The Sage Martial Arts System
I have put together a matrix of drills that are a complete martial art in and of itself. The modular organization of the system allows it to be taught in whole, in part or continually rearranged into different patterns to adapt more precisely to an individual's or group's need.
You can use this array of drills to train almost any technique in a martial arts style. Whether you choose to deepen your own art or venture into new territory, these drills are an indispensable guide to help you make your martial arts more real and instinctive.
Fencing hands, kickboxing, push hands, speed drills, footwork patterns, joint locks, kicks, take-downs can all be trained individually or synergistically.
In 2001 I began to look at all the two-person drills I could find to see what they had to offer. I discovered two drills that were very simple from Kajukenbo and Dekiti Tirsia. At that time, I had just received a teaching certificate in Krav Maga. 'Crowd' movement drills are simple, primordial, and effective under real-life brutal conditions. When a person reacts with adrenaline in a stressful situation, fine motor movements and complex motor skills go out the window. What is left is gross motor movements very similar to the basics of kickboxing. The style covers all the basic angles of attack, is easy to learn, and primordial so that it becomes easily duplicated under stress. I began to layer all of the attacks and defenses, in this primordial system, under those two drills. Afterward, I began to add every other type of block and defense against this kickboxing system and began to discover how they can all interrelate into a synergistic pattern, ranging from the primordial to the complex, without leaving any gaps.
By this time I had been a bouncer for about 6 years. I found, on a really good night, I could pull very effective and complex moves in real situations. 'Arrest night' I would resort to the primordial movements of Krav Maga. I realize that combat is also a direct function of consciousness. The more one is relaxed and in a higher state the more complex, sophisticated movements one can choose to use compared to lower states of consciousness. The more stress and excitement one has, the more primordial the movements must be.
Fighting integrates all the techniques and ranges based from simple to complex, one can easily move along the scale of survival during combat depending upon one's state of consciousness.
There are two basic models of training to get a practitioner to consistently reproduce the appropriate response in real-world scenarios. The first is a traditional method of drilling and repeating a specific defense/attack pattern thousands upon thousands of times adding more and more stress. This is supposed to burn the neural network pathways to duplicate these movements under stressful conditions. The second method functions around preset normal reactions. If you take a look at any video or picture where an accident takes place, such as an errant baseball flying into the stands, you may notice that there is an infinite number of possible physical reactions. Through a process of discovering a person's natural tendencies and movements, you can utilize these natural defenses and train them to quickly become a viable defense pattern.
By utilizing the drills I have put together, you can train one set of techniques for all the basic attacks or all the various possible responses to one particular attack. By moving through all the various possible responses a practitioner can learn several things. Firstly, they may discover what techniques are more natural and easier to execute. Secondly, the practitioner will become familiar with all modes of defense so that while they are attacking they will understand the nature of the defense. Perhaps most importantly a practitioner can learn all of the various defenses that are possible for any given attack and one begins to rapidly realize that any movement can become a viable defense. This creates a tremendous amount of freedom and adaptability to any situation. No longer is the practitioner confined or restricted by one particular defense to only one particular attack. The practitioner begins to see a pattern that emerges through all of those particular defenses and it becomes simple to defend that attack with any body position. Instead of having to think and analyze each and every attack, the practitioner is simply free to move as they feel, allowing them to focus more upon the opponent and their movements as opposed to defining what our own defenses might be. This matrix of drills is not only highly adaptable to any order technique it is also adaptable to any weapon that you may want to use, saber, combat knife, empty-hand etc., making this an incredibly versatile and dynamic art in its own right.