What Is Pseudoscience?

The article from Scientific American is worth reading.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-pseudoscience

Distinguishing between science and pseudoscience is problematic, and its prevalent in martial arts and combative training, where scientific studies are used to prove a point but are used in the wrong context, like Hick’s Law that is very popular and proponents for that it applies to combat is wrong, as it is a study of choosing between various conscious choices and it’s used for simplify menu systems and other machines or electronic products to make it easier and faster to use, but combat is spontaneous and reflexive actions take over and are unconscious with enough training. No matter what sport, if the athlete is feeling that he is loosing and start to focus on every detail, then Hick’s Law can start to kick in as he will focus on every single detail and try to chose the best action to get back to a flow state, he will loose as he descends in a negative mental spiral from fear of failure, there plenty of scientific studies to back that fact. This article has nothing to do with combat specifically but I find that many things I have been taught is based on pseudoscience, old scientific studies that have been proven wrong or used in the wrong context. Updated scientific studies and articles about how the mind works has taught me more than the vast majority of teachers I have trained under, I find that the understanding of perception and how the brain works as the most important information to evolve as a teacher and martial artist, as it is the mind that triggers the actions, having a gun but lacking the knowledge of how it works and the will to shoot renders it useless and will kill you, the gun can be any kind of martial art or combative training. The prefight stage is not prioritized at all in nearly all martial arts, preparing the mind for combat takes time and require the proper training, it is prevalent in Asian and south east Asian martial arts that the will to kill or fight is the primary and most important factor, strength as second, and technique as the last one. In Japan most systems had to change that mindset after WW2, so they could continue to practice their killing arts but had to change it to get it approved by the USA, in the western world the priority is reverse, that is to not get stigmatized as an immoral activity, to get more students by creating the illusion that technique can easily defeat strength, but pure aggression can defeat both if the opponent believes that he can be fearless and have an empty mind, but the reality is that physical and even verbal confrontation will affect the psychological state of mind, as many tend to forget that the mindset of some of the best and most efficient killers or fighters cant be used by everyone, as many are sociopaths on the right side of the fence and can write books about having and empty mind with no fear as they lack or have a lower sense of fear.

Why Martial Artists Should Do Yoga

Astanga yoga did actually improve my performance in martial arts, as my flexibility was enhanced so that some leg locks didn’t have the effect on my knee joint so I could continue and improve my position while my opponent was spending a huge amount of energy as most people tap out and would not try to go to another technique, the breathing with constricted airflow exercises helped me to withstand chokes longer to the point that I could escape more often, getting stacked in MMA and BJJ training was not as unpleasant as my body had adapted to breathe with my lungs being compressed.

Mat Culture - First Stop: AACC - Episode 2

Mat Culture - Welcome to Japan - Episode 1

Solo Drills part 2 HD

Part 2 of Solo Drills. We have no forms, kata, jurus or anything like that, the closest would be shadow sparring with a safe blade to start with, as many hit themselves more often than they should, it is better to prepare with a dull edge with no point before using live blades.

This can be done anywhere as it requires only a little space, it is for training speed, broken rhythm and train to use any angle, and not only have a fixed amount of angles and combinations as there is an endless amount, the only limit is the imagination, drawing the alphabet with the point of the knife gives you more variations and they are natural to use, as they are imbedded from many years of writing with a pencil or drawing as a kid.  

Copenhagen Combatives Solo Drills 1 HD

Solo Drills I use for several purposes, to keep training to be faster, heal my injuries by replenishing the fluids in my damaged elbow joint, get used to use various blades and tools, the bonus is that I can do it in a very confined space. 

Kung Fu Superstar: Become the Ultimate Martial Arts Stuntman

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kostaszarifis/kung-fu-superstar-become-the-ultimate-martial-arts

Human rights bid to lift ban on U.S. martial arts expert barred from entering Britain over his 'kill or be killed' teachings Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2193722/U-S-martial-arts-expert-banned-entering-Britain--kill-killed-teachings-incite-vigilante-violence.html#ixzz25FKYk0Aj

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2193722/U-S-martial-arts-expert-banned-entering-Britain--kill-killed-teachings-incite-vigilante-violence.html

Maul meets Santiago - 26th November 2008

I would love to try this with resistance and on a non compliant training partner, but there are 2 major problems, I probably can’t do it perfect and I have never seen any videos with a resisting opponent. Most of it can be explained easily with the standard response, the techniques are too dangerous to do with full speed and intent that will leave you with no chance to try it against an opposing training partner, sometimes it’s true but other times it’s possible to drill it with opposition. I find their techniques very interesting and like to watch their videos, but it lacks a demonstration against an opposing person, I have been told that the biggest problem with their seminars was the lack of realism, that it was flashy stuff with no combat value. I don’t like to judge other system by what other perceive as right or wrong, but the critique was from a very experienced high ranking FMA Grandmaster, I will go to a seminar if they are close to where I live to make my own judgement.

In a few seminars that I have attended curious to see and feel it had anything to offer, to improve my skills I had to listen to a similar argument, if you do it more than 5 times your are going to die, the man in front of me did not know that I have been smashed on that spot for hours training with the strongest man I know with bones of steel, I was amazed of how easy it is to scam people in martial art, I sometimes compare Martial Arts with New Age groups as many search for a spiritual component, believing that 5 minutes of meditation before and after training makes you more spiritual. What  is even worse are the no touch KO Kyusho practicioners, some of them lie and are hypocrites, they publicly state that they don’t believe no touch KO, but privately they believe it works and to avoid being ridiculed they need to lie.

I teach by asking everyone to constantly ask themselves what if something violent happened now, when they navigate around in public spaces and test what they feel is an acceptable moral response in a specific situation, this could be while being on a train and 3 loudmouth drunks enters the train and sit near you, or while having a drink in a bar see a big guy being intimidating by his body language, the list is endless creating scenarios at home is something most will not do as they have a hard time imagining various scenarios. By doing it while moving around in public spaces you get the scenarios that are closest to what you will encounter, as most people have a life that consist of routines the odds that something will happen where they spend most of their time in public spaces is very high. to what you will encounter, as most people have a life that consist of routines the odds that something will happen where they spend most of their time in public spaces is very high. 

A must-read blog post from Coach Tony Torres of Functional Edge MMA.

"Myth-Directions and the Middle Path

Once again I will be sharing and expressing some views on Self Protection, Martial Art, and Combat Sport and on subjects related to the same that have recently surfaced on the "interweb" and caught my attention. In my usual fashion I will list what I see as potential problems then offer some alternatives and solutions.

Conceptualizing Concepts

Many systems, coaches, instructors and arts boast that they don't teach techniques but rather they teach "concepts". Their reasoning is usually that techniques are rigid and dogmatic or unrealistic while concepts are flexible and can be applied more easily under stress. There is one major problem with this; the definition of the word concept: Something conceived in the mind, and abstract or generic idea.

Basically a concept only exists in the mind and, unless you know some Jedi stuff I'm not aware of, a concept will not stop a knife from puncturing your heart or a rapist from taking what he wants.
Teaching concepts to folks who need Self Protection is like you showing up to a mechanic for car trouble and him just pontificating about the modern combustion engine and sending you on your way.

I know that Coaches and Instructors that use what they call a "Concept(s) Based Approach" are not maliciously misleading the public. They may simply be misinformed or misunderstand the meaning of the word. However there are shady characters out there that use the word concept as a gimmick in marketing to a culture less prone to participate in conventional training for self defense.

Principle-ly Speaking

Another term being misrepresented in our community is principles. As in "I teach principles of combat/defense/self-preservation/etc". A principle is a fundamental law or assumption, facts of nature. Self Protection is of such chaotic nature that the only laws we can be certain of in combat are the laws of physics which affect our entire universe. Anything beyond that is mere speculation.

So here is what the innocently misinformed coaches probably mean when they are talking about concepts, and what all conscientious instructors should be actually teaching and talking about instead of concepts...

Strategically Speaking About Directive Doctrine

What most people that advocate "concepts and principles",which we have shown to be quite vague and virtually useless, are really advocating or should be advocating is a self -protection or combat Doctrine, Directive and / or Strategy. Let's break these down.

Doctrine and Directive are closely related and are the basis of Strategy. Doctrine are a set of beliefs, for example, belief in your right to thrive in a healthy and happy environment and to use physical force if necessary to protect that right. This is a Doctrine. I am by no means saying this should be your Doctrine as only an individual can determine that, this is just an example of one.

A Directive starts giving substance to that Doctrine by specifically guiding your thoughts and actions towards a goal. Directives are affected by personal and professional commitments. For example, a person who when, by himself, as a citizen, may be able to reasonably justify running away from certain kinds of danger, may have a different directive when he becomes a police officer and even a different one still if they become a soldier. A Directive is a set of "instructions" and "permissions" that you give yourself about how much and how far you are willing to go to achieve specific self protection outcomes.You can only reach directives after careful introspection. Also in order to determine Doctrine and Directives we must "Know our enemy". We must figure out with which type of violence our personal and / or professional lives will put us in contact. This violence could be social, asocial, domestic, applied professional, received professional, or military, some or all of the above. In any case we must determine a hierarchy of what we are likely to face and create directives accordingly. Most people have not spent the time determining a personal and or professional directive and this may cause hesitation under stress.

A Strategy is a set of broad brush plans in place to deal with the violence we may encounter. For example we may have in place a Strategy of Alertness, Prevention and Avoidance in order to thwart harm that has not yet reached us and a strategy of Survival, Reversal, Engagement and Escape in cases where the contact phase of an assault has already started.

What is really interesting about Doctrine, Directive, and Strategy is that they all occur in our mind. We can discuss them and help our students formulate them but they are still internal.

Tactful About Tactics

And now we get to the meat of the matter, Tactics. About fifteen years ago I remember finding a definition for tactics in a dictionary that I have not been able to find since. What is interesting is that the definition came to lesser use because most of the time people using the word where referring to military, fighting or combat "tactics".
To this day I prefer the neutral definition I found so long ago: Tactics- the Efficient use of movement, a procedure or method of working using expert movement.

Tactics, when trained and executed properly, are the physical manifestation of our Doctrine, Directives, and Strategy. If we have a doctrine that advocates escape but training that emphasizes tactics that keep us engaged with an opponent to continually deliver damage, we should clearly see that our tactics and strategy or directives are in conflict. Time to introspect and see which needs modifying.

In conclusion to this section. Talk to your students less about "Concepts and Principles" and more about developing Doctrine, Directive, Strategy and Tactics. Also when you do this make sure that you are helping the student explore and develop his own, not just imposing yours. Because you and your student will have different Attributes, a subject that I will address in a future blog :-)

War on Warriors

There is entirely too much use of the word Warrior. Lately people have been identifying themselves or others with this word automatically imbuing it, and themselves, with all kinds of positive traits. Read the following definitions carefully and you will see that the term warrior can only be used to truly describe a very small percentage of people and that description does NOT automatically mean that said person is inherently good, noble or honorable. I have interlaced the definitions with all the relevant and critical meanings so that the reader may do some mental subtraction as the meaning of the word becomes narrower.

Warrior: one engaged {involved in activity} or experienced {made skillful or wise through participation} in warfare {military [relating to soldiers or war] operations between enemies}.

Nothing in the definitions above indicates tenaciousness, kindliness, virtue, or any of the numerous other positive traits that are being associated with the term. Those positive traits belong to such humans that choose to develop them and are just qualities of being a good human being not qualities of a warrior.

You can be a good warrior or a terrible one. You can be a noble warrior or an evil one. Stop using the term as a badge of honor, specially if you didnt earn it.

Trademarking Truth About Mucho Macho

Some instructors and coaches, some famous, some not so much, include in their teaching engagements or interactions with students or potential clients, a session at the beginning or end of training that goes something like this: (Standby for cartoonish depiction in 3, 2, 1...)

Statement 1 Out loud or to self- "I can kick anybody's ass here!" 

Statement 2 usually out loud- "Who wants to try to kick my ass?"

Incident 1 Instructor Soundly Kicks ASS of Student who plunked down hard earned cash to learn from him using techniques that he has mastered through years of repetition against half-hearted attacks initiated by said psychologically off-balance student.

Result 1 student who has his ass handed to him, and most of audience, are appropriately impressed and will forever be followers of that "guru".

Result 2 Intelligent people will question validity of social experiment they just witnessed.

Result 3 Student in audience that is daughter, mother, sister is scarred for life knowing that they cant ever hope to defend themselves from a guy like that.

Result 4 Cop in audience scratches his head thinking "What a dick!"

Result 5 Ambulance is called for student injury...or instructor.

The sad part is that I have seen this scenario unveil in various forms. Folks have told me of private lessons that went like that with some World renowned teachers. I have witnessed famous trainers challenge students questions by basically challenging them to a fight or putting them in dangerous but unrealistic scenarios in which said instructors had the cards stacked in their favor.
I have seen instructors sell their system by lining up students and defeating them under rules and circumstances that said students would never find themselves in.

The simple truth is this, your ability to "kick someone's ass" only proves one thing, you kicked that person's ass. It does not mean that your system is the best or that the person should train like you to achieve the same results. 
Love your martial art, combat sport, or self protection method enough so that you continue to practice, develop and evolve but not so much that you are blinded to other avenues and answers that, although they may not be the best for you, they may be useful to those you are trying to help.

If you truly are confident that the skills you have to share will work for yourself and your students, then putting them in a scenario that may cause potential injury and really has no educational value is, at best ignorant and unprofessional, at worst a silly display of macho ego, potentially dangerous and well...unprofessional. 

Be responsible to your students by challenging myths, especially your own, the truth almost always lies somewhere in the middle of extremes. So endeth this rant :-)"

Tony Torres

Girevik as Warrior: Similarities & Differences Between Girvoy Sport & Martial Arts

I was first intrigued by the relationship between Girevoy Sport(competitive kettlebell lifting) and martial arts when I realized how manyamateur male Gireviks (practitioners of Girevoy Sport) were or are practicingmartial artists. In this article, I will explore some features common to bothpursuits and some conspicuous differences.

Read the whole article on:

http://mymadmethods.com/articles/mindset-articles/1225-girevik-as-warrior-girvoy-sport-vs-martial-arts

SHASTAR VIDIYA @ TMAS 2012

A demo by Nihang Niddar Singh that demonstrates some aspects of Sanatan Shastarvidiya during one event, even if many disagree with him, me too on some points, he has a lot of wisdom to offer and shows a tribal warrior culture and not a martial art, that only recently has been showed to the public.

Martial Arts Airport Action

As a KFM fan I like to see that they do seminars with other systems, this shows that they don’t have the, we know all and the only true answer attitude. This approach is far superior and not only more constructive but also opens ones eyes for other way to solve the same problem.

Joe Rogan on kung fu and Martial Arts

Copenhagen Combatives Group new system The Kratos Combatives™

The Copenhagen Combatives™ Group have launched an independent systems besides our regular AMOK! training, which is the most ultra functional system proven in combat based on short blade techniques. This is what we predominately teach as a defence system against armed and unarmed attacks, how to use any object as a weapon, recognising and evading an assault by learning how to spot the subtle cues before an attack is launched.

The independent systems is:

The Kratos Combatives™ a methodology to use any kind of historical weapons inspired by my mentor and teacher Tom Sotis. This is to show how the framework and methodology from AMOK! can be utilized to any kind of weapon. A hybrid martial art based on geometry for empty hand defence, where the goal is to give functional self-defence skills with the minimum amount of time, by utilising the most common flinch responses as a defence. Utilising genetically pre-programmed movements as attacks, as for example using the movement from throwing an object to use it for a punch, throwing is such a complex movement that its not a skill learned its there from birth, but can be improved by training and change it to other purposes.