Martial Journal

I am often asked if learning Krav Maga will teach people how to be aggressive. “What if they start getting into fights, trying to be super-protectors?” For some reason I really do not understand, people seem to think you will come out of my classes ready to get into street [Read More]

The Style of No Style Prior to his death, Bruce Lee sought to create a martial art of limitless adaptability. He described that art, Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Intercepting Fist), as the “style of no style.” In Lee’s conception, this meant that the practitioner was free of any [Read More]

“Oh well, that’s just the way it is! I’m getting older, everything stops working after fifty, all down hill from here…” This statement and all the variations of it, make an assumption, and that assumption is what creates a lie and makes us all accept that every year we spend [Read More]

This is the fifth in a series of six articles on things I have learned from High-Intensity Resistance Training that have influenced my approach to martial arts. If you missed the previous articles in this series, you can find them here: High Intensity Resistance Training and Martial Arts – A [Read More]

This time we’re going to discuss the main long blades of Dekiti Tirsia Siradas (DTS) as well as other miscellaneous weapons. Negros Island, the home of Grandmaster Jerson “Nene” Tortal is in the Visayan region of the Philippines. That being the case, we will use the Illolngo term for the [Read More]

Are weapons useful? People train in martial arts for a plethora of reasons: as a hobby, to stay fit, to learn how to fight, etc. A lot of traditional martial arts include some sort of weapons training. Some, like Filipino martial arts or Koryu (old school Japanese martial arts) focus [Read More]

My job is to teach people how to be safe. That’s how I earn a living and the central focus of my study. I know even if I won the lottery tomorrow, it’s still how I would devote my time.  That doesn’t make it any easier when the world around [Read More]

Toxic Masculinity. Cancel Culture. Addiction to food, drugs, social media, etc. Martial arts training is more relevant and needed today than ever before. But not necessarily in the ways of the 70’s through the 2010s. That was the era of martial arts as a means of dominance either over another [Read More]

I’m not here to talk about myself, but a short bio will give what I’m about to say some context. After 37 years of training, 13 years of journalism, and 21 years as a dad, I started a podcast. Safest Family on the Block is where I take that experience [Read More]

This is the fourth in a series of six articles on things I have learned from High-Intensity Resistance Training that have influenced my approach to martial arts. If you missed the previous articles in this series, you can find them here: High Intensity Resistance Training and Martial Arts – A [Read More]

Listening to What I Already Heard Even though I have been following Iain Abernethy for many years, it was my friend and great martial artist and physical therapist David Wallace who made me aware of this fundamentally important teaching of Mr. Abernethy’s. It was during this fascinating conversation with him [Read More]

Whenever we think of the Filippino martial arts, the first thing that comes to mind is the stick, one of the weapons often used. We are all acquainted with the rhythmic click click click of stick on stick. The baston normally is 28” 26” or 24” 3/4-1inch in diameter. It [Read More]

Creativity to Stagnation If you have read any of my previous articles, you know that I always encourage martial artists to find what works for them and to create their own art. In so doing, I am careful to emphasize the continuing search aspect of creating one’s own art. This [Read More]

Many of the survivors I have worked with over the years have asked me: “when will it stop?” When I ask them what they mean, they say, “when do you stop seeing everyone as a threat?” I survived physical abuse as a child; I understand the question. My Krav Maga [Read More]

After the army, I transitioned back to becoming a civilian instructor. It was not exactly a smooth transition. I was forged in the military Krav Maga that was geared to take teenagers and turn them into warriors. Now, I was back to teaching regular civilians. Gone was the discipline and [Read More]