In the video below Ritchie Yip, head instructor of Infighting Martial Arts, delivers an absolute masterclass on the jab, the most important punch in boxing. The jab can be used offensively and defensively. The jab allows you to dictate the range and pace of a fight. It can be used to cut someone, tire them out, set up your KO punching blitz, or even allow you to enter into … [Read more...]
How to Control Your Attacker with the Knee Ride Position
The knee ride is the most soul-crushing position in all of jiu-jitsu and is one of the most important tools in your self defense toolbox! This position - also known as a knee mount or knee on belly - puts HUGE pressure on your opponent, which gives you tons of submission opportunities because of all the stupid things he'll do in his desperation to get out. Gravity and the … [Read more...]
How to Pass the Guard When Your Opponent Can Kick You
If you're approaching someone who is flat on their back with their knees pulled in to their chest be very, very careful. It's a sign that the other guy could have some training and might be planning to kick your teeth down your throat as soon as you close the distance. This is a legit threat; many MMA fights have ended suddenly because of an upkick from the ground. And if … [Read more...]
I accidentally followed the advice of a mini-mall ninja master
I’m limping around right now because of a torn groin. It’s not serious; it’ll heal up, but it’s my own damn fault. You see, I had just walked into the dojo when someone asked me how much distance you can cover with a jumping front kick. “Show, don’t tell,” I responded and launched myself across the room into a front kick. It was a good demo, but as soon as I landed, … [Read more...]
Kicking from the Ground – How to Do It Properly!
Many self defense systems teach that if you get knocked down to the ground you should get into a defensive position on your side. From there you should then lash out at your opponent with sidekicks to keep him away. In this article and video I'll show how staying on your side when you're knocked down is mostly an outmoded technique and that there are much better options … [Read more...]
Standing Armlocks in Self Defense
Standing armlocks are a staple in the martial arts, including Aikido, classical ju-jujutsu, and many modern self defense systems. They're usually practised something like this: your partner comes in with a lunging punch, you block and sidestep, control the arm, step in, and then apply pressure to the arm until he taps out. Here's what some of those standing armbars from … [Read more...]
What Hulk Hogan and Nate Diaz Can Teach Us About Chokes in Real Fights
Chokes are more effective than just about any other fight-ending technique. in unarmed combat. A really tough guy or someone hopped up on adrenaline can ignore painful punches and keep on fighting despite broken limbs. But if the blood stops flowing to the brain, then out go the lights. And chokes, properly applied against the sides of the neck and promptly released when … [Read more...]
The Zombie Walk Drill for Improving Your Footwork in Striking
The Zombie Walk is a great warmup drill that'll sharpen your footwork, improve your ability to get angles on your opponent, and blend movement with striking. To do this drill your partner - the feeder - holds his hands forwards to simulate a fighting position. Then he walks towards you at a slow, zombie-like pace. You also start in a fighting position but then circle out … [Read more...]
Too Deadly for Boxing, MMA and BJJ: Illegal but Effective Combat Sport Techniques
Many people learn martial arts to learn how to handle themselves in a real fight. But many martial arts are sports and sports have rules while street fights don't. That means many things happen in fights that aren't allowed in certain martial arts. Although it started out as "no-holds-barred", mixed martial arts has rules today. Headbutts, groin strikes, eye pokes, biting … [Read more...]
Five Rear Bearhug Counters
If someone gets behind you and puts you in a rear bearhug then you have to take defensive action right away! That's because getting picked up and slammed on your head is one of the worst-case scenarios in a confrontation. It's one thing to get punched in the face is bad, but getting hit in the head by a pavement-covered planet is much worse. Here's a video I put out with … [Read more...]
How to Defend Yourself When You’re Being Kicked on the Ground
I've been training in the martial arts for over 40 years, but I recently got a question that I had no good answer for. Here was the question… "If I'm lying on my side on the ground and getting kicked then is it better to reach out and try to block the kicks or just cover my head with my forearms until I can put my attacker back in guard?" The thing is … [Read more...]
Pressure Testing Knife, Stick and Gun Defenses with Burton Richardson
Burton Richardson is BJJ black belt and has an incredible lineage in the Filipino Martial Arts as well, having trained with many of the top instructors in the world. I was thrilled to have him on the podcast to talk about pressure tested self defense in the real world. If you prefer, here's our whole conversation in video format... And here's the streaming … [Read more...]
How to Defend Against Ground and Pound
One of the central concepts of using the guard for self defense is to either keep your opponent very close or very far away. When he's very close it's hard for him to generate enough power for a knockout shot. And if he's very far away then his punches simply can't reach you. It's the middle ground that gets you killed. This is where punches reach their full KO power, … [Read more...]
Move the Fight to Win the Fight
I was once involved in restraining a crackhead thief until the police arrived. He'd been caught red-handed with a bunch of stolen stereo equipment and women's purses. Now I had him cornered in an alley, carefully watching his hands in case he pulled out a knife, but otherwise not too worried about my physical danger. (I was a lot bigger and stronger than him, plus had decades … [Read more...]
Two is One and One is None
There’s a military saying that goes, “Two is one, and one is none.” The idea is that if you have a mission-critical item then it will inevitably malfunction, get misplaced or get smashed into a million pieces. So you need a backup. This is really a corollary of Murphy’s Law, namely “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong”. Once you involve Murphy you can’t have a single … [Read more...]