Articles by Ron Amram

Watch Out For These Fairy Tales In the previous two installments of this series, I discussed some phrases, that are often uttered in gyms and dojos around the world, and that one should be wary of. Some of them have to do with the way business is conducted. Others are [Read More]

The warm up is finished. The instructor tells you to find a partner and get a pair of pads. You put on your gloves, and execute your combination on the pads. ‘You need to pivot more on the ball of the foot, because that’s how you get power. And also, [Read More]

Imagine this: You go to a restaurant that you heard good things about. You like pizza, and they are known for making great pizza. You come in, take a menu and sit down. When someone comes to take your order, you ask to speak to the manager. When the manager [Read More]

This past weekend UFC229 created headlines everywhere. The build up to the fight was huge and the rivalry between Connor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov was highly publicized. It was so heated that it ended up with McGregor throwing a trolley through a bus window and injuring people in the process; [Read More]

The ancient Samurai believed a strict code of conduct. These principles and ideals are collectively known as Bushido. Among these values are honesty and integrity, honour, loyalty and responsibility. The ancient Samurai believed that speaking and doing are essentially the same. Someone who is honest and has integrity does not [Read More]

Last night my brother-in-arms, Hylton Silver, and I were running a Krav Maga class. We focused on an interesting topic – pressure. I recently wrote on pressure in self-defense training, and you can read more about this here. We were working on defending against punches and tackles/takedowns, and asked our [Read More]

A Look At Self-Defence Instruction I have recently taken part in an interesting debate centering around the validity of Kata and Traditional Martial Arts (TMA) as tools for self-defence. This is something I have written extensively about, and you can read about this here, here and here. My opinions aside, [Read More]

Ego is at the root of many issues that plague the martial arts world. Bad attitudes, unethical behaviour, ‘sensei worship’ and the ever-present and so-hard-to-avoid constant trash talking that goes on between different competitors, styles, instructors and schools. Martial Journal writer Daniel Hartz recently wrote on ego in the martial [Read More]

I am sitting at home, watching the halfpipe event in the Winter Olympics. One of the athletes goes down the slope, knowing he has to put on an excellent display in order to get a podium position. He drops into the pipe. He speeds up  towards the other end, catapults [Read More]

From a young age, most people are taught that talking about religion or politics is rude. It is one of the topics not to bring up at the family dinner or with people you have just met. Martial artists, who value respect and integrity more than most, ignore this rule [Read More]

This is something that’s been brewing in the back of my mind for several months, if not longer. Two posts by friends have brought this back to my mind and I thought I’d discuss some thoughts about martial arts being a business, the reputation it has as a business and [Read More]

In my previous article, I discussed some statements that we often hear in martial arts marketing. Those statements can often be misleading. Alternatively, they can also limit your growth as a martial artist. As such, they are statements that should ring alarm bells when you are trying to find a [Read More]

I love the martial arts. I really do. They are my favorite thing in the world. That being said… A martial arts business, just like any other business, is still a business. As such, they use certain strategies to get people in the door and keep them training. That’s called [Read More]

I recently completed a new course by Dr. Gavriel Shneider, (7th Dan Krav Maga, Ph.D. in Security and Risk Management and director of R2S). The course gives an excellent overview of personal safety and I highly recommend it to anyone who cares about learning a little more about protecting themselves. In one [Read More]