I don’t know about you but if I could count how many bad karate movies I’ve seen where the good guy is surrounded by a bunch of bad guys and wins… It kind of almost shakes your faith in the martial arts. I mean because as presented – the only way the good guys could win is if the bad guys were inept! I don’t know about you but I do not want to depend on my opponent not knowing what he is doing as my defense!

Imagine you take a short-cut home through an alley and all of a sudden you see a couple of thugs in front of you but as you turn – you notice a couple more thugs materializing from behind some trash cans. You notice they have clubs and knifes and after you throw them your wallet they are still approaching? What do you do? What can you do when multiple attackers are closing in on you? More on this later.

I would submit what most karate schools (evidenced from all of the karate mass attack videos on youtube) teach is dangerous! When I was a kid I used to like watching Peter Pan and Batman and Robin but even back then I had an inkling that never never land was not real. Do we truly have to suspend common sense to take karate lessons?

In this post I intend to critique the seemingly common practice of teaching inept methods of mass attack to karate students and praise the schools that give students a realistic chance. Watch this video for context and note I am not inpuning the fighting ability of the style or participants but rather the concept/strategy employed to ward off a group of attackers. The first minute of this video has the mass attack.

I enjoyed watching the in essence kata or form but I have a lot of critiques of how this might have been made more realistic. I don’t mean to pick on this video any more than any of the others as I would have the same critiques of any of them.

First here is a few ways to fight and win in a mass attack:

• Mess the first attacker up with overwhelming force and really hurt him so bad the rest of the group will back off (if you have time)
• Pull a superior weapon like a baseball bat or a gun and take them all out (those that do not retreat)

Notice that neither of the two above strategies involve you standing in the middle and taking on attackers in turn (or should not). This is because in a real fight you do not know who is going to come at you when – so the idea of planning anything and just reacting will only go so far. I will grant that if you are a tough – good fighting son of a gun you just might take on a group of attackers fighting from the middle but this is the exception and you will not come away unscathed.

How then can one win against a mass attack? Well first you need a lot of luck. It is far better to not get into the situation in the first place. As far as strategy you would have to figure out a way to fight one guy at a time in a standing position. If you start wrestling around you will be dead meat for any of the other attackers that will kick you when you are down (unlike MMA).

How do you fight one guy at a time? Well it is a combination of running and fighting. When I had to do it – I mostly ran in half-circles around combatants to try and get one attacker alone for a few seconds and then I’d pounce. It was really frustrating (I was fighting six guys) because I could not stomp anyone (to keep them from getting up) so I had to fight for about 10 minutes on the expanse of a city block before the cops got there. By that time there were only three guys left fighting me and they could not do anything (by that time they were afraid of me as I’d smack them whenever they came inside my distance).

But what about all of the videos or movies that show one guy in the middle taking on all? In a word Fantasy! Why would a bunch of guys rush in one at a time and give you ca chance? You could try to convince them to send their champion and appeal to their ego – but that won’t work for long.

Most karate schools are more focused on the tree rather than the forest. Meaning how to do the basics, kata, techniques, and pass the belt ranking seem to be more important that fighting in many cases. That is the only way a school would sell a fantasy in lieu of the real think.

All of what is taught even in a traditional karate class is applicable in a fight – just not in the way some students and schools think if they are teaching unrealistic strategies such as. My hope is this is all for show just like breaking techniques are (I mean when is the last time you saw a board attack you back?). As a lifetime fighter (that is how I always viewed myself) I have been interested in what worked. If something did not work I dismissed it as a kata or dance if you will or just fluff. This is how I look at anything that in my view is not applicable or would not work often.

In a nut shell most techniques that depend on superior reflexes inside your critical distance (the distance the opponent can reach you with a kick or punch) have little chance of working unless the other guy makes a mistake. I know we are all used to watching boxers and MMA fighters toe to toe. That have the advantage of rules that protect them from most devastating attacks such as groin shots, eye gouges, throat strikes, kicking your opponent on the ground and such that you don’t in a real fight.

The trained professional fighters have another obvious advantage – superior conditioning. This is their day job. They can take a good punch from anyone as well as a ton of abuse. The average joe flies a desk for his day job and takes karate lessons as a hobby. He is not going to be in the amazing condition of a pro-fighter so he cannot make mistakes and muddle through.

Ok – how about those schools that put on the pad, and head protectors and go at it realistically? That is better but not really needed. At least those schools are not selling their students a bill of goods when it comes to mass attacks. The student is going to know they have little chance success unless they are able to move around and fight one on one. Hopefully it does not turn into a slug fest as there is no point to that strategically (meaning no tactics employed other then measuring toughness).

So what is applicable in a group fight? Fighting tactics such as strike and move, position, evasive, fitness levels and so on. One has to strike whenever possible and evade when it is not possible to fight one at a time. Other than that most are not going to be able to out slug two or more people at the same time (unlike the movies).

Work on your fitness levels, point sparring (so you can learn how to strike without getting hit back), bag work, critical distance and initial contact. With a well rounded fighting strategy one can train for any eventuality including a mass attack in a why that makes sense without perpetuating fairy tales.

To finish up my story scenario of the guys coming at you after you threw them your wallet. You need a diversion of some type and then you have to get away if you don’t have a gun on you. In this case I’d suggest a fake and attack after picking up a makeshift weapon or taking off your belt.

Run at one attacker and swerve to another that you perceive to be the easiest to surmount. Get by him and swing your weapon as needed to keep them off of you. Here is the deal – if you have to engage them as you are making your getaway – you are going to have to do some damage as you have four guys after you. Getting to a main steet may help and start yelling fire! Fire!

Get people looking out their doors looking for the fire, while you are dealing with one at a time. At the very least the cops are on the way and you have a fighting chance.

Work your strategy of engaging one at a time and try to do some damage to eventually thin them out. There are no hard fast rules other than NOT letting them engage you at the same time. Your best chance is to fight one at a time even if they have weapons. Use your distance, evasion by running half circles (unless you can outrun them – then do that) and singing out one at a time with your improvised weapon.

In closing I do not mean to attack the integrity of any martial arts schools that teach pretend mass attacks. While I do not see any value it that – they might argue it helps their students work up their courage or something like that. What I do like about any martial arts school is the students do learn the basics and hopefully they will become life long learners and figure out winning strategies that will work for them!

Anyway after years of learning and eventually teaching karate – do we really do a good job of teaching basic self defense? I mean there is so much fluff in the martial arts… all of that philosophy about only fighting if there is no other way out and the stuff about forms and even basics. Who ever won a fight by practicing punches from a low horse stance?

Well in this post I’ll answer the question about how well the martial arts teach self defense for the masses (most kids have had a lesson or two) and if all of the fluff actually helps but most of all I would like to say how I would teach self defense and why I would not open up a school teaching self defense.

First for your perusal is the episode of Longstreet (an old TV flick of my day) where Bruce Lee did a guest spot helping the blind man learn how to defend himself.

What did Master Lee tell the blind man to be water? Really self defense happens in the mind first, before the first punch is ever thrown. If you learn the mechanics of how to fight and then let yourself go – you can achieve anything! Most people do not realize this so they really limit themselves (not just at martial arts but at anything).

Have you ever seen a bobcat fend off coyotes from a kill? Or witnessed a wolverine fend of a pack of wolves from a kill? Have you heard about a woman that was able to fend off a rapist by kicking the nuts or poking the eyes? Have you heard about a girl that was being snatched by a child abductor that was able to get away because she put up a fight? How about a guy that was able to fend off six attacker?

All of these situations are not the norm unfortunately but I have heard of or witnessed all of the above. Let me see on the wildlife shows I saw the smaller predators keeping the big ones away form their kill sometimes (I guess depending on how hungry they were). Plenty of women have escaped rapists and girls have escaped abductors if they do put of a fight. The guy fighting off six guys? Me back when I was a bouncer at a bar.

When I was a kid I dreamed of being such a good fighter that it would just be a game to me. That never came true but I did hone my fighting skills to the point that I always believed I would win if someone attacked me. I always did probably to the stills I learned and my attitude.

Lets get back to this question of all of the fluff in martial arts. Boxers, Muay Thai, MMA or Wrestlers might argue that all of the fluff in marital arts are useless baggage. The reasoning is kata and techniques just keep one from practicing the only real art – fighting!!! What??? Or maybe learning how to do old fashion moves (such as chambering your punches or standing in a low-horse stance) do not contribute to fighting skills. How about the philosophy of non-aggression? Oh yeah I can hear the full-contact types now… what a bunch of huey!!!! How about developing ki or chi? What? Why not just learn the touch of death? You see the critiques could be endless.

I’ll address many of these points but when I started learning karate at Tracy’s karate – my instructor told me if I wanted a black belt I was going to have to learn the whole system. I just wanted to learn how to fight at the time but saw value in attaining rank so I took the three or four years it took to learn the art.  Along the way I learned that one should not ever be the aggressor unless maybe you were outnumbered or the opponent had a weapon. You see it was hard enough back in the days before mobile phone video cameras to keep legal in a fight (not going overboard with witnesses) but nowadays even if you do everything right – you might have to answer to a court of law… it is better to try and avoid a fight at almost any cost (except life and limb of you and yours).

So I think the fluff in most cases is good. It is good to learn discipline and get into good shape. It is good to improve your mental awareness and thought processes. Kata take time and practice to perfect. Why not learn good balance and coordination? What about point sparring? It is good go learn how to hit someone without getting hit back. What about if you had to fight a MMA superstar? Just don’t fight toe to toe but rather employ self-defense moves and get the heck out of Dodge like one is taught in a non-aggressive approach to the marital arts.

But you might be asking if I think self defense could be taught better? Yes it could if a martial arts school understood the students needs. Not everyone wants to attain belt rank or fame and fortune by becoming a MMA superstar but the folks that do not have the drive to stick with a martial art could benefit from some age training much like Bruce Lee did for Longstreet (videos on youtube) or like I did for my youngest son 15 years ago.

You see he was getting challenged on the way to the store and his mom was worried – told me about the issues. I took my son out to the front yard and taught him critical distance and how to through a step back – counter punch. The next day the kid ran at him (part of 10 kids or so) and my son stepped back (letting the kids punch miss) and countered him to the bread basket! The kid fell over and could not get up for a few minutes until he caught his breath. None of the other kids wanted to mess with my son after that.

Self defense is not rocket science but rather just doing what makes sense. Anyone can learn basic self defense in a short amount of time such as distance, side stepping and a few strikes and that might be sufficient if they remembered it. I mean bullies being what they are – trying to pick on a kid they perceive as weak – do not keep picking on a kid if they fight back… win or lose – if you are willing to fight back and are smart about it… you too can beat the odds and actually defend yourself!!!

Well some other teen boys approach you as dusk falls – asking if you want to party. There are three of them and they are younger than you. You tell them no thanks and as you try to leave – they block the trail in both directions! Still talking they say that have some beers in a cooler nearby and how about having a bit of fun.

Your escape route is seemingly cut off and you don’t want to go with these boys for a “bit of fun” so what do you do?

More on this later but in this post I will examine what fighting spirit is and how it can help one make good self-defense decisions. Also I will talk about the lack of fighting spirit and the ramifications of that. In a nut shell the fight or flight decision in us sometimes has to be made in an instant for us to gain a momentary advantage. If we do not act when we have a tactical advantage – your chances of a good outcome diminish!

Take a look at this video to see what is possible as Dr. Ruthless so aptly demonstrates.

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Watching this video I can see what I call figthing spirit in action. The willingness to put up a fight to escape an attack is key to having fighting spirit. One quote from this video is how I feel about self-defense, “… hit the on switch inside yourself and become the attacker… ATTACK BACK…”

Defining the meaning – Fighting Spirit is the willingness to fight back but also the ability to rise to the occasion and do it! If you are willing to fight back but are not used to the idea of actually hurting someone in your own defense – you may hesitate too long and lose any advantage.

When I used to teach karate, one of the things we graded on was fighting spirit. I’d look at a student willingness to explode in an instant. I would watch sparring, techniques, kata to see if one took fighting seriously and seemed to be able to surmount adversity!

What do I mean by surmount adversity? Well in fighting one does not always do all of the hitting. Sometimes the other guy/gal gets in some good strikes. When this happens… what does the student do? If he/she fights through the pain with good tactics and is able to rally – then I think the student is able to surmount adversity (at least as far as I can tell in the school).

One example I can give when I was learning kick-boxing, regular boxing matches were part of the training. One day I was boxing with Andy Selcer at the school we were going about three rounds. Andy is a very well rounded fighter who had won the battle of Atlanta and he had some good boxing skills. The first round I came in confident as I was taller and had the reach on him. You see I had been working on my boxing skills for about six months and thought I could punch my way out of a paper bag.

Andy took me to school that day as I came in with the fast jab and cross – attempting to trade blows with Andy. He took my first punch and countered on the inside very effectively. I would then back up taking his heat. After the first round I had taken a beating and knew I had to do something different. Andy basically owned me so far… I was his punching bag.

The second round I switched up my strategy. I started sticking the jab and moving laterally in either direction (so as to not give away my escape). I’d still do the odd attack to keep him guessing but I did not take too much heat in the second round.

The third round I had gotten back my confidence and stuck with my stick and  move strategy. After the rounds Andy said to me after the first round – he did not think I would be able to adjust my strategy and was happy to see I had adjusted. This is one of the reasons I did so well as a young fighter – having so many good partners to work out with. We each tried to build on the others skills to help each other.

Sorry – I went off on a tangent here a bit but you get the idea – to have fighting spirit you not only have to have the willingness to fight back with the smarts to figure out a winning strategy! It is your life on the line.

Many instructors I know have opined that fighting spirit cannot be taught. One either has it or does not. I disagree. Fighting spirit can be drawn out of a student as they are educated on what a fight actually is! If some one attack you… you do not have long to respond. Many people do not respond because they had depended on everyone else to protect them in their lives and they just would freeze if anything bad ever happened to them.

I say this. The fact that you exist demonstrates that you are fit. I mean through out the ages until just recently – the survival of the fittest just like the animal kingdom dictated who lived and who died. Your ancestors were survivors! You can be too!

Here is the thing… if you ever need to defend yourself – you will need it now! You will not get a chance to agonize over the decision to fight back or not. You will have to go off like a crazed animal to survive!

Well let me get back tot he girl in the park. She probably should not have gone into the park at night or even stuck around if she was coming up on a group of other kids she did not know but in this case she was already surrounded. As it did not look like the kids were going to let her go – our girl tried an evasive technique.

She said ok – let me show you something (all the while calculating her escape route), she unfastened her belt (or keys would work) and after getting it loose (the boys were thinking she was getting friendly) she swung the belt buckle at the lone boy in her path and yelled GET BACK!!! and she ran keeping an eye behind her (to strike back as needed).

This is just one possible escape plan and attack were really fluid. If someone kidnaps you (preventing your escape) you have to right to do what you have to do get away so long as you don’t go overboard. By the way in this case a couple of bad decisions contributed to the girl being at the wrong place at the wrong time. It is not her responsibility bad boys detained her but she does have to deal with it.

It will not always be clear the time for talking is done unless you are willing to fight your way out of a situation. If you are willing then you can more confidently tell the attacker to BACK OFF! And remember fighting spirit can be drawn out with the proper training so you too can make good fight or flight decisions if you ever have to!

I remember one Sunday evening while I was a new bouncer at the bar. Eight guys powered past me before I could card them and ordered some beers. The obviously had already consumed a fair amount of beers. I was a bit nervous as there was the old bartender, a few dancers and everyone was depending on me to keep the peace.  

I calmly walked up to them and asked them to meet me outside. The six big guys followed me outside and I told them they were out for the night since they had not followed the rules. They were having none of that and they attacked me! More on this later but what could I do against six big guys?  I mean I was 155 pounds to their 200 and over?!!!

In this post I will address somewhat of a lost art – the much maligned sidekick! What? Yes once a staple of karate is not considered somewhat of a risk to use in a fight for some reason. Back in my day the sidekick was a great equalizer. I mean most people were inept at kicking and did not really understand how a little guy me could quickly gain the upper hand without a punch!

Here is a quick video showing some of the mechanics of the sidekick.

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This short video shows a good example of a basic front leg sidekick. Back in the 70′s this was staple of point and full contact sparring because of the speed and power of this kick. One could safely stay out of punching range and deliver a kick somewhat like a jab into your opponent’s side! What’s more the shuffle side kick could be more powerful than your best punch!

I have seen the sidekick break the defender’s arm in tournments even though it did not hit a ”vital’ area (no point was awarded). Ideally if targeting the ribs - you can break the ribs or arms if the kick lands squarley. I have also seen plenty of guys kncked down with the front leg shuffel sidekick!

There are a bunch of ways to throw sidekicks. Offensively and defensively (moving forward, in place or moving back, jumping and/or spinning), with the front or back leg, with our without initial movement and using the side edge of the foot or just the heel.

Just doing a quick count I come up with   24 combinations and their are probably more if one includes snapping or thrusting. The point is there are a lot of ways to skin this cat (throw this kick).

What I tend to do is used initial movement along with critical distance and timing to set up this kick. I was sparring recently and found many of the newer guys that do not use this kick much anymore – do not know how to defend against it well. I was able to keep them honest (out of striking range) because they did not want their arm or ribs bruised anymore! I was taking it easy on them.

How do I use the sidekick? I generally throw my front leg defensively with a hop back (if they are coming in fast) or with initial movement offensively. I don’t do much with spinning kick or back leg. I like to move around a bit and take advantage of any positional mistakes (switching footing within my range) or if I am fighting a blocker, mistakes cuased my a shoulder, hip or body fake. Whatever mistakes I can provoke on my opponent I like to take advantage of them with a good slip-sidekick.

The target depends on if it is for keeps or not. I mean if I am just sparring with someone – I’ll push the kicks up to the ribs (or arms) and keep the power down a bit (so I can spar for a while). But if the guy has good initial movement (can blow by my distance) – I increase the power to the ribs and if I have to – aim down to the hips to knock him back. I understand the hips are not really a legal move but I can generally get away with it and it changes they way my opponent attacks once he understands the price.

Sparring in the school I generally tend to use the side-edge of the foot too because this is the softer of the kicks. If you kick a guy with the side edge of your foot – the force is spread over four or five square inches. On the street or a tournament or for keeps – no such niceness from me. I use the heel! One square inch of directed force increases whatever power I am able to generate with my slip-sidekick. It is often enough to stop an attack from all but a seasoned fighter. The opponent will often start shying away after feeling a couple of these kicks if he has not already retreated.

So there you have it – a basic kick that generates more than enough speed, power and damage to end many fights. Why then is this kick not used much today?

I think it is because fighting has changed a bit since UFC 1 and Jiu-Jitsu. Since UFC 1 and the Gracies showed the world the grappling was a force to be reckoned with fighters have had to consider how to counter the ground game. At first not many fighters knew how to do this and Muay Thai kick boxing started to be dominant in MMA – quick karate style kicks lost of favor. MMA fighters tended to not throw snap, side and rear kicks that Jiu-Jitsu practitioners could easily use against them.

I think there is still a lot of that mentality today even though the ground game is easily countered if the fighters understand grappling. The telegraphed Muay Thai power kicks are easily subverted if one understands distance, timing and initial movement too but again I think many fighters today favor power and grappling and sidekicks has become somewhat of a lost art.

Here is what I think. Side, front snap and rear kicks are all more powerful than hand strikes but take some skill and knowledge of fighting strategy to pull them off. If a fighter is willing to take his or her fight game to the next level – he or she can learn some old fashion fighting skills to use in their bag of tricks. I know for me in late middle age – the power moves are out. I depend on relaxed speed, torque, distance, timing and initial movement to have the same effect as brawlers who favor the power moves. I like to say I can stand toe to toe with anyone to 3 minutes. This is ok for me as most fights on the street with one opponent should not last more than 15 seconds.

The recent rash of UFC snap kicks and Cung Le using spinning rear and side kicks should demonstraite that yes – even the sidekick can still be relevent in today’s martial arts.

To finish my mass attack experience, I have to half flip and twist out of the attack and lost my shirt (literally). I then challenged them to fight like a man, one at a time. I knocked three of them out in a row with a defensive reverse punch and then it was a running battle. I attacked whenever I had one of them in my sights. I used lunge punches, side kicks, wheel kicks an at the end I let the last three of them surround me – I was side kicking them whenever then encroached on my distance. You see they were scared of me by that point but where half heatedly making an attempt to find my weakness.

The cops rolled up and it was kind of funny to see 6 guys saying I attacked them. They wanted to know what I knew. I did not say a thing but later when the cops asked. I told them I was a brown belt in kenpo karate. Those cops signed up at the studio.

So remember the lowly sidekick is a force to be reckoned with  – even if it falls out of style with some that do not know how to use it effectively!

Since I’ve started this self defense website I have written about many topics of martial arts. Today I am going to tell you a bit about the school I came from and highlight it’s new website http://mmakenpokarate.com/.

I have also added a Recommended Dojos link off to the right sided of this post. This is a personal recommendation based on my 36 years with this school. If you live or work near American Kenpo Karate, Kick Boxing & Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, check this school out if you are considering martial arts training!

Our lineage almost spans 800 years starting with Zenko Yoshida in the thirteenth century. Quoting from the Tracy’s Family Tree here, “This would establish the Yoshida clan’s tie to the Renzai sect of Zen and Kenpo/Kempo/Kosho.”

The reins were passed to the 21st Grand Master, James M. Mitose in the mid-twentieth centry. Ed Parker, one of Mitose and Chow’s students brought Kenpo over to the mainland in the 1950′s. 

As a teenager I remember watching Tracy’s Kenpo Karate commercials during the Kung Fu tv series. I found one old commercial for your perusal.

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While this was not the same commercial I saw in the early 1970′s, it does show how Tracy’s Karate Schools advertised in that era. You see commercialism was a diversion from the oriental model. After the World War II and the Korean wars, many service men came home with some martial arts experience. There was a real hunger for knowledge of martial arts – stateside.

Many have argued that something was lost from karate when instructors in the United States started businesses that taught students for money (like any other business) and that the Tracy’s organization lost something in the translation by teaching karate to the masses.

I would argue that Tracy’s followed Mitose’s example in Hawaii (he started teaching to non-Japanese students – at a time when that was not done) and by making karate training easily available to soccer mom’s kids by putting schools in malls – the caliber of student has actually increased! Karate was no longer shackled (my words) by tradition!

One of my instructor’s (Dick Willett) favorite sayings was, “The proof is in the pudding.” Meaning in this case - judging if someone knew karate or not had nothing to do with the lineage or if the classes were conducted in the traditional language but more to do if it worked or not.

Tracy’s Karate and the American Kenpo Karate, Kick Boxing & Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu schools has stood the test of time and met all challenges head on. The school is over 40 years old and still to this day is the oasis for those in need of learning self defense training as well as a martial art. 

Our recent liniage started with James M. Mitose. Mitose taught students in Hawaii (click here for some history), He and Chow taught Ed Parker, who brought Kenpo to Main Street USA.

Al and Jim Tracy were one of Ed Parker’s first students and they created the Tracy’s organization. Dick Willett started taking lessons in the early 1960′s and started a Tracy’s school in San Diego in 1968.

The Tracy’s organization in the 1970′s were thought to be the world’s largest schools of self defense. Since that time many including Dick Willett have gone on to create their own organization. We continue to collaborate with the Tracy’s organization with seminars and many (including the past and present owners of the San Diego school) have been inducted in the Tracy’s Hall of Fame.

Dick Willett retired in the mid-1980′s and sold the karate school to Todd McElhinney who continues to operate the school today. Todd was trained by Dick and has successfully competed in Sport karate including kickboxing and point karate.  Master Todd McElhinney holds a eighth degree black belt in Kenpo and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Another one of Dick’s black belts, Dr. Mick Leone holds a ninth degree black belt in Kenpo and a second degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Fabio Santos. Mick oversees the Jiu-Jitsu training for the school.

As far as the other instructors, board of directors and black belts that have trained at the school - it is almost too many to enumerate here. Dick Willett’s family tree includes over 50 black belts (here). Suffice it to say no matter what area of martial arts you are interested in, you can probably find an expert at this school.

Now let me tell you about the school. What you get is a mixture of traditional kenpo including the 240 self defense techniques, 17 kata, basics, sparring and additionally included now in the curriculum is jiu-jitsu training.

For those that are interested, one can additionally train for sport karate including point and full contact as well as boxing, mma and self defense applications. Why interestingly enough when I was a brown belt, one of the black belts even dabbled in wrestling. While some martial arts are not specifically offered – many students will incorporate additional disciplines as needed.

One example is when I was training for kick boxing, I added boxing into my workout routines. You see many martial arts are complementary to each other. I have always said fighting is fighting – meaning that although the methods may vary – the way one goes about doing it is the same.

In today’s environment one has to include jiu-jitsu if he is going fight in mma. Even if he does not want to ground fight – he will have to fend off ground attacks.

American Kenpo Karate, Kick Boxing & Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is associated wtih Joe Lewis, the former world heavy weight full-contact champion. Joe used to train Tracy’s backbelts in tournament fighting and continues to be a world renowned fighting expert and running many seminars every year.

I’ll close out with a video of some of our our guys associated wtih Team Twisted and Amercian Kenpo Karate practitioners that train at United Martial Arts in Hemet. Joe Scarafone has helped train these guys and I really enjoyed some of these fight videos.

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You have entered into a local martial arts contest, one that advertises it is an “Open” tournament and you are trying to discern the rules. As a former salty old dog that has fought a few tourneys in the 70′s and early 80′s, you are shocked to discover that the rules have really changed!

In the early days of tournaments, Open tourneys meant that as well as being open to all styles – the rules were the same for hands and feet. One could do a jump-spinning-hook-kick to the head or reverse-punch the body for one point. Groin kicks as well as leg sweeps were legal (the three second rule to score on a downed opponents was in place).

Well this is NOT the old days anymore. The Closed tournaments still have inflated point values for kicks to the head and body but now even the open tournaments award more points for kicks!

In this article I am going to talk about the logic of a point system and what it is supposed to say about a fighter. Yes I will talk about sport karate in general and why this trend of flashier karate fighting may have happened. I will as usual give my opinion of where this went wrong (assuming you agree with me). I welcome the opportunity to hear you opinions in this regard. Here is a video about one organization’s rules.

Did you notice how many kicks were attempted to the head? Back when I used to fight tournaments, kicks to the head happened sometimes but not that common in open tournaments because one did not get any more points for throwing them. Also with groin shots wide open – one did not dare to just throw a high kick without a distraction or such (any good competitor would gladly smack your family jewels as the offending front leg went up!).

I pulled a few samples of karate rules from a couple of open tournaments and one closed tourney for your perusal.

1. Barrie Bushido Open
2. Tri-State Open
3. PacWest Taekwondo Conference

The interesting thing to me is on both the open and closed tourneys – the emphasis is on getting the contestants to throw the flashy high kicks and do some jumping and spinning kicks to boot!

The other interesting thing is there are no groin kicks!

The only real difference I see between the closed and open tourneys other than a few more points for kicks – is one cannot even punch to the head in the Taekwondo tourney I listed (however you can in the youtube video I found – huh, must be different organizations).

Ok before we go any further – why do I care if the rules changed? My understanding of sport karate is sparring helps the students get some “real” fighting experience under their belt. Meaning after one fights their peers in the school – he or she is better prepared to use karate in a self defense scenario!

So there was no emphasis on kicks over punches or not kicking the groin. Back in the late 70′s specially developed “banana cups” were developed that protected one far better than the old baseball (front protecting only) cups. That technology has improved and the after sparring a few times recently I’ve got nailed with some hard shots without incident.

Back when I was sparring in the studio and later in open karate tourneys, I was learning how to fight! When as a green or brown belt I started to work as a bouncer – what I did in the school worked very well in real fights!

What if the rules favored high kicks without groin shots? My guess is I would have been a paper tiger. I mean where is the common sense of standing inside of ones critical distance (the distance one cannot reach you with a kick or punch) and trying to throw a high kick? That’s not fighting – if you come up against someone how knows how to fight – that is suicide!!!

Now I know some of you are screaming at your screen – sport karate does NOT approximate a real fight! True because you cannot allow eye gouges, spine, or throat strikes, but my point is that in a real fight, the groin is a great target that would be used in a real fight! No more Marcus of Queensbury rules are in effect on the street. You are in a better position by asking yourself what would matter in a real fight and then setting up your practice  as realistic as possible.

To this end (adding realism), MMA is flourishing! I think that is mostly a good trend because short of having some wrestling experience, most fighters did not know what to do when the fight went to the ground. My main critique of MMA is there are no groin shots. I don’t really want to cap on the unrealistic tendencies of various competitions but rather on how sport karate has missed the mark by awarding more points for kicks than hands.

I think the open tournament rules changed to make the fighting more flashy. While I don’t like the change I think it was thought that the great fighters like Steve “Nasty” Anderson who had great counter/lunge punches were somehow making other competitors kick less – leading to less exciting matches? I think that maybe there was some jealously there but the rules change did not break Steve’s 10 year winning streak!

Here is the thing – you fight the way you train. If how you train does not work in a real fight – what good it it. Now I am not saying the fighters in the 60′s, 70′s and early 80′s were any better than the fighters today. Who knows about that but what I am saying is the rules were better. If you won a point fighting match you knew reasonably well that you could hang in a real self defense situation!  

Let me ask you a question, are you any more knocked out by a foot than a hand? I remember telling a police board in my youth (while applying for a job as a policeman) when asked about what I knocked people out with – I replied either a hand or foot. It depended on what the guys was open for. I had no preference.

You see in my capacity as a bouncer at a rough bar – I did get into a lot of fights. I finished my fights with either hand or foot. I just used whatever opening that presented itself and was done with it.

So let me ask you, Do you think sport karate ought to approximate real fighting like I do?

If so, do you favor hand and feet being scored equally? Do you favor groin shots?

If not, do you think sport karate CAN approximate a real fighting experience? Or why not?

I’ll close with this video I found of Steve “Nasty” Anderson match in South Africa. Steve has the starts and stripes gi on.

I was in Junior High-School when the Navy guy at my friends out imparted some fighting tactics to me. You see he was a black belt in Tang So Do Karate and was trying to impress us kids for some reason (and after ingesting a couple of beers). I was playing the what if game with him.

I asked him what would he do If I tried to punch him. He said, “I would chop your arm – breaking it and then chop your neck!” Wow I thought… Then I asked what about if I tried to kick you? He said, “I would chop your leg – breaking it and then I would punch your ribs – also breaking them.”

I asked him how he could break my arms, legs, or ribs and he simply said he would punch through the target. I had heard of punching through the target from my Okinawan karate instructor as he was teaching the moves. The idea was instead of aiming at the proximal (or close – on top target) one would aim 6 inches deep into whatever you were aiming at.

In this post I am going to discuss what punching through a target really is and why it is not used much today. Lets take a quick look at a video that shows some of the mechanics of how to surface punch a target.

Looking at this video the part they got right was to rotate as one is throwing a reverse or counter punch. Actually they got more wrong than right. First off if you are not worried about getting hit back we can suspend disbelief and not cover as one is throwing the punch. The video guy kind of torqued half way but stopped short and just twisted the upper body some.

What I would have liked to see is a 180 degree torque and let the rear shoulder loosen up and get some extension and then instead of aiming at the surface of the gut – aiming six to eight inches through the target!

Why adjust the aim of the target? Well as one example when I was young and dumb – I used to break boards and about anything else that was challenging when I was a teen. I quickly learned that if I aimed at the surface of the board – it did not break. One had to aim through the target if one was going to have any chance at breaking it. Let the inertia of the hand or foot overwhelm the target and do maximum damage!

Remember we are still suspending disbelief and the guy is able to do this full torque while relaxing and punching through the target. What happens if you miss? Well let me say that you are hanging out to dry. You might as well paste a sign to your forehead that says – Free Shot!

What I mean to say is you will be exposed, off balance and unable to recover for a second… more than enough time for your opponent to launch an effective counter.

So here is the deal. Lets say you have to cover up. Why would you take a chance at throwing such a bone crushing punch if it might go south? Because it is a fight ender! If you hit a guy in the ribs – you are breaking a few ribs. If you hit him in the bread basket – he is rolling around in the dust for a while.

So to describe how to set this up – here is what I used to do. I would spar a bit with a guy and try to get a sense of his timing – when he would come in at me or how he transitioned stances and such. I would start to get a feel when I could take a chance.

One of my favorite moves was to either do a lung punch with initial movement (meaning if he was in range – he was getting hit before he could react) or take a half step back and launch an overextended counter punch as he was coming in. Either case he was eating my fist. The only question if I timed it right was how hard was I going to hit him.

Well here is where I have a confession. I use to train with a couple of beers in me. You see I have it on good authority that a couple of beers will not change the shape you are in and they do loosen you up. I mean if you want to punch past your target – you will have no tense muscles to contend with and your punches will be very hard indeed!

Unfortunately I have had the experience of breaking someones bones in a fight that I will not go into the specifics of because is serves no purpose. To this day, I wish I had not had to be in that fight but I will say that absolutely punching through the target while totally relaxed and torquing 180 degrees leads to a very fast and  powerful punch!!!!

So lets talk specifics of targeting. If you are aiming at the groin with a snap kick and you are fighting for your life. Throw your relaxed snap kick aiming through the groin and into the abdomen. That will break – separate the bones and cartilage around the pubis area and render your opponent unable to walk.

If you are kicking  a leg – don’t aim for the leg but rather the other side of the leg… that will have the effect of breaking or severely bruising the leg  and make the opponent unable to stand. You will have to relax and throw the kick properly… just aim through.

If you are trying to throw a powerful punch or kick it might not work. This is because most people equate tension with power. I think it is because in order to life a heavy object – one has to tense. But in kicking or punching the opposite is true. If you tense up your punch or kick is slower and therefore weaker. Even if you punch through the target tense – you are not going to do much damage and become an easy counter target.

Relaxing while fighting has other benefits such as increasing ones stamina. I used to fight all of my students and many peers by totally relaxing and only increasing the effort at the moment of impact.

So power punching is not really a myth but many people do not understand it does not have anything to do with power per se but rather technique. Just having a good power punch or power kick in your arsenal with not help your fighting unless you land it but you have to have other stills of course too.

I will end with an example of how I was able to win a match with a power punch in the 1980′s. I was lined up against this big guy in National City and was trying to impress some kids but after looking at this guy taking 10 minutes to wrap his hand and the guns he had – I was beginning to think I was going to have some egg on my face.

Well anyway I was a fighter and one thing you can say about most successful fighters – they don’t care so much about the other guy – the only thing that matters is what they can do in the ring. This guy came at me and I worked some angles at first to feel him out. After a minute he was transitioning stances (a queue for me to attack while he was vulnerable) and I threw a very relaxed inverted lunge punch from just inside the critical distance.

The result was I connected threw his bread basket and my fist must have penetrated a couple of inches into his stomach briefly and I felt him buckle before I saw it. He fell to the floor and could not get up for several minutes. I won the match as this was the old days – one could not get disqualified for a body shot.

One question you may have is why don’t we see more power kicks and punches in kick boxing and MMA today? Well I would guess that answer is the fighters that make it into that arena are very highly conditioned athletes and do not want to go off balance for an instance when they know the other guy will take full advantage if they miss. The end up fighting more of a defensive fight and don’t cut loose until they have the upper hand. One does see some follow through power punches karate style that seem to come out of left field… they are fun to watch when they happen.

So throwing very hard punches is not about how strong and powerful one is but rather if one had the relaxation, torque and extension to pull it off (and punching through the target). Power punching is how an old guy like me could stand up to a bunch of thugs in a fight. I’m older now (53) and I know I have maybe two minutes I could go toe to toe with anyone before I peter out. The thing I would depend on is I know how to relax and take guys out easily with some fighting strategy and the street thugs probably don’t. Anyway I don’t intend on giving them a chance if I can help it and I will even use the ever mythical Power Punch!