fit and fearless

Watch the video. The athleticism is brilliant. The flexibility and quickness of the feet and legs are amazing. This is sport martial art. Very few of those kicks would save a person in a self defense situation. The kicks are quick, yet lack true power. Another flaw in regards to self defense application is the hands are down, and not used offensively in any manner. So, then do we discount this as nothing more than sport? Again the athleticism is amazing. Basically, the tae kwon do think tank, in order to get tae kwon do into the Olympics took out punches, elbows, and all hand techniques because in their minds kicking is more dynamic, requires a greater skill level, and is more appealing to watch. This is why Tae Kwon Do became an Olympic sport. So, as long as we don’t confuse the sport aspect of martial art with the self defense and life approach of martial art, we can accept it as just sport. One of the unfortunate side effects of Olympic Style Tae Kwon Do, is that many schools have taught this type of fighting as self defense to people whom would never aspire nor achieve Olympiad status. So, this is where the line gets blurry. Normal everyday people training in Olympic style Tae Kwon Do as a practical self defense system. In my experience, in a controlled match a balanced fighter will defeat a person trained in Olympic Style TKD. Because the TKD folks have no concept of how to use their hands for defense or offense. The point of this blog entry is to respect the sport and athletes of Olympic Style TKD, as they are quite simply amazing. But, to also understand there is a very clear difference between sport and the true martial way. The roots of all martial arts was to make the weak more capable of battling a stronger opponent. To learn how to survive in combat. To turn the weak into the strong. However, as we evolve our martial arts have changed, as the times have changed. With martial sport it’s important to sell it as such, and not sell it as self defense.

Here’s a video from a Krav Maga Women’s Self Defense Seminar we held.

Canines employed by the military, law enforcement agencies, and protection/security train often in controlled aggression. These dogs practice making their bites stronger, their bodies stronger, and they also get a healthy dose of obedience training with the most important emphasis being the ‘out’. In canine bite work the out means that the dog lets go immediately when commanded by the handler.  This is where the controlled aggression kicks in for the training and real life situations. A trained dog will go all out towards an attacker/criminal but knows when to stop his bite when commanded. I highly suggest you go to youtube and search for K9  Dog Attacks. You will notice on command that K9 dogs dive into their work towards the threat with absolutely no regard to their own well being. These dogs go all out until they are given the out command by their handler, in which they do immediately. These dogs are not much different than our selves, in the sense of our training and what we seek to achieve. The dogs train to offer protection and law enforcement. We train for our own protection and fitness, and we train so that we may better protect our property and loved ones. This sounds very much what protection/law enforcement canines train for. With all of that being said the two things that canines in these field do better than us is the ability to dive into the mix without fear and to know when it’s time to stop on the handler’s verbal command. It’s never a good idea to get into a fight or self defense situation, however when we have no choice we must go into in one hundred percent with ‘going home safe’ being the only thought, and knowing when to shut it down. Sadly, even in self defense situations we can find ourselves on the wrong side of the law. So, it’s very important to know when the threat is no longer a threat, and to stop the confrontation in that moment.  I’ll leave a few youtube links at the bottom of the page. Please enjoy the joy these dogs have in doing their jobs, and the control they have when told to stop doing their job.