In sport karate we have a saying - Be First! That means as far as a point karate standpoint - being first is everything. Let me explain, in the open tournaments I use to fight in from the eighties, the most points in two minutes, won the match. While it was true that sometimes some sloppy but effective techniques would ultimately win bouts. I think generally that a practitioner that can hit their opponent first would also win in the street.

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I just read a story about a nine-year-old boy escaping a kidnapping attempt! The boy was playing and a man told the boy to come with him. The man then sprayed pepper-spray on kid and grabbed him. The boy fought back and escaped. Full Story »

I saw a story on CNN about a guy robbing a clerk with a rifle. The clerk was trying to get the money while the robber tried to shoot him! Luckily the rifle just clicked so the clerk figured he had nothing to loose and fought back! The clerk deflected the rifle and wrestled for it (the rifle). The robber then ran away!

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I started with Tracy’s Karate Studios after the “Kung Fu” TV shows featured the Tracy’s Karate commercials. I still remember those checkered uniforms with the participants running through self-defense techniques. I wanted to do what those modern-day warriors (Tracy’s) were doing!

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This sounds like a crazy question but I guess we should talk about this. I was reviewing other blogs and found references to some self-defense moves as being inherently illegal (I’m paraphrasing). I think this should be a good time to look at what is self-defense and what is legal.

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I have been reviewing other self defense websites and blogs and have come to the conclusion that many of the sites use poison pills! A poison pill is an old sales technique where the sales person will be loosing a sale and then mention “the things the buyer should look for in another vendor’s product”… “and by the way our competitors do not have this feature or that feature…”

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When I as a little boy I wanted to be a black belt so I could register my hands as lethal weapons. I figured that when I found out all of the secret stuff - I would be able to easily defeat any opponent! Then I watch Tarzan take a 10th degree black belt and started wondering, what was better - jungle fighting or karate? But I am going off point.

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I was watching TV last night and found the Toughman contest on the Best Damn Sports Show. I didn’t know it came back from the 80’s. As I was watching the matches I remembered what I did not like about amateurs trying to box - they cannot fight! Sure they can inflect damage and some of them have some boxing skills, but on balance they do what I call “Beer Muscle!”

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