The Role of Pain, Frustration & Violence in the Martial Arts

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How to Throw Big When You're Small

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The Gift of Fear vs. the Price of Worry & Ignorance

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How Do Your Assumptions Hold You Back?

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Safety Rules for Women at Bars/Clubs

Over the last year, I taught around 8 women's self-defense classes in Vancouver. During that time, in nearly every group I taught, there was at least one woman who either knew someone personally who had had rohypnol slipped into their drink, or had had it slipped into her own drink. Back when I used to go to bars regularly, it was something that you only read about in the papers. Unfortunately, these incidents have become commonplace in recent years. Read more about rohypnol.

To avoid this type of situation, there are a number of safety rules I teach women to follow in my self-defense class. Here they are:

1. Avoid going to bars alone. You're more vulnerable to these types of situations when you're alone. No one is there to intercept if someone attempts to "take you home" in a suspicious way, nor will anyone miss you if you're suddenly gone.

2. Avoid drinking to excess. I understand that it's fun to let loose, but drinking to excess impairs your judgement. You may not recognize a dangerous situation if it happens to you. You're also more likely to take risks you wouldn't normally take when sober. If you're with friends, you might not notice if your friend is in a situation and needs help.

3. Keep track of your drinks. It's not just about staying close to your drink, but actually keeping it in sight. Many women have looked away just for a few seconds, turning around to look for a friend or put their wallet away, and have had their drink drugged in that time.

4. Don't let strangers buy you drinks. Sure, it's nice to save money, not having to buy your own drinks, but when you let someone buy you a drink it can give a man the opportunity to put something in it. Even if the guy isn't looking to drug you, he may feel that you're now obligated to him in some way, and may get angry if you don't feel any such obligation.

5. Look out for your friends (and make sure they're looking out for you). It can be easy to lose track of your friends in a crowded club. Try to stay together, at least with one other friend. Let each other know where you're going to be. It's easier to stay safe and stop bad things from happening if you're all looking out for each other.

I give this advice to women, not to scare them, or to make them feel unsafe when they go out. These are just a few simple practices one can easily make a habit of doing without having to dwell on it overly. By following these practices, women can worry a lot less about what "could" happen, and focus more on just having fun.

My next women's self-defense class is taking place on Sat. Feb. 5. More information.

Women's Self-Defense: Dealing with Assaults from People You Know

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The Importance of Surprise in Self-Defense

Surprise is a very important fundamental to understand when it comes to self-defense, but it's difficult to incorporate into one's training. There are two sides to the coin to consider; removing an attacker's ability to surprise you and using surprise to add effectiveness to your own physical defense.

Removing An Attacker's Ability to Surprise You

This is accomplished by being aware of your surroundings and taking sensible precautions. When out and about, whether you're walking home from a transit station, walking to your car in a shopping garage, out for a run for exercise, etc, you should always be generally aware of all the people and vehicles that are in close proximity as you move about.

As part of this practice, you should avoid closing off your hearing and outward focus by listening to an MP3 player or talking on the phone while walking about. You should avoid going close to areas that could allow a person to jump out at you quickly. You should also avoid allowing people to follow you into an isolated area or to triangulate around you as a group.

Even if you're as good a martial artist as Bruce Lee, if you let yourself be caught by surprise, you may not have the opportunity to put those skills to use for self-defense.

Using Surprise to Add to Your Own Self-Defense

Catching an attacker by surprise is one important way a person can make up for lack of size or numbers in a self-defense situation. Women have been known to successfully repel much larger attackers by using the element of surprise. Most of the time, if a woman has been targeted for an attack, she has been perceived as an easy victim, which makes using surprise that much more effective a tactic.

I remember one example of a woman in Ottawa who was attacked while rollerblading. A man jumped out of the bushes and took her to the ground. He may have thought that she would be helpless while wearing a pair of those cumbersome skates. He was wrong. The woman managed to kick him in the groin using her skate. She successfully immobilized her attacker and was able to flee to safety.

Weapons of opportunity make for great elements of surprise because they're usually not accounted for by the attacker, whether it's sand thrown in the attacker's eyes, a pen used a striking implement, or a trash can thrown in their path to trip them up.

Even when you're not using a weapon of opportunity, you should do what you can to conceal your attacks. This is why we try to avoid telegraphing our strikes and kicks with exaggerated motions. You should also save any strikes you intend to use for a moment in which they can be used most effectively. For example, you shouldn't try to knee someone in the groin from far away. They're more likely to see it coming and if you miss, you can better believe your attacker will be even more ready to defend against it the second time.

These are but a few examples of how surprise can be used. Please feel free to share your own examples of how you've used surprise to keep yourself safe.

4 Common Problems with Women's Self-Defense Classes

I've been teaching women's self-defense classes for many years now. I've seen all sorts of classes offered by a wide variety of martial arts instructors. The problem is that while many of these instructors are skilled martial artists, they are not necessarily self-defense instructors, and don't run a class that takes into account the realities of what women face.

Here are 4 common problems with women's self-defense instructors:

1. Lack of understanding of the anatomy of an attack on a woman. There are a lot of misconceptions of what the typical assault or attack on a woman consists of. Many people imagine the worst, a woman being brutually and mercilessly attacked and/or raped by some stranger in some back alley. The truth of the matter is that the majority of assaults on women in North America (I won't generalize about the rest of the world) are performed by men that are previously known to the woman. Also, the majority of attacks are performed in a home or motor vehicle. Knowing these facts, an instructor should provide information to help prevent these situations, which leads to the next point.

2. Underemphasis on awareness, avoidance and de-escalation tactics. Many women's self-defense courses place more emphasis on physical combat because that is what the instructors know more about. But ultimately, the vast majority of the incidents women face can be avoided though awareness skills and knowing what actions to take when something is up.

3. Over-complicated defensive combat techniques. Whether a class is only a few hours long or several classes over a few weeks, women's self-defense classes are generally short-term classes. Women don't usually continue to train the techniques regularly once the course is over. That being the case, it's a waste of time to teach women techniques that take lots of time to learn and become proficient at. Even if they do manage to learn them, it's doubtful they'll retain the skills over the long term and be able to apply them under the stress of an attack.

4. Lack of Emphasis on the Psychology of Self-defense. In North America, the typical man who attacks a woman is not looking for a challenge, they're looking for an easy victim. If a woman is targeted, part of their physical defense strategy should encompass the idea of unequivocally demonstrating that they are not one. Whatever physical defense is taught, women should also learn to be loud and vocal to gather witnesses and increase the risk of the attacker getting caught, which they obviously don't want. They should also be taught to fight the response of freezing in fear by harnessing anger so they can channel the resulting adrenaline dump into a fight response that is more likely to make an attacker think twice about his choice of victim.

At the end of the day, without extensive training, a woman is not likely going to be able to mount enough of a physical defense to stop a determined male attacker who refuses to back down no matter what the consequences. Fortunately, most attacks are not like this and can be stopped simply by being an unappealing victim and can be altogether prevented just by understanding and applying safety measures in daily life. This is why a proper, useful women's self-defense class is NOT just a bunch of physical combat techniques. It teaches the whole package. And if a woman wants to learn more and become better equipped at the physical aspect, they can always sign up for ongoing martial arts training that continues to build on that foundation.

Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Doing Hip Throws

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How to Hit a Woman

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The Power of Intention in Self-Defense

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Why You Shouldn't Show Your Self-Defense Moves to Men in Your Life

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Featuring Two of My Blog's Readers

One of the coolest parts of attending the Shorinji Kan Jiu-jitsu event in Spartanburg was not only meeting but actually getting to train with two people who regularly read my blog. I'd like to tell you a little about them because they were both great martial artists and very cool people.

Jennifer Higgs has been training for several years and holds a brown belt in Shorinji Kan (seen here on the right). She currently trains in Toronto. From what I've heard of her, she is truly dedicated to the study of Jiu-jitsu, having persisted in her training after sustaining multiple injuries that would have caused most other people to simply drop out of the martial arts altogether. I trained with her a few times over the course of the conference. She trains with both an appreciable level of skill and a keen interest and enthusiasm. She is around the same size as me... ok, maybe she was just a little taller. My point is that being a similar size, it was interesting to see that we moved in similar ways. It's cool for me to discover training partners like her as we likely have had similar challenges throughout our development as martial artists. Jennifer is planning to come visit our dojo in BC in the fall some time. I very much look forward to the opportunity to train with her again.

The other reader I had the pleasure of meeting was Ian Purnell Sensei, instructor of the University of West England Jitsu Club in Bristol, England (seen here on the left). Ian has been training for over 2 decades and was awarded the rank of senior second degree black belt (a high level for this particular style) at the conference for all his hard work and dedication to the art. He is taking the helm in the organization of the next international event to be held in England 3 years from now. I had the pleasure of training at two different seminars that he taught, one on shiatsu and another in which he taught a number of practical self-defense techniques. Both were well-taught, interesting and thoroughly enjoyable.

There was one exchange between him and one of his students I had the privilege of witnessing outside of the seminars he led. His student stepped off the mat having been severely winded from a blow. She was looking panicked as she tried to draw breath to no effect. Without even getting up to his feet, Ian tapped her on the body with an open palm then drove a thumb into a point at the top of her chest, which had the immediate effect of causing her to take a huge breath of air. I couldn't help but be impressed and immediately asked him to explain what he did. Essentially, he drove his thumb into a shiatsu point known as 'lung 1', which can be used to stimulate the breathing process. Ian explained that this point can be used on people having an asthma attack if they don't have an inhaler. He himself uses it on students while they fumble to find their inhalers in their bags, fixing the problem so effectively they have no need of them when they finally do find them.

I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to meet and train with both Jennifer and Ian. I feel very honoured that my blog has attracted such impressive martial artists.

Relationships in the Dojo: Should They Be Discouraged?

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Knee on Belly: A Solid Top Position Against Larger Grappling Opponents

In the last couple of months, I've been playing more with the knee on belly position when I grapple. It's not for everyone. To make the best use of it, you need to be fairly flexible in the groin. You also need to have great balance and quick reflexes. But I've found that as a smaller person grappling with larger people, it works really well for me as a top position.

Here are a couple of knee on belly videos I found on YouTube, showing how to apply an arm bar to either arm of your opponent:




The reason why knee on belly can be better than side control or scarf hold against bigger opponents is that it allows me to use my speed and agility to counter their efforts and getting me off the top. Even if I have a very solid side control or scarf hold, it requires that I put more of my body closer to my opponent where it can be used, attacked, entangled, etc.

With knee on belly, on the other hand, I can keep my body away from my opponent. And if he tries to shrimp away or push me off, I simply lift my weight off to keep control then re-establish the control point. Plus, there is the added benefit that I can drive all of my weight into the muscles that control breathing, causing my opponent to tense those muscles so that he doesn't lose his or her breath. This is great for tiring out a larger opponent, while conserving your own energy for a decisive attack. On top of that, if you're doing MMA, this position can be a great place from which to strike your opponent.

Anyway, it's been working out pretty well for me. Give it a try!

Congrats to Jennifer on Her BJJ Brown Belt!

After having successfully winning 3rd place in the World BJJ Championships and the Pan-Ams this year, Jennifer Weintz recently earned her brown belt. I have always maintained that Jennifer is a consummate athlete who works harder than anyone I've ever met in the sport. Her promotion is certainly well deserved in my opinion. She is one of the most skilled BJJ-ers I've ever rolled with.

Jennifer was recently interviewed and written up in an article for FighterGirls.com. It certainly is nice to see her getting the recognition she deserves.

Experimenting with My Stand-up Grappling Game

Yesterday, I met up with Shelene, my new grappling buddy, to do some rolling. The thing I found most interesting was how different our stand-up grappling styles are.

Because of her heavy wrestling background, Shelene favours a stance in which her upper body is bent over and her hips are far back. It's an aggressive stance that lends itself well to leg takedowns, crotch takedowns, etc. My stand-up grappling game is more similar to Judo, favouring a more upright stance, bending low at the knees.

What I found was that while my style worked well defending against and countering Shelene's wrestling takedowns, I didn't find it very easy to engage her and initiate my own throws and takedowns because her hips were so far back I found it difficult to take her balance.

Since Shelene and I had such a great time rolling together, we definitely intend to do it again. It's rare to have the opportunity to roll with skilled female grappler. So for our next session, I intend to be more aggressive with my takedowns to see what opportunities I can create. With Shelene's skill, I'm sure that this experimentation will lead to her taking me down in new and unexpected ways, but it's the only way to learn new things.

Shelene currently does her submission grappling training at 10th Planet Jiu-jitsu Vancouver, a school that teaches Eddie Bravo's signature style of BJJ.

Introducing My Newest Grappling Buddy

Ok. I'm officially out of shape. I hiked the Chief (4.5 hours straight up and down a local mountain) last Saturday. Result: My legs hurt for several days after. Yesterday, I did my first upper body resistance training session with my coach since I started my movie work a month ago. Result: My upper body ached all over today. Tonight, I did some of the first sparring I've done since before I started the movie work. Result: One of my students owned me because I had become all flinchy.

Conclusion: It sucks getting back into the old training regime after having taken too long a break.

What I'm Gonna Do About It: Keep on pushing till I get back what I lost.

Fortunately, I did manage to keep doing some grappling here and there over the past month, so I'm still feeling on my game with that. Gotta focus on the positive too! So going with that theory, this Saturday, I'm meeting up with my new friend, Shelene Yung, whom I met on the movie set. She did competitive wrestling for 7 years and has now moved into submission grappling. Check out this video of her tapping out a guy at a recent tournament:



I like that she made the guy fight on her terms, like any skilled fighter should. Because of her experience, she's more skilled on her feet than on the ground compared to a student in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. So she kept the fight on her feet. Every time she took him down, she'd wait until he got back up, until she eventually choked him out with a slick rear naked choke (from standing, no less!).

Anyway, even though the movie work kept me from my training, it's nice that I was able to meet a number of skilled martial artists, particularly a few skilled women, which is a treat for me. And the way I see it, you can't have too many skilled training buddies. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Women's Rights in Egypt Gets an Extra Kick

Due to a recent rise in sexual harassment cases in Egypt, it is becoming socially acceptable for women to train in martial arts for the purposes of self-defense, as reported on the BBC News website. At the dojo featured in the article, women of all ages train wearing gis or track pants along with their traditional headscarves. The women train with each other and also with men.



In a survey of 2,000 women conducted by the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights, it was found that 83% of them had experienced some form of sexual harassment. Even more disturbing, nearly two thirds of the men surveyed freely admitted they had abused a woman at one time or another.

The author of the report, Nihad Aboul-Qumsan, says too often the woman is blamed for dressing provocatively.

"Most of the people we questioned said there wouldn't be such harassment if women dressed in a modest way. But when we questioned women on what they were wearing when they were abused more than 70% said they were wearing a headscarf.

Egyptian women rarely report these attacks fearing public embarrassment and the resulting "dishonour" to their family. Plus, the police aren't usually very sympathetic when they do make reports.

According to the BBC News piece though, there was a landmark case last year in which a judge handed down a 3-year sentence to a man who had repeatedly groped a woman pedestrian as he drove alongside her in Cairo. The victim initially held on to her assailant's vehicle and eventually succeeded in dragging him to a police station.

Since that case, the topic has been more openly discussed in the media. The government belatedly has recognized they have a problem. A new legislation is passing through parliament that would define sexual harassment as a crime and make it easier for women to report it.

This is a great start, but of course this legislation will need solid support from Egyptian society as a whole before real change emerges. In the meantime, it's nice to hear that women are learning that they have the strength to fight back.

A Little Girl Shows Us What Boxing Form Is About

I stumbled across this video on YouTube recently and am completely amazed by it. This little girl who doesn't look any older than 6 shows us great boxing form on the pads. Her speed and reaction time is very impressive. Makes me wish I had taken up boxing as a kid. Enjoy!