Martial Vitality

Are you, or someone you know, sold on practicing the martial arts? If yes, how should you choose a school? In this post I will share five criteria that I've used over the years when choosing a new martial arts school. This question became very real for me in the last few weeks. Recently my youngest daughter expressed interest in studying Tae Kwon Do. She chases her sister around the house, trying to practice punches and kicks! Tonight I will take her to a nearby TKD school to see if it is a good fit for her interests and personality. She is interested in TKD, and not Krav Maga (my current style), for a few reasons. I believe she likes the athletic and competitive aspects, as well as the uniform. I practiced TKD for a year in the Air Force, and I also think she would enjoy the system. When I visit the school tonight, these are the five areas I will evaluate. I always recommend visiting a class, either as the prospective student, or with the prospective student. Compare notes after t...

When I decided to resume martial arts training six months ago, my first concern was selecting a style. This is not the most important issue when practicing martial arts, but I believe it is important to choose a style that matches one's expectations for the training experience. Choosing a style is like selecting a field of study in college, known as a "major" in the American system. While it's important to choose a school that fits one's needs, it's probably more important to pick a fulfilling field of study. I would be miserable studying biology at Harvard, even though the school itself is excellent! I will write a separate post on choosing a school. For now, here are my top five criteria for choosing a martial arts style. 1. Purpose. Are you interested in the "art" aspect of the martial arts, or self defense, or sport combat, or a fighting system? See my post You Call That Art?  for details on that subject. Some styles are suited to multiple purpo...

Anyone who has spent time in the martial arts knows that practitioners love to debate the merits of their style. It's typically a very logical, calm discussion lacking any emotion or misunderstanding. Participants always enjoy the conversation and they finish feeling incredible respect for every point of view. Ok, it's time to stop laughing. In this post, I don't intend to argue for the superiority of one style over another. However, I do want to share a thought about how we classify the styles we practice. This post was inspired by the excellent  Off the Centerline Podcast , which features three martial artists from Florida. Episode 20  asked the question "Self-Defense, Fighting System, Or Martial Art?" and mentioned my current style, Krav Maga, several times. The consensus seemed to be that Krav Maga is a "fighting system," although its self defense aspects were also discussed. In March I blogged  Is Krav Maga a Martial Art?  which argued for the self ...

Practicing Choke Releases in the Indoor Alley How will you use your martial arts training outside the studio? That is the question we tried to answer last week at First Defense Krav Maga , where we conducted "Reality Week." All classes took place under unusual conditions -- wearing street clothes, and, most of the time, outside of the studio. In the picture at left, we are practicing choke releases in an "indoor alley." I'm performing a P1 technique after my partner applies a choke. We're training in the concrete corridor connecting the back doors of the various retail properties of which our school is part. During this session we also moved to a more narrow part of the indoor alley, perhaps four feet wide. In such a confined space, you lose control of distance and as well as some of the longer-range tools you might use elsewhere. Donnie Yen as Ip Man Fighting in an Elevator, "Ip Man 3" At the end of this class we simulated combat in an elevator. B...