The Art of the KO

A few years ago, a competing school opened up right near mine.  This was no big deal until he started attempting to poach students through a variety of means.  None of this worked and he was out of business 6 months to the day of his "grand" opening. His idea of marketing was above the front door and some flyers.  While this could be a good start...there is much more to this and an art unto itself. I myself did not put him out of business.  His business was doomed from the start because he was missing one crucial skill...marketing and/or the foresight to hire someone to help him with this.  Whether you like marketing or not, it is a crucial strategic skill that is necessary to survive the treacherous waters of business.  Just like having grappling and striking skills as a part of your martial arts arsenal...marketing skills and strategies are equally if not more important. These are skills that must be honed and sharpened, the same way the...

Years ago I was reading a martial arts magazine and looking through the advertising section, I noticed an ad for a video series that was using as the main reason to purchase their videos was the 423 techniques that he taught. I personally have trouble remembering what I had for dinner the night before so I remembered this advert.  Some things just stick out in my mind:-)  As I was putting together my signature Kyusho Program...the PinPoint™ Method...I was asked to boil it all down and make it as simple as possible for people to learn quickly. So last week I talked about Kyusho Clutter and I wanted to follow up on that by expanding on how many techniques do you really need? I was also sent a great testimonial by one of my instructors in the UK which also reminded me of this: I just wanted to say a few works of thanks to Mark Kline and his online work.  When I first started out I was chasing the new shiny toy (Kyusho Points) thinking that hte more poin...

It's Spring time in the US, New Jersey specifically, and it is that time of year for Spring Cleaning...to open the windows, let the good air in and the stuffy air out.  I started going through things in closets and rooms that I generally do not use for anything other than storage. Well...the amount of stuff I had brought with me to this house 10 years ago in May + the amount of stuff I have collected over the same time period from my travels around the world and just every day living...WOW!  I have a lot of CRAP ( C oncealed R elocated, A ctual P ossessions). It has been very freeing to get rid of my CRAP.  I have learned from a little bird that if you buy something....you must get rid of something.  I have started to follow this now so that the clutter will not build up. So why am I telling you about my CRAP? As a longtime Kyusho Practitioner (I started Kyusho in 1989) I have seen much in my career as both a student and instructor.  I still consider m...

Here are some questions for you? When you teach...Are you teaching to show your audience how to do the techniques so they can learn them...or are you just showing them what you know? Who are the classes for? If the class is about the student...then practice time IMO should be maximized.  There is always time for a story or a joke to break this up, but when the majority of the time is spent watching what the teacher can do rather than actually teaching the student how to do the techniques...wouldn't you feel that the time has not been used wisely? Another Kyusho instructor was going to be teaching in a area overseas that I have a lot of students in.  They asked me about should they go?  I said yes.  Since you have access to the Martial Arts Resource Center (http://www.MARC.global), you can see if his style of teaching will work for you. A friend contacted me to let me know that this instructor would be in the area and he let him know that a gr...

One question that I always get when discussing the topic of Kyusho (Pressure Point fighting/self defense) is this...How can I add this into what I am already doing? That is a great question that is easily answered and through the teaching methodology of the Kyusho Institute , becoming much easier to implement than ever before! Movement is movement.  There are only so many ways to move the body and a good understanding of body movement is vitally important in any physical endeavor.  This is what I have referred to in past posts as your Bio Intelligence (B-IQ™) . So...how do we do this in as simple a manner as possible? 1. Start with as simple a movement as possible. 2. Breakdown the movement by looking at it from the ground up (footwork, hand techniques, body positioning, etc.) 3. If you are using the PinPoint™ Method as your Kyusho learning tool, great...then just follow the drills as they will lead you directly to specific points that you can quickly learn and re...

 Awhile back we had spoken about our B-IQ™. Some of you might not know this, but I trained with Professor Wally Jay for over 15 years.  One of his 10 principles of Small Circle Jujitsu is Sticking, Control, and Sensitivity and is an integral part of understanding your B-IQ™. In order to develop good sensitivity, one much train repetitively.  Part of having great technique is having a great understanding of body movement, not just your own, but that of different opponents of different shapes and sizes. When I first started training in Kyusho, each weekend, a friend and I, Eric Greenfedder would get together and practice only 2-3 techniques over and over again until we could disect it from many different angles.  Not only did this give us a great feel for the technique...it gave us a great feel for an opponent and how they would react from many different angles. Knowing when and when not to execute a technique is vitally important to obtaining the upper ha...

I know this is late with the Star Wars reference, but as I was teaching class last night, I could see one of the student's light bulb go off while we were practicing a throw. Back in the day (which I think was a Wednesday, but I know the year was 1989), a woman named Anita told me about this fantastic martial artist who could barely touch you and you would fall down.  I was 22 years old and said, "Yeah...ok!"...especially when I found out that he was 72.  My response?  "A 72 year old man is not going to throw me on the floor." As luck would have it he was going to be teaching in Delware with George Dillman and Remy Presas.  This man was Prof. Wally Jay. Not only did this event put me on this journey that is in its 27th year...It has opened up many doors and opportunities to me. The title of this post, "Using the Force" has a dual meaning, but the end result is the same..."That we resist...will persist." When we resist an opponent...