KORA Method: A Proven Formula for Martial Arts Success

A slightly revised and refined formula for success for our KORA method.

Avoid.

Disable.

Kill.

Ideally, we would avoid and go a long way to do that. Failing that, we may disable and, on occasions, kill. Context is so important in combat training, but many martial artists don’t even have a formula that has been a proven success in the past.

Even with a successful formula, you have to act, and the art has to be ingrained into your subconscious to come out. That means daily solo training and regular partner training, which has an alive element of play.

A body, mind and spirit dedicated to a suitable outcome.

Basque Strength

Paulino Uzcudun, 1920s and 30s heavyweight known as “The Basque Woodchopper” as he used to enter traditional wood-chopping competitions in his native Regil, Spain.

I learnt a little bit of Savate from that region, totally different outlook from the Paris crowd.

Solo Training

I have about a week’s worth of enforced solo training ahead of me, which is not really a problem as I have a lot of solo work to draw from. Today’s session was a mixture of Sera jurus, Karbi Krabong modified for my stick fighting and some sword strokes combined with footwork.

Yes, before anyone emails me, I know that solo training is part of a total training system that includes partner work and free play.

There are many ways to set your mind for solo work; you can imagine you are in a fight with your opponent(s), you can also imagine demonstrating in front of your teacher as if he is present and watching. I have tried both these over the years, with very mixed results.

When I first started out with some long-distance training, my teacher would show me a motion, sometimes on video, and I would perform it on my own in front of a mirror to make sure it looked at least correct regarding the basic motions. Whilst this is a great way to start long-distance learning, it’s my experience that you need to move away from a mirror as soon as you have the basic motion down.

The reason to move away from the mirror is that you need to develop a body feel inside you when performing solo movements. This is the ideal time to get it just right for solo body feel with only gravity and your own body to fight against. Every now and again, I check out the motion in a mirror or video it to review it later, but for the most part, my solo training is just me in a training place, much like a yoga practice.  

The challenge for me is staying in the correct flow state and not daydreaming because it’s easy to drift off as you flow along. I need to be in the room and very present.

Today staying in the room was a struggle. I actually felt like throwing my training sword away at points but persevered and now have that clear mind that you get post solo training.

So be in the room and keep at it until you are happy.  

Logging Flight Time

Throughout the 1970s, 1980’s and 1990’s I logged every martial arts training opportunity and workout session, tracking the total number of minutes each month. At some point in the early 2000s, I gave up, probably because I was no longer competing. I also lost all my training logs during a house move, which means I have lost a few decades of training logs.

There are several reasons it’s helpful to track your flight hours, mainly because it’s almost impossible to track personal training hours unless you have a set regime that you also ways follow. This regime will probably be overseen by another (Coach) who is tracking you. Even during my military service, I was never a full-time martial artist and always had a day job, so it was important to track my time involvement and the results. I probably got the idea to add the number of training minutes into my boxing coach’s notebooks as I had to log hours for my coaching certificate.

This years notebook

Since I started training, I have always kept a notebook to record my personal activity, lessons and outcomes. In the 1970’s it was mostly recording boxing, Judo and sword training; in the 1980’s I added Combatives and Muay Thai, closely followed by FMA, Silat and JKD. The 1990s were mainly about Vale Tudo (now MMA). I always kept up the note-taking but abandoned the minute counting.

In May, I set out a plan for my personal training for the rest of the year and resurrected my flight time logging. I realised I wanted to concentrate on the following for my personal training:

Sera.

Sword.

Grappling.

KORA Stand Up.

I realised that by learning and studying separate disciplines and upkeeping skills in the others, I would have to better use my available free time.

I currently do the following; I log every training opportunity, including private lessons with my teachers, what we covered and use those notes to update my study notes and teaching plans. I record health exercises such as stretching, fitness and weight training, solo training, and equipment work, including hitting the heavy bag. I record by the minute as some of the exercises only take ten minutes, a good example being my daily hip stretch.

Month Minutes
June 865
July1785
August
September
October
November
December
Total2650
The new log

I add up the minutes at the end of each month and record them in an excel sheet. No doubt I could be more detailed and break things down by discipline, but total hours completed works for me. I can always refer back to my notebook to see if I am slaking in my sword training.

At the end of each month, I cross-reference the total hours and then dial down what went well or bad. An excellent example from June was slaking on my solo sword training; my teacher noticed the outcome of this and mentioned it. In July, I added in twenty minutes a day, each day, to practice my basic sword motions. Keeping a daily log triggered me to slot in those twenty minutes of swordplay or double up the next day if I missed a session.

The result is a personal improvement for me and so well worth the ten minutes a day to log flight time.

The Balance of Contact in Bare-Knuckle Training

Scuffing within our KORA system means working on bare-knuckle striking. Experience has taught our group that there has to be a balance between contact and repartition to avoid long term damage to the hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders and neck.

Over the years, I have seen people, even pros, overdo it, and the results have always been long term, career-ending injuries.

So light and often seems to be the way for most people. I tend to hit my bag bare-knuckle after each training session for a round to build confidence and get used to the slightly different feel.  We do it to build confidence, and it gives us a choice between using palms and fists.  You can actually intermix your scuffing sessions with palms, hacks, slaps and fist sticking.

Add elbows, clinch, knees, and kicks to practice the cross over between each.

Please see the video of me below, filmed just post covid infection as an illustration. Please note the safety advice and find your safe personal balance.

Research Journey

In 1986 I attended a seminar with Guro Dan Inosanto partly because I wanted to meet him again and partly because I was bored with martial arts. My previous experience was mainly around boxing, fencing and Muay Thai with some grappling (Judo/Wresting) and a small amount of what we would call Combatives today. Mainly sport orientated and ultra-competitive environments. Leaving aside my military exploits, I was mostly a recreational martial artist.

After the first couple of hours of Dan covering JKD, we took a lunch break, and I had the excellent luck that Dan sat next to me whilst we were all scrambling around our Head sports bags looking for our sandwiches crushed by our Eskrima sticks. Over the years, I have noticed he can chat to just about anyone, and we discussed being fed up with combat sports or putting it more succinctly bored.

Dan recommended that I looked into other arts as a researcher who trained. We chatted about FMA and also Krabi Krabong and cross over into other skills. From that chat, I realised a few things about myself. I was interested in arts that most people had not trained in. I wanted that backyard training experience that was slightly edgy and underground, but I also wanted to go deep into the art I was learning.

I decided to limit myself to researching and learning one art at a time and to put the other arts on the back burner for the time being unless there was a direct cross over. Some people can study (train and learn) multiple arts in-depth simultaneously; I am not one of those people. I tend to spend at least five years learning an art and then investigating another one. I found that’s about enough time to get the core essence of an art.

Later, when I began to teach classes, I taught Boxing, Muay Thai and the weapons side of FMA, and I found I could make training gains and research one other art at the same time. By the early nineties, I was able to see the connections between the arts and cross-reference them; I started to build a list of common traits and training methods. This evolved as my classes change to Vale Tudo and then MMA, with some full contact stick along the way into a sort of hybrid blend.  

Since 2015 I have been concentring on Pukulan Sera, a different branch to one I originally studied, and it’s my core art. When I stick fight, I mostly use Krabi Krabong and some FMA. I am or was studying sword pre-Covid and intend to restart classes in that as soon as I can.

It’s worth noting how rewarding the arts have been personally in my private and work life. Having research and training goals has transferred over into my life. I believe that studying martial arts has allowed me to avoid some of the pitfalls some of my former military colleagues have fallen into. I would also point out that had I not had the twenty minutes chatting to Guro Dan, I would probably have missed out on a lot. I have gained a lot socially and also spiritually, mentally and physically from my studies.

So, if you are bored and if this text rings a bell with you, think about what you want and why and set out some ideas on paper and start planning your own journey.

Bon Voyage (as my Savate friends say).

Martial Arts and Mindfulness: Learning from Our Feline Friends

Anyone who has a family cat knows they are masters at doing precisely what they want; they eat, sleep, play, maintain and relax. They know the optical place to hang out in your home and have their schedule that fits their needs.

I think we can learn a lot from cats about how to navigate modern life and pandemics etc.  

As a martial artist, I started informal boxing at age 13 and had already been training in judo for some time. I journeyed through ten boxing matches, four Muay Thai matches, quite a few challenge/Vale Tudo matches, and hundreds of full contact stick fights in the Dog Brother format (fencing mask and good sticks). I have been grappling on and off since 1976, Judo, Wrestling, and BJJ for MMA.

Nothing unusual here for the period and for someone who wanted the challenge and to road test what he was being taught. Every coach will have a training regime for each art he is in; I used to back up training with hill running, sprint training, Rugby, yoga and powerlifting and right up into my late forties, it served me well.

Most of the long-term injuries I carry are not from martial arts training but my regular and freelance military career. Two high-speed pursuit crashes one helicopter crash, lots of small bits of shrapnel and other sharps, countless big bangs (shockwaves) near me and head impacts.  

I was always a recreational martial artist and coach, and when I shut down my school in 2005 and retired from teaching members of the general public, I was crippled.

I had a year or so off from training and thought about what I wanted to do, I know I wanted to research a few arts, and I also know I could not or did not want to keep up my old training regime.

I started looking at what other older coach did and found some of the posts by Dr Mark Cheng helpful. (2) Dr. Mark Cheng | Facebook

I now have a central theme that runs through my training and health maintenance; I try not to create unnecessary tension or “friction” in my body. I leave something in the tank, and I make sure I get enough rest between sets and training sessions. I no longer take hits to the head, and when I am grappling, I am very conservative with my energy and careful who I wrestle with.  The art I study has yoga-like short forms that are good for general health and remove minor injuries or tension.

I try to emulate the attitude of a cat; I take care to maintain and relax and enjoy life at the same time. There is a mental aspect; I try not to get triggered on martial arts forums, and I don’t feel I must put things right or challenge people.  

The results are excellent, and I feel a lot healthier than ten years ago, and this attitude has crossed over into my working life. I do less, am more relaxed and get promoted more.  

I am not a health expert, just a long serving martial artist and coach, but I recommend considering how you are training and what the central theme is running through your life. It’s all cool but worth considering and planning.  

All the very best in your training, stay safe.