The purpose of learning how to fight is not only to be able to defend yourself against any assailant. The main goal is to understand the philosophy and principles that will free your mind and body from being intimidated by anyone. Including your own ignorance and preconceived ideas. It will also help you not to overreact in challenging situations. Though some martial artists never reach this level and still operate in ways that are insensitive, the ones who do take the art passed punches and kicks develop a deeper connection with themselves and the world around them. They are also more thoughtful and strategize at a higher level.

An esoteric truth is, you really do not have another opponent to fight against. You only meet yourself. So the person you are fighting, is only you in another form. If you can see through yourself, you’ll be able to see through the b.s. your opponent dishes out to you. They may be charging you, trying to intimidate you,  trying to feign confidence when say...

First of all, training as a martial artist should not only be considered when you are in class. Real training starts when you are at home. If you have a training partner, that is better, but work with what you got. Now the reason why I’m saying this, is because you can put in the actual hours, focus, and intensity into the techniques you need to focus on, when you are at home. No one is moving you on to the next drill without you fully grasping the current drill. 

Anyway, the reason why your training should be tougher than actual combat, is because you are teaching your body to endure strain and difficultly. So when the real thing occurs, you will be as efficient and effective as possible. Even if the actual fight does last for a long time, your body and mind will be used to it and it will feel like a breeze. Most people do not give it 100% when they train, that leads them to develop lazy habits when they fight someone on the street. They get tired, they run out of breathe, or get ...

The first thing I want to say is, never get caught up in a certain style of fighting. Every style has its strengths and its weaknesses. On top of that, there can never really be a different style of fighting, unless we as human beings started to grow another set of arms and legs. Other than that, we only have two arms and two legs. In fighting, there is a point where there are punches that are thrown, maybe even kicks. Then some how the two people get close together and end up on the floor, where grappling and wrestling is thrown into the mix. It is a smart thing to learn a mixture of styles, because you want to prepare for anything and everything that can happen.

Chances are, you are probably not a kid reading this, so you do not have the time to master a certain style and repeatedly move on to the next. That is why I do not focus on one style in my courses. My mind is not closed to thinking there is only one supreme way of fighting. I put the essential styles together in a simple w...

A.O.M.A. is a martial arts school that was started to genuinely help other people become great fighters. As I attended martial arts schools in the past and reflect on all my teachers, they would only give you a little information. Like punch the face or kick the body, and not tell you exactly where to aim for to get maximum power out of your blows. They are doing it for a good reason in their own eyes. They do not want their students out performing them and using their techniques to beat them, if it ever came down to it. Or they do not want their students using it for the wrong reasons. So, they will give you surface information of the technique and not the whole thing. They leave you to figure that out by yourself, if you ever do figure it out. I am comfortable with what I can do and I am very self sufficient. In my classes, I will teach you the short cuts of what took me 25 years of experience to learn. 

As I said before, I am genuinely teaching you what I know. I will not hol...

Deception is a key part of combat. All my previous adversaries made the mistake of sizing me up pretty quickly. They assumed I did not know how to fight. It may be because of my innocent face or calm demeanor, but they thought it would be an easy ego boost that they can brag to their friends about and say, they beat someone up today. In that, they let down their guard, because their ego has taken over. I never underestimate anyone I fight, I treat them as if they can fight as good as me. That keeps my awareness at its peak. The worst thing you can do, is get too cocky and comfortable with yourself, because life will then send someone your way to teach you a lesson.

Before a fight gets physical and your opponent is trying to intimidate you, never feel the need to not be yourself,  let the aggressor peacock himself around, saying whatever he/she wants to say out loud. Be confident and if you choose to say something or nothing, do it from an honest place. Not because you feel pressured t...

How you do one thing, is how you are going to do everything else. Whether it be consciously or unconsciously. A person who has problems controlling their emotions will be the easiest adversary to defeat, because their anger will blind them. Anger stops an individual from seeing what is right before their eyes, due to their emotions being out of whack. When your emotions are high, your intelligence is low, because your emotions  will be clouding your rational mind, leading you to not reason clearly. Have you ever heard of a person committing murder and had no criminal background? They say they blacked out and did not remember what happened. Some do black out and others do not, but both become a victim to their emotions. They are filled with such rage, that their lower nature takes over. Even close relatives and friends of that person have problems believing that they did the act. That person’s emotions were so high, that they lost control and did something out of their character.

How c...

One of the attributes of being a great fighter, relies on a person being a great active listener. Actively listening to someone is different from hearing someone and fighting against someone is different from being in a fight with them. In hearing another person, sound is just going in your ears, it is not a mental skill where you are weighing everything they are giving you. Active listening requires a different skill. In this, you act accordingly to what the person is telling you or suggesting and pay attention to all the small cues. An example of this is being aware of a person's tone of voice, eye contact, mannerisms, the flow of their speech, what they say, what they do not say, and being aware of their physical habits and how they change when certain matters are brought up. It is a mental attribute. If you are 100 percent present when you are with someone in conversation, you will be present to your adversary when they are launching an attack your way. You will use that day to day...