12. How to Teach Self-Defense Like a Professional

The Truth About the Martial Arts Business with John Graden

This week the truth about the martial arts business is that if you advertise and teach self-defense in your martial arts school, you better know what you're talking about.

One steps, basics, and kata are NOT self-defense. They are stylized, formal representations, they are not directly applicable.

If you are trying to pass off traditional martial arts as self-defense, you are deceiving the public and yourself.

People are NOT seeking "secret techniques" buried in the bunkai of kata. Bunkai is bunk.

People need real self-defense from a credible source, not some traditional style that was created in a hut on a mountainside decades ago has never changed. In fact, to change the style is martial arts blasphemy.

According to Google Trends, because of the pandemic and violent riots, searches for self-defense and self-defense training have skyrocketed just like gun sales have soared. That means people are scared and seeking self-defense training.

The single most important skillset you teach are the self-defense skills that may save a student's life. That's why it is so important for you to be able to verify the source and efficacy of the self-defense training that you advertise and teach.

The best source is law enforcement based. Not martial arts. Not military. Law enforcement engages in street fights and confront violent criminals every day. Most military members never engage in a physical fight.

Most martial arts teach outdated skills that were created decades ago without the advantage of video or networking. They had to hide their training, which severely limited any opportunity to collaborate, review, and update the skills.

In fact, most traditional martial arts take pride in NEVER CHANGING. That is brainwashing pure and simple. To resist upgrading your self-defense skills to honor a style or style creator is a self-imposed ceiling to growth and improvement. You just get better at useless skills.

Self-defense can save students' lives. To teach anything but the most current law enforcement skills is professional neglect that could cost your students' life.

In this special episode, you're going to listen in on COBRA-Defense founder Chris Sutton teaching adult students in the COBRA ten-week academy, and then you'll hear him teaching COBRA licensees how to teach Cobra to their students.

I'll pop in on occasion to set the scene. These clips come from a variety of sources, so the audio can be a bit spotty at times, but the content is pure gold.

The audience for the first 15-minutes is a class of adults who paid $399 for a Cobra-Defense academy that meets twice a week for 10 weeks.

Important Links

MartialArtsTeachers.com

JohnGraden.com

MATACertification.com

MATAInsurance.com

SelfDefenseBusiness.com (COBRA-Defense)