Noah Bragg Promoted to Junior Black Belt

Last night, Noah Bragg was promoted to Junior Black Belt in American Kenpo Karate after more than 6 years of training at Seabrook Martial Arts Academy in London, Ontario. His testing consisted of full-contact continuous stand-up sparring, a jiu jitsu roll (ground fight), and American Kenpo forms and sets. The pictures on the left were from his Junior Black Belt testing and those on the right are from when he was still a beginner at our school. Congratulations Noah!

When to Use a Modified Mount

One reason to use a modified mount is when the opponent is trying to use an elbow escape to get out of the mount position. When their elbow or hand pushes on our knee, immediately modify the mount to take away their elbow escape attempt. The modified mount is effective because it decreases the likelihood that the person trying to do an elbow escape can hook your foot that is now located in the opponent's stomach. Additionally, a modified mount is more advantageous than a full mount when the opponent rolls over to their side.

Escaping the High Mount Position

When you are being mounted and your opponent is sitting low on your hips, the elbow escape, trap and roll technique, and hip thrusts are very good options to escape. However, these techniques don't work well when the opponent is able to establish a high mount on you. Although it's possible for you to wiggle back down to try these same techniques, sometimes the opponent is effective at maintaining the high mount. In this situation, a good strategy is to place your hands in the opponent's armpits with stiff arms (assuming his hands are on the ground), bump your hips, and to place your feet quickly in the opponent's armpits to come out the back door to escape.

Timothy Brock Promoted to Junior Black Belt

A huge congratulations goes out to Timothy Brock who was promoted to Junior Black Belt in American Kenpo Karate on October 29, 2018. Timothy has been training at Seabrook Martial Arts Academy for over 7 years now, and is now on a path where he will start learning all of the self-defense techniques required for promotion to 1st Degree Black Belt. Congratulations Timothy!

Women's Assault Prevention Seminar

On October 19, 2018, Matt Trejo and I teamed up to teach a women's assault prevention seminar in London, Ontario. The class was packed! We taught how to strike effectively, how to establish a strong base, and how to defend against front chokes, wrist grabs, bear hugs, and to defend if you are on the ground and the opponent is on top of you. We also taught self-defense techniques against hair grabs and rear chokes. More seminars to come!

MGM Grand

One of my favorite places to be - the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada! This place has hosted such historic fights such as Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield 1 & 2, Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather, and Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones 1.

Maverick Helicopter Ride in Las Vegas

Last night Chantel and I had the opportunity to take a helicopter ride over the strip in Las Vegas for our wedding anniversary. We had such a great time and I highly recommend taking this ride if you are ever in Las Vegas.

Swinging Pendulum - Common Problem

I thought I would share a common problem I see in students when practicing Swinging Pendulum (although this could apply for any technique in Kenpo that starts in a neutral bow where we move up the circle to get out of the way of an attack). When the roundhouse kick comes at us, and we step back with our left foot and use a positional universal block to the opponent's kick, be sure that your feet are in a straight line and that they don't cross. In other words, stepping back too far with your left foot so that it is behind your right foot means that you are getting in your own way, thus limiting your ability to effectively use your back leg.

Blast from the Past Photo

This photo goes back almost 4 years (November 24, 2014) and was taken immediately after Brennan's promotion to 1st Degree Black Belt in American Kenpo at Seabrook Martial Arts Academy.

Ontario Open International Jiu Jitsu Championships

Here is a picture of Matt and I before we fought in the Ontario Open International Jiu Jitsu Championships in September 2016 in Toronto, Canada.

Kenpo Karate Techniques on YouTube

Hi Everyone,

I have decided to put every Kenpo Karate self-defence technique that I teach at Seabrook Martial Arts Academy up on YouTube. This will obviously take some time, but my goal is to have each video lasting anywhere from 1-5 minutes so that someone watching it can get a broad understanding of the application of the technique, and demonstrated at a high level of proficiency. Obviously, the more advanced the self-defense technique, the longer the video will be. The techniques will not be put up in any sequential order, but they will all eventually be available. A couple of days ago, I uploaded Delayed Sword, Lone Kimono, and Five Swords.

Jamie

More pictures from the 1st degree black belt grading

Reese Wunnink - 1st Degree Black Promotion

After 9 years of training at Seabrook Martial Arts Academy, last night I promoted Reese Wunnink to 1st Degree Black Belt in American Kenpo Karate. For the final portion of his testing, Reese had to fight 4 black belts at the same time: Matt Trejo (4th Degree), John McDonald (4th Degree), Brennan Weatherhead (3rd Degree), and Vince Brock (1st Degree). Reese Wunninck is the 32nd student I have promoted to 1st Degree Black belt level since opening my school 23 years ago. Congratulations Reese!

Pictures from my seminar at Southwell's Can-Am Camp

Here are a couple of photos from my seminar at the Can-Am Camp. As always, it's a huge honor to be able to teach at the same event as Grandmaster Larry Tatum.

Grandmaster Larry Tatum Seminar

Tonight I had the opportunity to teach a seminar at Southwell's Can-Am Kenpo Camp. My seminar consisted of footwork drills (both offensive and defensive), single-hand collar grab defenses, front choke defenses, bear hug defenses from the front, mount escapes, and the Americana Armlock from the mount. After my seminar, Grandmaster Larry Tatum taught the 8 considerations of combat, as well as Delayed Sword, Sword of Destruction, Deflecting Hammer, Captured Twigs, Grasp of Death, Checking the Storm, Mace of Aggression, Attacking Mace, and Triggered Salute. Such an honor to be able to teach at the same event, and to learn from one of the best Kenpo black belts of all time.

The problem with training jiu jitsu for sport

One of the biggest problems with many sport Brazilian Jiu Jitsu schools is because you aren't allowed to strike (e.g., punch, kick) in tournaments, instructors put little to no emphasis on street self-defense against common striking attacks in their schools. For this reason, I can't say enough about how impressed I am with the Gracie Jiu Jitsu curriculum as taught be Rener and Ryron Gracie at Gracie University. Their focus is 100% street survival, as taught by their grandfather, Grandmaster Helio Gracie. I recommend Gracie Jiu Jitsu to everyone who is interested in learning street self-defense and want to improve their physical and mental health.

Chantel meets E.L. James!

Guess who Chantel got to meet today in Fort Lauderdale, Florida? E.L. James, author of the famous Fifty Shades books!

Tip for defending against a toe hold

If you get caught in a toe hold, turn 90 degrees on the same angle as your big toe and then the toe hold is no longer effective.

Matt Trejo: Blast from the PAST!

Where does time go? This photo was taken almost 14 years ago after Matt Trejo won 2nd place in full-contact continuous fighting at the Canadian Open Martial Arts Championship in October 2004. One of the most exciting things about this particular division, however, was that Matt was a Green Belt in American Kenpo, and all other competitors were black belts. Matt took 2nd place in a very close final match, and really dominated one of his fights against a high-ranking Kung-Fu expert.

Today, I am 43 and Matt is 34. I'm totally fine with that, but don't we look the same age in the picture? I think I've aged!

Crossing your feet from the back mount

As a jiu jitsu practitioner, you need to avoid crossing your feet from the back mount. Crossing your feet allows your foot to get broken through the use of a figure-four foot-lock. In general, if the opponent's left foot is crossed on top, we use our left (top) foot to wrap over their foot (not ankle), before using our other leg to apply the figure-four position.

Establishing your back mount hooks from the turtle position

If your opponent is in the turtle position and you are having a tough time getting your hooks in on the opponent's legs, punches to the head, submission attempts to the neck, and spreading the opponent's base are three methods which should allow you to get your hooks in.

Strong side vs. weak side back mount

When you take someone's back and you have back mount control, falling to the over-hooked arm (strong side) generally means your control is not as strong, although it's better for chokes. Conversely, falling to the under-hooked arm (weak side) means that your control is better. Also, falling to the under-hooked arm means that you not only have chokes, but arm isolation techniques, triangles, and arm locks.