The simple answer is ‘See it coming and move.’ The not so simple answer is I just finished writing a 150 page e-book that covers this subject. It will be available next month. It’s called “Writing Violence IV: Defense” and it will be available for a whopping $2.99. I specifically go into some of why … [Read more…]
To Men I Love, About Men Who Scare Me Out of the “Mummy Returns” where Jonathan (the brother) is about to be killed… “I told you! I told you!” “And your point is?” “My point is I told you so you wouldn’t kill me!” “When did we make that arrangement?” Fundamentally I find the problem … [Read more…]
In a Heinlein book I ran across the ‘art of the lie.’ One of which is to tell the truth in such a way that nobody believes you. (Tricky, but can be done — I’ve seen sociopaths do it.) The other is to tell only part of the truth. The last is really slick because … [Read more…]
I originally posted a snarky comment over a link to “I’m tired of being kind to creepy men in order to be safe.” Yes, that is the title. Here’s the link… http://www.theguardian.com/commenti… My snarky comment was: ~spitting on the floor~ Rude doesn’t do shit against a predator. It hurts the innocent (and socially awkward). It … [Read more…]
Ninety five percent of all martial arts training is based on the assumption that the person doing it has normal physical abilities. With defensive tactics you are closer to 100%. While this is not in itself a bad thing, what has happened is that a philosophy of “muscle” has evolved. That is to say, if … [Read more…]
If you can, via effective movement, remove your opponent’s ability to attack, you can seriously effect his Will to attack you. In short, if someone attacks you and is not only quickly foiled, but simultaneously finds himself in an untenable situation, it often results in the decision to cease hostilities. Having said that, even if … [Read more…]
Whether you study a traditional martial art, a modern martial art, a self-defense system, defensive tactics or close quarter combat, all must meet one basic criteria: They must teach you how to control force. Notice I didn’t say ‘generate.’ That’s because generating force is only one aspect of controlling force. Specifically, you must be able … [Read more…]
When it comes to having powerful punches, a whole lot of what you know ‘ain’t so.’ Or to be more precise, odds are you’re trying to fly a one-winged airplane. Quite frankly most people need to be less concerned with generating more power than they need to focus on losing less of what they already … [Read more…]
Upon hearing the idea of any physical conflict being over in three moves people have different reactions. Cops and correctional officers — who’ve had their share of defensive tactics go wrong — usually look skeptical at who said it. Some martial artists believe that their devastating Ancient fighting style would be capable of doing just … [Read more…]
I’m often asked about certain aspects of a system or technique. The response below was just one example. The original question was about the Wing Chun square/basic/box/whatever someone is calling it where-ever they are. He had some specific questions about what the stance was good for. I took one look at his questions and realized … [Read more…]