This post is an update of the last housekeeping post. From time to time I change the look and feel of the blog to try and stay in-line with my goals for this site. What are my goals you might be wondering?

This website was created so I could help people understand how the martial arts might help them in their quest for self-defense prowess! Some other goals I have are to reach out to people of all walks of life, preferred fighting styles and just try to take some of the mystery out of self-defense. On that vein before I get into Ikigai’s eBook, the new links and upcoming stuff - here is a funny self-defense video  (with a little colorful language) taught from the reverse perspective!

Ok so this is what not to do but it is a good look at the concept of awareness. Good to keep in mind that one should not be distracted in public places walking alone… enough said (I’ll save it for another post).

Save on boxing equipment at BoxingDepot.com.

One of my fellow bloggers (Ikigai) has created an eBook that should help perspective traditional martial art’s students learn some basic etiquette! I reviewed the eBook and found it had good information for students. Here is the link to, “The Students Guide to Surviving the Traditional Dojo.”

As you might know I not only create this blog but also a fitness and health blog entitled, LeanAnMean.com. I have some karate posts that relate to fitness because one of my favorite ways to stay in shape is bag work.

I also read other blogs and as I find some I like - I link to them.  I have found three recently that I like.

• Urban Samurai is a blog that purports to, “Urban Samurai is a martial arts resource for today’s urban warrior. All martial artists welcome.” I have found many interesting, thought provoking articles on this site and is one of the blogs I visit several times a week.
• Online Aikido.com/Blog is about an instructor’s explaination of his style. There are many essays that contribute to the greater understanding of this martial art.
• Judo-the-Blog is a website about, “Judo Information on actual judo news, links to judo video’s, the website of Judoschool Jan Snijders etc. Special emphasis on Judo in Science.”

After reading ikigai’s eBook, I decided that I too would start to work on an eBook offering for my loyal readers that will start a series on self-defense. This is in line with my goals for this “My Self-Defense Blog” so people that have no idea how to defend themselves and who do not want to take my advice and take at least a short-term self-defense class will get some good take-away.

I still believe that a short term self-defense class is the minimum every men, women and children should take but being a realist I think many might think they will never get attacked and not put out the effort. For those people, this eBook series might help them.

I also do and will continue to talk about self-defense in the blog so if you keep reading - you will probably get the benefit of the eBook series.

Please join with me in reading Ikigai’s eBook, and visiting Urban Sumarai, OnlineAikido and Judo-the-Blog.

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Here is an introduction by my friend, fellow black belt and hall of famer - David Hays:

I wanted to give this post a introduction.  Many of you know that this post is done by John Zimmer.  John is a good friend of mine and was inducted into the KenpoHall of Fame this past weekend along with Victor Hervias and John West. All of these men are from the San Diego school of Dick Willett. All of us that come from that school are proud to be part of this great fighting system.

 

John Zimmer, Victor Hervias and John West are some of the best all around fighters I have ever trained with.  The speed of Victor, the hard hitting, unorthodox left handed style of John Zimmer and raw brutalness of John West always kept me on my toes. All three of these men are greats in the arts. 

 

Last year at the 40th anniversary of Dick Willett’s  San Diego American Kenpo School (now owned and ran by Todd McElhinny) a statement was read by Al Tracy.  Master Tracy said that Dick Willett had produced some of the best fighter in Kenpo Karate. 

 

The legendary fighter, Joe Lewis, who was at the event, stood up and said “That statement was not completely true.”  Joe went on to say “Dick Willett had produced some of the best fighters anywhere period”.  We were all humbled by that statement coming from the Joe Lewis.  Congratulations men!

I am pleased to announce that I was among three black belts (John West, Victor Hervias and John Zimmer) that were nominated and inducted into the Kenpo Hall of Fame this last weekend in Chicago! Dick Willett’s American Kenpo Karate board selected us to go the the Tracy’s Karate - Gathering of Eagles 2009.

John West, Victor Hervias and I (John W. Zimmer) were all students of Dick Willett at Tracy’s Karate. Later we amicably split off from Tracy’s Karate and Dick formed American Kenpo Karate.  In this post I will give a brief bio of each of us and speak more on the Gathering of Eagles 2009. Here is a picture of my instructor, Richard “Dick” Willett and myself.

Dick Willett & John Zimmer

Before I get too much into our bio’s I would like everyone to know how much our instructor has helped shape our karate accomplishments. Dick Willett was great getting the best out of each person. I remember during one of our many “extended” Thursday night black belt group classes - him saying just another couple of minutes. The class that was slated for an hour was commonly running closer to two hours of intense drills!

Dick also had an uncanny ability of watching a fighter and helping  him or her to figure out ways to overcome adversity! He taught me how to throw an inverted lunge punch that became my signature move during my fighting days! We are all honored to have had Dick as a instructor and friend.

Victor “The Fly” Hervias has trained with multiple styles and instructors. His association with Chicken Gabriel (another Dick Willett black belt) at UKF let to him training with Tracy’s/AKKA.  Victor has various black belts (5th in one style) and a 3rd degree black belt in Kenpo Karate. Victor has a school in Madison, Alabama.

Victor Hervias

 I remember Victor fighting in the Southwest region where he was a rated fighter in the 80’s. Victor has won over 200 tournaments and won overall 11 grand championships! Victor was rated in the top 3 in region 10 of the NASKA for much of the 80 and early 90’s (retired in 92). He was also rated #1 in region 10 of the PKL in 1991. Victor is a well rounded student, fighter, and instructor dedicated to helping the next generation of fighters come into their own.

Dick Willett found John West at a tournament and was giving him some advice. John West decided to come and train over at Tracy’s because of Dick and the fact we had lots of sparring partners. John was simply an animal for those who trained with him. He (John) fought hard and was seemingly mean but would gladly head off for a few beers after a practice.

John West fighting Irving Hoffman at tournament

John West was awarded a 3rd degree black belt from Dick Willitt and has competed in the 70’s and 80’s. John’s first black belt tournament he ended up fighting Ray Sua (the top rated fighter at the time) for the grand championship and lost by one point in overtime. In the picture above John West (taller with the beard) is fighting Irving Hoffman at a tournament.

I started karate training because of getting mugged. While I did get into fights in grade school and learned how to fight back - getting mugged was all the incentive I needed to learn karate! I tried a few styles and ended up at Tracy’s because of the commercials during the airing of the Kung Fu TV series.

After talking to Dick Willett, I signed up for lessons because he taught me how to connect with my kicks and punches! I was a semi-contact point competitor with modest success in Southern California and worked as a bouncer at a bar (ended up trying lots of karate). I have also owned a Tracy’s karate school and trained in boxing for kick boxing in the 80’s.

Gathering of Eagles 2009 Flyer

Enough about me, let me tell you about the event! It was kind of hectic last week planning for the trip. I was going to post an initial information piece about the Gathering of Eagles but when Farra Faucett and Michael Jackson died, I decided to hold off until after. I have just now caught up with my personal life to get back to the fun in life - working out and posting!

Todd McElhinney & John Zimmer

We met Todd McElhinney, the American Kenpo Karate school in San Diego owner, at the airport Friday afternoon. The event had already been going since Thursday but I could not get away from work any sooner.

Doug, Todd, Dave, Victor, & John

We met up with some of the other black belts and had a high level meeting. Left to right is Doug Arcidino, Todd McElhinney, David Hays, Victor Hervias, and John Zimmer.

Al Tracy

I attended a History of  Kenpo Karate seminar with Al Tracy. It was quite interesting to hear stories about the old time greats and our association withEd Parker. I took a photo-op with Al Tracy who is a 10th degree black belt and the head of the Tracy’s organization.

Al Tracy & John Zimmer

I got excited when I learned that Bart Vale, Tracy’s hall of famer and the 2006 black belt magazine hall of fame fighter of the year was giving a shoot fighting seminar!

Punch like a pro with pro-quality boxing gloves.

The seminar actually was better than I thought - Bart put take down moves into a couple of katas (short I and short II) to create an interesting way to incorporate locks and holds into kenpo karate.

Bart, John, & Todd

It is kind of funny but I was not intending to participate but there was no way I was going to sit back and watch the other guys have all of the fun!

Todd & John

Bart posed for a picture with me here.

John & Bart

Well we worked up an appetite and went to my favorite boyhood fast food restaurant - White Castle! This is an event for me because all we have in California is frozen White Castle hamburgers in the grocery store!

White Castle Burgers!

Well it was time to get into the monkey suits and head over to the Gathering of Eagles Hall of Fame ceremony.

Dave, Todd, Doug, John, & Victor

Victor Hervias received his award from Al Tracy.

Victor Hervias receives award from Al Tracy

John W. Zimmer (me) received award from Al Tracy.

John W. Zimmer received award from Al Tracy

John West was not able to travel to Chicago to receive his award in person. Here is what my plaque looked like.

John's Award

It was quite a large and diverse group of inductees. Some were from as far away as Denmark, Ireland, England, and Scotland! Here is the left side of a group shot my wife took.

Left side of Hall of Fame Inductees

Here is the right side of the Hall of Fame inductees.

Right side of the Hall of Fame Inductees

We all stood around and posed for pictures. One guy even proposed to his girl friend while receiving his award (she accepted).

John's Award

We took a group shot of our affiliated black belts. We met up with Jack Shamburger (hall of famer) who used to fight out of San Diego but now has a school in New York City (in the village).

John, Dave, Victor, Doug, Todd (top), Jack, Al, Vicky (bottom)

Vicky is Victor’s daughter and a newly anointed black belt. Well we decided to have another high-level meeting, this time with Jack’s black belts before heading off to the get some R&R before the morning’s flights.

Todd, Dave, Augie, Jack, I Don't Remember, John, & Doug

Well I hope you have enjoyed a brief look at my weekend event and let me just say I am proud that my organization had selected me for this honor. It is the crowning achievement of my karate career to be honored by my peers. I want to extend congratulations to the other hall of famers, especially my friends Victor Hervias and John West.

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You are the proverbial 98 pound weakling at Jones beach one summer day but rather than responding to that Joe Weider ad at the back of the comic book last fall, you sent away for the KETSUGO book! Yes you launched your pseudo martial arts training but now find yourself in a sandy situation! What do you do?

Before we explore that question - consider the ramifications? To what level of adversity must a confrontation rise before you respond? If you respond, how will you respond? Verbally? In kind? Or very aggressively? Are you concerned with your ego? Morally, Legally, Ethically, or do you just want to get even-steven?

In this post we will examine some of these issues as when to fight is every bit as important as how to fight. While you are framing your response, look at this video basically showing the logic of the comic book ad.

What if you were the 98 pound weakling? How would you respond? Does an attack of kicking sand mean you would be quiet like this guy? How about just kicking sand back at them? Maybe punch the SOBs? Whatever response you decide on will have consequences from losing the girl to landing in jail - or worse (someone getting hurt).

Before we talk about solutions to this sand attack (or any attack) lets talk about some basics. Assuming you are dealing with human beings (people) every one of them may have a father, mother, wife, husband, sister, brother, girl friend, boy friend, child or someone that thinks this person is valuable. I know that you might not share this view at the time but one commonality is we are all human!

Having said that if you are a religious person of some persuasion you already might have a moral code that guides your actions. If you do not have a religious moral code you might subscribe to a moral code of conduct of some sort. Failing that, many people subscribe to ethical codes of conduct (nations for instance have their own and might subscribe to the United Nations Ethical codes). Say you have no Moral or Ethical code of conduct - you will probably be part of a nation and subject to its laws.

Sorry for the long winded setup but the points I wanted to make is human life is valuable to someone and we are governed by some code of conduct. Here is a video describing some basic considerations before you defend yourself.

Did you agree with John Graden about avoiding fights? How about avoiding ego and alcohol? I do but before I explain my philosophy, let me tell you a couple of stories.

When I first started working the door I was just turning a brown belt in kenpo karate! I wanted to work the door because I might get to fight some people for real and legally! I just turned 21 years old and was having a good showing at the regional tournaments in SoCal. I enjoyed fighting immensely and wanted to do as much as I could. I reasoned that if someone had it coming - it would be fun to take him out and get paid for it. Boy did I have some learning to do.

My first couple of months on the door lived up to my expectations. I got into about 4 or 5 skirmishes a week (where it did not come to blows) but got into a fight about once a week! I tried to make sure I followed the law and fought only in self-defense as I was discharging my duties of looking out of the clubs interests.

One day I kind of crossed a line. A couple of guys leaving the bar broke a light behind the curtains (at the front door). I heard the noise and ran out to see what was up! I saw two guys running  up the street. I was 155 pounds at the time and fast so I gave chase! I caught them as they were entering their car and were about to get away! I did my only jumping two-foot stomp kick into the driver’s side door and caught the driver in the door - bending his door! I then ask what they did and told them to never come back (kind of realizing at this point I had grossly overreacted - but not admitting it to myself).

I was flagged down by the old security guard across from the bar (he used to keep the bar patrons out of the restaurant parking lot). We got to talking and he said I was really fast. I like the old guy and started looking up to his advice as I was a pup and he had been around the block a time or two.

That same week after observing me - the security guard told a secret that has probably kept me safe for my two year stint as a bouncer and my ensuing life. He made me aware that one cannot ever know what is going on in another’s mind. A guy might have just lost someone he loves. He might have got into a fight with his wife and did not have a dog to kick (my weak attempt at humor).

You never know when someone is at the end of their rope. What if a guy (or gal) is ready to end it all and you make their life harder without any good reason (other than your macho ego)? Why the person might turn their anger on you and respond out of proportion to what you did!

So from then on I started giving everyone every break I could and then almost apologised for having to kick their butt if it came to that. I had nothing to lose by humility and a lot potentially to gain! The fact that I gave people every break began to get noticed by bar patron’s and more than a few stopped by and told me that they felt safe drinking in the bar when I was there because if they every got too drunk - they knew I would try and deal with them amicably.

As to what I would have done with a couple of guys kicking sand in my face and my gal leaving with the dudes? Knowing me I would let the gal go as she had no character and I would have probably got up and offered the guys a friendly challenge to come down to my studio, sign a freestyle waiver (so they could not sue me) and take them both on at the same time.

I hope some of this insight might help you in your life - at least think about this, if how to respond to an attack is a real issue in your life.

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Stories like this warm my heart although my kids are grown - I don’t like to hear about men messing with kids! Kids are supposed to be safe walking to school. The story here is about a girl in the marching band walking to school.

I don’t know about you but when I was in the band - I had to lug my trombone to school. In this case the girl in the marching band had her baton with her! One guy grabbed her coat from behind in an attempted robbery.

In this post I’ll talk about the girls self-defense as well as ways to use some ordinary objects as weapons. Here is a video I found of a girl with a baton. I’m not sure if it was this kind of baton or one of those large ones you see in the old time marching bands. Notice the amazing control this girl has of her baton.

The girl attacked by punching the nose and kicking the other guy in the nuts! Then she proceeded to beat the men with her baton! Wow, talking about a good defense! This girl did what the men were not expecting… she fought back initially and then used her baton to keep them off of her. She got away after being accosted by two robbers.

The men only saw a girl walking alone and made some assumptions. For one they must have thought the girl would be scared of them. They also did not count on the girl fighting back and having an easily available weapon!

So the moral to this story girls and boys is to walk softly and carry a big stick! Self-defense does not mean you are limited to your hands and feet but rather you are limited by your imagination. Many things can be used as weapons in a pinch. In this case the girl probably had a purse and book bag. All great distractions!

Other supplies that might be useful would be shoes (for throwing), belts (for swinging), and keys/pens (for daggers). All around us there are things that can be swung and thrown such as rocks, sticks, sand/dirt (to the eyes) and even things that are not weapons but merely distracting such as drinks.

Ok you might be thinking I have gone off of the edge but think about it. Martial artists have traditionally used whatever was around them to fight off thugs in the past. Now that we have societies that have more rules and protections, we do not have the more traditional weapons at our disposal (probably a good thing because who would want to live in the wild west again).

The girl used her baton well as a club and apparently did some damage. One of the guys was reportably limping. All I have to say about this is - Way to go girl! I am impressed.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and see how it might relate to your self-defense!

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Well one of the main fights of the Summer is fast approaching on August 15! Crush vs. Cyborg! Some of you might correct me and say Gina’s handle is now Conviction and you would be right but I like the sound of Crush.

Both women have good records in MMA with 7 wins and Cyborg has one loss. Both women are billed as ready to fight and both seem ready for 5 rounds. Showtime is now hosting the Strikeforce fights and doing a good job. I’ll highlight both fighters in this post and talk a bit about what it means to women’s MMA. 

I have been watching women’s MMA since Strikeforce appeared on CBS last year. It is true the women stole the show many times because of their fighting  ability. What some of you salty dog’s might be thinking? Yes in the first few CBS fights - the men’s matches either ended quickly (real mismatches) or neither fighter was too exciting.

There is a little novelty to women fighting for me because when I was training for kick boxing, there were not a lot of women that could do full-contact fighting well. It is very pleasing to see the women kept at kick boxing, Muay Thai, and grappling to the point there are really good women fighter emerging!

I consider both Carano and Santos to be women fighters with good skills. I also think it is good for other women to see the sport of female MMA advancing into its own - where a woman’s match up is the headliner! Traditionally women did not fight or do math well in school but may be surprising (to some) that this was self-imposed by women feeling cultural pressures and not a real limitation!

I’ve watch a few Gina Carano fights over the last couple of years and have noted that she is comfortable standing and using her Muay Thai kicks, knees, punches and elbows. She also has a ground game but I’m not sure how good she is as she is normally the stronger fighter.

I have only seen a couple of Santo’s fights and while she seems comfortable on her feet - she is good on the ground. I have noted most of her wins have come via TKO. I did not really find a highlight video but this fight shows off her skills.

I have bit the bullet and subscribed to Showtime instead of Cinemax because of the Strikeforce MMA. I hope they continue to have good matches as the past few have been. I am looking forward to Cung Lee defending his title soon too (no word on when).

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