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The Perfect Head Positioning for a Headbutt KO

January 20, 2019 By Stephan Kesting

Headbutt KO - how NOT to headbutt

The headbutt is an incredibly vicious and effective way to KO someone in a self defense situation even though it's illegal in most martial arts. But if you use it incorrectly you can hurt yourself as badly as your opponent.  So it's worth thinking about how to do it properly! How NOT to Headbutt! The wrong way to land a headbutt is forehead to forehead. This video of … [Read more...]

A Great Ground and Pound Drill

December 29, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

ground and pound on the heavy bag

Here's a really interesting MMA drill with a TON of applications for self defense... It's features Greg Nelson who has coached 3 different fighters to UFC championships (Dave Menne, Sean Sherk and Brock Lesnar) and has also done a ton of work with law enforcement and the military. Anyway, here's video I think you should watch. The ground and pound section is mostly in … [Read more...]

Kickboxing Sparring without Brain Damage

December 8, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

sparring without brain damage

There's a fundamental problem with learning kickboxing... On the one hand, to get good at it and know that your techniques will work under pressure you HAVE to spar. On the other hand, it's undeniable now that repeated shots to the head are no good at all for your brain. Everyone has heard of punch drunk boxers and football players with CTE, and we DON'T want to do … [Read more...]

What’s In the Precision Kickboxing Masterclass?

December 5, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

Precision Kickboxing Masterclass

As you may know, I've just released The Precision Kickboxing Masterclass. It's an 8 hour long deep dive into the techniques, combinations, defenses, counters, drills, training methods and fight strategies of modern kickboxing. It's a surgical approach to taking your opponent apart in the striking realm, delivered by Coach Ritchie Yip who has been teaching kickboxing for … [Read more...]

A Great Reaction Time Drill

December 5, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

reaction time drill - hook punch

Everybody wants faster reaction times. The best fighters in the world make their opponents look like they're in slow motion, and a large part of that is having the ability to choose exactly the right technique at exactly the right time. Those reflexes aren't magic. They can be trained, drilled, improved. Today we're going to cover a great reaction time drill that'll teach … [Read more...]

Do Pressure Points Work for Self Defense?

December 1, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

pressure point attack

In more than 35 years of training I've been hurt many times by pressure point attacks. Instructors and training partners have poked, prodded, gouged, and pressed their way into many nerve clusters all over my body. These pressure point attacks hurt like hell when someone shows them to you, but you'd be a fool to rely on them in a real fight. Here's a video in which I … [Read more...]

Martial Art Ranges for Fighting

November 23, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

5 ranges of combat

There are many different ways to classify martial arts ranges, but one relatively simple method way to divide all combat up into 5 distances... Projectile range (guns, javelins, arrows, thrown rocks, etc.) Handheld weapons range (sticks, swords, handheld spears, knives, clubs, etc.) Striking range (punches, kicks, elbows, knees, headbutts, etc.) Clinching range … [Read more...]

How to Train Eye Gouges, Throat Grabs and Groin Strikes

October 16, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

biting and other dirty fighting moves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5b98N_VzgQ OK, I get it: on the street you don't want to be limited by the rules of a sport. On the street you may need to pull hair, gouge the eyes, kick the groin, grab the throat, and if all that doesn't work then you'll need to start fighting dirty ;) But a martial art is more than just the techniques that you find in that martial … [Read more...]

Can Karate Kata Be Applied On The Street?

September 30, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

Podcast about karate kata application with Iain Abernathy

I've been pretty vocal about the uselessness of kata and forms, especially when they're not combined with partner drills, pressure training and actual sparring. And this has created a LOT of hurt feelings and pushback! In fact the video I put on Youtube called "Why Kung Fu Forms and Karate Kata are (Mostly) Pretty Useless!" has about one dislike for every 3 likes, which … [Read more...]

How to Make the Jab More Powerful

September 11, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

A More Powerful Jab

Many great boxing coaches and trainers consider the jab the most important punch in boxing. The jab is a non-commital punch used as range finder, a defensive tool, a probe for finding openings and a way to set up your strongest shots. It's a fast and non-telegraphic, but the problem is that the conventional jab is not very powerful.  Sure, it'll still chip teeth, bloody … [Read more...]

19 Ways to Counter the Right Cross, and the ‘Triple H Formula’ for Punch Defense

August 20, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

countering the straight right punch

The right cross to the face is one of the most powerful attacks in boxing and kickboxing. It's relatively non-telegraphic but still has the power to knock you out and leave you drooling on the floor. So you absolutely need to know multiple effective counters to the right cross. Boxing and kickboxing coach Ritchie Yip has a formula for defending punches that I would … [Read more...]

A Super-Simple 3 Part Formula for Defense in Standup Sparring

July 30, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

a simple strategy for kickboxing

Standup sparring can be really overwhelming sometimes, especially if you're new at it. There are punches and kicks flying at you from every direction and every angle. There's so much to keep track of, and so many things you need to do, that you don't even know where to start. Fortunately there are ways to simplify the situation and cut down on the number of decisions you … [Read more...]

Muay Thai Clinch in a Streetfight

July 16, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

Muay Thai Clinch and knee

Two of the most powerful strikes you can throw in a streetfight at close range come from the Muay Thai clinch. The first big weapon from the clinch is the knee.  The knee strike the one of the most powerful shots you can throw and uses a relatively tough part of your own body. (Unlike a punch, you're not usually going to break your own bones throwing a knee strike in a … [Read more...]

The Power of the Front Kick!

July 3, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

the front kick

The front kick is one of the very first kicks most people learn in the martial arts. And that’s for good reason: it’s effective but also not that tough to learn - it’s the low hanging fruit of the kicking world. But it can also be a very, very sophisticated technique; just look at how professional Thai boxers use it to gauge distance, control distance, set up attacks, … [Read more...]

How to Take a Punch in 3 Steps

May 9, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

don't get knocked out

Getting punched in the head is always a bad thing.  But - if you know what to do - then it doesn't necessarily need to be a fight ending, knockout inducing catastrophe. Of course you should try to dodge, deflect, block or evade a punch that's coming your way. But things don't always go according to plan. In a sparring match or a real fight sometimes you're just going to … [Read more...]

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SELF DEFENSE TUTORIALS

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Recent Articles

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. […]

The 4 Deceptions to Set Up Your Knockout Strike

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’ […]

Is the black belt sacred?

It’s Just a Belt Folks….

This is just your daily reminder that a black belt is a symbol of the amount of training someone has put into a martial art. But just because something is a symbol does not mean it’s a sacred object. It’s just a piece of cloth. Furthermore, the fact that a person has a black belt […]

The skip knees on wall drill

A Drill to Make Multiple Knee Strikes Powerful and Instinctive

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 […]

Recent Articles

  • Too Deadly for Boxing, MMA and BJJ: Illegal but Effective Combat Sport Techniques
  • The 4 Deceptions to Set Up Your Knockout Strike
  • It’s Just a Belt Folks….
  • A Drill to Make Multiple Knee Strikes Powerful and Instinctive
  • Five Rear Bearhug Counters

ARTICLE INDEX

  • Advanced Tutorials (2)
  • Conditioning (11)
  • Featured (117)
  • Firearms (3)
  • Grappling (43)
  • Lethal Force (6)
  • Martial Arts Mythbusting (7)
  • Mindset (22)
  • Product Reviews (2)
  • Self Defense Basics (90)
  • Self Defense Tutorials (6)
  • Striking (50)
  • Weapons (19)

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