The Last Dragon - Art of Fighting

The Art Of Fighting Without Fighting

Artificial Combat Stress Continued

Ok so we discussed the effects of combat stress on your body (Heart Rate around 170 bpm).  That can be simulated through exercise.  But that is not true combat stress.  Combat stress also includes all the fight or flight chemicals pumping through your blood.  How to you simulate chemical induced stress in order to become more accustomed to it (stress inoculation)?  Before we get into that lets use some examples of chemical induced stress.  Have you ever felt your heart pounding in your chest with out physical activity?  Were you at the top of your game at that time?  Here is an example I think all the fellas can relate to.  You ever ask a pretty girl out on a date?  Was your heart pounding?  Did you lose fine motor skill – like say in the muscles in your mouth?  Your plan may have been something like this: Hi Sally, there is a dance on Friday.  I was wondering if you would like to go with me.  Now by the time you ask a girl out you probably have 12 or more year experience in speaking.  In fact you have been speaking several hours a day every day of the week.  How many can say they train that much in their martial art?  The actual application of your plan (speaking + chemical stress) went something like this:

Sally, dance me go pretty Friday smell good you are girl I have car dance you go me?  Not exactly on top of your game.  Hopefully you didn’t puke on her. 

[ Side note my brother, a state champion wrestler, used to  puke before every match.  Perfectly natural fight or flight mechanism, but scary if you don’t expect it. ]

However as you got used to it (stress inoculation) you got better at it (able to get by with your level of training in a body and brain juiced with stress chemicals).  My point being is training has to occasionally artificially induce combat stress so you can get used to it.  Now this will never be the same as the real thing but you will perform better during the real thing if you know what to expect and are not scared / caught off guard by the changes in your body and brain.  That is one of the reasons I like formal kyu / dan testing.  Far too often grading has become a cash cow (testing fees = $$$$).  But for legitimate reasons forcing students to perform under pressure with consequences is one small example of stress inoculation.  If a student chokes and can’t perform in front of Sensei or a crowd, how are they going to perform when someone is trying to hurt / rape / kill them?

So have tests that mean something.  Prepare your students for these tests.  If they fail they fail better to fail in the Dojo then in combat.  Do not pass them if they fail!!! You are not doing them any favors.  Work on stress inoculation so they can pass next time and actually learn something of value besides physical techniques.  If they quit because they did not pass they won’t respond to quality training anyway and would be more comfortable at a school where you can buy rank.  That will give you more time to spend on your students that want to learn.  If you are afraid of students quitting because that lowers your income you should re-evaluate why and what you teach

Training Method

You don't rise to your expectations, you fall to your level of training…

Well your level of training with an adrenalized brain, and a body that has lost fine and most complex motor skills. The chemical cocktail pumping through your body cannot be accurately simulated through training. The closest that can be simulated is elevating the heart rate through cardio vascular training and artificial stress through time limits, competition, and qualification. In upcoming blog posts I'll share some ways I do this at the Dojo, and with the SWAT team, but for now try this experiment:

Do a drill / training exercise your students enjoy, are good at, and have done on a regular basis for awhile (your level of training)

Then do 1 minute of hard 100% effort exercise. Say 50 burpies or squat thrusts

Next you do the original exercise again however, before you start you announce that only the top performer / winner of the drill or training exercise will be promoted to the next kyu/grade level (or some other prize or bragging rights).

See how much your student's performance drops off under artificial stress. That is closer to the body and brain you will have in combat.

What I have to offer

Recently I have been blessed to be able train hands on, become friends with, and regularly communicate with outstanding instructors.  Marc MacYoung, Rory Miller and Steve Jimerfield.  So being the ever competitive perfectionist I am I have to ask what can I offer that these guys aren’t already doing?  Why reinvent the wheel?  As I see at, these men are nomadic.  What I mean by that is that these men spend a lot of time literally traveling across the world to teach large amounts of people (including me) for relatively short periods of time (a week).  What I can do is train a relatively small number of people for years.  Also, those guys are great at making you better at your art or system.  I am not there yet, but I can make you better at my system.  That is what this Budo Blog will be about.  Keishoukan Budo has gone through significant refinement over the last 5 years.  While it will never be stagnant, it will always adapt to the needs of professionals, I feel that now I have a system and training process which is unique and ready to be presented to the public.  So, what if after training with those guys you come to a hard recognining?  What if your art sucks?  All arts can be made to work, but what if you have spent lifetime training in a style then realize that all that training is worthless in an actual violent encounter?  I can provide a system and training method that from day trains its students for that violent encounter.  It will have other positive aspects of traditional martial arts training but the end goal will always be surviving violence.   My Dojo is unique that we are one of few that trains the concepts that  Marc MacYoung, Rory Miller and Steve Jimerfield profess 3 days (or more) a week 48 weeks a year.  My Dojo is the only full time Taiho Jutsu (One on One Control Tactics) school in America.  So bottom line is I can provide a system that works and a place to train on a regular basis.  I can take that system and training to Police Departments and Dojos around the state and I can share my thoughts and experiences here for anyone to read.  That’s what I have to offer

What is Budo?

The following is paraphrased from Rory Miller, James Williams, and my own thoughts.  I post it here as a spring board to think about your own martial arts training.

Budo = Martial way.  Implying a way of life (beliefs, morals, ethics) which involves Bujutsu.
Bujutsu = Martial arts
Martial = From Mars the god of War
War = Killing or maiming your opponent
Art = Killing or maiming your opponent before he kills or maims you


This is very different from how most martial arts are taught.  The original intent of Budo was to kill with one stroke.  Taken in that context "sparring" becomes silly.  Detrimental in fact.  Ingraining pulled punches or sport only responses.  Under stress one does not rise to the occasion.  One falls to their level of training.  However, "live" resistive, force on force training is a necessary element for training.  So how can we train to ingrain combat responses with out killing or maiming or partners?

Something must be made artificial for safety sake.  Some artificial training methods that have allowed me to "keep it real" include

• Protective equipment
• Slow Motion Training

Tomorrow's blog will include some drills that have worked for me

Video test

This is video of some training with the River Valley Tactical team down in Mankato