A Modern Guide to Understanding Real-World Personal Protection

Let’s get right to it—what is self-defense?

At first glance, this seems like a simple question. But spend five minutes in a martial arts forum or scroll through a few viral self-defense videos, and you’ll quickly see that the answer is...

Was this the holy grail story self-defense instructors needed—or a cautionary tale we misunderstood?

It’s been a few years since UFC fighter Anthony Smith made headlines after a violent home invasion shook his household. And while every “reality-based” self-defense coach rushed to use this story as...

Should you punch in a real fight? This question comes up in every martial arts gym, dojo, or self-defense seminar, and the answers are usually rooted in tradition, stylistic bias, or instructor preference. But let’s take a step back and look at the science, injury risk, and real-world application—es...

If I can give one piece of advice to any self-defense instructor—or honestly, anyone trying to make sense of this chaotic world—it’s this: don’t fall into the statistics trap. In the age of disinformation, where everyone has a platform and every post comes with a fact-check badge or a viral headline...

If you’ve spent more than a minute in the self-defense world, you already know knife defense is a hot topic—and a highly emotional one. Every system claims to have the answer, every coach insists their method is best, and every demo ends with the defender walking away untouched, like they just won a...

Let’s cut straight to it: the biggest mistake I see coaches make when teaching self-defense is this—teaching “moment-in-time” solutions instead of the whole damn picture.

You know the ones I’m talking about. Those “If he grabs you like this, do this” demos that are basically TikTok choreography for...