Danger Cues You Can See to Prepare You for Self-Defense
I’m what I like to call a little blind. My vision is close to perfect, but at a distance things become a little fuzzy. I always joke the reason I wear glasses or contact lenses is so I can tell the difference from a garbage bag and a black bear from a kilometre off while driving. I know, it’s not very funny.
Last week, Lori Sensei discussed how taking your eyes out of the equation can help you learn techniques that require a great deal of tactile feedback. That your eyes can sometimes provide you with misleading information, making it more difficult to do a joint lock. Today I’m going to look at the importance of vision in self-defense.
While I am only a little blind, I always wear corrective contact lenses when I work security. I primarily work event security, which usually entails the consumption of alcohol by patrons. Over-consumption by these patrons can occasionally lead to aggressive and assaultive behaviour by patrons against each other or event staff and security.
A Training Trick for Keeping Your Chin Tucked While Boxing
One of the most common mistakes people make when sparring, when they first start out, whether it’s boxing, kickboxing, or MMA, is that they fail to keep their chin tucked. Leaving your chin up, leaves it exposed and more vulnerable to shots to the chin, which can lead to getting your bell rung, strains in your neck, damage to the brachial plexus nerves (which originate from the neck and travel down the arm), or being knocked out.
Why Sometimes Training Blind is Better in the Martial Arts
A few weeks ago, I was training a student to apply arm locks with a slightly different approach than he was used to. Having trained over 8 years in an another style of Jiu-jitsu before moving to Vancouver and training at our dojo, he has already developed a good “lock sense”, so showing him this different approach that is really efficient in terms of energy, but harder to apply, requiring greater fine motor control, was something I knew he would be able to handle.
For certain locks, it was easy enough for him, but there was one particular lock that he had trouble using this approach on. Over and over, he tried the entry and was struggling to get it. Then I had an idea. (more…)
Advice for Female Martial Artists Training in Male-Dominated Styles
In my last blog post, How to Run a Female-Friendly Martial Arts School, I offered advice to martial arts instructors on retaining women who are truly attracted to the martial arts with the goal of alleviating some of the frustrations losing female students they see as having long-term promise. There is something to be said about the woman’s role in all this though, particularly when training in a martial arts school or style that is dominated by men. There are some inherent awkwardnesses for both men and women that can occur, but the woman can do a number of things to help make the training atmosphere better themselves and the men they train with. Here are a few ways how.
How to Run a Female-Friendly Martial Arts School
A little over a week ago, a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu school owner wrote a blog post openly discussing his frustrations that women don’t seem to stick with their training. This sentiment is not uncommon in the martial arts world, which is largely dominated by men. There was some backlash from the female martial arts blogger community at some of the comments that he made, and questions were raised as to whether he really was doing right by the women who come through his doors. I’m not looking to further that discussion, because the only women who can make any such claims either way are those who train at his dojo, and frankly, I believe the instructor who wrote the post genuinely wants to do his best to develop female students. Rather than writing a “he said-she said” style response post, I’d like to offer my own insights from my experience of being a female martial arts instructor who has been in the industry for 20 years. (more…)
3 Dirty Words I’ll Never Say As a Martial Artist
“That style sucks.”
The martial arts world nowadays is full of competition, especially in the urban western world in which schools are all vying to get students from the same geographic area. In classic capitalist fashion, schools try to distinguish themselves from their competition to highlight how they’re the best choice for the potential students’ needs. (more…)
The Making of ‘When the Fight Goes to the Ground’
Since high school, one of my life goals has been to become a published author. I recently completed that goal when my new ground defense book/DVD, When the Fight Goes to the Ground, was published by Tuttle Publishing, a well-known international martial arts publisher that’s been in the business since 1948. (more…)
My Love-Hate Relationship with the Triangle Choke
I’ve been grappling for a number of years now, and have developed a variety of different submissions into my repertoire. Like many people, I’ve come to have a few submissions that have emerged as my “go-to” moves that I come back to time and time again. One such move is the triangle choke. A great number of my successful submissions have been from the triangle, especially against larger/stronger opponents. (more…)
Jiu-jitsu Sensei’s Top 10 Articles on Self-Defense
We’ve been writing this blog for over 7 years now, and there are a number of articles we’ve featured that have received the most interest. Some are more recent, some go back a while. Today, we’re going to feature the top 10 articles related to self-defense in the history of our site. Here they are below. Enjoy!
1. 6 Tactical Disadvantages of Fighting on the Ground
2. 4 Common Problems with Women’s Self-Defense Classes (more…)
5 Fascial Fitness Practices that Improve Physical Performance in Martial Arts (or Anything!)
Over the past few years, fascia fitness has become an important topic of discussion in sports and physical development. Previously, fitness was seen as being a combination of muscular strength, cardiovascular conditioning, and neuromuscular coordination. But now, more modern research suggests that our body’s fascial network, a structure of connective tissue that surrounds muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, binding some structures together, while permitting others to slide smoothly over each other, play an important role on movement efficiency, injury prevention and overall body performance. For a more detailed explanation of the fascial network and their role in the body, read AnatomyTrain.com’s article on Fascial Fitness. Below is a video showing what the fascial network is with some explanation on how it affects our bodies. (more…)
We're proud to announce that Lori O'Connell Sensei's new book, When the Fight Goes to the Ground: Jiu-jitsu Strategies & Tactics for Self-Defense, published through international martial arts publisher Tuttle Publishing, is now available in major book stores and online. More about it & where to buy it.