are armed is, “why do I need to learn this stuff, I have a gun?” Although there are many answers to that question, I’ve decided to summarize them into 5 simple reasons that I believe should convince any gun owner that the knowledge in unarmed combat should in fact go hand in hand with his shooting practice. 1-‘Too close to shoot’: As part of living in a society, people deal with one another from a very close distance in many of our basic daily routines; in the shopping center, in an elevator, or at the p ..read more

Contrary to what so many people may think, you don't need to have a technical answer for every possible attack, or scenario. Furthermore, such a thing is not possible because the possibilities of scenarios that might happen in reality are in fact, endless. Instead, what you do need to have is: 1. A strong foundation in your striking, clinching, and grappling capabilities, and 2. a definite plan of action backed by the correct fighting principles of what to do and what not to do at any given attack. Don't waste your time worrying yourself about a special technique for every type of grab or hol ..read more

Training to fight multiple opponents Most bad guys are not as tough as they'd like everyone around them to believe. They would love nothing more, than for people who pass by them to think they're dangerous and fearless. Sadly, probably most people would think exactly that. However, that isn’t true; in fact it's far from the truth. Most of these bad guys are, in fact, a bunch of cowards. These “tough” guys, pick on people who are weaker than them, such as; Old men, women, handicapped, and children. With another man, who happens to be their size, they usually wouldn’t dare to start a fight. Ther ..read more

One of the biggest problems I find with many of the so called “self defense” techniques, and training is based on choreographed moves. Steps and maneuvers that were agreed upon ahead of time by the people training together. These techniques are done with little, to no resistance. This sort of training is not only a waste of time, but it's also dangerous. It gives people the illusion that they could actually use their training in a real life attack. That kind of thinking could lead to a deadly surprise. How can you ever trust a technique that wasn't battle tested, under pressure, and against r ..read more

This post is to all my fellow martial arts instructors. It seems like many countries are sadly closing down gyms again. Many are using the slogan “don't close my sport” Nobody can close your sports. They may be able to close down the gyms for a while, but our sports are far more than four walls and a door. Adapt for the time being. All you need is a ground to train on and a strong mind set. The rest is nothing but excuses. The only person that can take away your mindset is you. A martial arts instructor, is also to his students a small community leader. Your students want to hear from you that ..read more