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The topic of how effective traditional martial arts is in today’s world as a way of protecting oneself is still a very sensitive issue to a lot of martial artists. What is even more sensitive is the issue of how realistic and street effective is the newer styles that have come out since UFC/PRIDE have come into the picture. I am a Registered Black Belt & have nothing against the martial arts and have also studied styles such as Pankration.

I know that the techniques I have learned in the dojo should stay in the dojo because they will only work there, that also goes with styles such as the “modern day or reality based systems” they are for sport only.I work as a bouncer/bodyguard & also teach tactical self defense. Many of my students are black belts or have trained under reality based systems & have learned the hard way that what they learned in the ring or dojo is not street effective.
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How you train is how you will respond and react in the real deal. Self-defense is about survival and nothing else. It is not about fighting fair, clean or being honorable. It’s about doing what you have to do to go home and see your loved ones once again. You don’t know how a thug is going to react when you connect your first blow to him so make sure you mean it when you attack. He could back off (flight) or become enraged (fight), plane and simple combat is about doing whatever needs to be done so you get out alive. Lie, con, manipulate so you can catch him off guard and administer a tactic. Release the idea from your mind the image of a “DIRTY FIGHTER” there is now such thing. He is actually a smart fighter who knows how to use violence to his advantage. Free your mind of that idea, could mean the difference between life and death, it will subconsciously hamper your actions. You have the right to protect yourself and kill when your life is in jeopardy. When in combative mode your thoughts and actions should be as vile, vicious and violent as possible. Thoughts of legal or moral consequences of your actions should not even cross or enter your mind. If they do it will subconsciously hold you back in giving 100% in your attack and that could mean your kids or loved ones not seeing you again. The importance of training realistically or condition stimulus training could mean the difference between life and death. Training the mind to be accustomed to stimuli that is violent and vile you mean not freezing in violent situations.
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You take with you in combat all the good and bad habits that you learned in your training routine. If your tactics in your training consist of high fancy kicks, wide movements, which require you to have a lot of room you will instinctively do the same when your adrenaline kicks in a street confrontation. That will seriously hinder you if you are fighting for survival in a confined area with furniture around such as a living room or bedroom. Your training should also focus on the mind/spirit as well. Self defense is 90% mental it does not matter how effective your tactics are, if you don’t train your mind for combat you will freeze.
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Rafting down rapids is a good way to get the old ticker clicking over at a high rate. Here is an overview of the basics of rafting down the rapids.

Adrenaline Rafting Basics

In the last 30 years, rapids rafting has gained massive popularity. People tend to go in groups for a family gathering, friends reuniting and even corporate team building exercises. Rafting is massively fun and an undisputed adrenaline rush.

At its core, whitewater rafting is simply the act of taking a raft down through turbulent areas of a river. These turbulent areas are known as rapids. Rapids are formed by three factors – constriction, gradient and obstruction. Water naturally flows downhill because of gravity. When it is constricted, it pushes in from the sides, speeding up and getting turbulent. Speed also increases when the gradient get steeper and, of course, obstructions cause water to crash into them and swirl around as the flow tries to find the best way to follow gravity. Each of these events causes rapids and the resulting turbulence churns the water thus causing the froth. The goal of rafting is to surf these rapids without being flipped or dragged under.

Rapids are classified by six categories. Category 1 is a smooth river with no rapids. The categories climb from their too Category 6, which is either impassible or should only be attempted by experts. Most river rafting trips occur on Category 3 and 4 rapids, where the turbulence gives you an exciting ride, but with limited risk.
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