A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

They say that speed is king. I agree. Up to a point, that is. Speed is good to have but I've seen the slower fighter take home victory on more than one occasion. Even for the faster guy, there's a better way than just going 100% all the time. I believe that most of the time in training (unless you're specifically training for speed) and combat, you should move well below your speed limits. This might contradict common sense at first glance, but let me get into this a bit. First off, I'm a huge believer when it comes to mixing things up. That being said, I think that having two ways to go is better than being stuck with one, especially when it comes to speed and rhythm. If all you do is move at top speed all the time (which you can't and shouldn't do, anyhow, as I'll explain later on), all you can do to surprise your opponent is to slow down. Nothing bad with that, really - sometimes, lower the pace of the game might be just what you need. Also, pausing for h...

At first, everyone's interested in defensive stuff, blocks, counters, evasion and the like. It's understandable, really, as many people aren't so much looking for competitive combat sports but rather wish to learn an effective form of self-defense. That's ok - in fact, being able to take care of yourself, no matter what, is one of the biggest benefits the martial arts can offer. Still, a strong defense ain't enough. That's for two reasons: For one, at some point you've got to finish the fight. From a combat sport perspective, this one's a no brainer, so let's examine a different scenarion. This might not apply to true self-defense situations so much - after all, self defense is all about finishing the fight with your first counter. Still, while I do not condone violence, I believe that there are situations where striking first and decisively can be the best form of de-escalation and violence prevention. An unconscious attacker can cause no more h...