From Barny's desk

Training can become monotonous unless you find new ways of keeping it interesting. Holding focus mitts and kick pads can be boring unless you start to make it a learning experience. You can move like you are in a real fight, staying on the balls of your feet. Bring the focus mitts up quickly to the same position your hands would be in a defensiveposture. Watch your partner move. Concentrate on your partners body movements, not just the arms and legs, the body will tell you what is going to be thrown before the limbs ever move. While shadow boxing try to visualize someone in front of you moving and fighting back. Work as though you are defending a punch or kick and counter attacking multiple strikes as though you were in a real attack situation.

Saturday August 27 Seminar 1:00-3:00. Only $35

Combatives Boot Camp:
Intense training of Punches and Kick Combinations.
Enhancing both Power and Speed and Effectiveness.
Drills and Exercises will be included in the Seminar.


Grappling Seminar August 20th and 21st - Marcelo Garcia

Strictly no gi, both stand up and ground techniques will be taught. 2 days, Saturday and Sunday 2 pm - 6 pm. For more information, contact Groundfighting Instructor Zee at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . There is also more information posted at the Krav Maga Training Center.

Say hello to my little friend

In a situation where you are threatened by an assailant of any kind, a little help never hurts right? Wherever we might be in a given day, there are any number of potential weapons lying around that could help us in a pinch. When you are attacked with a stick, any other blunt object, or even a knife, it's a great equalizer to have something in your own hands to use offensively or defensively.

A good way to train with this idea in mind is to play with short sticks, which is basically any stick of a length of 12" down to 6" or 7". You can use it more as a defensive shield to absorb an incoming blow or as an offensive weapon to add damaging power to your strikes.

In this example, you can see that holding it with most of the stick against your forearm makes it more defensive, but it can still be used offensively from that grip as well. If you can get in deep enough with an evasive movement, it is a good idea to jam or strike at your oponenent's wrists and fingers. In the course of stopping the initial attack, you may succeed in disarming your attacker at the same time. Just watch out for their weapon as it flies past you from out of their broken fingers. I've been hit in the fingers enough times with my partner's stick in this type of training, and trust me, it's nearly impossible to keep hold of your own stick when that happens.

So what's lying around that could be picked up and wielded in this manner? Take a look around where you are right now. There's usually pens, maybe a small flashlight, tools, or one of my favorites, a magazine that could be rolled up tight somewhere nearby. Look for anything that could be picked up and used to deaden the blow of another weapon rather than your own forearm, or used to hit harder and with less damage to yourself. One of the keys to survival in any situation is both awareness of and the use of what's in your environment.