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The Zombie Walk Drill for Improving Your Footwork in Striking

October 9, 2022 By Self Defense Tutorials

The Zombie Walk Footwork Drill

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...]

A 1 Minute Burnout Drill for Aggression, Power and Stamina

August 18, 2022 By Self Defense Tutorials

Striking Stamina and Power Drill

Here's the world's simplest conditioning drill that I want you to try... Set a timer for one minute Unload on a heavy bag with punches as hard as you can Keep it super simple: just left-right-left-right-left-right Hit as hard as you can and as fast as you can, making every single punch a knockout shot Keep breathing and don't stop In theory, you could do … [Read more...]

Too Deadly for Boxing, MMA and BJJ: Illegal but Effective Combat Sport Techniques

June 22, 2022 By Stephan Kesting

Illegal but Effective Combat Sports 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...]

The 4 Deceptions to Set Up Your Knockout Strike

April 18, 2022 By Self Defense Tutorials

If you want to knock people out then you've got to use deception, duplicity, and subterfuge to set those big fight-ending shots. In fact having good strategies to set up your attack can go a long way to compensate for many physical deficiencies. It's exactly what the famous world full contact Karate champion Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace used to say:  “There’s always going to … [Read more...]

A Drill to Make Multiple Knee Strikes Powerful and Instinctive

March 10, 2022 By Self Defense Tutorials

The skip knees on wall drill

The knee strike is one of the most powerful shots you can throw. A good knee to the groin, the torso, or the head can drop any attacker. But if one knee is good then more are better! The classic Muay Thai 'skip knee' attack involves you throwing multiple knee shots in quick succession until your opponent is incapacitated. It's a VERY effective attack but developing the … [Read more...]

How to Defend Against Ground and Pound

November 18, 2021 By Self Defense Tutorials

Ground and Pound Defense in MMA and Self Defense

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...]

Kime in Martial Arts is Mostly a Bad Idea…

October 25, 2020 By Self Defense Tutorials

Kime in Martial Arts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpIynSBWj6A&feature=youtu.be The idea of 'Kime' is very widespread in Japanese martial arts like Karate, and is also found in Okinawan and Chinese Martial Arts. While the term can be translated as 'intent' or 'decision' the truth is that, most of the time, it's used to describe that robot-like freezing used all the time in kata and … [Read more...]

How Hard Should You Go In Sparring?

June 7, 2020 By Stephan Kesting

How Hard Should You Spar?

How hard should you go in sparring? That's a good question! At one end of the spectrum you have light, relaxed and friendly sparring. And at the other end you have fights to the death that would make Roman gladiators proud. I once asked a Judo coaches whether I should go light or hard in the sparring part of class, and his answer has stuck with me ever … [Read more...]

BJJ vs Boxing

November 13, 2019 By Stephan Kesting

trapping the hand during ground and pound

A question came up on a recent Instagram Live Q&A I did about a streetfight video in which a 'boxer' beat up a 'jiu-jitsu guy'. This was a great entry point into a really interesting discussion about the street applicability of BJJ, the importance of cross training in today's martial arts environment, and specific drills BJJ guys should be doing if they want their art to … [Read more...]

How to Spar in Kickboxing for the First Time

October 21, 2019 By Stephan Kesting

first time kickboxing sparring

I've watched a lot of beginners spar for the first time. Usually it takes only about 30 seconds for all thoughts of defense or strategy or finesse vanish and the exercise quickly devolves into two people trading giant haymakers. This is totally understandable - sparring is stressful especially if you're not used to it. But throwing heavy leather on your first time in the … [Read more...]

5 Mistakes Grapplers Make When Striking

September 16, 2019 By Stephan Kesting

striking mistakes for grapplers

If you’re a grapplers that wants to learn boxing or kickboxing then there are several very common mistakes that you’re probably going to make. This is because each style of fighting (grappling vs striking) trains you to use your body slightly differently which can set you up for failure in the other art Here's a video showing 5 common mistakes for grapplers when they start … [Read more...]

The Worst Problem with Martial Arts Training

August 29, 2019 By Stephan Kesting

In martial arts training it's very common for the person in the attacker role to lunge forward with a single punch and then stand there like a statue with the arm outstretched. The defender can now do all kinds of fancy counters including multiple strikes, jointlocks, takedowns and cool finishes. This type of training makes you feel like you've reached John Wick levels of … [Read more...]

Fight For Your Life with Brett Piperni

June 8, 2019 By Stephan Kesting

brett piperni taekwondo

Today's guest on my podcast (The Strenuous Life Podcast) is Brett Piperni who was was a nationally ranked Taekwondo competitor diagnosed with an illness that crippled him. Specialists told him was incurable. He fought through it, returned to competition, and even managed to medal at a national championship again. He's spoken about mindset and motivation on the TED stage. … [Read more...]

Training Lethwei, The Burmese Art of 9 Limbs

April 8, 2019 By Stephan Kesting

Patrick Marcil and Dave Leduc

Lethwei is an incredibly intense full contact combat sport from Burma that allows punches, kicks, elbows, knees and headbutts. Did I mention that the fighters don't wear gloves and only have a thin layer of gauze over their knuckles? And that there are no judges or decisions: the only way to win a fight is by knockout? Today's guest on my podcast (The Strenuous Life … [Read more...]

Kicking from the Ground – How to Do It Properly!

March 12, 2019 By Stephan Kesting

sidekick from the ground

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...]

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SELF DEFENSE TUTORIALS

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Recent Articles

The Zombie Walk Footwork Drill

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. […]

Stephan Kesting vs Chris Leben

Is This Good Pain or Bad Pain?

Pain is subjective and contextual. Awakening to chest pain in the middle of the night is terrifying — a possible sign of a heart attack. But the very same stabbing pain after a hard workout is experienced completely differently: maybe it’s your pectoral muscles shrieking from too many pushups, or your lungs burning from hard […]

Striking Stamina and Power Drill

A 1 Minute Burnout Drill for Aggression, Power and Stamina

Here’s the world’s simplest conditioning drill that I want you to try… Set a timer for one minute Unload on a heavy bag with punches as hard as you can Keep it super simple: just left-right-left-right-left-right Hit as hard as you can and as fast as you can, making every single punch a knockout shot […]

Illegal but Effective Combat Sports Techniques

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. […]

Recent Articles

  • The Zombie Walk Drill for Improving Your Footwork in Striking
  • Is This Good Pain or Bad Pain?
  • A 1 Minute Burnout Drill for Aggression, Power and Stamina
  • Too Deadly for Boxing, MMA and BJJ: Illegal but Effective Combat Sport Techniques
  • The 4 Deceptions to Set Up Your Knockout Strike

ARTICLE INDEX

  • Advanced Tutorials (2)
  • Conditioning (13)
  • Featured (120)
  • Firearms (3)
  • Grappling (43)
  • Lethal Force (6)
  • Martial Arts Mythbusting (7)
  • Mindset (23)
  • Product Reviews (2)
  • Self Defense Basics (91)
  • Self Defense Tutorials (6)
  • Striking (52)
  • Weapons (19)

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