Self-Defense

I. Evade

5 minutes and 7 seconds
Dave gives an introductory overview of the bio-mechanics, body positioning, and structural alignment needed to maximize the balance, power, and efficiency of your foot movements. Pay very close attention to all the details in this module. The foot movements are the “engine” of this entire self-defense system.

9 minutes and 5 seconds
Dave Weinberg gives an introductory explanation of foot movements 1-6. The foot movements are the heart and soul of FMKJ. They can not only help to save your life, but they are also the source of offensive power for your strikes, locks, throws, and counters. You can never get enough reps of the foot movement no matter how long you’ve been training and regardless of how “advanced” you become. The students who develop the highest levels of skill in this system are the students who continuously keep practicing the basics. There aren’t really any advanced techniques. You just learn to layer one basic foundational skill on top of another basic foundational skill and then the “magic” happens when you start empowering synergy. The sum becomes greater than the individual parts.

8 minutes and 46 seconds
Follow along and practice with Dave as he leads you through foot movements 1-10 while altering the positions of his arms (arms crossed in front of you, hands on your head, etc.). These are important drills that help to promote your ability to defend yourself regardless of your hand or arm positioning.

7 minutes and 2 seconds
Dave demonstrates how to defend yourself with foot movements 1-10 while your hands our in your pockets. This is an important exercise to practice at home. With the popularity of the “Knockout Game” on the rise in various cities it’s important to know how to evade threats when your hands are not in a ready position.

4 minutes and 15 seconds
Indio gives an introduction on integrating foot movements with various strikes. He demonstrates some simple strikes and also some complex movements that combine multiple strikes all while executing foot movements 1-10.

9 minutes and 38 seconds
Dave demonstrates how to integrate elbow strikes simultaneously with your foot movements. This will allow you to evade and recycle that momentum to also hit. Another way of looking at this is defense and offense merging as one. This is a great exercise solo drill to practice at home.

9 minutes and 24 seconds
Dave breaks down the science of how to execute low offensive kicks. The kicks are executed while simultaneously utilizing foot movements 1-10 for evasion. Learning this timing and coordination will greatly increase your striking power and abilities. This is a great exercise to practice by yourself at home.

4 minutes and 9 seconds
Dave Weinberg explains and demonstrates how to throw knee strikes while simultaneously applying foot movements 1-10. This will allow you to evade while simultaneously striking with your knees for more power. This also helps to shave off time by employing concepts of economy of motion.

4 minutes and 50 seconds
Indio demonstrates how to integrate your foot movements with various strikes such as elbows, knees, and kicks. You can follow along with Indio and practice at home. No training partner is needed for this exercise.

8 minutes and 4 seconds
Dave explains how heavy objects such as kettlebells can be used in combination with the first 10 foot movements to help gain a better understanding of how to connect with and project your “center.” This exercise will help you to increase your balance, power, and efficiency. This is a great exercise to practice at home.

3 minutes and 25 seconds
Follow along with Indio as he demonstrates a simple solo exercise that you can practice to gain more awareness of your center and center line while practicing foot movements 1-10. The goal of all your foot movements is not to move your feet. It is to learn to move your center with balance and efficiency. However, your center cannot move itself physically without you moving your feet. it takes practice, focus, and patience to learn how to connect your center to your foot movements and eventually how to connect your center to all your body movements.

2 minutes and 37 seconds
Indio demonstrates a great exercise of practicing foot movements 1-10 with your eyes closed. This will force you to develop heightened levels of sensitivity and detect how strong your balance actually is when you no longer have a visual horizon point to help keep your balance.

10 minutes and 33 seconds
Dave demonstrates a home exercise that will allow you to build up your coordination to strike and move your hands while practicing foot movements 1-10. This simple exercise will help you learn how to effortlessly unbalance your opponent and control his spine while utilizing your foot movements.If you’re curious about the application of this idea you can skip ahead to the “Create” section of the self-defense core curriculum and view the module, “Create — Demonstration Of Quick Draw Application With Spiraling Hands.” Hope you enjoy it.

22 minutes and 15 seconds
Indio demonstrates foot movements 1 – 40 and explains various bio-mechanics that are needed to make these foot movements work effectively against various attacks. This is fundamental information to learn, study, and master. A martial artist without good footwork is not much of a martial artist. It is recommended that you watch and later re-watch this video as your understanding of martial science deepens.

2 minutes and 55 seconds
Dave explains the importance of practicing and mastering your foot movements for both defense and offense. The foot movements are one of the most… if not the most… important components of FMKJ and any combat art that focuses on defending against weapons and multiple attackers.

8 minutes and 23 seconds
Dave Weinberg explains the timing that is needed for street survival evasions and effective entrances for counter attacks. Once this is understood the “skip step” foot work can be added to increase your ability to enter to your opponent’s space.

4 minutes and 9 seconds
Dave explains how the legs can defend against kicks once we learn how to redirect incoming kicks with our own legs. This can be integrated with knee strikes so offense and defense happen virtually simultaneously for maximum effectiveness.

7 minutes and 25 seconds
Dave explains the importance of peripheral vision or combat vision for street self-defense. This simple yet powerful concept is critical for your survival on the streets. This topic is often overlooked at many martial art schools. This is really important for dealing with multiple attackers, weapons, opponents who move very quickly, in close quarters where there is not a lot of room to move, or even in open areas where you could easily trip or bump into your surroundings.

18 minutes and 17 seconds
Dave gives an important overview on evasion with foot movements 1 – 8. The ideas presented in this module will give you the foundation to later learn how to integrate your hands along with your foot movements to pass and redirect the angles of attack. Some of the concepts presented were discussed briefly in the Combat Science Introduction video. This module gets into more depth. Please make sure to watch this entire video before skipping ahead. To master Freedman’s Method Ketsugo Jiu-Jitsu* we must master the fundamentals. There are no shortcuts.

24 minutes and 26 seconds
Dave explains how to redirect the 9 angles of attack utilizing your right and left hand. He also discusses important body dynamics such as how to maximize leverage by utilizing the area closet to your elbow to manipulate your opponent’s trajectory.

7 minutes and 55 seconds
Dave demonstrates and explains how to use the left hand to redirect an attack coming on the 9 angles. Whether or not you are right handed or left handed it’s important to develop skill sets with both hands. There are many situations on the street where one hand could be preoccupied or injured and you will be forced to use your non dominant hand. Additionally, when defending against multiple attackers you will need to utilize both hands for survival.

7 minutes and 15 seconds
Dave teaches the fundamentals for passing an attack from all 9 angles by utilizing his left and right hand. He explains some differences that will help you distinguish passing from redirecting.Please note that Dave keeps his left hand behind his back just to make it easier to watch his right hand during this training module. In a real life encounter you typically would not do this. You would want both hands to be available when called upon.

6 minutes and 28 seconds
Dave demonstrates how to evade and pass the 9 angles of attack utilizing both hands at the same time. He also weighs the pros and cons of redirecting and passing and when one might be better than another. This is a fundamental video to watch. If you can’t survive the attack then it makes no different how good you are at unbalancing or striking or joint locking or ground fighting, etc.

5 minutes and 33 seconds
In this video, Dave demonstrates the use of fundamental 7 and 8 foot movements and how they can be used to get out of the way from any attack. He explains how the hands can be added to simultaneously pass energy with the hands while utilizing the foot movements.

9 minutes and 32 seconds
Dave gives an introductory overview of the applications of “limb destruction” (striking the opponents hands and arms to cause pain by attacking nerves and pressure points). Limb destruction is often employed while you’re executed a foot movement to evade an attack on the 9 angles. As with any strike it could also bleed into or become part of your creating/causing trauma as well.

2 minutes and 51 seconds
Indio demonstrates how to avoid being taken down to the ground when a grappler shoots in on your person. He shows how a simple side-step in combination with passing/striking with the hands can set up some fast and powerful self-defense counters.

0 minutes and 58 seconds
Indio briefly critiques students in this group class on what to look for with your eyes when a grappler tries to shoot in on you and take you down to the ground. The grappler is either going to shoot straight in or he is going to be positioned more toward your right side or left side.

11 minutes and 28 seconds
Indio explains in depth how timing is critical for defending against a grappler trying to shoot in on you and take you down to the ground. Indio shows how this timing of when to move can set up various counter attacks and techniques against the grappler. Proper timing is everything.

6 minutes and 4 seconds
In this video Grandmaster Freedman shares some of the life and death encounters he faced while growing up in Boston’s South End, one of the most violent areas of the city. He explains how you should always do your best to talk your way out of trouble. However, sometimes you have no choice, but to defend yourself physically.