Martial artists can learn a lot from people who have mastered different realms of combat because often the principles and tactics they use can be adapted to what we do. Case in point:  Oswald Boelcke. This German flying ace was one of the top innovators and instructors in the Axis air force during World War I. Among his many accomplishments, Boelcke chose a young Baron Manfred von Richthofen to become his pupil and coached him to an astonishing string of air victories. Von Ri

If you want to make it in the martial arts biz, you've got to connect with dojo shoppers. They're the people who look for deals before...

Before I get to the meat of today’s thought exercise for real-world fights, you’ll need to take a few inventories. For the first inventory, list at least a dozen “designated weapons,” or devices that are carried and used primarily for self-protection. I'll get you started:  firearm, folding knife, fixed-blade knife, Taser, pepper spray, tactical flashlight  — feel free to continue the list. Next, assume a complete absence of designated weapons and look to your environment for

Before ninjas were everywhere—from cartoons and video games to Halloween costumes—there was Sho Kosugi, the man who helped introduce the mysterious, masked martial artist to Western audiences and turned ninja films into a full-blown pop culture phenomenon. In the 1980s, if there was a ninja on screen, chances are it was Kosugi—silent, swift, and deadly. Born in Tokyo in 1948, Sho Kosugi began martial arts training at age 5, eventually earning black belts in karate and kendo,

Behind every great martial artist, there’s often a teacher. And sometimes, just sometimes, that teacher is also Dad. This Father’s Day, we’re kicking some love toward the martial arts fathers who trained, mentored, inspired, or passed down their legacy to the next generation of legends.

The temperature’s rising—and so is the body count. From the universe of John Wick  comes Ballerina , a high-impact thriller where...

Many Black Belt  readers may be familiar with the Japanese phrase ken ki tai ichi . It means that one’s weapon ( ken , which can be...

The wrestler — having quickly disposed of his first four judomen — stood before the fifth opponent, glaring like a wild animal about to...

There was a time when Saturday afternoons meant grainy VHS tapes, dubbed dialogue, and the unmistakable rhythm of kung fu battles on...

Here’s one for you to kick around with your dojo mates the next time you’re relaxing after training. It was back in the 1960s, a time...

Even though most martial artists dedicate themselves to learning practical responses to modern threats, violence can take unexpected...

Stanley Ketchel, aka “The Michigan Assassin,” was one of the greatest middleweight boxing champs of all time. He was noted for tremendous...

Jackie Chan is a walking, flipping, falling miracle  of modern cinema. While most actors leave danger to the stunt team, Jackie is  the...

The first time I saw the jeet kune do leg obstruction in action was in Dan Inosanto's backyard. Bruce Lee had recently left to make...

Most of us would love to be in movies. Unfortunately, no matter how good we are, most will never get a chance to perform on film. The...

It’s a sad fact that when we conduct combatives seminars, some attendees who have spent money and effort developing their martial arts...

Imagine a political leader going to Duluth to tell Minnesotans this: “You are the descendants of Vikings. You have the blood of warriors...

The knife and its use as a defensive tool are always contentious topics — not only with respect to if and when you should use one but...

If you’ve ever suffered through stance training until your legs were jelly or repeated a form until you could do it in your sleep— The...

Part 1 of this article examines whether the Olympic Games have been good for judo and taekwondo. For input, we interrogated fire experts,...

Frank E. Sanchez has been around the block. As a youth in Guam, the U.S. territory in which he was born, he frequently had to call on his...

Tony Jaa is the undisputed king of heart-stopping, jaw-dropping, next-level fight scenes. With his insane Thai-style fighting skills and...

On my way to California’s Central Coast to interview a 57-year-old male martial artist who paints his toenails, I got bogged down in...

So this guy is standing 6 feet in front of me.  He’s got his right hand behind his back, and he’s saying he wants to f@%* me up. It’s...