Why You Should #FightBack

South Africa is in crisis. We know this. We’ve known it for a while. The statistics are not only shocking, they’re terrifying. Every day there are violent crimes committed, people lose their belongings, their loved ones or their lives to the scourge. The police are overwhelmed and undermanned, and let’s not even get started on …

#AmINext

Open letter to the women of South Africa, from a South African woman: Yes, you probably are. I probably am. Women: learn to defend yourself. You are not a hapless victim. You are not just a set of sex organs. BUT: you ARE responsible for your own safety. Stop thinking that rape is about sex. …

Find Your Centre – Your Centre of Gravity!

Last week we learned how to breathe. Now we’re going to try breathing and walking at the same time! It may sound very obvious and a little stupid, but bear with me. If you want to completely optimise your body and muscles and movement, whether for training or just for well-being, your centre of gravity …

Mixing Martial Arts & the Road to Chi-Do Combat Arts

I started my martial arts career with the most obvious one, of course, karate, when I was seven years old. After about three months, I wanted to quit because I hated it. I found it boring, and I felt uncomfortable with the way they asked me to force my body into movements and structures that …

Breathing Isn’t Just Breathing, And Here’s How To Optimise Your Lungs

Ordinary, shallow breathing is what we all do, all day, without even noticing it. But when you start breathing properly, there’s a whole range of health benefits to be gained. What does breathing techniques have to do with martial arts? Everything! Proper breathing form and technique during training is very important. Martial arts is aimed …

Chi-Do Newsletter!

So we've decided to start a newsletter. The reason for this is: we have spent months building a great following on Facebook, only to have Facebook limit our audience reach because they'd rather have sponsored content than organic reach. While Facebook Ads are great and all, we'd like to communicate with our followers and not …

8 Tips For Preventing Smash-and-Grab Attacks

Smash-and-grab attacks occur frequently at traffic lights and stop streets – and not necessarily in the middle of the night in a lonely streets. Criminals are becoming more and more brazen and will not hesitate to shove a firearm in your face at a busy intersection in broad daylight. Here are 8 tips that may …

Interschools Fever

Interschools fever has gripped Paarl once again, with blue and green banners going up everywhere and the schools’ flags flying prominently. The alliances are ready, the Old Boys’ and Gimmies are preparing to square off in advance of Saturday’s big rugby match, and the drumbeats and singing can be heard until late in the evening. …

If You Can’t Stand The Heat…

Let’s talk about pain. Specifically, pain experienced during self-defense or martial arts training. More importantly, let’s talk about the importance of pain experienced during training. I teach – specifically – a unique system combining military close quarter combat (special forces training) and certain martial arts. This system is bloody painful. It’s also efficient and deadly …

Damage Control

Don’t wait until it’s too late. There’s a lot of reasons people don’t want to participate in self-defense classes. They think it’s for sissies, that it’s ineffective and that [insert martial art of your choice here] will be better (It’s not). There’s still this stigma around self-defense that for some reason makes people think we …

Friday 11/05

It’s Friday! A quick look back on this week: During Monday evening’s class, one of the students asked me about takedowns, and how to stop an attacker from taking you to the ground. The thing is, you can’t necessarily stop him from taking you to the ground – you might be smaller, not as strong, …