Extending a Hand to Women – Tim Larkin

I’ve you’ve been to Target Focus Training‘s website, you’ve seen the video.  Tim Larkin seldom asks us for anything… however, the truth of the matter (with the media the way that it is), self-defense for women is not going to be given the platform it needs to without help, without sales, without you guys helping to spread the message.

This should be an invaluable book (with a foreword by Tony Robbins!) and is will worth the cost.  Find it on Amazon, Barnes N’ Noble or buy directly from Tim Larkin himself.

10 QUESTIONS WITH TIM LARKIN

“As someone whose career is based around the education of women, I am eager to aid this movement as strongly as I possibly can.  I sincerely hope you guys do the same!”

-Michael Joyce

OutFoxxed Program

GTS Workshops.  North Carolina

Luke Holloway. Here’s What I Really Think

A lot of people are interested in Luke Holloway these days?

As much as his royal manhawk is conquering the world right now on and off the internet, I see no legitimate reasons, from my perspective, to try and discredit him or otherwise publicize what negative things I feel about his character.

That being said,…

Here is what I really feel and think about Luke Holloway.

But who the fuck am I and what the fuck do I know about Luke?  I have had the pleasure of meeting Luke his first time to Canada. I picked him up at the airport in a borrowed car to accommodate for that man’s mammoth frame and cranium. He’s a big man, at 6’4″ and somewhere around 250-260 lbs.  Seeing him walk out of the terminal with his earbuds in and constant surveying gaze (he has cat-like awareness of the surroundings), our eyes met, smiles ensued, and we never stopped laughing since that moment years ago.

I will get to professional opinions in a moment, but my personal feelings about Luke are important to note, as well.

10 QUESTIONS WITH LUKE HOLLOWAY

I think he is a wonderful human being.  I think he is funny and I think he’s energetic, charismatic and fun to be around.  He is also super smart.  That’s why I hang out with him and why we get along so well. I find his worldview refreshingly flexible and his mind open.  He has become as close as a brother and if everyone treated others the way he treated me there would be a whole lot more respect and peace in the world (not the least of which is the martial arts world).

Professionally, he was in the industry for some years before me and so serves as a blueprint for success to me.  Many people try and tell me how to run and market my international combatives company.  Luke is one of the few who are fully qualified to actually do so, and yet, he doesn’t unless asked.  He is a humble individual who’s level of respect for people is perfectly at home in Japan, where he spent many years.

Kennedy & Holloway Video

Training with him, I find that he is open to learn and open to teach. a great partner to exchange ideas with. his mind is sharp and able to multitask well. the ability for complex and original thought means more to me, personally, than credentials, but Luke has some goddamn credentials. I remember being with my country’s national police heads (RCMP) in London, England watching the riot police (public order) train in 2012. I have many memories, some tangible, that will never be publicly seen or talked about. I’ve seen some of Luke’s, and he trains some serious dudes (and dudettes, too).

LUKE RETURNS TO TORONTO – AUG 31st & SEPT 1st

I can appreciate Luke’s system, also because I am a student of movement. I love studying movement.  With the southeast Asian kinetic contribution to RAW Combat, mixed with kinetic influence from tai chi, it is a system that really teaches you how to use your body as a weapon.  That is the same goal of the Hybrid Fighting Method that I teach – and that’s why I can confidently endorse his system to my students and instructors to broaden their knowledge.

Also keep in mind that he is the alpha (leader) of his organization (and an alpha in his day-to-day) and it’s in our evolutionary makeup as men to challenge the alpha for status within our social hierarchies.  This happens all the time, and Luke takes it with grace.

Outside of evolutionary psychology with respect to group dynamics, complaints he has received from within his organization can, in my opinion, be chalked up to personality differences and other personal schisms.  Something you must keep in mind with Luke is that he is still a young buck.  What I mean is he is a young guy full of testosterone and he likes to let loose.  This exciting, take-no-prisoners attitude often gets misunderstood as egotism.  If Luke does have an ego larger than his own head…..which, by the way, have you seen his fucking head?!..  I haven’t noticed. I have been surprised before by guys I called ‘brother’ who ended up being total dicks.  I haven’t yet witnessed that with Luke.

My experience has been nothing but positive.

All in all, Luke is a great guy, great martial artist, and a great instructor… and one helluva dancer!

– T.J. KENNEDY

HYBRID FIGHTING METHOD

LUKE HOLLOWAY WORKSHOP (TORONTO) – AUG 31st & SEPT 1st.

Contact T.J. Kennedy via Facebook or website

Sifu Lee on Children & the Martial Arts

I cannot force my children to practice Martial Arts.

That is against the Tao. 

If it comes natural, let it be, if it does not, let it be.  My children will have to exercise, practice good hygiene, eat healthy, and sleep well.  Those are necessities that they have no choice in fulfilling.  We live the healthy way, so my children have no other choice but to follow.  The fridge is only filled with healthy foods, there is nothing else to eat.  It is either eat healthy or starve.

They are forced to brush their teeth and take showers even when they don’t want to, it is a necessity of health and wellness.  The lights go out at a certain time so they have no other choice but to sleep when it is time.  They exercise because there simply is nothing else to do.  We have no cable TV to watch.  We have movies, but movies get old.  They play online games, but eventually they have to stop and move around.  They want to go to the park to play, when they go to the park, that is the beginning of their physical training.  Even at home they are very active running and playfully wrestling.

Activeness is extremely important.  The must be active.  But as far as formal exercise training, like in the beginning stages of Martial Art training, I do not force but I encourage.  They know they will make us happy when they participate, knowing this encourages them to get involved.  I also notice that when other children are around taking the training serious, they tend to get more involved.

Brandon loves playing XBox 360.  We have an agreement that if he practices Kung Fu for 1 hour, he can play Xbox, and this agreement is working wonders.  It really motivates him to get involved with the training.  Angelina naturally loves to train and does not need video games as a motivation.  Brandon and Angelina enjoy spending time with me and that is what makes them want to participate.

The kwoon is also separated from our home.  Taking them to the kwoon creates a separate environment that also motivates them.  Staying at home all day makes a child want to get out and be somewhere new.  The kwoon becomes a quick getaway to do something exciting and different, this helps a great deal.  Keo does get involved as well, but he is not as motivated as Brandon and Angelina because he is still a bit young and does not have as much energy as Brandon and Angelina.  Jet is the only one that is unable to participate in anyway because of his extreme lack of focus and attention span.

I see that it is very important not to force the children to learn Martial Arts; they will learn when they are ready.  If they experience great struggle in life, it may encourage them to learn when they wonder why they are having such a difficult time overcoming these struggles.  Sometimes it will take a child getting bullied or beat up in school in order for him to realize that he needs to take action and get started in something like Martial Arts to defend himself when necessary.

It is of absolute necessity that children learn to be healthy and nonviolent.  If they are able to live a peaceful life, they may never find a need to learn Martial Arts at all.  But if they are surrounded by struggle and conflict, Martial Art training may very well end up becoming a necessity.  It depends on each child’s circumstances.  It is not right for a parent to force a child to practice an Art that he/she does not enjoy.

If he would rather play the drums or read, let him do so.  But no matter what he chooses, he must find time to exercise.  Exercise is something that I will always enforce, because him refusing to do so is no other reason than just pure laziness.  When a child is being lazy, you must teach him the way to combat this laziness and become active.  When a child is continuously active, Martial Art training will come on its own natural way that is unforced.

Sincerely,

Sifu Freddie Lee

Freddie’s Modern Kungfu. Chicago, IL.

Bullying, Martial Arts and Finding a Solution

Like most people who began taking martial arts when they were children I did so because I was being picked on almost daily and I wanted to learn to defend myself. I used to stay up late and watch old kung fu movies and imagining myself using the same moves on the bullies that were messing with me. After hearing me talk about it for a while my mom finally gave in and took me to watch a karate class at the local rec center.  Word of advice

never take a timid child to watch an advanced martial arts class.

The brown belts were having class that night and all it took was me seeing one of them getting thrown over the instructor’s shoulder to stifle any desire to sign up for martial arts. It would be almost a year before I would step foot in another martial arts class.

Lucky for me one of my mom’s co-workers (at the time) had a child enrolled at the local Tae Kwon Do school and gave my mom a pass for a free month. She almost didn’t let me go because she thought it would be a repeat of the rec center, but after promising that I wouldn’t back out again she took me to try out my first class. I was instantly hooked. I took to the classes like a fish to water and found that I actually had some natural talent for martial arts, which for a young boy who didn’t have a single athletic bone in his body was a nice surprise.

I trained at Lee Brother’s Tae Kwon Do in Burlington, NC under Master Sang Ho Lee for almost three years and loved every second of it. Knowing that I could defend myself as well as the realization that there was a physical activity that I was actually good at did wonders for my confidence and self-esteem. I still carry those positive influences and good memories of my first martial arts school and my first instructor with me to this day and use them, as well as what I have learned from my other martial instructors over the years, as a blue print for how I teach and motivate my students.

It’s safe to say that my experience being bullied as a child plays a large part in why I teach martial arts.

Whenever a parent brings their child to my school and tells me that their son or daughter is getting bullied at school I take it personally.

Children shouldn’t have to fear going to school. They shouldn’t have to walk down the hallway with their head down hoping and praying that the bully won’t notice them. School should be a fun, safe place for them to go and learn and be with friends, not a place that literally feels them with dread. As someone who has been where they have been and gone through what they have through I feel like I have an obligation to help these students just like my instructors helped me.

Having said that, I think there is one crucial area that most martial arts schools are missing when preparing their students to defend themselves against bullies.

While we do a great job at teaching our students how to handle physical attacks by bullies, most instructors don’t address how to deal with the verbal abuse that bullies give.

I ran into the same dilemma after I started taking martial arts. The other students and I were told by our instructor to only use our training if we were being physically attacked. We were also told that if he found out that we had gotten into a fight at school we would not only be in trouble with the school but with him as well. For me that meant that I was often stuck still having to endure the bullies’ verbal abuse because they weren’t actually attacking me physically. As annoying as they are bullies are also smart, they know how to work the system. They will relentlessly bully a child verbally knowing that if their victim does anything to them physically it will be the victim and not they who will get in trouble.

It wasn’t until after attending a seminar on Verbal Martial Arts by Master Chan Lee as well as studying the Gracie Bullyproof curriculum developed by the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy that I realized just how badly we were failing our students by not giving them the tools to protect themselves against verbal attacks that bullies often use. I immediately updated the anti-bullying talks that I do both in my dojo and in the public schools that I visit to include not only how to handle physical bullying but verbal bullying as well. I now teach that bully prevention starts as soon as you meet someone; in your eye contact, the tone of your voice and in the firmness of your handshake. These are just some of the ways that a potential bully decides whether or not you are going to be a future friend or a future victim.

While these verbal martial arts skills are important they are only half the solution. Studies have shown that students will only use these verbal martial arts to stand up to bullies if they know that they can, if necessary, back them up with physical self-defense without getting in trouble with their parents or their martial arts instructors. We must give our students some clear “rules of engagement” that they can follow when being bullied. Rules that will tell them how to assertively, but politely ask the bully to stop any verbal abuse, tell them what to do when the bully doesn’t stop, allow them to protect themselves using “school safe” techniques when the verbal abuse turns to physical abuse and if need be, how to justify their actions to their teachers and/or principals if physical self defense is required. Most importantly we must let our children/students know that as long as they follow these rules they will have our full support if they ever do have to defend themselves against the bully. Only then will they truly have the confidence to stand up for themselves.

– MASTER BRANDON VAUGHN

KARATE INT. JONESVILLE / GRACIE CERTIFIED TRAINING CENTER

What’s Your Question For Lee Morrision

Lee Morrison is one of the world’s best when it comes to teaching Combatives.  We’ve been in communication lately and after he finishes his workshops in Australia, he’ll answer our questions.

Please write your comment below…

or write it in the comment section on our Facebook.

The Combative Crew