“You simply can’t go around telling people what they have been doing for years is completely wrong and has no value, no matter how ‘progressive’ you think that you might be, you’d be very wrong!” These are the unlikely words of long-time personal security consultant, ex-military specialist and seasoned doorman, twenty-five year martial arts veteran […]
“As well as the impact and partner work, I find that strength training benefits the tools dramatically, after all what good is any tool without the right machine to make it work?” Mick Coup – C2: Core Combatives In the previous two articles I have discussed some of the fundamental theory and practice behind C2: […]
“I really try to stress the understanding of the principles, which promotes that self-teaching approach, which in turn promotes endless free-thinking applications – real combat is a lonely business, there’s nobody available to think for you!” -Mick Coup – C2: Core Combatives I entered Glen Smith’s fully-equipped Boxing and Grappling gymnasium ready for sore fists […]
Picture the scene: you are an eager adult martial arts student with a firm interest in realistic combat methods for today’s civilian and, having found a club that seems to tick all your criteria boxes, you are suddenly paired with a child training partner. You are a no-nonsense type of person and a veteran of […]
How do we teach children to be efficient students of realistic self-protection and martial arts? It’s a tough question and if training children is to be seen as an allegory for teaching fundamentals then it is not surprising that this very element is where the martial arts education industry is at its weakest. I see […]
Previously I discussed the social barriers that often stand in the way of teaching children realistic self-protection. In this article we look at what I believe we should be teaching children in the context of realistic self-protection, but first let us look at how these barriers, if we let them, severely impede our honest intentions. […]
“Why”: the dreaded single syllable word that a child can use repeatedly to raise an adult’s temperature and stretch his comfortable and established philosophies of logic, reason and beliefs to breaking point. I have seen many an adult reduced to a blubbering mess or a ranting dictator, as he tries to explain and justify his […]
I look back on 5th November 2006 and find myself fighting a very “alive” internal battle to preserve my journalistic integrity and not to insert a firework metaphor to describe the central character of this seminar report. For those who are not acquainted with Matt Thornton’s Straight Blast Gym buzzwords, “Aliveness” is a term used […]
“Looks like every man and his dog are 'reality based' these days… I don't ‘base’ my stuff on reality – it is reality, for guys like me anyway! I'm going out to use my stuff everyday, any day, on a job and I'm not just facing drunks unarmed either!” – Mick Coup, Founder of C2: […]
The room is silent. I stand with my eyes shut, trying to remain relaxed. The atmosphere might appear calm, but I know something is about to happen. I wait in complete darkness, in an almost forced meditative state, for what seems like ages. "G'me your money now!" A man slaps a choke on me and […]