Ego is the single most consistent obstacle to martial arts development. This observation isn’t new — it appears in classical Japanese and Chinese martial writing with consistent emphasis — but it’s worth examining concretely, because the ways ego interferes with…
Solo training has real limitations, and no amount of solo work substitutes for training with a partner. That said, significant development is possible outside the school, and practitioners who supplement their mat time with structured solo training improve faster than…
The debate about whether martial artists should lift weights has largely been settled: they should. The question worth examining now is what kind of strength and conditioning work transfers to performance on the mat or in the ring, and what…
The gap between what looks good in practice and what works in real conditions is one of the most important — and least discussed — problems in martial arts training. Techniques that are drilled cooperatively against compliant partners look clean…
Every technique in any striking or grappling art has a range at which it works and ranges at which it doesn’t. A kick works at kick range. A punch works at punch range. A clinch throw works when you’re too…
The punch is the most commonly used technique in a real confrontation. It’s also the technique most people practice incorrectly for years without understanding why their punches lack the power and accuracy they’d need to matter. The problem isn’t effort.…
Most striking arts are taught as if fights happen at a fixed distance. The students practice punching and kicking combinations against a stationary heavy bag or a cooperative partner who holds pads and stays in the correct place. The techniques…
Author: Master CincinnatusCategory: TrainingSchedule: 2026-06-11 08:00 MDT Watch any high-level fighter, from any tradition, and what you notice is not the hands. It is the feet. The head moves off the line before a counter is thrown. The body arrives…
Joint locks occupy a specific space in the martial arts toolkit — they are not the first resort in most situations, they require a different kind of contact than striking, and they carry a particular risk that strikes do not:…
Every serious martial artist reaches the question eventually. Usually it arrives after watching MMA, or after a frustrating kata class, or after a conversation with a training partner who has started wrestling or boxing. The question takes different forms but…
