Old School Karate

Jesse posted this 6 years ago, but IMHO it is one of his better videos.

How To Practice KATA For Self-Defense (Without A Partner) Learn practical Karate training from Jesse "The Karate Nerd" Enkamp...

This is excellent!

It has always fascinated me how people approach tradition and the past.

So many become gatekeepers of preservation to the point that they reject adaptation and flexibility entirely. If a drill, kata, or training method was not personally handed down by some sanctified founder centuries ago, then to them it is somehow illegitimate. If it was created recently, it cannot possibly be “authentic.” The thinking resembles the old joke: it is not Champagne unless it comes from the Champagne region.

Yet a person may spend 30, 40, or 50 years immersed in a tradition, absorbing its principles so deeply that they can express its strategies, tactics, and mechanics naturally through new training methods. Even then, many will dismiss what they created simply because it is recent. What an odd contradiction that is.

We often readily accept that the founders themselves were innovators. They adapted. They experimented. They synthesized ideas from experience, pressure, necessity, and changing circumstances. What we now call “traditional” was often revolutionary in its own time.

This mindset exists far beyond martial arts. Fans of almost anything tend to freeze their idea of authenticity around whichever version they first fell in love with. Music, films, games, technology, fighting systems, philosophy, religion. The “true” version is usually defined as the one that existed before a specific change arrived.

But evolution is not betrayal, it's a survival mechanism.

In nature, the species that cannot adapt eventually disappear. A single unforeseen problem can wipe out an entire population that lacks the ability to evolve.

Traditions are no different. When a tradition loses the ability to grow, refine, experiment, and respond to new realities, it slowly transforms from a living system into a museum exhibit.

Preservation, History, and Respect for lineage matters. But traditions that survive for generations are rarely the ones carved in stone.

They are the ones kept alive by people who understood the principles deeply enough to let the art continue breathing through generations.

What if stances are only for training, not for fighting, given that combat is fluid and unpredictable?

THIS! Read it more than once. Internalize it. Very important!

If you are like most people, you probably hope you will never have to face real violence.

Recently I wrote about awareness, because the best self-defense decisions often happen long before anything physical begins. The earlier you notice a problem, the more options you have. Sometimes the best outcome is simply stepping off the tracks before the train arrives.

During my time working as an EMT, I was often paired with a crew-mate who had no background in physical self-defense. That was normal. We had conflict management training, but not quite the same.

One call in particular stands out, although situations like it were not uncommon, and attacks on personnel are becoming more frequent. We were called to a man who was intoxicated and had multiple head wounds. He didn’t want help, but with police assistance we managed to get him back to his home so we could at least assess and treat him there.

We cleaned him up, dressed his wounds, and tried to evaluate him for possible head injury. As we worked, his behavior began to shift. He became more agitated, more unpredictable. At the same time, he was absolutely refusing transport to the hospital.

Then he stood up and walked with clear intent toward the kitchen.

While I was still talking to him, both my partner and I followed. My partner was slightly ahead of me, focused on conversation.

As I watched the patient move, something felt wrong. Not dramatic. Just wrong.

I noticed him glance toward a butcher’s block on the counter. His movement shifted toward it. My partner did not see it at all.

I moved forward and positioned myself between him, my partner, and the knives. I didn’t announce it. I just changed the physical picture of the room.

The patient himself seemed to notice something had changed, and we were able to slow things down, calm him, and eventually persuade him to come with us to the hospital.

Nothing physical happened. And that was the success.

People have asked what technique I would have used if he had grabbed a knife. That is the wrong question.

The moment that mattered was before that. It was noticing the change in intent.

There was no checklist running in my head. No step by step process. Just a small shift in behavior that signaled risk.

That is what awareness actually looks like. Not mystical instinct. Not guessing. Trained perception, even with the probability of distraction.

In that room, both my partner and I had access to the same information. Same patient. Same environment. Same moment. The difference was interpretation.

This is why awareness is not trained by adding more content. It is trained by removing interference.

In self-defense, early options matter just as much as physical ones. Distance. Positioning. Tone of voice. Body language. The ability to read intent before action. These things often decide outcomes before force is ever considered.

This was more than just a feeling. It was pattern recognition built over years. Small signals. Changes in movement. Shifts in attention. None of them dramatic alone, but meaningful together.

I remember a similar moment in the dojo when a student was becoming frustrated while trying a technique. Again, I noticed a shift in body language and intent, and stopped them ‘kicking off’ before they even realized they were about to. The student later said to me, “You were right - but how did you know?”

Responsible preparation is not just learning how to fight. It’s learning how to notice.

The goal is not to win confrontations. The goal is to get out of danger. Either you manage the threat early, or you deal with it later under worse conditions.

Your safety has always been your responsibility. And very often, the best outcomes happen when nothing physical happens at all.

Self-defense does not start with a technique. It starts with noticing that something is wrong.

Awareness isn’t something you add. It’s what remains when you stop ignoring what is right in front of you.


– Adam Carter

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I have never trained in Silat, but everything Maul Mornie says could’ve come right out of my mouth. I resonate with so much in this video, especially at the end when he’s talking martial arts/family/life. 

Real Silat Is TERRIFYING Maul Mornie explains deadly Silat weapons for self-defense - including machete, knife and sai (tekpi).Big thanks to Silat Suffian Bela Diri GermanyFilmed by ...

This is the essence of bunkai.