The Art of the KO

Please read in full as there is more to this article than politics. This past weekend in Berkeley, CA there were protests.  Some were involving the release of of President Trump’s tax returns, some involved other issues. In the United States we have the right to peaceful assembly. Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances The AntiFa group ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-fascism ) mostly, not all, wear masks to hide their identity.  Now why is that?  If you feel strongly enough about the topic to show up...how about showing up fully.  What ever happened to “Stand up and be recognized?”  Oh wait...there are some, not all, of these people are paid by master manipulator George Soros groups to stir up trouble and therefore

     Most of you reading this are on the same journey as I am...the Martial Arts Journey.      Some are new to this journey and some of you are seasoned veterans of either the sport of martial arts, the fitness side of martial arts, or the self defense side...or quite possibly all three.      Regardless of which Path you choose, we are all on this same journey, one of self improvement.      What is the difference between the Martial Arts Journey and Martial Path?      The Journey is us striving to be better people.  The Path is what we take to accomplish this.      I know many people who have stayed the course of their journey over their many years, but their path has changed.      When I first started I was heavily into the sporting aspect.  Part of the training was self defense oriented, but the Tang Soo Do school I was a part of was mainly sport...even though they did not want to admit it.      After the best fighter (sport fighter that is) got beaten up by a wres

We make choices each and every day in every thing we do. Think about it for a second... Just the fact that you may or may not have stopped to thin about it...was a choice. You also made a choice to read this blog now, push it off until later, or scroll right on by and not read it at all.  All of these are choices. Choices are basically questions we ask ourselves.  For example..."What should I have for breakfast?  Should I cook something or just pick something up on the way to work?"   Every second of every day we make choices for everything...even whether or not we finish reading this blog.  Hell!  Just me making the decision to write on this topic...was a choice. So lets look at how choices affect our decision making with regards to self defense situations.   The first choice happens before the altercation even starts...I mean waaaay before and this is with regards to training.   Giving someone too many options can ultimately cause t

     Most electronic products need to be shut down on occasion in order to reset.  This is commonly known as a "Reboot."      Here is a great article detailing why rebooting your computer works and/or is helpful for solving certain problems.      How then does rebooting your training work?      Well, for one, if you cant remember why you started training to begin with, or why you continue...then this can be a problem.  What I mean is that these are questions that we have to ask ourselves in order to "validate" why we continue to train in general, and train with the same group of people.      Some of us have been involved with martial arts organizations that don't teach things we are interested in...such as Kyusho, but since we have many friends...we continue and supplement our training through seminars, DVDs, and Online programs like mine.      The "reboot" occurs when we find something like Kyusho or in my case it was when I simultane

     The last of the non avian dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago due to either an asteroid hitting the earth or volcanism spewing so much debris into the air, sunlight was choked off, photosynthesis was disrupted and the entire food chain was thrown way outta wack!      I am fortunate to have the opportunities to work with people all over the world through seminars, my DVDs and my online program...the PinPoint™ Method.      I was fortunate to train extensively and personally with Prof. Wally Jay over a 10 year period.      It was great hearing some of the stories that Wally (he asked me to call him Wally, so if you are offended by this...get over it as there is no disrespect on my part) would bring up at seminars, dinners, etc. and one comes to mind with regards to today's blog.      "You cannot fight World War II with World War I weapons!"      This was something that Wally would talk about over and over again as he spoke about how he went abo

Currently I have 3 dogs. 2 are mine...1 is a foster, of which I am currently failing to find him a home...other than mine. Walking 3 dogs is like juggling multiple objects in a hurricane. I have narrowed things down to make them easier, as far as walking all 3 dogs at once.  2 dogs are on a tandem leash and the other a single one.  They still get tied up and at times all 3 want to go in different directions. So what does this have to do with Kyusho, or self defense for this matter? In last weeks Blog , I was talking about trying to take things that you would not necessarily use in a self defense scenario because it would make the process of "installing" the material that much harder and therefor less likely that you could pull it off...if your life depended on it. As I walk the dogs several times per day, I am reminded how much like a self defense situation this is.  You must pay attention or juggle many things. Two of the dogs like to pick up things they

war ri or [ wawr -ee-er, wawr -yer, wor -ee-er, wor -yer] noun 1. a person engaged or experienced in warfare; soldier. 2. a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics. So lets take a look at this word, based on the above definition with regards to self defense. One thing my wrestling coach drilled through our head, "What you do in practice you will do in the match."   This is something I carry with me to this day. So why is this important you ask?  I know you are asking this!! Most of you who are reading this are martial artists.  The world martial refers to warfare or warrior-like.  To prepare for combat you study certain strategies and ways to implement said strategies.  Each pi

There is a huge misconception in the world today. There are many people who call themselves teachers.  Remember that old saying, "You can lead a horse to water but cannot make him drink." This is true in education...especially more so today than ever before. I follow the philosophy of, "There is no teaching...there is learning or not learning." For those of you reading this who have tried to teach someone something at one time or another you know what I am talking about. They just could not get it.  They were not focused.  They did not seem interested.  Should I keep adding more excuses that we come up with when we have failed to "Teach"? So now let's look at the concept again, but in a different light. The more complicated you make the presentation of your materials...the harder you make it for someone to learn...PERIOD! We used the fire analogy a few blog posts ago.  Too much wood on the fire actually kills the fire. Th

In Part 1 we spoke about Sustainability and Charisma. Let's now move forward... Marketability Even if you are great at marketing and you are marketing crap...it is still crap and it is unethical.  In order to really be an effective teacher one must have something called E(3) or E cubed. - Education - actually be able to teach something new and unique, not just copying someone else - Entertainment - do so in a manner that entertains - Emotion - elicit emotions from the students with more than techniques, but voice inflexion, body movement, etc. If someone can do all three, then they have some of the necessary skills to gain a good following around the world. E cubed alone is not sustainable and sometimes you also need good marketing skills and there are some great marketers out there that are selling repackaged stuff of someone else's skills....beware of this. They lack the skills to develop their own unique method, so they just change the message d

No...I am not about to sing to you...neither one of us want that!! :-) Years ago, George Dillman, love him, hate him, or just don't care...became the voice of a movement regarding higher education in the martial arts...not just through constant practice, but in depth study of the human anatomy through the paradigms of Western Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with regards to the movements of Kata and more. George is basically retired and since his National Geographic fiasco many years ago, which did more damage for Kyusho than good, many outside of his organization and within have had to rebuild the reputation that Kyusho had early on. There will be many who disagree, and I welcome that, and I was there almost from the beginning and luckily I left prior to the NG fiasco.  I still had fallout from that, even though I was no longer involved with George.  Hell...I was on the cover of Black Belt Magazine with him in March of 1995 (their 400th issue). Th

What is Kyusho and Why should you care? I first started my foray into Kyusho in 1989.   I was wrestling at Trenton State College in New Jersey and dislocated my elbow in 1986.  It was then that I started the practice of Tang Soo Do, after 7 years of wrestling that I was introduced to something called Kata. As a wrestler we were taught to visualize the movements and internalize them so that regardless of physical practice, we were taught that we could improve our techniques through focused visualization...something I still personally practice and teach to this day. One of the best fighters in the Trenton State College Tang Soo Do Karate Club, and when I say fighter, I am referring the sporting part of karate...tournament fighting, was beaten up by a wrestler who took him down and his hand landed on a beer bottle, which broke and cut his wrist badly.   My teacher asked me about teaching the rest of the class about how to deal with a wrestler.  I was happy to hel

     Kyusho gets a lot of flack...not because it is not effective, but because of the methods employed to demonstrate and teach it.      When I first started this journey in 1989, when I had a full head of hair (yeah...I know you are laughing), this is how we practiced it: Our partner would stand there while we wacked him on the arm, talked about what we were going to do for a few minutes, then hit them on the head, body, etc.  ALL WHILE THEY WERE JUST STANDING THERE LIKE A PUNCHING BAG, which they literally were.      We would tell everyone that our partner was going to stay still for his safety's sake.  The problem with this was that then they were a sitting duck and some guys had a very heavy hand.      Even if they were able to develop a soft touch while their partner was standing still...all bets were off if they decided to come at them with any REAL force.      I am all for safety and making sure that no gets hurt.  The unrealistic way people were practicing was

Starting a campfire is really simple.  Make sure there is plenty of ventilation, and start with small pieces of kindling (grass, paper, etc) and slowly add small pieces of wood. The fire has to be nurtured and adding too many large pieces too soon will just smother the fire and lead to a lot of smoke. So why am I talking about building a fire?  What does this have to do with Kyusho? For me it really goes to the essence of education. There are several schools of thought with regards to the best way to effectively teach many people at once. One on one is pretty easy as the interpersonal interaction with the student, you can quickly figure out what that person’s learning style is and tailor a program most effectively to them. Group training is different because you are dealing with many different learning styles, but still have the chance to interact with individuals and can group them according to learning style as you get to know each person. Online tra