The spinning heel kick from hell…

Yes indeed it was a good old fashioned spinning heel kick that proved to be the instant demise of Luke Rockhold last night. Some BJJ “pontificators” love to break down-step by step the BJJ submissions that MMA fighters use in a fight. Typically though nobody cares when TMA (traditional martial arts) is used to win a fight. Don’t get me wrong, Jacare displayed some of the most effective MMA Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that I’ve seen in a long time in his fight last night because well he’s…..Jacare. It’s ironic though that Vitor who used a classical TMA kick last night was himself KO’d by Anderson Silva who himself used a TMA technique, the front snap kick.

I found a poor quality video of the KO from last night. I’ll discuss the kick with you and tell you why it was so effective. Click here to see the video of the Belfort Heel Kick. If you click the link and the video is not there it’s because YouTube removed it for copyright violations. You’ll have to search around and find it yourself.

First off both Rockhold and Belfort were in “southpaw” stances which sets up the spinning heel kick. If one fighter was in a traditional left forward stance and the other in southpaw then the kick would have been much more difficult because Belfort would have had to clear the outside shoulder of Rockhold to reach the head. Not impossible but Rockhold is 6′-4” tall and that would have added another two inches of height Belfort would have needed, making it a very high and difficult kick indeed. That being said both fighters were in identical stances so one side of Rockhold was completely open to a spinning kick. Just before Belfort throws the kick Rockhold is relatively immobile which is critical. The spinning heel kick is a rotational kick. The best counter is to move straight in or straight out. Rockhold is standing still when he gets plastered. The spinning heel kick is very common in Karate tournaments but uncommon in MMA fights. It’s not the easiest kick to throw and it’s a high risk technique. Usually what happens when you get nailed with one is the last thing you see just before you get put to sleep are the hips of your opponent rotating in towards you and well that’s that. When thrown well like the way Belfort did last night, it’s a devastating technique because of the rotational energy of the kick. Notice two more important elements. With any spinning attack like a spinning backfist or spinning kick, your head must lead your hips and legs by just a fraction of a second so you can spot your target. Most fighters throw their spinning techniques blind, meaning their head and hips rotate at the same speed…you can’t see your target when that happens. Belfort’s head rotates just a bit faster than his hips allowing him to see Rockholds head before he lands the kick. You can’t kick what you can’t see. Notice at around the 11 second mark of the video the right foot of Belfort, it rotates 180 degrees in towards Rockhold which is absolutely critical because it opens up Belforts left hip for a full extension adding even more rotational energy and  power to the kick. Yes Vitor gets an A+ for throwing an aesthetically and technically  perfect TMA spinning heel kick.

Keep in mind I’m a Black Belt in BJJ and a 6′th degree black belt in Kempo Karate so I think I’m a bit qualified to make the following statement: Every martial art has weaknesses. To believe that the particular art that you study is the end all and be all of all martial arts is dangerous and naive and is likely to get you hurt or worse in a real live fight (as in street fight). You should keep an open mind and not mock or deride another martial arts because it’s not your martial art. Check back tomorrow, I might post a video demonstration how to do a spinning heel kick.

I’m very lucky to be a student of two very different Martial Arts. I’m a sixth degree black belt in Kempo Karate and a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I’ll save for a later post how they compare and contrast, suffice to say that I can practice Kempo anywhere at any time by myself, BJJ however I need a partner and a mat. Here are some photos of a hike I do at a local park. I leave the hiking trail then free climb a 70′ rock face to get to the summit plateau. The summit plateau is a small flat clearing that overlooks the park. It’s in this spot that I practice Kempo and meditate. It’s ironic I studied under a great Kempo master that used to tease me about how serious I was about Kempo. He’d day “Jim…all you want to do is climb the mountain and meditate.” Since I actually know how to rock climb I can now literally climb the mountain and meditate!

A friend expressed surprise yesterday that I had been promoted to sixth degree Black Belt in Kempo. He thought that “I had stopped training in Kempo.” Not at all, I just did not make my private kempo sessions like this hike public. It’s true that I was not practicing my discrete Kempo techniques like Kata’s all of the time. I was however studying, honing and perfecting my craft which is martial arts and martial theory. I started as a pure Kempoist. I recognized that I had an acute fundamental weakness in the grappling arts (although I wrestled in high school). I spent the last 12 years learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I now believe that I am expert in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of both of these incredible martial arts. Do I love one more than the other…perhaps…perhaps.

The Fire Break…

“Why do I always seem to get myself into these situations”, is what I say to myself every single time that I try something new or challenging. Last Monday I did a “fire board break” demonstration. What is a fire break? Essentially you take pine boards light them on fire then break them using some type of karate strike. Click here to watch the demonstration. The day before the demonstration I lit some boards on fire to access the burn rate of the wood and accelerant(charcoal lighter fluid). During the controlled test burn the wood would not catch on fire. The lighter fluid would pool on the wood, burn for a few seconds then go out. This led me to believe that I’d have to time the break perfectly. I’d need to break the wood just before the accelerant burned itself out but after it was still pooled on the surface of the wood. The live break went perfectly and because it went perfectly it looks easy.

As I stood in front of the spectators I was quite afraid. I was not afraid of setting myself on fire (a distinct possibility) rather I was afraid of failing and embarrassing myself in front of a group of people. Any number of things could have gone wrong with the break including; the burning accelerant splashing onto my arm, torso or face, I could miss the stack of wood and drive my hand straight into the top of the cement block that supported the wood, the wood not catching on fire (you can’t do a fire break without fire), I could miscalculate the physics of the strike and not break all of the burning boards or over compensate and drive my hand through the wood straight into the ground. This is the day of instant YouTube video. There was a distinct possibility that one of the spectators could have shot video of me with their phone as I dance around in a circle with my hair on fire…as I screamed “just don’t sit their, pour some water on my head!”. Can you imagine that video all over Facebook and YouTube?

My new favorite quote is “There is no plan B, failure is not an option”. That was the attitude I had as I set the boards on fire. Ironically I had some difficulty lighting the accelerant. Once the wood did catch on fire it began to burn slowly. If you watch the video you can see me walk out of frame. I was going to get some more lighter fluid to increase the burn rate. As I turned back towards the stack I could see that the wood was engulfed in flame! I had not anticipated the entire stack catching on fire and burning aggressively. What was I to do…not go through with the break? “There is no plan B, failure is not an option”. I cleared my mind, focused and did the break. Fate was smiling on me that day and things went well. I did not break my hand or set myself on fire!

Why was this break important to me? The challenge was not doing the break. The challenge was overcoming fear, trepidation and insecurity. Playing it safe feels good, that is why 90% of most people do it. Leaving your comfort well that’s a whole other paint job indeed.

In our society athletes and movie stars seem to get most of the societal accolades. Americans love to fawn over celebrities. We live in a culture that celebrates physical horsepower more than cerebral horsepower. At my daughters graduation from N.Y.U last Friday a very prominent Doctor was given one of N.Y.U’s most prestigious awards. Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez was the recipient of the Strusser Award. Dr. Rodriguez graduated from NYU College of Dentistry in 1992. He also earned a BS degree in neurobiology from the University of Florida AND a Medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia  He completed postgraduate training in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Montefiore Medical Center…the list of his academic achievements is quite extensive and I’m only listing a few of them.

I was honored to have my picture taken with Dr. Rodriguez…a true intellectual giant.

In March of 2012 Dr. Rodriguez led a team of four surgeons and over 150 nurses, residents , anesthesiologists and support staff at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore in an unprecedented, 36 hour, total facial transplantation of a man whose face had been shattered by a shotgun blast. Dr Rodriguez spoke briefly at the commencement ceremony and described the facial and dental reconstruction they did that day. They had practiced the surgery beforehand and were confident that it would be a success. The patient was told that he could die during the surgery or in fact look even worse when the procedure was done. The surgery was a success of course. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to be in surgery for 36 hours straight and not just any surgery…an experimental surgery. During his commencement speech Dr. Rodriguez said that “there was no plan B…failure was not a option.” I really admire that all or nothing winner take all attitude that Dr. Rodriquez had going into the surgery…that my friends is what I call F****** Swag! Dr. Rodriquez was not about to test himself in an athletic contest like a football game or boxing match. A human beings health, well being and indeed life depended on the ability of Dr. Rodriquez and his surgical team to perform at 100%  for 36 hours straight, nothing less…

I respect and admire Dr. Rodriquez for continually pushing his personal boundaries by furthering his education. He’s a dentist, MD and plastic surgeon! I’ve written extensively about the importance of leaving your comfort zone. You achieve nothing by playing it safe. I’m not sure “comfort zone” is a phrase that even exists in the universe of Dr. Rodriguez.

This is a picture of the patient Dr. Rodriquez performed the surgery on..pretty amazing stuff I’d say. Click here for more information about the surgery.

Helio Gracie, old schoolin it. This was self defense!

There are two points of view. From the viewpoint of those groups and individuals concerned with progress, BJJ has made great inroads by spreading worldwide and offering the average person an athletic activity, a means of self protection and a unique method of physical conditioning. On the other hand purists feel that commercialism has diluted the original mental and spiritual values inherent to BJJ.

Karate went through the same process in the late 1980′s when it exploded in popularity as BJJ is today. New karate schools opened daily in nearly every strip mall and shopping center in America. Karate transitioned from being a hardcore self defense system to a form of recreation. When any martial art becomes a form of recreation is it still a self defense system? In many karate dojos sparring became “optional” and contact became very limited. A greater emphasis was placed on Kata’s and competition was de-emphasised.

I see some disturbing trends in BJJ. When I started training in karate the Internet was not even in existence. If you wanted to learn a new technique you had to learn it from your instructor. Any bjj student of any rank can now go online and learn technique from YouTube. Many of the techniques seen online are extremely technical “sport” techniques. Students are beginning to mistake these sport techniques as actual self defense techniques. A student can go online watch a video and  learn the Berimbolo sweep then go back to their dojo and pull it off on someone of lesser ability.

Many students never compete. If you can’t deal with the stress of a competition how can you deal with the extreme duress of a street fight? I’m not saying that a BJJ student needs to compete all of the time but you should compete occasionally.  Try pulling off that Berimbolo sweep that you nailed on a white belt in the safety and comfort of your dojo on someone of your skill level in a tournament. Students should also train outside of their own dojo’s. Training with the same people all of the time stagnates and retards your game. You should experience different sparring partners regularly. More importantly you should be training with people that are better than you that can push you. Being the best guy in your dojo makes you the biggest fish in a small pond nothing more. I’ve been refereeing at NAGA tournaments. Let me hip you to something. There is some sick talent coming up. I refereed a gi match between two blue belts that in my opinion could smoke most purples and browns in many schools. If you stay in the singular comfort of your dojo and beat up the same people week after week…you are doing yourself a disservice because you believe that you are something that quite frankly you are not.

Ask yourself, are you a martial artist or recreational martial artist? There is a definite and distinct difference between the two.

NOTE: This article was originally posted this time last year. I’ve changed my training routine a bit. I’m no longer lifting “heavy” weight for mass building. Although I remained active throughout last winter my diet was not as “tight” as it should have been and consequently I regained some weight. My diet is once again  ”dialed in” and I’ve lost most of the winter fat. I currently weigh 208 and am in the process of getting down to 195 which I think is the weight I need to be at. 

Spring/Summer is right around the corner. You know what that means! The layers of baggy winter clothing will be coming off. There is no more camouflage for winter flab! Perhaps you need to get motivated to get yourself into shape for the summer time. I’ve re-posted this earlier blog. Since originally posting this last summer I’m back down to around 208. The weight that I intend to stay at is 195.

The friendly little cottage belonged to three bears. One was a great big Papa Bear, one was a middle-sized Mama Bear, and one was a tiny little Baby Bear. That morning, the three bears decided to take a walk while their porridge – which tastes like oatmeal – was cooling. It was too hot to eat! 

Right as they left through the back door, Goldilocks came in through the front door very quietly. The first thing she saw and smelled was the sweet, steamy porridge. “I sure am hungry,” Goldilocks said. “I’ll just have one bite.” 

First, she tried a spoonful from Papa Bear’s great big bowl. “OW!” she yelled, “TOO HOT!” 

Next, she tried a spoonful from Mama Bear’s medium-sized bowl. “Brrrrr! TOO COLD!” she complained. 

Finally, Goldilocks tried a spoonful from Baby Bear’s tiny little bowl. “YUMMY!” she cried. “THIS IS JUST RIGHT!” Goldilocks ate the entire bowlful.

What does the above famous nursery story Goldilocks and The Three Bears have in common with weight loss? Actually the connection is neither abstract or complicated…they are both make believe. The weight loss recidivism rate is nearly 100%. That means that nearly everyone that losses weight gains it all back plus more! I’ve witnessed many examples of people that get sick and tired of being overweight and determine to do something about it. Initially they do great (the first 6 months) and lose lots of weight. It’s usually around the change of the seasons that people begin to slip and start putting the weight back on. For instance if you started dieting in the spring, around Thanksgiving is when you will begin to suffer your first dieting setbacks.

I’ve written extensively about how I lost nearly 70 pounds. Go through the older stories in the “Fitness” section of this blog and you will find many great articles about how to lose weight and keep it off. What I will say right now is that losing weight is easy, keeping it off is hard, really hard. Changing your “diet” is simply not enough you must change your way of thinking.

At my fattest I was nearly 250 pounds. During my weight loss process the lightest I got was 180 pounds. Do the math, that’s 70 pounds. Losing the first 25 was crucial because after 25 pounds I was really able to ramp up my fitness routine. The fitter I became the more I worked out, the more I worked out the fitter I became. I have a saying “Fitness=Freedom”. When I was really heavy I did not have the energy to do much more than eat and watch T.V. I felt depressed and unmotivated.

Once I really began to make marked changes to my weight (around 40 pounds), I really began to feel better (great in fact), emotionally and physically. In the last year I’ve climbed Mt. Washington 3 times, learned how to rock climb, started competing in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu again (I’ve won 3 tournaments since August) and I’m in the gym at least 5 days per week.  The only time I’m not active is when I’m sleeping!

I’ve found the crucial elements in my success  are sound nutrition, lots of exercise, lots of sleep, drive, determination and the unfailing belief that I can continually improve. Weight loss and fitness never really stop. You have to find the right direction for your energies. If you are just starting your own fitness journey remember this, weight loss is like a war. You can win many battles but none of that matters if you lose the war. 

I’m not sure why, but I seem to put myself into situations that I’m very uncomfortable in. I always seem to want to leave my comfort zone. Being the best at something does not stimulate me because once you are the best there is no where else to go. Being awful at something then becoming the best through sheer grit and determination is what really motivates and stimulates me. Becoming the best can become an emotional prison because you become enveloped within the safe boundaries of your success. I am willing to suffer failure and embarrassment in order to challenge and improve myself.

I’ve rappelled this 150′ cliff dozens of times and every single time I’m still scared.

Every single time that I climb I’m afraid…very afraid of dying. As I’ve written in the past I climb solo, should anything go wrong well…that’s that. Next winter I will push my personal comfort zone even further by solo ice climbing. I’m learning to become a grappling referee.  Being a referee is incredibly stressful. Regardless of what you do there is always someone who is pissed off or unsatisfied with your officiating decision. If you make a mistake as a referee the consequence can be rather unpleasant. Click here to see a video of a board breaking demonstration I did recently. I’ll hip you to something, this was the first live board breaking demo I’ve done in 15 years. In fact I’d had never done those types of breaks in my life. I decided to try it for the first time in front of a group of parents and kids.  Some people like to play it safe. I guess that is O.K. I believe however that you can never improve and grow unless you are willing to risk the consequences of failure.

Check out this video. It’s a Kenpo instructor giving some tips on how to get out of a BJJ guard. I’d say his video is somewhat superfluous and unnecessary because common sense dictates that the BJJ guard absolutely does have limitations in a real street fight. Doing bjj on the street is not the same as doing bjj in the dojo. The guy in the video does bring up some interesting points.  How effective would your guard be if your attacker (notice I say attacker and not opponent) was trying to gouge your eyes out, bite you and perhaps even stab you as is shown in the video? Many guys I know complain when someone is too “rough” with them in the dojo. How rough do you think it will be in an actual street fight where second place is at minimum a trip to the Emergency Room…and at worse the morgue? I never involve myself with “my martial art vs your martial art” and the age old question “what is the best martial art?”  Quite frankly I believe that anyone who believes that his/her martial art is  the best is a myopic fool. Every martial arts system has strengths and weaknesses. To think that your system is the one complete one is being a bit unrealistic.

I am 52 years old and the very last place I want to be in a street fight is the ground. Let me explain why. Any good defensive fortification is designed to be “layered”. If you examine a typical medieval castle you will notice that the defensive works are composed of layers. The first layer of a castle defense is the outer wall. The outer wall is the highest and widest wall of the castle. It was hoped that the outer wall would hold and stop an attacking army. However a good castle designer understood that given enough time a determined attacker could/would eventually breach the outer wall, so they added a smaller inner wall. The castle troops would fall back to defend the inner wall once the outer wall was breached. When the battle was being fought at the inner wall things were not going well for the defenders because they’ve had to fall back from their primary defensive works (the outer wall) to their secondary defensive works (the inner wall). Frequently the attackers would have sustained such high casualty rates breaching the outer wall they lacked the offensive ability to breach the inner wall and would withdraw. Frequently though the attacker maintained the offensive ability to breach the inner wall. When that happened things certainly became desperate for the defenders for they had to fall back to the absolute last defensive work…the castle keep. The keep is a fortified block in the very center of the castle. It would be the last place that any defenders that were still alive would fall back to in a last desperate attempt to survive. When the the battle was being fought at the keep…it was a fight to the death for there was absolutely no where else for the defenders to fall back to.

A good self defense system or more precisely self defense scheme should have a layered system just like a castle. A typical fight starts in what I call the neutral zone. Both combatants (an attacker and defender) are outside effective fighting range. They are too far apart to touch each other. The first range that the fighters will find themselves in is “striking range” In striking range the combatants can kick or punch each other. Once inside striking range the combatants are in “clinching range“. In the clinch, knees, elbows and dirty boxing takes place. The third and final range is grappling. Grappling occurs when both combatants are on the ground. So here it is:

Outer wall=striking range 

Inner wall=clinching range

Keep=grappling range

Now do you understand why at I don’t want to willingly go to the ground in a street fight? I only fall back to the keep when forced to, NEVER willingly! The ground is the absolute last place you should want to fight at. In a perfect world here is how I would defend myself against an attacker that is intent on really harming me. I’m talking about a person that is trying to stomp me into a mud hole. I’d try to stay on my feet as long as possible while striking to vital areas of my attacker like side of the cranium (temple) eyes, throat or knees. Hopefully it’s a good day and I can slow down the attacker enough to well…..RUN. Why the fuck would I not run? Nature designed man as a biped…we have feet and legs, we can use them to run and when needed…run fast! O.K. so it’s not a good day for me. Maybe my attacker is jacked up on meth and does not even feel my blows to his throat. He closes the distance (breaches my outer wall) and grabs me. We are now in clinching range. At this point I’d be trying to stop him with elbow strikes to the head and knees strikes to his groin. Hopefully the fight ends at this point or he slows down enough so I can run away. Hopefully the inner wall holds. Whoops! My attacker tackles me with so much speed and inertia he blows right past clinching range and before I know it I’m on my back. Assuming that I’m not knocked unconscious from being slammed into the ground (which will certainly be cement) or I don’t get a broken arm trying to break my fall…I better hope that I can even get to closed guard and mount my last desperate defense. Yes indeed, I would never willing abandon my first two lines of defense and go straight to the ground. Why give away any tactical advantages unless forced to?

Have you ever heard of the “Battle of Rorke’s Drift?” If you consider yourself a true student of the martial arts you should take a few moments and familiarize yourself with it. Here I’ll make it easy for you click here. Rorke’s drift took place in 1879 in Natal Province South Africa. It was a battle between 139 British troops and get this….4,500 Zulu warriors. You do the math…what was the numerical superiority of the Zulus? In any case through sheer grit, determination, toughness and using a layered defense the British were able to hold off the Zulus in what without doubt is one of the most iconic battles in military history. 

Sure mom…it’s perfectly O.K. to walk out on the ice and argue with the ref!

I’ve seen some disturbing adult human behavior as a grappling referee. I’ve seen coaches, competitors and parents go crazy and begin to vehemently argue with a referee when they don’t agree with his call. I simply don’t understand why people think they have the God given right to argue with an authority figure. If a person is at a sporting event and begins to argue with a referee or other official, is that behavior not indicative of that person’s world view? Essentially what I’m getting at is if a person thinks that they can argue with a grappling, little league, soccer referee etc… then they most likely believe that they can argue with any figure of authority. Even more disturbing is when a coach or parent carries on like an ass in front of their children or students. Acting politely and respectfully is a learned behavior. I’ve seen some competitors, parents and coaches come up to a referee after the match (which their child/student just lost because of an officiating decision) and respectfully ask the referee to explain his decision. No histrionics or vulgar display of emotion. The coach politely asks the referee to explain why a specific call was made, shakes the referees hand thanks him and walks away. The entire time the athlete child is watching this and is imprinting his coaches behavior. I’d speculate that this child will grow up and in turn treat authority figures with respect because that is how he saw the adults in his life act.

On the other hand are the coaches and parents that act like absolute maniacs that can barely contain their rage when they don’t agree with an officiating decision. I saw a referee stop a match when a kid was caught in an armbar from hell. The kid refused to tap out (most kids will never ever tap out, so the referee has to be extra diligent), the referee jumps in and saves the kid from getting his arm broken. Guess what happened? If you guessed that the kids dad went absolutely insane…you are correct. As the dad is carrying on like an ass and frothing at the mouth his kid is watching the entire time. What lesson did that child learn by watching his dad’s behavior? He learned that it is acceptable and moreover appropriate to  disrespect authority and lose self control when you don’t get what you want.

I’m 52 years old. As a child I was taught to respect authority. I remember my grandma telling me to always respect policemen. To this day that is a value that I have. In fact as I was driving home from Saturdays grappling event I was driving ehhh a bit fast  to say the least and got pulled over by a state trooper. Here is how the conversation went:

The police officer comes up to my passenger side window and taps on it. I roll down the window:

Me: Good evening officer

State trooper: Good evening sir. May I have your license and registration?

Me: (I already had my documentation in hand) Here they are sir.

State trooper: Where are you coming from?

Me: I’m coming from a grappling event in Connecticut officer.

State trooper: Where are you going?

Me: I’m going home sir.

State trooper: I pulled you over because you were driving a bit fast.

Me: Yes sir I know.

Some polite conversation takes place between us and the State trooper goes back to his car to run my license and plates. He comes back and issues me a warning not a ticket. Why did I get a warning and not a ticket for driving 25 mph over the speed limit? Who knows but I’d like to think it was because I treated the trooper with the professional courtesy and respect that he deserves. I made no excuses accepted and admitted that I was speeding and most importantly did not act like an ass.

It was reported in the news yesterday that a soccer referee died after being punched in the head by a teen player who received a yellow card. I mean really, why did that kid think he had the right to express his opinion violently and aggressively? Who did he learn that aberrant behavior from? As a consequence of his out of control behavior a man has died….over a  soccer game. Children will behave the way they are taught by the authority figures in their lives. They will also behave the way they see people that they admire like coaches and star athletes acting. Everybody hates on Tim Tebow. I ask you is it so wrong to be clean cut and quote scripture and be a good role model for kids? 

When Bruce Lee said the famous line “boards don’t hit back” in the movie Enter The Dragon people began to think that board breaking was stupid and pointless. I believe what Lee meant is what is the point of hitting a board if you can’t hit a moving opponent? Let me hip you to something, every Martial Art works great on “dead people” (the dead don’t move). Board breaking was never meant to be a measure of a Martial Artists fighting prowess. What is the point of being able to break stacks of wood or bricks if you don’t understand the practical application of the physics involved and apply them in an actual fight?

To break one or two boards is not difficult, however as the breaks gets bigger (more boards), they become much more difficult. An effective break is a function of the following:

1. Speed-acceleration
2. Inertia
3. Kinetic energy
4. Potential energy
5. And sometimes even gravitational energy and rotational energy.
6. Focus

Typically if one of the above is missing or misapplied the break is unsuccessful. Keep in mind what we are talking about here is not the break itself but the “strike” being used in the break. In this video I was doing a breaking demonstration. In the knife hand break I had to generate enough; speed, inertia and potential/kinetic energy to break every board. My primary concern was generating enough effective speed/acceleration to set the other necessary elements into motion. The day before I did the breaks shown in the video I tried to break a stack of 10 boards using the same strike. I failed to generate enough speed and acceleration and was only able to break nine of the boards.

So what is the point you ask? The point is this. Karate is not a sport like MMA, it’s for self defense. If I’m attacked I’m not going to throw a jab or a right cross. I’m going to strike my assailant in a vital area like the temple, throat, eyes or heart. If I am able to effectively punch an attacker in his heart and if that punch  has the proper combination of; speed-acceleration, inertia and potential-kinetic energy…well lets just say it won’t be a good day to be a bad guy.