In the world of law, there are essentially two types of crimes: mala en se (Latin for evil in itself) crimes and mala prohibita (Latin for evil prohibited) crimes. The distinction is important, and most Americans don’t understand these concepts. Mala en se crimes are obvious infringements upon the rights of others. This would include [...]
Yesterday marked the third conversation I have had with a Maine resident who told me that they didn’t lock their doors because, “locks only keep out the honest people.” Honestly, I’m flummoxed by the total lack of logic here, since honest people have never tried to break into my house. This is one of those [...]
I recommend that all my students take at least a basic gun safety course at some point. I prefer they do a course which involves live shooting on a range. There are a number of reasons for this. The topic of guns can be an emotionally charged one. When emotion gets involved, reason goes out [...]
Here’s a video covering a story where an 11 year-o successfully fends off a kidnapper who was trying to drive off with his 9 year-old sister. Jonah Yano credited years of training in jujutsu (or Jui Jitsu) with helping in his defense of his sister. Here’s important takeaways I want you to understand: Link to [...]
When I was a boy I was drawn to martial arts mainly because of images in the media. I saw Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee beating up bad guys. I saw the Karate Kid win the tournament. This was inspiring, but even more spoke to my insecurities with a promise to become someone more powerful, [...]
Martial arts Internet forums are full of some of the biggest collections of haters I’ve ever seen. There’s so much trolling by low self-esteem chairborne warriors that these things are nearly 100% useless. One of the things that frequently comes up is the topic of lineage. Who’s your teacher, who is their teacher, who’s their [...]
In an effort to draw a distinction between training and competing in sports martial arts and the reality of self defense, I make the analogy: training for sport is to self defense as NASCAR is to parallel parking. I did sport karate when I was in college, and it was fun. But I stopped because [...]
My buddy Ray, who is studying Systema, gave me a link to a great article here on neurological training. Another thing that self defense “experts” (the one who pay thousands to advertise in Black Belt Magazine) have been touting like mad over the past few years goes something like this: Under stress only gross motor [...]
Today I was inspired by this story about a local grandmother who single-handedly fought off two armed home invaders. I was inspired because this story highlights how untrue many statements are that I’ve heard from martial arts and self defense ‘experts’. Let’s break down a few myths that I’ve been trying to debunk for years: [...]
I encourage my students to train mentally with little imagination exercises they can do when they’re out and about. When you go to a place that isn’t your home look for the exits, look for improvised weapons. When in the presence of other people, gauge their distance and imagine how you might react if they [...]
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