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Is This Good Pain or Bad Pain?

October 5, 2022 By Self Defense Tutorials

Stephan Kesting vs Chris Leben

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 interval training. It’s the same sensation … [Read more...]

Push, Pull, Squat, Hinge and Carry – the 5 Strength Exercises Every Martial Artist Should Do Weekly

October 1, 2021 By Self Defense Tutorials

5 fundamental strength training exercises

Strength training is super important for martial artists. Done properly lifting weights makes you stronger, faster, and much more resilient to injury. But how do you balance a busy training schedule in the dojo with spending time in the gym under heavy iron? The answer is to prioritize your training around making sure that you do at least one exercise in the 5 basic … [Read more...]

The Single Most Important Weightlifting Exercise for Martial Artists

September 3, 2021 By Self Defense Tutorials

The single most important weightlifting exercise

Weight training is incredibly important for martial arts.  Yes, it makes you stronger. And yes, it makes you faster. But that's NOT the most important reason to weight train. The most important reason to lift weights is to prevent injuries which in turn increases the amount of time you can spend training and increases your longevity in your art. A while ago I asked … [Read more...]

How to do More Pullups with Mike McCastle

January 31, 2020 By Stephan Kesting

How to do More Pullups

Strength and conditioning are super important in the martial arts.  All other things being equal, a stronger martial artist is a more effective martial artist. Fundamentally there are two basic upper body motions that it's important to get stronger at: pushing and pulling. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​In a martial context a pushing motion can be a punch, a shove, or a frame to maintain … [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...]

The Most Important Physical Attribute for Self Defense

September 20, 2017 By Stephan Kesting

The most important martial arts attribute

There are many different physical attributes that help with your martial arts training and self defense skills: strength, power, explosiveness, endurance, coordination, sensitivity, speed, and flexibility, to name just a few. But what's the most important one? There are various martial artists who build their game around a few special attributes, but if you were going to … [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

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  • Mindset (23)
  • Product Reviews (2)
  • Self Defense Basics (91)
  • Self Defense Tutorials (6)
  • Striking (52)
  • Weapons (19)

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