Search Results

“Are you a god?” they asked the Buddha : “No.” “An Angel?” - “No.” “A Saint?” - “No.” “Then what are you?” “I am awake.” We could confidently say that to be human is to be a bully: /ˈbʊli/ (plural bullies) a person who uses their strength or power to frighten or hurt weaker people. If this statement causes a reaction then it has served its purpose. A reaction that is not one of love, compassion, and understanding, is a reaction based on fear. Fear of what? Fear of losing what we do not have or not getting what we want. It really is this simple. The reaction to fear is not a “human-specific” response. Even ancient species must have reacted similarly, before there were humans and before there were eyeballs. So fear is a reaction on the part of the nervous system that is important for survival. On a hormonal level, when humans experience fear, the adrenals, the pituitary and limbic systems all begin a conversation that sounds something like this: “Um, hey fellas, we are about to die so we’d better get busy.” In the wild, “busy” meant protecting the family, hunting, and gathering for food and shelter. Fast forward 100 thousand years and being busy means multi-tasking, over-working, and, for the most part, under-earning. Multi-tasking creates a form of emotional stress. Emotional stress puts pressure on the internal organs. Pressure on the internal organs creates emotional reactions towards self and others. Under the constraints of fear we create self-inflicted bottle-necked stress that, if unmanaged, turns us into bullies. In Barbara Brennan's book Hands of Light, she outlines the personality patterns that are triggered when a body experiences fear. In general, we either leave our bodies, we collapse and can’t make decisions, we stop moving all together, or we blast others with our anger and attention. All these mechanisms are patterns that are learned very early in life to give us a sense of control and safety. These patterns usually do not work. If we are lucky, we study these patterns and learn alternative ways to manage fear and stress. We learn to recognize when we are in a pattern and how to come back to our essence, balance, and awareness of what is in front of us. The hardest pattern to break, and the one that is bully-related, is the one that blasts. This pattern usually starts after birth, around age three, when the young one becomes cloaked with rage and is unable to get support for the fear they are experiencing. The fear is so big and the person so little, that the only way to cope is to blast others away. You may recognize this as the Freudian Psychopath. Energetically, it is the same mechanism as Freud described. But, unlike Freud’s psychological work, Brennan allows us to examine the energy basics of what a living organism experiences when fear hits. Within this framework, to be a bully is to advertise to the world: “I am scared. I live in terror. I do not know myself. I have no core. I have lost connection to self and others.” We can spot this problem in our daily lives with our loved ones, from subtle reponses like not listening to each other, to excessive reactions including yelling, throwing objects, substance abuse and broken families. We can also spot this problem in the terror of our world wars. All of them. One only needs to look at Russia and Ukraine as a current example. Leaders are afraid of losing what they have and not getting what they want. The antidote to fear is cultivating internal and external safety. How do we do this? We Meditate. We stay in life. We are courageous enough to be present. We pay attention to our spinal columns – as www.jungshinfitness.com teaches, 80% of our attention connects to the back of the body. Know our surroundings. Create simple mantras that bring ease and joy. It is not easy to be human. We are an evolving, very young species (We are not the last species. The polar bears, for example, came into being after the homo sapien), so we must have compassion for our imperfections. We are also the only species, as far as we know, that has the amazing ability to self-reflect, to wonder, to do better. It starts at home. I personally love to learn from the best. This powerful 2021 conversation between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu is revelatory of the way people who have suffered greatly can become kind and compassionate teachers and beings.

It has been 49 years since the tragic death of Bruce Lee. Bruce was a star from the moment he was born and was very successful in his 32 years of life. A Star was Born Bruce was born on November 27th, 1940, in San Francisco. His parents were on tour with the Chinese Opera Company in the USA at the time of his birth. However, he was raised and grew up in Hong Kong. There, he starred in his first film at three months old in 1941. And later, he went on and appeared in 20 more films as a child actor in Hong Kong. At the age of 13, Bruce began studying Wing Chung from master Yip Man from 1954 to 1959. A surprising fact about Bruce is that he was a cha-cha dance champion and teacher. Living in the USA In 1959 Bruce made his way from Hong Kong to the USA. He was 18 years old with $100 in his pocket, living in San Francisco, CA. (At the time, $100 was equivalent to about $1,000 today.) Later, he moved to Seattle, WA. While in Seattle, Bruce attended Edison Technical school and studied philosophy at the University of Washington. Some years later, in about 1963, Bruce opened his first martial arts school for Gung Fu. And in 1964, he opened a second school in Oakland, CA. Circumstance and destiny were with Bruce that same year when a Hollywood agent discovered him. He was demonstrating his o ne-inch punch at a karate championship in California where he amazed the crowd and martial artists. Also, this was the year that Bruce married Linda. In 1965, Brandon was born. In 1966 Bruce Lee was given a role in the TV show series, The Green Hornet, as Kato. Bruce did not intend to be an actor, and his mission was to open many Gung Fu studios throughout the United States. And in 1967, he continued his mission by opening the third school in Los Angeles in the Chinatown area. But with much surprise and success, his small TV role opened bigger doors for him in Hollywood. When the Green Hornet was canceled in 1967, Bruce began giving Jeet Kung Do lessons to Hollywood stars to supplement his income. One of his famous Hollywood star students included Steve McQueen. Almost A Career-Ending Injury In 1969 Bruce experienced happiness and pain. This was the year his daughter Shannon was born. And the year he injured his back. According to a story provided by Shannon , Bruce injured his back very seriously. He had been training for many years and got to a point where he stopped warming up. And while performing an exercise called the good morning lift, he had too much weight on the bar and injured his sacral nerve. He was taken to the hospital and told he would never do martial arts nor walk normally again. With this news, Bruce was bedridden for months, and in turn, developed depression during that time. To work through his depression and stay motivated and inspired, he read many books on mental and physical recovery, physiology, biomechanics, self-help, and philosophy. From all this studying and research, Bruce finally, believed he could develop his own recovery. Understanding the road to recovery was going to be colossal, Bruce needed inspiration and motivation. So, on the back of one of his business cards, he wrote, walk on. Then, he created a little wooden stand and put it in sight where he would always see it. It was a way to remind him to just keep moving forward day to day to get better. Back in Hong Kong In 1971, Lee moved back to Hong Kong because it was difficult to find acting jobs. Moving back to Hong Kong was a massive payoff because he released and starred in three box office films that later were very successful in the United States. First was “The Big Boss” which grossed $50 million worldwide. And in 1972, “Fists of Fury” grossed $100 million, and “Way of the Dragon” grossed $130 million around the world. Because of the success of these films internationally it sparked interest in Hollywood. Enter the Dragon In 1972, Bruce started filming his next box office hit between August and October, "Game of Death." “Game of Death” is the movie where Bruce wore the infamous yellow jumpsuit. However, “Game of Death” was put on hold to film “Enter the Dragon”. “Enter the Dragon” was an essential film for Bruce because it would debut as the first production ever between Hong Kong and Hollywood. His debut in America was essential. Acting was important for Bruce to show his technique and philosophies. Most importantly, it was a way to break the Chinese stereotypes that existed in America. In Bruce's time, American stereotypes labeled Asians in movies as slanty-eyed, buckteeth, and unintelligent servants. So, when Bruce accepted roles on TV or in movies, he always made sure the producers did not want him to portray those stereotypes in any way. The primary importance Bruce wanted people to see and know was that he is a human being. Bruce said, “Because, I mean I don't want to be like as Confucius say, but under the sky, under the heavens, there is but one family. It just so happens, man, that people are different.” Bruce Passes In 1973, on July 20th, at the age of 32, Bruce Lee died before the release of “Enter the Dragon.” He died from cerebral edema caused by a hypersensitive reaction to the painkiller, Equagesic that he had taken for a headache. He fell asleep and never woke up. Bruce Lee became the first leading Chinese actor to star in a major Hollywood production. “Enter the Dragon” was produced with a budget between $850,000-$1,000,000 and grossed an estimated $350-400 million dollars worldwide. But unfortunately, Bruce never got to see the positive impact “Enter the Dragon” had on the world. Greatest of Greats Bruce Lee used martial arts for people to find better versions of themselves. To find the better version of yourself, you must have faith and self-discovery, not fear. Bruce said, “Always be yourself, express yourself, and have faith in yourself.” And “To understand fear is the beginning of really seeing.” - Bruce Lee Bruce saw beyond what makes martial arts work as he writes in Jeet Kung Do. Balance mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically brings about harmony. And harmony is where you excel and be and do your best. “I’m not a master. I’m a student-master, meaning that I know a master and the expertise of a master, but I’m still learning. So, I’m a student-master. I don’t believe in the word ‘master.’ I consider the master as such when they close the casket.” -Bruce Lee Rest in peace Master Lee. Your teachings and philosophy are still impacting and evolving around the world. To read more about Bruce’s philosophy and some more personal stories, check out Shannon Lee’s book, “ Be Water, My Friend.” These accounts and timelines in this article were taken from the Bruce Lee Foundation and Google Arts and Culture.

The entertainment website Collider is reporting on the possible declining interest in martial arts movies over the last decade with just 9 martial arts-centric films grossing $50 million at the box office and just four of them surpassing the $100 million mark. The four include the Keanu Reeves' samurai film "47 Ronin," the final two instalments in Donnie Yen's "Ip Man" movie franchise and the 2017 Jackie Chan film "Kung Fu Yoga," which lead the way earning $257 million, mostly in China, the only one in the last 10 years to surpass $180 million. Collider contrasted this with the period from 2000 to 2011 when "Rush Hour 2," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "The Karate Kid" and the two "Kill Bill" movies all topped the $180 million mark, though it's probably a stretch to list "Rush Hour 2" and the "Kill Bills" as true "martial arts movies." Nevertheless, Collider says the surprise success of this year's Michelle Yeoh martial arts comedy/fantasy romp "Everything Everywhere All at Once," which they list as earning $97 million, though other reports have it surpassing $100 million, may be a sign martial arts films aren't done for just yet.

For better or worse, your mind is powerful. It can be the mighty blade which helps you cut through the obstacles of life or it can be the debilitating handicap freezing you in place during a stressful event. Over the years, many intelligent people have come up with methods and strategies to better understand and manipulate this tool we call the human mind. From these, there are two major concepts that have risen to prominence within the world of self-defense and martial arts. Want a quick way to build your awareness? Want to stay a step ahead of your assailant? This article is here to give you the mental keys to exactly that. A Colorful Language White, yellow, orange, and red. These aren’t just the colors of Bob Ross’ Sunset Aglow, these are the colors that will help you understand your mind and stay alive. These are the colors with which late Marine Lt. Colonel Jeff Cooper cataloged peril and the readiness of a person’s mind. In one of the most useful ways for those dealing with life and death situations, he described the mental states as such: ● White = Unaware ● Yellow = Relaxed awareness ● Orange = Focused attention ● Red = Engaged and ready In the White state, a person is oblivious. In an era of social media and non-stop entertainment on our wrists and in our palms, this is a common and deadly mental state to be in. A person wandering around downtown at night with AirPods lodged in their ears and painfully unaware of their surroundings is prime picking for a crime.Just as you are most susceptible to injury from the punch you don’t see coming, you are most susceptible to crime in the environment you pay the least attention to. In Condition Yellow, you are at ease yet also present-minded and aware. You aren’t living in paranoia, you are simply attentive to your environment and the people around you. There may not be a certain threat yet, however you are better equipped in this state if one does arise. Consider this to be the mindset of a bodyguard or bouncer when not occupied with a current situation. In Condition Orange, things get more interesting. You are alert to a more specific potential threat. A person is getting too close for comfort or a corner of the room seems to be getting too rowdy. At this point, you should be taking pre-emptive steps to set yourself up for safety. Perhaps you orient towards an exit or ensure you are in a posture which will help you stay balanced and protected. In Condition Red, it’s go time! As the alarms are blaring in your head and the situation is unfolding, you are primed to do what needs done. In this phase, you are engaged with the threat and have to take action. You fight, you flee, you do what needs to be done in order to stay alive. A fifth Color Code, Condition Black, is sometimes unofficially added in to further denote combat in progress or a freeze response (i.e. immobilized by panic or overwhelm). In this case, a distinction often gets made between the readiness to act of Condition Red and the decision to act of Condition Black. Regardless of the number of conditions, these Cooper Color Codes are a helpful way to train your mentality for self defense and martial arts training. It isn’t about assessing the danger a situation may provide, it is a method that enables you to break yourself out of an oblivious or reluctant mentality. Lifesaving action requires a proper mentality. If you are freaking out or frozen in a mental loop, your chances of survival seriously dwindle. Heck, even Traditional Chinese Medicine says that the Yi (mind/intention) is an essential element in the process of manifesting Li (muscular force). Throughout your day, you can ask yourself what Cooper Color Code you are in. Try not to fall into Condition White. People in this phase aren’t just social zombies, they are the most likely to lose their money and lose their life. Of Flying Footballs and Fists Watch out! If a football comes hurtling towards you, what are you apt to do? OK, Tom Brady – you caught the ball (or at least tried to). Good job. But that’s not really all that happens in that type of situation. According to the late United States Air Force Colonel John Boyd, whenever we are in the midst of an interaction or unfolding circumstances, we run through a four-phase cycle: ● Observe ● Orient ● Decide ● Act First, we observe. We receive the stimulus that alerts us to change. In the example given early, you simply saw something hurtling towards you. Easy enough. Second, we orient. From the stimus you received, you processed it in your brain and assessed what it was and what it meant to you. Was that object hurtling towards you a football or a thrown pie? Is this person getting ready to punch you or giving you a knuckle bump? How you interpret the data presented to you is based on more than just your current environment however – culture, previous experience, and more can affect how you view your happenings. Next up, we’ve gotta decide. Do I try to snatch this football slicing through the wind out of the air or do I sidestep and avoid it? This can be a tricky piece of the puzzle for martial artists – if we care too much about just collecting techniques and tactics, we are apt to stay frozen trying to pick the perfect one for the situation. At some level, any decision is better than no decision. In a life or death situation, the last thing we want to do is be frozen like Han Solo in carbonite. Fourth, is action. We finalized our decision and now we commit it to action. At this point, we are actually moving to grab the ball or avoid that punch. Mind you, this is a cycle. Our action causes a ripple effect. We have changed our position and likely incited a reaction out of our opponent, meaning we are right back at the beginning of observing what changed, orienting to the new situation, deciding a next step, and making it happen. This OODA loop is a lil’ waltz that continues between you and your attacker until the situation is resolved in whatever way. Action and reaction, assess and commit. How Does That Really Even Help Though? The OODA concept pairs very, very well with the Cooper Color Codes mentioned earlier. You can think of the OODA Loop as being the noteworthy times on an analog clock. Observe starts us off at 12:00, Orient is found at 3:00, Decide is 6:00, and Act is 9:00. A person scouting for a victim has already made it pretty far into his day. By the time he is making his move on you, he is already at roughly 9:00 while an oblivious person’s day is still just getting started. In other words, if you don’t see him until the last minute, you have some serious catching up to do. Action beats reaction. However, if you stay out of Condition White and instead see the threat and begin to focus and prepare for him, you have fast-forwarded your clock to be matched much closer to his instead. Awareness begets better action. At the end of the day, your mind can be your most powerful ally or debilitating opponent. Rather than let it wander and keep you inattentive while a problem is preparing, keep it broadly ready and prepared for action. Stay alert!

I recently had an interview with a European martial arts organization. If you’ve been keeping up with the news lately, Europe is not only seeing an increase in crime and violence, but they’re also experiencing a war; the Russia-Ukraine War, now in its fifth month. Knowing that I first introduced reality-based self-defense to the martial arts community over two decades ago, thanks to Black Belt Magazine bringing me aboard in 1999, this organization had six questions for me, and I answered them. I’ve had many such interviews over the years, and I see it as an obligation to educate my fellow martial arts practitioners. In fights people can get hurt. Here my students are learning how to evacuate an injured person in a nylon rescue litter. Before that I taught them how to make improvised litters out of common objects found at a business, school, or at home. To create “battle damage” to a wall, simulated with carboard, I cut a hole into it and painted the edges, and then painted a star pattern for the “blast marks.” To get my armed students used to shooting in awkward positions, and learning to shoot through “mouse holes,” I had them learn the techniques by first dry-firing with blue non-firing training guns, then shooting with airsoft guns that fire a 6mm plastic projectile with enough force to punch a hole through the photo realistic target downrange. No, this is not a racist photo just because this light skinned woman is putting on “black face” with stage makeup. This is a Christian missionary who is going to Africa this summer in a very dangerous area of the continent. In this exercise that I had her do, she must put on black stage makeup within two minutes (a disguise to blend into the local population), then go outside and act as natural as possible to evade or escape terrorists. I’ve been training her in all kinds of tactical fieldcraft for six months. No, this is not a racist photo just because this light skinned woman is putting on “black face” with stage makeup. This is a Christian missionary who is going to Africa this summer in a very dangerous area of the continent. In this exercise that I had her do, she must put on black stage makeup within two minutes (a disguise to blend into the local population), then go outside and act as natural as possible to evade or escape terrorists. I’ve been training her in all kinds of tactical fieldcraft for six months. This woman is 76 years old, and she has become an expert with the pistol after training with me for two years. She is on an armed security team, and fearless. Here she is moving up on an “active shooter” with her teammate on a live-fire shooting range. After the interview I thought, “Those were some good questions that were asked. I think the Black Belt Magazine readers could also benefit from my answers.” So, I will present each question that was asked, in bold type, and after each one my response follows. Question 1: How do you achieve realism, as close as possible, in a gym, training hall, or dojo? Over 20 years ago, I was the first martial arts instructor to categorize the martial arts into three separate categories, which are traditional-based, sport-based, and reality-based . Look at any martial arts magazine printed prior to 1999 and you’ll see exactly what I mean. That’s because there was very little content about reality-based training, and by “reality-based” I mean realistic self-defense training based on those who fight (life and death fights) for a living: combat military personnel, law enforcement officers, correction officers, bodyguards, bouncers, and some private security officers, which all those professions listed happens to be my tactical background – literally, all of it. When I started writing for the world’s largest and most popular martial arts magazines, starting in 1999, they saw the future that I saw. They expanded their reality-based content in their magazines and then social media when that came about. I started with this history lesson to point out that realistic training in gyms, training halls, and dojos hasn’t been around long, and that which exists today is taken for granted, although many martial arts schools are still in “the Dark Ages” when it comes to realistic self-defense training. To help you better understand my contribution, I’ll list what I personally introduced to the martial arts community over the past two decades to make training parallel to real-world attacks: paint guns and then airsoft guns when they first came out, combat first aid, stage blood for knife defense training (for physical and psychological effects), stage makeup and wounds for shooting and terrorism scenarios, stage sets and props to create more realistic environments, bomb and hazardous items searches and scenarios, sniper survival, counter-surveillance, no kicks above the belt line (just like the militaries and police around the world also teach), arrest & control techniques, weapon transitions (such as going from a knife to a gun or visa versa), and many more techniques, tactics, and training methods. For the first several years of the turn of the century I was heavily criticized by many instructors, well-known instructors, in writing found in martial arts magazines and social media. To give you an idea of just how far we have come since then, here are a few comments that were published about me and my “radical” ideas: “Nobody will attack citizens with an assault rifle.” “Teaching students how to survive bombs and hand grenade attacks! What’s next, learning how to survive a nuclear bomb?” “Wagner says that katas have no value for self-defense just because police and military don’t practice them. That’s because he doesn’t know the true value of katas.” “He was never a sergeant.” “Wagner is a liar! He was not a counterterrorist.” Of course, as indicated by the last two quotes, my character was also attacked, and probably much more than my teaching methods. By briefing explaining the history of my role in introducing reality-based martial arts, and don’t forget that the literal definition of “martial arts,” in English and other languages, is “war arts,” I am pushing realistic training – the practice of war arts. There is an expression in the tactical community, and that is train as you fight . Ask yourself, Is how you are training actually going to work on the streets, in a bar, or on the battlefield? If you can answer YES, then keep doing what you are doing, but if the answer is “SOME THINGS” or “NO,” then make your training more realistic. Make the training look exactly like it would in a real-world attack, and there are many types of attacks today. However, if you don’t really know what real attacks looks like, and Hollywood movies make for bad fighting teachers, then go to those who have actually been in life and death fights. As one of my students once told me, Major Avi Nardia who introduced the Israeli KAPAP system to the world because of my prompting, “I’d rather be the student of reality than a master of fantasy.” Question 2: What do you think is more important, training with the hands or the feet, and why? The answer is, “You must train the hands and feet equally.” What do I mean by that? Well, think about it. To advance on an opponent, or retreat from him or her, requires movement, and you move in any of the 10 directions using your feet to get you there. Yes, I know, the question is meant to be interpreted as, “What’s more important, training to strike with the hands or with the feet?” Well, to answer the intent of the question, in any given fight you will strike with your hands, and very little with your feet, if at all. As a former jailer, and a police officer on the streets, I never had a criminal try to kick me. I have also literally trained thousands of law enforcement officers who have told me they have never been kicked by a criminal. Yes, there were perhaps a few that were, but not even 1%. So, what does this indicate? Kicking in real fights is rare. Yes, it still can happen, and that’s why you should learn how to block, or get away, from any martial arts kick. I’ll use another common tactical expression, to prove my point, and that’s it’s the hands that kill. Criminals use their hands to hurt and kill people. Obviously, well-trained self-defense fighters need to know and practice a few kicks, but they are few indeed: the front thrust kick to the pelvic area, a back kick to the knee or stomp on the top of the foot if grabbed from behind, a side kick to break the attacker’s knee, and a stomp to the appropriate target (based on the appropriate legal use-of-force) when the attacker is on the ground and you’re standing. That’s it, you don’t need any more kicks than that. Now, if you are in the traditional-based or sport-based martial arts, then learn and practice all the kicks you want (high kicks, spinning kicks, flying kicks), but those are not practical for self-defense, and a total waste of your time. I don’t know about you, but the time I can devote to training is limited. Question 3: Please tell us about footwork. What are the main exercises you would recommend to those involved in the martial arts? This is a good question, because it ties into the question before this one. A couple of weeks ago I taught my Women’s Survival course. I always start the course with situational awareness first (walking them around a city street and pointing things out to them), then I train them how to use guns (airsoft guns) next (this is the United States of America after all, where we have the right to protect ourselves with firearms), then knives, and then finally hand-to-hand combat. Notice that I save the kicking and punching until last, and that’s because few women can go “toe-to-toe” with a male attacker. When it came time to teach them to kick I took my students outside, and stood them before a concrete wall with a door drawn in chalk, and a second drawing of a human silhouette outline. I asked the question, “How many of you ladies have ever kicked open a door before?” No hands went up. Not many women have had to kick open doors. I told them, “I have, many times as a police officer and as a soldier, and I am going to show you how to do it now.” I then demonstrated how to properly kick open a door, but with only half force so they wouldn’t break a foot on the concrete wall. I then told them, “Just as you would kick open a locked door, you will kick your attacker the same way to the center of the pelvic area; center mass.” That means they had to use their back leg for momentum, thrust through the target, use the whole flat of the foot, and fold the attacker over. I started with the front thrust kick, which in my Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection system is called the FORWARD LEG STRIKE WITH THE FOOT, because that is the most used, easiest to execute, and least risky of all the kicks to do in a fight. Of course, if you ever get the chance to kick open a locked door, and you don’t hurt yourself in the process, then you will know exactly how to kick an attacker. I don’t have time to go over the other kicks in this interview, but all of them are based on simple, effective, principles. Question 4: What does the principle ONE MIND ANY WEAPON mean? Back in the early 1990s I was hired by the United States Marine Corps to train many Marine instructors and units. One group that I taught at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California was the LINE (Linear Infighting Neural-override Engagement) instructors. LINE training was their hand-to-hand combat training at the time, but today it is called MCMAP (pronounced mick-map), which is the acronym for Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. Anyway, after I had taught the LINE instructors, because they wanted to learn my system (especially my knife combat system, because they believed it to be superior than what they were teaching), they gave me one of their official training sweatshirts with their symbol and motto on it, which read ONE MIND ANY WEAPON. The symbol contained a crossed M-16 rifle and bayonet, and a closed fist in the middle of these two weapons. Why is this their motto? It’s because it’s their combat philosophy. They believe that no matter what weapon they pick up to fight with, be it a pencil, hand full of dirt, a knife, or a firearm, they will expertly know how to use it and win with it. And, if they have no weapon at all, then they will use bare hands, head, feet, or even their own teeth if they have to, in order to defeat their enemy. Having trained many Marine units over a nine-year period, I absorbed that motto and I have passed it onto my civilian self-defense students ever since. I still have that Marine instructor sweater to this day, one of my most prized gifts. Question 5: Many masters claim that “a good offense is the best defense.” When should you attack if you feel you are in danger? This warrior expression, a good offense is the best defense is absolutely true. Yet, for civilian self-defense it must be in the proper context. Before 2003, do you know what legal use-of-force graph that civilian martial artists had available to them so they would know what they could and couldn’t do legally to defend themselves? The answer is NOTHING. Prior to 2003 only law enforcement agencies had various Use-of-Force Continuum graphs and militaries around the world had their Rules of Engagement. Using my law enforcement and military training and experience, I created the first civilian use-of-force graph called the Jim Wagner Use-of-Force Ladder. Not only have many martial arts schools adapted my graph since I created it, because it is easy to understand and teach, but the U.S. Army had it featured in one of their tactics publications for dealing with civilian situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Amsterdam Police (the Netherlands) used it as a reference when creating a new Use-of-Force Continuum graphic. Once you know by heart the Use-of-Force Ladder, then it’s easy to know what techniques to use to defend yourself in any given situation. If I’m in a bar, and someone tries to punch me in the face, I can break their head open with a pool que. On the other hand, if that same person comes at me with a broken beer bottle, and I have no other options, I must resort to using deadly force; meaning going for the eyes or throat with my bare hands or using a weapon myself. The problem with self-defense is that there are a lot of factors to consider. It’s rarely “black and white” in the eyes of the law, and that’s why every fight is judged by the totality of circumstances. However, as a general rule, you should strike the enemy before the enemy strikes you. Because if you don’t, you may be too hurt to counterattack. Question 6: What should martial arts instructors know today, to be truly “masters?” Of course, I am only addressing those instructors that teach reality-based self-defense. The world has changed since I first started learning martial arts at 14 years old, just south of Los Angeles. At this time there were no school shootings, no office shootings, no church shootings, parents allowed their children to walk to school without worrying about them being kidnapped, if there was a fight a school between students it was only a fist fight, we never heard of “drive-by shootings,” acts of terrorism against civilian targets was extremely rare, and nobody in their right mind would have even thought of “defunding the police.” In fact, many people I knew at that time didn’t even lock their front doors or their cars. Nobody can tell me today that “things are not getting worse” in the world, because I have seen the world get progressively more violent with my own eyes for my 60 + years on this planet. I have not only been in the tactical world since I was 18 years old (soldier, corrections officer, police officer, deputy sheriff, dignitary protection, counterterrorism, executive protection, and private security with some of the top companies in the world), but I have taught in 20 countries, plus I’m still doing security missions today with various organizations. As such, I believe that self-defense instructors must keep up with the times. Even if their jurisdiction does not allow firearms, they must still be firearms experts. Why? Because criminals and terrorists use firearms, and one must know combat techniques and tactics if the bad guy(s) are spraying the place with bullets: cover, concealment, playing dead, rushing the shooter, et cetera. One must also know how to use the firearm against him or her if a disarm is performed or if the weapon laying on the ground. If anything, the instructor must know how to render the firearm safe. Today’s instructors need to prepare their students physically and mentally for what they will actually see during or after an attack, and that is done by using stage blood and latex wounds applied with spirit gum. One simple way to make a “fist fight” more realistic is to put some stage blood on the boxing gloves for light contact training. When the two students hit each other, they will be transferring the “blood” to their opponent’s face and body. The participants will not only see the “results” of hitting someone (a bloody nose or lip for example), but they’ll have blood all over himself or herself from getting “injured,” which helps them get used to that uncomfortable feeling, and not be shocked when it occurs in a real situation. Of course, the follow-on training will be first aid. After all, injuries are part of fighting, and that part of training falls in the category of post-conflict. Today’s instructors also need to learn about terrorism, anti-kidnapping techniques, what to do during a Vehicle Ramming Attack, how to survive a pepper spray or Taser attack, and a whole host of knowledge and skills. Of course, I have put out a lot of material (books, articles, and videos) on these very subjects over the past three decades, and one place you can start with is with my YouTube channel called jimwagnerrbpp (the “rbpp” is for Reality-Based Personal Protection). Although I first opened the door to the martial arts community to reality-based training two decades ago, there are now many like-minded self-defense instructors out there that have followed my example, and from many different systems, teaching a lot of good stuff. As such, see what they have to offer, and let it flow through your “reality-based filter.” If it’s real and effective, then keep it. If it’s too complicated or unrealistic, then reject it. After all, your student’s lives may depend on what you teach them. My motto is, BE A HARD TARGET, because the way things are going today, you need to be one now more than ever.

I never wanted to study martial arts. In fact, my life’s plan was headed in an entirely different direction. That was until a fateful night in 1990. That night… “How many times have you been stabbed?” The question from the EMT was jarring, and thankfully so, as it distracted me from the huddle of wide-eyed faces staring down at me, as I lay bleeding in the white-tiled and mauve-carpeted lobby of my friend's apartment building. There was a lot of blood, and it was still hard to admit that it was mine. Regardless, I didn’t know the answer to the question. “Cut ‘em off,” the EMT ordered to his partner. His partner, kneeling on one side of me, acknowledged the request by producing two pairs of scissors, and then they both began cutting off my clothes. Jesus, really? I was concerned as they were my best pair of jeans. Damn. Also, modest though I was, they cut away my clothes as the crowd looked on. “Roll him.” They rolled me over one time as one of them counted. “One, two…three, four…five.” “What are you counting?” I asked. “Your stab wounds.” “What?” The gurney busted through the doors of the trauma center just like they did on Emergency . The lights passed quickly overhead, and the nurses and doctors wore concerned faces as they ran alongside. There were shouts of medical acronyms and requests for CCs of this, and to start an IV of that. For a time, more than five people were attending to me. Bandages, stitches, the occasional needle. “You will feel this,” they said, and then I did. After a time, the activity began to slow, and like my popularity in school, my attention in the ER was short-lived. More patients streamed into the trauma center, all exploding through the doors as I had, and going through the same process. Sometime later, the police arrived. “These officers are going to ask you some questions,” the nurse stated and walked away. The two officers, one male, and one female stood on either side of the gurney. One officer checked his watch, wrote something, and then went through the standard fare of name, address, age, etc., and wrote everything down on his clipboard. “Gang?” “What?” I questioned. “Are you in a gang?” he repeated. “He’s not in a gang,” the female officer said, dismissively, but with a reassuring smile. Her partner ticked a box on the clipboard, then folded over a page and readied his pen. “All right, can you tell us what happened?” The door to my hospital room was left slightly open, and the amber light from the hall slouched through the crack just enough to keep the room from complete darkness. It was quiet, and at some point, I fell asleep. But then, suddenly, I was wide awake, sweating. It was like all the adrenaline in my body decided to show up at once. The night nurse came through soon after. “Are you all right? Are you in pain?” Her lilting English accent was soothing to my ears. In the room’s soft glow, I could just make out her kind expression. “I’m afraid.” About one week later…  It was late at night. The traffic light turned red and our car came to a stop. I was a passenger in the front seat. My legs were weak, as the wounds were still healing, and it was too difficult for me to drive. Three men sauntered into the street as if to cross while the light was red. They slowed and began staring menacingly at the cars. They made dramatic motions to demonstrate that they couldn’t be stopped. One of them locked eyes with me and slowly walked in front of our car. The other two followed. The light changed, but they stayed where they were. They blocked the lane so the car couldn’t move and continued to stare. It was unnerving. The driver tried to act like it wasn’t a big deal. “C’mon jerk, get out of the way,” they said, or something like that. I just remember that the three of them didn’t move and then tremendous fear. My heart began to race, and I could feel the adrenaline dump hit my system and cascade through my body like a tidal wave of anxiety breaking over me. Perspiration came quickly, and my breath became hard to catch. No air. There were three of them. Just like that night. My back was against a cinder block wall a few steps from the lights of the street. Three men held me there. They were so close that I could smell their foul breath. The one in the middle had a knife under my chin, and I could feel the point of it. The other two were on either side of me. Close. First, they removed my jacket. It was the best jacket I ever owned. My brother gave it to me. It was leather. I hated to see them take it. The other two went through my pockets. The knife stayed under my chin. One of them gave my wallet to the guy with the knife and he opened it and looked in it. “How much is in here?” Why was he asking me? He had just looked in it. He knew there was only $2.00. I knew that was bad, and I suppose my body did too, as it became a shaking, quivering mass as it tried to metabolize the terror of the realization that I was in real danger. When I looked at their faces, it struck me that there was excitement in their eyes. The giggling from the one on my left, the bigger of the three, told me that they were enjoying this. It was some kind of cruel amusement. I don’t know exactly what triggered it, but suddenly there was a rain of blows, and I could see a silhouette of a figure swinging the knife. Though I could see it, and I knew it was happening, it didn’t seem real. I don’t know how long it went on. Seconds, probably. The flurry of violence was interrupted by a car skidding to a stop. They all raced to get in. I was on the ground and tried to stand. “He’s getting up!” Suddenly, standing seemed like a profoundly bad idea, at that moment, and my body accommodated the situation. My leg collapsed, though I didn’t know why yet. Satisfied with me back on the ground, they sped off. What if they come back? My friends lived close by. I would try to make it to their building. I struggled to my feet and stood, leaning on a parked car. The air was cool and the street was eerily quiet, except for one lone voice shouting into the night from somewhere nearby. I looked down. I saw blood. A dark crimson pool glistened in the pale gold streetlight. Years later… My shirt stuck to me. I was still sweating from the test. I thought I did pretty well, but you never know. My teacher was tough. Tough but fair, as they say. It wasn’t just his decision though. They all had to agree. Soon after, all of us kneeled in a line and everyone got a new black belt positioned in front of them, except for me. Mine was old. It was worn and faded. It looked more gray than black. It was familiar. I recognized the marks from where the patches had been. Then the penny dropped, and I realized that it was my teacher’s old black belt. It was the black belt he was wearing when I came in that first night, frightened and skeptical that anything would have helped me then, or could help me later. It was the belt he was wearing when he taught me my first lesson, and when I decided to take a chance on something completely out of my comfort zone. When instructed to, I picked it up. It felt good in my hands. I put it on. I wasn’t afraid. I was about get trained for self defense through martial arts.

The most helpless feeling in the world is having a child who fears going to school because of bullying. Bullying has been around for generations, but things have evolved to a dangerous and surprisingly evil level with the help of social media. A Yale University study claims victims of bullying are 7-9% more likely to consider suicide than those who are not bullied and studies out of Britain have shown that half of all suicides among youth are related to bullying, according to healthyplace.com . There are ways to help your child gain the tools needed to combat this terrible form of abuse. One awesome way is by teaching them martial arts. These are the 5 reasons why children should learn martial arts. 1. Build confidence and self-awareness Learning martial arts is a great way for your child to develop self-confidence. Confidence in a child is very important in human development. Confident children make confident adults. The journey of learning martial arts is much more than learning how to fight. It teaches a person about themselves. According to physchologytoday.com , psychologists have found that kids behave like bullies because they are very "shame-prone." That means they are afraid their failures or shortcomings will be exposed. Martial arts develop the mind as well as the body, so it helps the practitioner to find comfort in who they are. This is vital for children to learn at an early age. “If children have a strong sense of self they are less likely to experience negative social interactions and more likely to have positive relationships and things like bullying may be reduced,” said Alma-Jane O'Donnell, a Child & Family Practitioner at Good Start Early Learning. 2. Learn self-defense skills One main benefit to children learning martial arts is being able to defend themselves should the bullying turn physical. An incredibly terrifying feeling for a bullying victim is not knowing how to defend themselves if forced to do so. Having this knowledge will prepare the victim for a fight and provide tools to eliminate the threat quickly. This will reduce the likelihood of serious injury, and aid in escaping the situation as soon as possible 3. Gain the ability to assess threats Knowing one can protect themselves is very important and can prevent an altercation altogether. Martial art students gain the ability to judge threats and identify when there’s real danger. It’s a valuable skill to be able to recognize when a bully is wolfing or actually ready for a fight. Not to mention being able to recognize if there are a group of potential attackers. Knowing how to read a threat can be the difference between escaping the situation with a few bumps and bruises, being badly injured or even killed. 4. Learn how to walk away In schools today, there is a lot of peer pressure. Peer pressure makes it very difficult for kids to think on their own and make the right decisions. This can be said for walking away from conflict also. Remember back in the day when the bully said he was going to beat someone up after school at 3 o’clock? It was all anyone could talk about until the end of the day. The after-school bell rings and now the bully and victim are surrounded by a bunch of instigating kids ready to see a bloody battle. The most difficult thing at that moment is to simply walk away. With social media, it’s even more difficult. The person who walked away is labeled a coward or punk making bullying more severe. To a child who is trained and self-aware, walking away becomes a lot easier. A child that understands they have the choice to engage or not is an empowering feeling. 5. Avoid being a target by radiating confidence and positive energy. A child that is confident in themselves and understands conflict has a better chance of avoiding it. A major theme of most martial arts is the emphasis on discipline, avoiding conflict when possible, and focusing on positivity. These skills are essential to any child attending school these days. Bullying in school causes more and more kids to become depressed, suffer long-term effects, and even commit suicide. Because of social media, the shame of bullying can now be shared all over the internet for the whole world to see, which compounds the issue. Arming your child with the tools to navigate nasty social situations is our job as parents. Martial arts is not the only answer to a child being bullied, but it’s a great foundation. The knowledge gained from learning a martial art is something a child can carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Sparring hard has fallen out of vogue recently due to multiple high-profile fighters proclaiming that they have stopped doing it altogether. Cowboy Cerrone and Max Holloway are the first to come to mind but I’m sure there are others. Couple that with recent studies showing that it does have a negative impact on your brain, even with padding. It comes at no surprise. So, let me make one thing clear before we get started. At no point am I saying that either severe trauma to the head or repeated light trauma to the head, is good for you in any fashion. The jury is in. It’s not. There are a few benefits however to increasing intensity in your sparring. First things first though. Be sure to always communicate the pace with your training partners and keep in mind that these tips are going to be geared mainly toward those seeking genuine competition but everyone can learn from their concepts. First is going to be confidence that you get after the gut check of several hard rounds. The first time you face somebody that isn’t holding back and is trying his or her hardest to really put it on you. Can’t be in the cage or ring. In most cases when you spar preparing for a bout. You will stay in while sparring several fresh guys that will alternate with the rounds. Walking through the fire like that is designed to push you to your breaking point and give you the mental toughness for having pushed yourself so far. You are not made of glass. You are capable of much more than you might think. This is the best way to find that out. Up next is reaction time. Working on slips while your coach holds mitts for you is awesome but it's not the same as sparring. You won’t get the speed or unpredictability. Whatever combinations or setups you might have. Won’t be worth much if they don’t connect in real time. Reaction time works the other way as well. With your feints. If you can’t get anybody to bite on them in practice. Chances are you won’t get the reaction you're looking for from a real opponent. Hard sparring helps with all of this. Finally, now that we are wide eyed and confident. Is conditioning of the body. Repeated kicks to the legs. Checked and unchecked. Blocking full power strikes to the head and midsection. All of these will have you leaving practice with a few aches but it prepares the body for the battle to come. When you barely avoid a devastating hook or take a rough kick to the thigh. It won’t rattle you, because you’ve felt it before. In closing, there are some real upsides to sparring hard but it's not necessary or even recommended for everybody. And don’t let this list fool you. There are plenty of downsides to go with them. Sessions being potentially more injurious is always something to consider. So if you do decide to bite down on that mouth piece and dig deep. I only suggest doing it once or twice a month to start and only do it consistently when you have a bout coming up. Train safe.

Many believe simply knowing how to move our body and keep awareness is all we need in order to stay safe. That’s not true. In fact, there are five questions – framed around the Five W’s typical in research – which can be used to gather information necessary for understanding your tactics and improving your training. Like a journalist investigating a story before releasing it to the press and public, we should make sure we fully understand every aspect of what we do before trusting that it will keep us safe in a life or death situation. Beat the story with a tennis racket and knock all the dust and dirt off of it before you present it as a viable idea. Here are the 5 questions on self defense. Let’s delve into the first question. Who (Am I and Who Is My Opponent)? I’m 6’ 2”.My girlfriend is 4’ 11”.We are not the same. It’s already common thought that since most humans have two arms, two legs, and only one head, there is going to be plenty of overlap in the methods we use to express ourselves and defend ourselves. A simple glance at the fighting methods from across the world will confirm such. There are only so many ways to effectively stand, kick, punch, throw, and manipulate. The same options don't mean the same preferences however. It would be insipid to believe that my scant five-foot darling would best be served fighting the same way as yours truly. Though we have the same general anatomy, our specific body types, personal habits, and mental dispositions vary widely as human beings. As you are working on self defense tactics, ask yourself if you understand the “who” of your training equation. Have a grasp on who you are and also the type of person your tactic may work against. Are you tall and lanky, short and stocky, quick to gas out, easy to anger and bait? If your tactic only works due to developed muscle or proportionate height, you are likely to run into a problem when seriously needing to use it. A good technique is effective, regardless of common disadvantages (such as being shorter or weaker). Height and strength should be advantages at best, not essentials. What (Am I Actually Doing)? Do you understand what you're doing on an essential level? Don’t train until you get it right, work until you can’t get it wrong. The simpler the tactic, the better it will be able to lock into easy access of the brain. Movements that are conscious and awkward should aim to become subconscious and fluid. This goes beyond making the techniques accessible on an unconscious level however. If you are able to clearly articulate your technique, it is easier to pass the technique along to another generation and aid in your partner’s understanding for mutual growth. If you are able to clearly visualize your techniques being executed, you will be able to mentally rehearse it and work towards improvement even when a partner isn’t available. Either way, the more the technical bits of your tactics are ingrained in your being, the better. It can seem overly analytical, however you can take the top-down assessment approach when working on fully understanding the mechanics of your movements. Where are your eyes directed? Is your jaw lightly clenched and core slightly tensed? What are your shoulders doing? Same question for your elbows, hands, hips, knees, feet, and toes. A Western boxer is concerned with the positioning of their chin due to their understanding that an inch-wide gap can mean the difference between being covered or becoming unconscious. You aren’t fighting for sport, however I believe the same attention to detail should apply just as much if you are working towards being able to effectively protect yourself and loved ones. Practice how you want to perform – with every attention to detail and expression of intention properly rehearsed. Where (Am I)? It doesn’t snow in Georgia. At least, not as often as it does in Vermont. Being born and raised in the often warm, more often hot Southeast, I still remember the lack of preparation I had for my first time experiencing chilly weather in the North. What surprised me wasn’t just how biting the cold was, it was how accustomed everybody was to being bundled in what felt like more layers than a buttery biscuit. Everywhere I looked, I saw people dressed like the kid in a Christmas Story! My complaint was something many martial artists wearing the rare non-athletic wear will empathize with: I could hardly move. If somebody tried to stab me, I would either be dead because I could hardly move or I would surely be safe because of all the damn layers. It was a bit of a toss up. Bottom line, there was not a single chance that my typical movements would work. Ask yourself how environmentally acceptable your training is. In the dojo and dojang, we are likely to have flat flooring (oftentimes matted) and regulated temperatures and uniforms. That’s great for setting up a baseline understanding of tactics, but not for pressure testing. For that, we need to think grittier. If you were in a crowded subway, rainy park, or wearing thick layers because it’s a snowy day, would your tactics still be feasible? When (Should I Use This)? Your tactics aren’t meant to just be trained in isolation, they are ultimately meant for integration. Before deploying a finger strike to the eyes or a kick to the groin, there should be steps that were first followed. Verbal boundaries should be set, de-escalation tactics should be used, or at the very least we should have tried to orient ourselves towards an exit. Understanding a tactic is also about understanding when to use it. My advice: simulate scenarios to rehearse when is the proper time to unload these techniques on an individual. Even something as simple as adding back and forth dialog during training can dramatically change the execution of your techniques. Person A says something rude and Person B tries to defuse the situation. Person A steps in and keeps talking smack and Person B keeps an appropriate position and space between the two of them. Person A keeps escalating annnnd...action! Why (Am I Doing This)? Nobody likes your uncle. Your uncle Lester is known for getting drunk and nobody is happy to see he is living up to expectation at this year’s annual family gathering. Problem is, he doesn’t get red-faced then passes out, he gets enraged and starts yelling at food containers no longer holding deviled eggs. Not really a pleasant fellow. I don’t blame you for always wanting to miss the gatherings he is invited to. After getting beyond belligerent, several family members try to talk him down. When that doesn’t work, they try to escort him out of the party. He isn’t having that and starts pushing and wildly swinging. Time to crack him in the throat with a knuckle strike and stomp out his left leg, right? Er, maybe not. A situation with a quick-tempered uncle is a different threat than a knife-wielding assailant threatening your child. Being able to tell the difference and intuitively being able to scale to the situation is important. As you are working your tactics, think about why you are deploying them. Though these questions form five perspectives to view your training from, they really just distill down to one question: are you properly equipped for survival?

Shahar (Sean) Or is the Founder & CEO of 3SIXZERO Ltd. an Israeli-based company which provides services in the fields of tactical training, executive protection, security management, and logistical support. His Krav Maga journey began when he was drafted into an Israeli special forces unit in the Golani brigade. He served as an operational team sergeant and the commander of a special forces training division. After five years, he was honorably discharged and currently remains active in an operational reserve unit. In his civilian life, Shahar worked as a maritime security specialist, eventually serving as a head combat instructor for cruise ship security officers. He is a Captain of an anti-crime force in the Israeli Police Civilian Guard Division, leading his team in operations against crime and terror activities. For the past decade, Shahar has served as a senior combat instructor of professional units all over the world, sharing his vast operational experience with other professionals. Back in 2007, Shahar graduated from the Krav Maga Instructors Course at the Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sports, and was certified as a senior military Krav Maga instructor from the IDF combat fitness academy. Shahar is a licensed firearms instructor, who has a bachelor’s degree in Counter-Terrorism and the Middle East Studies from the IDC Herzliya, and he is a senior security manager certified by the Ariel University and Wingate center of security studies and the Israeli national police operations division. In my interview with Shahar, we discussed the nature of Krav Maga as opposed to traditional martial arts. The interview has been edited and reorganized with interviewee approval for clarity. People need to remember, Krav Maga is not a sport, it’s not a traditional martial art - it is a battle-tested proven self-defense system being used successfully by hundreds of thousands of people and security forces around the globe. I think the biggest difference between Krav Maga and traditional martial arts is that Krav Maga doesn't rely on history or on a larger philosophy. It is a focused combat system that provides people with the skills to protect themselves and others. This is the foundation of Krav Maga. The main advantage of Krav Maga is the principles for all techniques are the same. The applications can differ, (depending on use) so you can fine-tune the curriculum for your target audience. The applications may vary if you are training civilians, especially women and children, as opposed to military forces, police officers, dignitary protection agents, or security guards. The end result might be different, but the underlying principles remain the same. People should acknowledge that once they finish a single Krav Maga session, they already have something they can use on the street. It won't work one hundred percent of the time like on the mat, but it will be effective because of the mental education, the physical education, and the technical education you get while training. Krav Maga is very fast, aggressive, and effective when it comes to survival. First of all, you need to be aware. By teaching people how to identify hostile intentions, you teach them how to approach a violent situation - and more than that, how to prevent yourself from entering violent situations. I do not want to use Krav Maga even once in my life. Prevention is way better than confrontation, but we always train for the worst-case scenario when all circles of security fail. At that point, when one reaches the situation where there is a need to be proactive in order to prevent getting hurt or to protect someone else, the training of going from 0 to 100, both mentally and physically, kicks in. Among the reasons I chose to name my company, 3SIXZERO (360) is because it reflects those basic principles of Krav Maga. 360 defense relies on your basic instincts to survive when someone targets your head with an attack - you instinctually raise your hands to protect yourself. Natural instinct isn’t enough, so you need to learn how to do it properly in order to actually be effective and take the initiative from the attacker. So it relies on your natural instincts but as a trained response. One of the core principles in Krav Maga is to combine both defense and an attack simultaneously. In many cases, including my own personal experience, this is what made the difference between getting hurt or surviving the incident. Another core principle is to respond rapidly with no hesitation - if we are threatened or under attack, we should defend and attack at the same time in a decisive manner. Once we take the initiative, we continue until the attacker is neutralized. The main goal in such an incident is to take away the attacker’s ability to complete his attack and deny his advantage. Many techniques being taught nowadays are what I call YouTube techniques because they work only on YouTube. You see something very complicated, and it honestly looks very impressive, but in fact, it is very unlikely to work in reality. Your attacker will not cooperate with you like a training partner, you will likely be surprised by a very determined attacker, which will require you to rapidly identify the attack and respond effectively. For instance, when training a technique against stabbing, one may think to block, grab the hand with the weapon, disarm the knife and then maybe perform a fancy round kick. In reality, once you block and punch simultaneously, aiming your attack aggressively to the attacker’s face multiple times, it is more likely the attacker will be ten feet away. So grabbing the arm and disarming the knife will not be possible. To be effective you will need to go forward and continue your own attacks until he's down. When he’s down, there is no threat from the knife. The main focus during training is to educate the student to explosively react and aim your counter attacks at weak points which are anatomically identical for everyone. Such skills are being honed using realistic scenarios under stress drills, combining different environmental situations. I think people tend to fall in love with impressive techniques they see in the movies, but in real life, it's much more dirty and chaotic. You cannot actually do these crazy movements, and you must be fast, aggressive, and concise in order to survive the incident. One way to achieve such a response is to practice the most realistic situation (while maintaining safety of course). The simplest techniques tend to work the most effectively. Personally, I think we should always aim for the most natural and practical response I often use a quote by Confucius to explain Krav Maga. “The superior man, when resting in safety doesn’t forget that danger may come.” I think that represents everything I believe in. Even when everything is okay, in the corner of your mind, try to anticipate the moment when everything will turn. By having this level of readiness throughout your lives, you are prepared not only for violent attacks, but the ordinary dangers of life like road accidents or slipping on the sidewalk. Live your life to the fullest, but with the awareness of what can go wrong and the ability to find the right solution to deal with it.

The best weapon for personal self-defense is a firearm, especially if the bad guys are kicking in your front door to do a home invasion. For any law-abiding American citizen, a firearm has always been allowed in the home. Protecting yourself inside the home has never been a legal problem. However, for just under half the states in the union the problem has been for those situations outside of the home, such as someone attempting to kidnap you on the street, or you’re in a public place where an active shooter is trying to rack up a high body count, and one of those bodies could be you, and that’s because those states have infringed upon their Second Amendment right by not allowing them to carrying a handgun to protect themselves. For decades they were told they had to get permission from their local sheriff or chief of police, and then when they went to apply for their Carry Conceal Weapon (CCW) permit they had to give “good cause” for wanting to carry a gun, because “self-defense” was not considered good cause. So, in most cases, the only ones allowed to carry guns in the most restrictive states were politicians, judges, friends of the sheriffs and chiefs, and those protecting large sums of money or valuable property (such as jewelers transporting diamonds). However, on June 23, 2022, that all changed. The United States Supreme struck down a hundred-year-old New York gun law in the case New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen , thereby confirming the intent of the 2 nd Amendment for law abiding citizens to not only own and possess a gun inside the home, but the right to carrying it concealed outside of the home without requiring a license (meaning permission from the government). “The right of the people to keep and bear arms” is truly an American phenomenon. Our founding fathers did not put it into the U.S. Constitution for hunting, or even for self-defense against criminals, but to protect ourselves if the federal government ever turned tyrannical. In the 6 to 3 decision, Justice Clarence Thomas stated, "The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not 'a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,'" and he continued, "We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need. That is not how the First Amendment works when it comes to unpopular speech or the free exercise of religion. It is not how the Sixth Amendment works when it comes to a defendant's right to confront the witnesses against him. And it is not how the Second Amendment works when it comes to public carry for self-defense." I’m no legal expert, just a former law enforcement officer who enforced laws, including gun laws, but like Justice Thomas, that’s how I had always interpreted the 2nd Amendment of the United States Constitution. So, what this new ruling means for most Americans is that they can carry a concealed handgun in most public places, provided it is not a prohibited weapon (a stolen gun, fully automatic firearm, sawed off shotguns, etc.), and they are not in one of the following categories: a felon, drug user or addict, alien, adjudicated as mental defective or committed to a mental institution, are subject to a domestic restraining order, have a prior misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence, a fugitive from justice, or were dishonorably discharged from the military. For those people who live in the other half of the country, where they’ve always enjoyed their Second Amendment right without infringements, this recent ruling may not change anything at home, but it does expand their freedom when traveling to other states that did not previously have Conceal Carry Weapons reciprocity. Obviously, there’s been quite a bit of push back on the Supreme Court’s decision by those in favor of “gun control,” and I intentionally put the words “gun control” in quotes because there is truly no gun control for criminals and terrorists. If someone wants a firearm, they can easily get it on the black market, which is also true for any country in the world. That stated, New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ reaction to good citizens carrying guns concealed, “We cannot allow New York to become the wild, wild west.” As soon as I heard Mayor Adams say that on the news program that I was watching, I said out loud, with my wife as my witness, “What is he talking about? For the past two years New York City has been the ‘wild west!’” How many videos of shootings have we’ve seen coming out of there since the 2020 riots? I’m referring to the full-on warfare-like shootouts in broad day light, with innocent people all around. Historically, the supposed “wild west” was more tame and civilized than The Big Apple. That’s not just my understanding of U.S. history, but it’s also the opinion of historian W. Eugen Hollon (1913-2002) who in his book, Frontier Violence: Another Look , wrote that the western frontier “was far more civilized, more peaceful and safer place than American society today.” Mind you, that was written in 1974. There’s a reason why 4% of New York’s population left their beloved city and permanently moved to less crime ridden states since the draconian pandemic restrictions and riots took place. That’s 336,000 people! Of course, if you take the time to listen to Mayor Adam’s lamenting, he does not give any Constitutional argument as to why the U.S. Supreme Court is supposedly wrong. In addition, President Joe Biden told the nation that he is “deeply disappointed” in the Supreme Court’s decision. Then he said something similar to Mayor Eric Adam, which was, “In the wake of the horrific attacks in Buffalo and Uvalde, as well as the daily acts of gun violence that do not make national headlines, we must do more as a society, not less, to protect our fellow Americans.” OK, I’m all in favor of a better protected society, but why is the President “deeply disappointed” with the Supreme Court? I don’t know about you, but these incidents that the President cited just proves to me that the entire nation is already the “wild, wild west” like New York City, and once again, where is his Constitutional argument as to why the six justices in favor of siding with the Second Amendment got it wrong? Aren’t our rights, and our entire justice system, based upon the United States Constitution? We don’t need emotional statements, but solid legal arguments. Just so you know that I am not some armchair complainer, who’s not willing to leave my computer screen and do nothing “to protect our fellow Americans,” I was just in Tulsa, Oklahoma several weeks ago as the Range Safety Officer for the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office. My job was to make sure that everybody, both law enforcement officials and civilians, were safe during live-fire testing of some new anti-riot and bullet proof glass products just developed by RiotGlass (you may recall a previous article I did about this company, which is titled Keeping the Smash & Grabbers and the Rioters Out ). Anyway, the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office want to install some of these products in their jail, along with the like-minded Tulsa Public School District, and some private business as well that were there for the two-hour demonstration. I was requested to be there as the RSO because Oklahoma is already the “wild, wild west,” like New York City, based on recent shootings, which is plaguing many cities across America. You can see the news report for yourself by looking up the story titled Owasso, Tulsa Public Schools look for extra security measures in school reported by Fox 23 News on June 16, 2022. I’m easy to spot in the video footage, because on the back of my ballistic vest are the big bold words RANGE SAFETY OFFICER. Now that the U.S. Supreme court made it clear that you don’t need government permission to exercise your right, gun sales are up, more people are training, and more people are carrying their guns concealed in public places. Reference to “the wild west” of the 1800s did not come about by law abiding citizens carrying guns, but from bandits carrying them. I went to Tulsa, Oklahoma recently for ballistic testing of bullet proof glass needed for government buildings, schools, and business because cities across America were already “the wild west” before the Supreme Court’s decision. Here’s a table of weapons that were part of the testing. These are bullets are “frozen in time,” or so they appear to be. They were stopped from penetrating the newest material made by RiotGlass. Glass like this is being installed in buildings across the country due to the increasing violence nationwide. Regardless of whether people think that the U.S. Supreme Court got it wrong, or got it right, their recent ruling on the Second Amendment IS THE LAW OF THE LAND, which means good citizens have the right to carry a concealed handgun in most public places. As such, here is what I’m advising my family, friends, and students, and I’ll share it with you, my fellow martial artists. If you do not own a firearm, go out immediately and buy one legally. Of course, that includes purchasing a safe or lock box to keep children from accessing it. If you have the money, you should own the following firearms: one semi-automatic pistol, a revolver, a shotgun, and a rifle; either a bold action rifle or a semi-automatic rifle. The rule of thumb is don’t buy more weapons than you can carry. This list is a completes an arsenal that allows you to deal with just about any threat. Get professional firearms training. Although firearms are just tools, and no more or no less dangerous than a car, they are still dangerous, and like a car you don’t want to get hurt by it or hurt an innocent person with it. Your training should include legal issues concerning use-of-force, gun safety, range safety, weapons handling, marksmanship, self-defense tactics, and realistic scenario training using airsoft training guns that fire a 6mm plastic projectile. That includes the safety equipment that goes along with it: goggles or face protector. You should be using airsoft training guns anyway for your self-defense training. Even if it’s not me you’re coming to for your training, and I do plenty of them a year for a wide variety of groups, you can certainly email me, and you’ll receive solid advice on finding the right instructor in your area if you’re in the United States. Feel free to email me at info@jimwagnerrealitybased.com Obey all the laws, rules, and regulations currently on the books in your jurisdiction. If where you live requires you to apply for a CCW permit, which is an infringement of your right, it’s still better to do it than not, despite it costing you some time and money. By “going the extra mile,” it may save you some harassment from the local authorities should you ever be stopped and questioned for carrying a handgun. Sadly, many local authorities routinely deny American citizens their Constitutional rights, and they don’t care if the case works its way all the way up through the judicial system. They have the “deep pockets.” Case in point is the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Kennedy v. Bremerton School District on June 27, 2022, just four days after the Second Amendment decision, making it crystal clear that it was unconstitutional for the school district to forbid, and punish, Coach Joseph Kennedy from publicly praying to God on the high school’s 50-yard line after each football game. They violated his First Amendment right to exercise freedom of religion , and freedom of speech . If for some reason you’re denied your Second Amendment Constitutional right after jumping through all of their hoops, and not for any obvious disqualifiers, you must ask yourself, “Who am I more afraid of, the government or the bad guys?” Then you must decide if you are going to be a free American and “pack” or not. As American martial artists, nobody should be more protective of the right of the people to keep and bear arms than us. After all, those of us who have studied a traditional martial art know better than anyone as to the reason why, based on the traditional martial arts weapons we have been trained in. When ancient warlords confiscated swords and spears from the people, those same people had to resort to using common farm tools to protect themselves, such as the nunchaku, tonfa, and three-sectional staff. Unfortunately, it didn’t just stop with the taking of weapons, but there were prohibitions against studying any form of hand-to-hand combat. That’s how the Brazilian martial art of Capoeira was created. 16th century slaves hid their fighting techniques in what looked like dance moves. History always repeats itself, and the right to carry a firearm in the United States is one of the best ways to BE A HARD TARGET.

What is the difference between average and excellent? This is the question that us martial artists are often faced with as we push towards personal growth. We want to become the best–or at least better–and so we seek to train with the best. Of course, what truly matters is if your training makes you happy and/or fulfills your desires. Nobody volunteers to go to an art class and stays to complain that they aren’t teaching the right things. They love it, learn from it, or leave it. No reason to save space in that lovely noggin for negative thoughts, amirite? But maybe you haven’t yet found a place to train. Perhaps you’re just now getting started on your training journey (congrats!) or you recently lost your previous place of training (er, my condolences!). The struggle is real – finding a trustworthy place to invest your time, energy, and attention isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination. That’s why you have your Black Belt Magazine family! This article is here to share a few things you can look for in your future dojo-home. These are the things that make a school or club stand out, whether you are looking for Karate or Kung Fu. They aren’t guaranteed to make it the right place to train – that’s something only you can decide – however they certainly do make your martial arts studio a special find Proper Mentality Albert Einstein is purported to have said “everything should be made as simple as possible, yet no simpler”. A great testament to your understanding is your ability to communicate said knowledge to another. This goes double when talking about an idea or concept (such as discipline or courage) and working to impart it to the core of somebody with adolescent understanding (i.e. a child). Whether you teach respect and call it Wu De or a character benefit, the intangible traits of the martial arts can be tough to communicate and instill. A good gauge of an effective teacher is if their classes permeate positive traits in every interaction, be it a group of kids or adults, regardless of if the teacher is around. Some of the most important lessons of the martial arts are about mentality, not your movements. Your respect, self-discipline, and kindness is tested in life much more often than your gyaku-zuki. Time for a blunt opinion; If a class needs a coach in order to act like a martial artist, it might be a stretch to call them martial artists. As a whole, the attitude and performance of students are a testament to the quality of a teacher. Care for the Studio Roughly speaking, you are a sum of your habits. One can only hope your habits include taking out the trash at the end of each day. In order to obtain any measure of skill in any endeavor, you must first put forth the effort. Physical and mental participation is what encourages growth, after all. Problem is, you can’t just do what you love. The skill of discipline you cultivated to grow as a martial artist is a skill shared by every avenue of your life. If you can’t make your damn bed, how can you make yourself into a better version of yourself? Without discipline, a martial artist is only skilled by virtue of the luck that they love this “hobby”. But enough about the intangible, let’s talk about something you can see.Dirt. Dust. Maybe a blood stain or twelve. Cleanliness is a great sign that the teacher and the students care about their training space and carry the discipline to do what needs done. You and your environment aren’t unrelated. Time Management Now onto something that is a bit more procedural. Harkening back to the discussion on discipline, good time management is something you don’t see all of the time in the world of martial arts. Mind you, we are passionate folks and can lose track of the clock when talking about what we love. It takes a certain level of professionalism to see the time on the clock and prioritize the takeaways of the session before calling the end of class out of respect for the students’ time. It’s tough. It’s also possible.Beyond that, it’s a show of respect to the students’ time to be mindful of the clock. Mind you, it’s a different matter if the expectation of the class is already established to be open-ended in regards to time. The professionalism here is that the teacher at least understands themself well enough to not present a false idea of precise time constraints to the class. Appreciation for Other Styles It’s unfortunate yet many martial art fans don’t actually mean it when they say they love all martial arts. The invisible ink written in their proclamation of martial art love is that they actually just love all of their preferred martial arts. Newsflash: you can love full contact sport combat, sport karate, performance arts, weapon training, traditional styles, and everything in between. Appreciation isn’t a limited resource, there’s enough to share with everyone. I’m not saying you need to become polyamorous for all fighting styles. You can love a style without becoming deeply involved in it as an ambassador of the art. Appreciation for a style you don’t agree with or understand doesn’t leash you in as an ambassador of the art. What is outside your preferences can be exactly what another person needs in order to get started or grow. An egotistical blind eye helps nobody. A mature martial artist understands that other viewpoints can coax ideas out of your brain and present new perspectives on your training. This is as true for other styles as it is for other schools. There are still many great training sessions and lessons from schools which don’t always showcase the above attributes. It sounds cheesy, but at the end of the day, the school doesn’t need to be the best ever, it needs to be the best for you. Train hard, smile big, and keep on progressing forward.