Technology, Philosophy, and Testing The debate over the ideal martial arts philosophy for self-defense rages on, but Stephan Kesting describes mine more precisely and eloquently than I could: devote almost all your training time to training "
Appendix Carry Pros and Cons Since taking Spencer Keepers' excellent AIWB Skills [http://keepersconcealment.com/classes-bdc-gun-room/#aiwb] course earlier this year, I've carried AIWB. I did this for a few reasons: 1. The number of
A Virtuous Cycle Relative to its forerunner Jujitsu, Judo demonstrated that the ability to practice techniques against resisting opponents is far more important than the inherent "potency" of a technique. But there's
Compliant Training Partners and No-Touch Nonsense Rokas Leonavicius offers a fascinating theory about how fanciful, so-called "no touch" martial arts techniques may be born. I don't think this explains all the no-touch techniques I'
A Tale of Two Knives Both of the folding knives I discuss here were gifts and for both I am grateful and appreciative. But I can't help but contrast the two, very different, knives regarding some
Ego in Pressure Testing We can break force-on-force self-defense scenario training down into a few useful categories, based on what the student can get from them. One type of scenario plays out to a conclusion and is
Dueling Banjos The on-ramp merges from two lanes down to one before it joins the highway. Just past where the lane divider ends, the car in the other lane, a car-length behind me, speeds up
16 Years of Concealed Carry, a Retrospective It's been 16 years that I've been carrying a handgun concealed on my person on a daily basis. This seems like a good time to review and evaluate my
If It's Not Tested, It's Broken Bruce Eckel says of computer source code, "If it's not tested, it's broken." It's no different with self-defense skills. An outgrowth of this philosophy is
Deep Concealment Compromises For some time, I've been experimenting with pocket-carry of a Glock model 43 [https://us.glock.com/products/model/g43] in a DeSantis Super Fly Pocket holster [https://www.amazon.com/
Back to Martial Arts With a more flexible schedule and encouragement from both the long-time friend who introduced me to martial arts and a competitive BJJ co-worker, I've recently begun attending a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym
Lessons from the early UFC I recently watched the first six UFC events. Although there was valuable information in all of them -- and in those that followed, I'm sure -- I took a number of
Notes on early Smith & Wesson semi-autos In preparation for Karl Rehn's Historical Handgun Class [https://www.krtraining.com/KRTraining/Classes/HistoricalHandgun.html] I've been reading about the motivations and practical consequences of transitions from double-action
Post-Crisis Bystander Management Ralph Mroz just advised us on how not to get shot by the po-po [https://thestreetstandards.wordpress.com/2016/10/13/how-not-to-get-shot-by-the-po-po/] by referring us to his article in Police and Security News,
Two Thumbs Up The first time I ever drove in any serious off-road terrain, my friend Andreas told me to keep my thumbs straight and outside the steering wheel, rather than hooking them inside. He pointed
Creepy Dudes On the one hand, we have the now oft-quoted, "Grab 'em by the pussy." (If you came for a political commentary, this isn't one.) On the other hand,
InSights Street and Vehicle Tactics On October 7-9, 2016 I attended InSights Street and Vehicle Tactics [http://www.insightstraining.com/view_course.asp?courseID=26] course taught by Greg Hamilton [http://www.insightstraining.com/instructors.asp] and hosted
ECQC Class Review On March 27-29, 2015 I attended ShivWorks ECQC class [http://shivworks.com/?p=822], taught by Craig Douglas, assisted by Ferrel Munson, and hosted by KR Training [http://krtraining.com]. The class was
How do you become more aware? During the lecture portion of ECQC, Craig Douglas asked, "How do you become more aware?" First we need an answer to this question's precedent, "What is awareness?"
Grip and Follow-Up Shots Sometimes I catch myself using a looser grip when I'm making individual, long-range (or very precise) shots. Even for a single fast shot, there is an incentive to spend less time
The Color Edges of Mental Awareness With respect to personal safety, your dominant concern should be awareness. Jeff Cooper's color code [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Cooper#Combat_Mindset_and_the_Cooper_Color_Code] is widely
Gun Culture 2.0 Today, I was asked the question, "Who is in Gun Culture 2.0?" My knee-jerk reaction was this: > Members of Gun Culture 2.0 know and follow Colonel Cooper'
CSAT Civilian Response to Active Shooters January 31 I attended Combat Shooting and Tactic's [http://www.combatshootingandtactics.com/] three day Civilian Response to Active Shooters course. The purpose of this class was to address the problem of