Blitz - June-July 2017

TECHNIQUE WORKSHOP

Jim, what

important

lesson that

you’ve learned

during your

martial arts

journey do you believe

your students (and Blitz

readers) would most

benefit from knowing

sooner rather than later?

One of the most important

lessons I’ve learnt from my

30-plus years in martial

arts, is that how and

what you think decides

the majority of your life.

Everyone knows this on

some level, but most people

don’t do anything about it.

There are those that will put

thought into certain parts

of their lives, especially if it’s

something they excel at, but

they don’t seem to put as

much thought into the rest

of their lives — the everyday

aspects. How and what you

think decides how you will

feel, how you feel decides

what you will do and what

you do decides the quality

and outcome of your life.

The longer I train and

teach, the easier everything

seems to become. This is

because of the thought

process behind it all. I

believe that there are only

a few universal principles

in martial arts, so you need

to put your thoughts and

efforts into those and

not into 10,000 different

techniques. If you improve

your understanding of

principles and put them

into the other parts of your

life, you will streamline your

thought process as well as

your physical abilities. In

short, improve your thinking

and it will improve your life.

JIM ARMSTRONG // Defence against an upward groin kick

Raw Combatives

123

START

Q

&

A

Facing an irate man whose tight pants

seem to be restricting optimal blood

flow to the brain, Jim maintains calm,

distance and a subtle passive guard.

Jim then steps back and drops

his weight to bring the aggressor

down, with his rear arm

protecting his foe’s head from

impact...

...and rolls the aggressor face-down with

his shin/knee, enabling Jim to apply a

restraint or escape.

As the aggressor suddenly launches

into a surprise punt for Jim’s family

jewels, Jim begins angling off to the

outside...

78

...turning his lead hip and

leg inward to check the

straight kick at an angle...

...then uses both hands to

spin the aggressor around

so Jim is now behind him.

56

FINISH

...as he simultaneously shoots

his leading hand out into the

attacker’s face. Stepping through

behind his strike...

4

...Jim continues forward and

follows up with a palm-strike

under the jaw with his rear hand

while seizing the opponent’s

near shoulder with the other...

54 ƫđƫ333ċ(%06)#ċ*!0 | (^) ON THE MAT