Collapsible Baton

One of our best selling products is the collapsible baton. It is manufactured into three sections that collapse into each other when closed and extend out to form a single solid shaft when opened. This self defense product can be used as both a defensive and an offensive weapon and delivers debilitating blows against someone

Read More

Keep Your Mouth Shut While Visiting Japan

There is a saying one hears in a Japanese pre-school.  “The nail which stands up is hammered flat!” Added to this is what we see as an extreme desire to bow down before authority.  Japan is the most classic of shame societies.  Better go along with what the higher ups expect of you, or you are nothing but dog crap worthy of little more than getting scraped off the bottom of a shoe. The Japanese justice system is extremely proud of their 99{660353129f8d892044c993645a1c75194301fec6786a7f617c15adde0b0011e9} conviction rate.  I think that only Communist regimes. those joy-filled havens for liberty and freedom, can boast of bettering that score. How do the police and prosecutors …

Read More

A Big Steaming Pile Of Fail

How would an American such as myself describe the criminal justice system in the Philippines?  I’d be forced to say that it is a police state. Even so, it is a particularly ineffective police state.  Even the United Nations has to admit that safety is hard to come by in that country.  Follow that link and you will see a UN sponsored survey that has 10.5{660353129f8d892044c993645a1c75194301fec6786a7f617c15adde0b0011e9} of Filipino families report being victims of property crime every 6 months.  Which means, of course, that more than one out of every five households in the nation have something stolen from them every year. So where are the police? According to this news article, a deranged drug addict engaged in a shooting spree until …

Read More

Self Defense Method of MMA

Training yourself to become a better fighter doesn’t necessarily mean that every weekend you are encourage to frequent sports pubs and engage in physical altercations. In fact, becoming involved with close combat training can effectively enhance your ability to defend yourself in those unexpected situations.I think we all understand which situations I’m speaking; the one where you’re simply

Read More

Designing A Heavy Bag Workout

Without a doubt, the most common questions I get are about heavy bag workouts.  More specifically, how to design a heavy bag workout that will keep your training interesting, provide maximum health and skill benefits and avoid training-related injuries that are far too common when people buy a heavy bag and start pounding away on

Read More

Eight Multiple Attacker Training Methods

; This post is an installment in the Defend Yourself Against Multiple Attackers series.  If you  prefer to read the series in order please click on the link in this paragraph. Training Method #1 – Get yourself into fighting shape Many self-defense authorities suggest that you don’t need to be in good physical condition to

Read More

Mastering pain

Pain is a really important part of every sport, especially martial arts. It tells us when we’ve been punched or kicked, when we’re injured and when our physical and mental boundaries are being pushed to their limit.  This last point is the focus for this article as I want to explore the idea of ‘positive

Read More

Relaxed Power

Relaxed power, it may sound like an oxymoron but it is in fact a very important concept for martial arts and self-defence, however it is also incredibly easy to forget about it in a stressful situation. Most people naturally tense up in stressful situations or when they are threatened, those that don’t have either trained

Read More

McDojo? Is Karate Quality basied on Lineage

This is kind of a Catholic vs Protestant argument that still goes on for some reason. What am I talking about? You know – If a school opens up in a strip mall for profit – many of the purists (read traditionalist Karate Ka) will smirk and wonder if the “McDojo” can trace its roots back to the old country (Read Japan or Okinawa). Traditionalists like to recite their lineage to prove their black belt is meaningful. This is like the Catholics (disclaimer – I am a Catholic) or Orthodox Churches argument of Apostolic Succession (meaning they can trace their bishops back to Christ’s apostles. The thing about having an …

Read More

New American Kenpo Karate Studio Opening in Arizona!

David Hays will be opening a new studio in the Ahwatukee foothills of Phoenix Arizona on January 12, 2013. We will be teaching Tracy’s traditional Kenpo, the Joe Lewis fighting system of competitive tournament sparring and kick-boxing. If you know anyone in the Phoenix area that is interested in lessons or an upper belt looking for a place to work out and/or help with coaching, please contact me at dhays@azakka.com Thank you in advance for the support. Related Posts:Self Defense for even Turkeys? Happy Thanksgiving!What is Self-defense?Introduction to “My Self-defense Blog”Toughman!Steve “Nasty” Anderson – Top

Read More

Can the 97 pound Weakling Fight?

I don’t know about you but when I was growing up I was not that confident in middle school. I mean some kids seemed to know what they were capable of and all of the rest tried to go around unnoticed so kids would not pick on them. I know you might be thinking this is a bully post about the kids are intimidated by bullies and such but no. I am writing about how a kid might surmount their self image and become a good fighter. By the way this applies to anyone including boys, girls, women and men that don’t think they could…

Read More

Groin Kicks – Will you use them in a fight?

When I was a kid – I remember “accidentally” kicking a cousin in the nuts as we were fighting. Sure I did it on purpose but it was only a tap. My poor cousin was rolling around on the ground and several generations of males at the family gathering were frowning at me. My dad took me aside and told me (this was a different time), “John – only girls kick.” Well now in the post-boxing era – kicking is a generally accepted form of fighting. There are many fighting methods and no real acceptance of “the right way to fight.” …

Read More