Before getting into the nitty-gritty of the lesson, let me introduce myself. What qualifies me to teach you this material? First, let me say what does not rate me. First, I am a black belt. That doesn’t qualify me. I’m a seventh-degree black belt. That doesn’t qualify me either. While there may be an argument that the black belt is important, Muhammad Ali’s coach Angelo Dundee was not a black belt. I don’t even know if he’s a good fighter. I know he is an excellent coach. So just being a black belt or karate instructor doesn’t mean you know how to defend yourself or train in a competitive arena. It usually means that you can perform the forms and techniques of that system and have reached a level of combat proficiency that can only be described as subjective.
I have been a coach, wrestler and official of several world champion kickboxing and light contact teams in the United States. I was a silver medalist at the 1985 WAKO World Championships, which is widely regarded as the toughest amateur kickboxing tournament in the world. I have coached state, national and world champions like Kathy Marlor, who won the 1991 Taekwondo World Open Championships in Leicester, England.
I was blessed with two martial arts family trees that produced fighters like apples in an orchard. Walt Bone came from the Jhoon Rhee / Allen Steen “tex kwon do” field of the Texas blood and guts era of the sixties. Walt took me to a third degree black belt when he was killed in a plane crash in 1982. Joe Lewis began training me in 1984 and promoted me to seventh grade. In the mid-1980s, Joe was named the best fighter in karate history by two separate polls. In 1988, Black Belt magazine asked Joe who he thought would carry the torch for him in the next few years. They dedicated a cover story to Joe’s response that the torchbearer for him would be my brother Jim and me. In 2002, Joe inducted me to his Honor Roll, which is the Hall of Fame for his organization. By the way, speaking of my brothers, Jim is a world champion and Mark is a national champion who has won four consecutive national championships of continuous fighting. I guess you could say that these things are in our blood.
So, I am very confident in what I teach because I know the fonts are flawless. Bruce Lee taught a lot of what I’m going to cover to Joe Lewis, who taught it to me. Now I’m showing it to you. Welcome to the family. Whether it is a point, continuous or full contact, combat is, in essence, hitting and taking hits. My job will be to help you maximize hits and minimize hits. As you will discover, the most important tool you will have in any game is your way of thinking. As you apply the information in this course to your training, your confidence in combat will skyrocket.
The vast majority of what we are going to work on is the physical application of a well thought out strategy. Strategy is a carefully designed action plan to achieve a goal. Every strategy starts with a mindset. A mindset is a set of beliefs that determine your behavior and approach under any circumstance. In this case, the circumstance is a sports match against an opponent. All success begins with a mindset.
My goal is for you to have a series of strategies that will give you the tools to analyze and survive any combat situation. This is an important point. It’s practically impossible to win every sparring match and I’d be lying if I said I could teach you how to win every time you bow. Don’t get me wrong here. I am very confident that you will win more sparring matches than ever before and that is great. But for me it is more important that you can survive any game.
What do I mean by surviving? I want you to be able to handle any opponent and circumstance. There are certain opponents and situations that are very difficult and even dangerous. If you’re a 90-pound female green belt with nine months of experience fighting the tough guy black belt from schools who has poor control and a tendency to hurt people, you most likely won’t win that match. However, after this course and practicing the material, you will have a much better chance of handling this guy and staying out of harm’s way. I didn’t say you could beat him or even win the match. I mean that you will be able to protect yourself and survive the match intact.
This will not be the result of any secret kick or punch combination. Instead, he will do so because he will be able to recognize how this guy fights and formulate a plan to defend against him. In some cases, you can even beat the odds and win the match. But, in this type of one-sided confrontation, what worries me the most is that you can protect yourself and leave the game in good shape.
Circumstances also arise that can hamper your ability to execute even when the confrontation is fair. You may be injured, sick, or exhausted from other fights. I want you to be able to control your opponent and the flow of the fight no matter how you feel. Again, these are circumstances in which the objective will be to survive the match intact. Winning is always good and you will have a much better chance of winning by following these strategies and mindsets, but sometimes surviving in one piece is a victory in itself. The Japanese fighting fan seems to appreciate this more than anyone else. If you’ve watched The Pride or K1 fights from Tokyo, fighters who are completely outmatched can lose the match and win the hearts of the audience for their ability to survive. This warrior spirit is highly regarded by the Japanese and it is important that you understand this way of thinking.
This warrior spirit mentality is simply defined as no one manipulates my body without my permission. This is important. This is the mindset that gives your defense purpose and fuels your attitude. This mindset allows you to focus on your training and your fights. How can you train without getting hit? Most of the time you can’t. You will be hit. But here is the distinction that I want to make clear. The word permission in this context is when you adopt a subservient attitude. Permission means that you have mentally decided that you are going to lose and will take the beating. You go to bed.
Maybe you are that green belt fighting a black belt. Most of the time, that green belt will feel like it doesn’t stand a chance. Mentally succumb to the opponent before launching the first kick. He has given permission for the black belt to hit him. I won’t let you make that mistake. No one touches your body without your permission.
The foundation of this mindset is a strong belief that while you may not be as fast, as strong, or as experienced, you will not give in. You will fight to protect yourself until the bell rings. This concept is the foundation of any confidence you can earn as a fighter. Without this fundamental mindset, you will always have a doubt. You are allowing a potential circumstance not to survive. That is death for a fighter literally and figuratively. The mentality has to be, you can have advantages for me, but I will defend myself with every fiber of my being. I will never stop trying to protect myself.
I have a good friend of mine who is not athletic at all. He was inspired to start martial arts classes at age 40. He was at least 45 kilos overweight and couldn’t do a single push-up. After about a year of training at a local taekwondo school, he asked me if I could help him with his training. I taught him what I’m going to teach you. It all starts with the first mindset; no one touches you without your permission.
After two classes with me, he was paired with the best fighter in school. Not only was my friend not hit once, but he actually took the guy down with a counterattack. He was so excited that he called me on the way home after school. The first thing he said was that a week earlier he would have succumbed to the black belt and received the blows. Instead, he stayed in the moment and did not give permission for him to be beaten. He did not give up mentally. Keep in mind; this guy can’t kick on his waist. He has very few weapons when it comes to kicking and punching. Guess what? He didn’t need a lot of techniques and neither did you.
While most schools teach you dozens of punches and kicks, the truth is that you only need a few weapons. What you need more than a wide variety of weapons is a wide variety of ways to execute the weapons you are confident in. Most of us have our favorite punch and our favorite kick. Under pressure, it’s natural to turn to what you do best. So if your best technique is a reverse shot, then you need strategies to help you score with that reverse shot. That’s what this course is about. Helping you discover and then master your strengths. We will also find ways to plug the holes in your defense. We will develop offensive and defensive strategies that work for your body build, fighting style, mindset, and technical skill level. In each lesson, we will create instant drills that you can work on in your combat no matter how advanced or restorative your opponent is. Some exercises do not require an opponent. Some drills will not require your opponent to know that you are working on a drill rather than a free match. In some cases, however, a partner who is familiar with the objectives of the drill will be required.
This week, as you train and train, I want you to work on a simple strategy. I want you to practice and train with the mindset; no one touches you without your permission.
