You are driving on a freeway in the slow lane. You notice a driver on your tail. You tap your brakes a couple of times, saying “get off of my tail!” You and the tailgater exchange birds… and the rage is on!

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How can a prospective student figure out if a karate or self-defense school is any good? This is a perplexing question facing many folks. Some people start taking karate only to discover that they cannot fight their way out of a paper-bag, but look cool. Others discover they still don’t have any idea how to mount a successful defense but think their Sensei could!

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As a karate guy - in the 80’s I noticed mixed martial arts become popular. At first I like many of my peers thought that ground work was beneath me (pun intended). If the MMA practitioners would just stand up and fight - things would work better. Chokes, arm bars and throws were the stuff of movies because if anyone tried to get close to me - I would deck them.

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When I was a youth I use to watch the television program Kung Fu. In that program, Grasshopper was taught the process of toughening up his hands for combat. I read articles in Black Belt magazine and watched tournaments that involved board-breaking. I thought that those guys and gals had to be tough! If anyone messed with them - they would just break the attackers with their power! Karate demonstrations like that inspired me to start breaking boards and jam my hands into buckets of sand.

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You are a woman walking alone in a darkened parking lot, trying to find your car. You sense someone watching you. You cannot see anyone but you have a few seconds to decide on a plan. What would you do?

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One of my son’s was getting hassled walking to 7/11 when he was about 7 years old. It was a group of kids that warned him to stay away from their neighborhood. I got wind of this and decided it was time to teach him some practical self-defense moves. I had already taught him a karate counter-punch so I decided to teach him about fighting distance. Full Story »

This topic sounds like I’m being sexist but please hear me out. First let me point out that many women in my life and women I have observed can fight. I have many self-defense stories involving women! I have also seen examples of women that were apparently trained but did not have the heart or the chin to win their fight.  Full Story »

Over the years I have seen kids with black belts. I did not award any kids with a belt that high because it would have put them at a disadvantage. When I owned my school a kid could earn up to a brown belt legitimately because they know all of the basics, katas, techniques, and sparring (starting in upper white belt).The belt rankings generally are:

1. White belt (includes all of the beginning belts such as orange, purple, blue, and green - other schools have different white belt rankings)
2. Brown belt
3. Black belt

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As a practitioner of karate, I like to think self-defense is a practiced – method of protecting one’s self in most any situation. The trained fighter in almost any discipline can mount a defense to most attacks. The victim can become the victor.  Full Story »

Hello and welcome to My Self-defense Blog! My name is John Zimmer and I live in San Diego County, California, in the United States. My background is in Chinese Kenpo Karate where I studied with Richard Willett, initally with Tracy’s Karate. Tracy’s Karate in San Diego was later renamed to American Kenpo Karate.  I have attained the rank of a fifth-degree black belt in the American Kenpo Karate organization. I owned an American Kenpo Karate school in the in 1982 - 1983. Well now that is out of the way for now I would like to tell you what this weblog (My Self-defense Blog) is going to be about.

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