When we look at one school versus another, and determine that one of them is promoting people to Black Belt with far easier requirements than we ourselves went through, or they are expecting less of their students than what we expect of our students, we can climb on our rickety soap box and take a stand against them, railing at the injustice of it all, or we can look at it like this...
The High Mount combined with striking is a deadly combination. This is by far, one of the worst positions you can get stuck in on the ground. The traditional BJJ escape for mount - bridge, trap, and roll doesn't work quite yet, and meanwhile our opponent is raining punches on us, and bringing the thunder like Poseidon.
All too often, we panic in this situation and end up flailing, or trying to grab arms. Here we show a technique we call - 'Shield Up / Shimmy Up' to help you deal with this problematic position. We have to work from where we are, not where we want to be.
Basic self-defense knowledge can mean the difference between life and death, or assault and avoidance, but is it necessary in suburban America? If so, what is the best type of training for you? How do you find a good course, or even know what to look for? How involved does the training need to be for it to be effective? Click this article to find out.
A huge thanks to Gene Ching and the team at Kung Fu Tai Chi Magazine for publishing my article this month. Such an awesome presentation! Thank you to my team - Holly Cyr, Vincent Tseng, Max Kotchouro, Bruce Sanders, and Sean Fraser for your assistance in making this happen. I am honored.
Fighting bigger opponents can be frustrating when we try and control the mount position. I know I avoided the mount most of the time as a BJJ White Belt after getting tossed around repeatedly. After a while, I started using the high mount to setup some attacks. Here's are two videos highlighting some attacks from the mount.
Striking arts, whether they be Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Boxing, Kickboxing, etc. - all require high degrees of focus on multiple facets of fighting, & self-defense (you can read more on this in my 2015 blog post).
I have spent the past 18 years practicing Mantis Boxing, and the past 5 of those also practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I also spent years teaching kids both Kung Fu, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. My first love will always be Mantis Boxing, but frankly speaking, it is not for kids.
‘Emotional Control’ - this often sought after, and rarely attained, side effect from martial arts training. We envision the wise old master sitting quietly in meditation, only to turn into a verifiable badass the moment the movie needs an action star to save the day.
What we don’t see, is that emotional control doesn’t really come for free, or as an automatic trait of just taking martial arts classes a few times per week. It doesn't come with...
Sure enough, they were the same character. This lead to further research and comparisons, and soon I had a series of principles and sub-principles that drew a solid link between the two styles. The English translations people used can vary, but the character is found to be the same for each style. Below is a work in progress but it is far enough along that I can share it.
Yesterday I was meeting with a professional from a different part of the health, wellness, fitness industry who mentioned her gym membership(s) going to waste. Her story may be familiar to some of you, so I thought I would share it, and offer some of my personal tips to stave off similar circumstance.
"I don't like this move."
"This technique isn't for me."
These are examples of things I hear from students from time to time. Usually they are unaware I am listening, and I like to keep it that way so they feel free to express themselves in the process of learning. I myself have said similar things in the past while going through the process.
"Why is BJJ easier than Boxing?" This was a question proposed to me last year when we were taking submissions for the Swamp Talks videos. Truth be told, it was a question that made me uncomfortable at first, as I assumed it would be misconstrued. This question, out of all of them, really stood out to me and made me think.
It made me think about something I hadn't previously considered. Something that was clearly...
Another article on the ‘inner demons’ that hinder our training. “I’m not getting any better…”, or “Why do I suck at this?”
I want to take a few minutes today and try to shed some light on this obscure 'suck zone' we go through, and perhaps offer you some perspective to help you not only get through it, but optimize your progression. “Arrrrgghh!!! Why Can't I Get This!?!?!", "Why is that person getting this so much faster than I am?", "Why do I feel so stupid, or uncoordinated?"
These are common questions I hear, or see, as a coach/mentor/instructor. In order to understand why martial arts, or any
Update - 10-MAR-2019
Below is an essay from May of 2013. After 14 years in Chinese boxing styles, thousands of hours of training, and a year into my journey of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, in 2012 my ideas and approach to the art of praying mantis boxing began to shift. I was not happy with the ‘status quo’, the failure of the art (meaning the methods within forms) to ‘work’ in fighting, and I began to approach mantis from a different angle - a grappling mindset. What you are about to read, is written during this early period in my transformation. Some of this (the history in particular) is incorrect, or incomplete. Later, through further training, research, and sparring, I was able to more deeply develop an understanding of the art. This is the foundation, the beginning of the evolution. I consider this to be when my art truly began. While I could delete this, hide it, or pretend I was never ‘new’, I leave this here to demarcate a point in time on my journey in martial arts. - Randy
