7 Self-Defense & Awareness Tips for Women by Benjamin "Sensei" Moriniere

I believe in and teach effective, aggressive, self-defense methods for women. I don't play games, because I know that more than likely a lady will have to use what I teach them at least once in their life.

1 out of 6 women will report being assualted, sexually or otherwise, at least once in their life time. With staggering numbers like that, the time for games and shadow boxing to high energy music is over.  

I also teach practical tips for everyday living. Tips that keep us aware of our surroundings and more importantly teach us how to respond to those situations.

Here are some practical tips that can keep you a little safer out there.

1.     When you are in a large crowd, strap your purse across your body instead of slinging it on one arm… it is much harder to grab.

2.     Put your money and valuables in your bra or inside of a secret pocket. #OldSchool

3.     Never sit in your car and read your mail or check social media without first locking your doors and rolling up your windows.

4.     Don’t be afraid of offending people by changing to the other side of the street, walking the other way, or locking your door.

5.      Wear comfortable clothes when you are in a high crime area. Defending yourself and running away in certain outfits is impractical.

6.       Trust your intuition; it is right 70% of the time.

7.      Join a martial arts class. You will be more confident and learn some great moves that could save your life. 

Benjamin Moriniere

@CapoeiraOkinawa

Www.facebook.com/CapoeiraAcademyOkinawa 

4 Pillars of Success in Martial Arts Competitions

Martial arts are great for melting fat and having a great time, and then there are those that rise to the occasion and want to compete. The first thing you should know about competing, and moreover, becoming a great competitor or champion, is that it takes sacrifice. Great competitors are not born, they are built through blood, sweat and tears.  Here are a few tips that will help your become a good competitor, and if you are already good, to become a great competitor.

1. Training and Growing your Library of Techniques

At the core of being competitive is your ability to do martial arts in a pressure-full environment. You have to always keep learning, drilling and discovering ways to use your God-given tools in better and better ways. Through experimentation you will find ways to tweak movements and techniques for your, but that takes constant, efficient training time inside and outside of regularly scheduled classes.

In regard to the efficiency and effectiveness of your workout sessions, make a plan for every training session. This plan will generally come through standard curriculum,  as used by your coach,  and additionally a plan that involves doing extra work outside of your core workout regimen.

Have a balanced approach  to training that is somewhere between the two extremes of ''let's just roll'' or ''let's just spar' and the opposite side, socializing, i.e. working your jaw muscles too much during your workouts.  Preparation time is work time. You need a training partner that understands these concepts, and is just as committed to progress as you are.

Become brilliant at the basics, because when you reach the point of exhaustion, you will fall back on your basics, and usually the person who wins when two people have reached the final limits of exhaustion, is the one with better basics.   In addition to becoming brilliant at the basics, become a specialist in a few great techniques that you can do at anytime, from anywhere, just like that.

2. Strength and Conditioning

Strength and conditioning is one of the more overlooked aspects of preparation. People seem to think that if they roll or spar long enough that their cardio should be good to go. This could not be further from the truth.

The best competitors spend just as much time in their cardio and strength training sessions as they do sparring and rolling. These competitors know that a few minutes truly going all out in the ring or on the mats can be the longest moments of your life, especially when you are out of shape.

The bottom line is that when you are tired your ability will start to naturally deteriorate, which is to be expected. However, the goal is to outlast your opponent.  Never slack on cardio, and stop cutting so much weight  so fast. It is harmful to your body. Besides, no matter how much you gain back before your actual competitions, you are not fighting at 100% whatsoever.

So, the question remains, "How much cardio should I do, and when do I know I am great shape." Well, that is a great question.  Please check out my other post called "Martial Cardio = The Rule of 5."

3. Developing a Strategy 

Do you have a competition strategy, and what is it? All great warriors and generals have a strategy, a method to their madness, even if it does not look like it. Just like any other sports activity, be keen in watching film and analyzing your opponents if possible. If you don't have film, then think your way through possibilities based on the information you do know about them.  This is a process called strategy mapping, which I will cover on a later post. For now, just remember that you need a basic strategy at the least. Just like the movies, if you go flying in without a plan, either you are one of those awesome action stars that can take down a whole army by themselves without even reloading their weapon, or you might end up as part of someone's highlight film... (=

If you don't have film and you don't know their background, analyze yourself and your weaknesses through the use of your own film, your instructors and peers. Put yourself through tough, but safe, workouts with your class mates, and analyze about how long it is before your form starts to break down, your clean technique begins to fade, your punches and kicks begin to lose power, or even when your grips begin to give out, etc. Data will help you to improve, so actually track it!

Don't be lazy! Sure people like to throw out the famous quote, "everyone has a plan until they get hit in the face," and although that is a great a quote, don't let that quote cause you to lazily prepare for upcoming competitions. Weave your natural talents into your strategy. As we mentioned before, become brilliant at the basics, and then a specialist in a few great techniques that you can do at anytime, from anywhere, just like that.

4. Mental Focus

The human mind is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, literally, but it has to be harnessed. You have to push yourself beyond your limits at every turn, and in the pursuit of becoming a champion at any level, you will find that you have no limits. It is all about what you are willing to sacrifice, and yes, victory comes at a cost.

Don't defeat yourself through lack of mental preparation. Mental preparation is just as important as physical preparation.  Many factors can weigh on your mental focus in training and in the heat of competition, and that is why you have to train your mind to perform at a constant, higher level.  Stay positive and conquer your fears at the earlier stages of preparation. If you don't conquer your fears, then they will snowball up until the day you compete. Don't use doubting words, and don't hang around or train with people that have something negative to say. It is not conducive to your preparation.

You can have the newest computer on the market, but if your hardware components can't handle the stress of the of the job you want your computer to do, then your computer will slow down or crash. Mentally, your brain has short term and long term memory, and your body has muscle memory as well.  Internal and external influences can hamper your capacity to function at the high operating level required for competition.  In other words you are going to push that computing power of your to the max.  If you currently find yourself overwhelmed, or getting trapped by techniques or challenges you should have overcome by now, then your brain needs more RAM.

The only way to expand your mental capacity for martial arts competitions is to not only train, but moreover,  trace, face and erase your fears. Erase the powerful inhibitor of fear,  and you will see yourself do better in those areas, your confidence will skyrocket. You will be ready for any challenge.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Just like any smooth running machine, the human body is little parts contributing to the success of the whole. Hopefully through reading this post, you now understand some of the factors that go into becoming a great competitor, and that small or large, each component in this machine of ours has a very important job to do.

Train hard to build muscle memory and confidence in techniques. Put in hard work during cardio and strength sessions. Develop a strategy. Squash our fears.

Wishing you the best in 2016 and beyond!


Benjamin Moriniere "Sensei" is a martial arts instructor, entrepreneur, consultant and motivational speaker who currently lives in Japan. His martial arts academy, Capoeira Academy Okinawa, has grown to be one of the biggest, most recognized academy's in Japan. @CapoeiraOkinawa

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The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Martial Arts

Have a robust Emotional Vocabulary

Did you know that only 36 percent of people are able to intelligently  vocalize their emotions?. When you are unable to clearly identify your emotions and triggers, it makes it that much harder to find a way to overcome them on your own, or through your teacher's guidance. Does getting punched in the face make you angry, or does it make you frustrated, make you feel inferior, or what? These are all different situations for which you may collectively say angry. But is it truly? Getting to the true nature of your dilemma allows you to make a better strategy to overcome the dilemma.

You’re Curiosity in Everyone Around you Helps you to Learn and Grow

Be curious about everyone's techniques; how to do it, how to escape it, variations, etc. I literally learn something new from all levels of students every single class, and that is a fact.  

Embrace the New

Throughout your martial arts journey you will have to adapt. 20 years ago the world had to adapt to Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, and now the world is adopting to crazy Capoeira kicks.  You will have to adapt to new movements, new breakthroughs, new escapes and positions, and if you don't, those who do adapt, will surpass you.

Know your Strengths and Weaknesses

You have to KNOW what you are good at and what you are terrible at. Know what frustrates you, and don't let those things get to you, nor let your weaknesses hold you back from going 100%. 

 Develop your Ability to Read People

Social awareness, the ability to read other people, know how they think and play the chess game, is what martial arts is all about.   This will eventually make you an exceptional competitor and an excellent judge of character over time.  You will be able to strategize with the best of them. 

Make it Difficult for People to Take you Out of your Game Plan

Firmly grasp your emotions and people will find it hard to knock you off center.  This will give you the confidence to push through the hardest opponents and tough times towards your goal. 

Know How to Say No

You have to have self-control.  You will learn to delay gratification and avoid impulsive action, which is generally a trap in martial arts. Research conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, shows that the more difficulty that you have saying no to yourself, the more likely you are to be stressed out.  You can get stressed out trying to win, burning out in competition too fast, and even becoming depressed enough to pull yourself out of martial arts for a while. Say NO, and stick to your game plan.  This will also keep you healthier for a lot longer, resisting the urge to go one more round, when your body said you were done 2 rounds ago. There is a difference between mentally giving up, and you body saying "that is enough for today." The latter will keep you out of a lot of injurious situations. 

Let Go of Mistakes

Don't dwell on mistakes. Take note of them and turn them into goals. Improve on those mistakes so you are not doomed to repeat them forever. However, if you dwell on your mistakes over and over, like many of us do when competitions or fights have not gone our way, then we are wasting time that could be used to improve. Dust yourself off and train, don't let a set back continually kick you while you are down.

Don't Hold Grudges

Don't hold grudges or your opponent has already won. Grudges automatically raise your stress levels and will cause you to eventually make the wrong decisions.  Just think of villians who always end up losing because of their long winded monologues. Be quiet already and whoop some butt!

Neutralize Toxic Martial Artists

High-level martial artists are able to diffuse emotional opponents with ease (which is why you don't want to be over emotional). They are able to work with the aggression, anger, depression or whatever emotion is controlling their opponent at the time, and turn it into their own favor; successfully subduing the opponent. 

Don't Seek Perfection, Perfect your Ability to Learn

Don't spend so much time seeking perfection. Rather seek to perfect your ability to listen, to watch, take notes; to learn. 

Stop Negative Self-talk

The more you ponder negative thoughts, the more powerful those thoughts become. They are just thoughts not facts. You may not see yourself growing, because it is a process. Do you watch plants grow? No, you just come back every once in a while and notice that the seed became a sprout and that sprout became a sapling; the sapling a tree. You don't always lose, you don't always win. Absolute words like always and never are defensive words, but you need to go on the offensive to overcome these mental barriers. 

Don't Let Anyone Ruin your Training Session

You will definitely encounter characters and situations along your martial arts journey, especially some crazy instructors, that may start to suck the joy out of your martial arts. Don't let it happen. If that means moving to a new training location, or speaking with the person who is ruining your training if it is a student, then so be it.  Training hard and competing is fun, so make sure nothing or no one stands in the way of your fun. 


Benjamin Moriniere "Sensei" "Instrutor Foguete"
Capoeira Academy Okinawa
Capoeira Zoador | Yudansha MMA | Caveirinha Jiujitsu | Ladies Kickboxing
www.capoeira-okinawa.com

5 Ways to Stagnate your Federal Career

Working in the Federal job sector is a calling, but whether or not it is your calling or not, here are a few tips to keep your career from eventually stagnating or taking a toxic downturn.

1. Homesteading. Maybe your military career, or life in general, moved you around from place to place so much that you are truly looking to settle in one spot for a while. However, if you want your career to continue to develop, you can either wait for everyone ahead of you to retire or move on, or you can do like most savvy professionals and move around every few years or so. Moving around, even within the federal government, is the best way to ensure you are adding all of the positions and skills necessary to land your dream job for your high-3 retirement calculation.

2. Promotion beyond your Abilities. You have been waiting a LONG time, and the job has finally come open! You take it and find out that you were completely unprepared for the level of responsibility. You used to be the golden child of your department, and now you are just waiting to get the ax; constantly looking for a new job.

Believe it or not, this happens to a LOT of people. In the federal government, you may indeed have to wait a long time for promotions because of homesteaders, but whether you personally want to go for the carrot or whether managers senior to you are goading you on, be sure you sit down and think through the pros and cons of the promotion and go through a true period of self-reflection to determine if you have the skills and motivation to be successful in that new role.

and never… ever... forgot to talk to your family about it first.

3. Leadership through Policy. John C. Maxwell, one of the greatest leadership speakers and authors of our time, goes to great length to explain his “5 Levels of Leadership.”

The first level of leadership is leading by  title only, i.e. people follow you because of your position; because they have to. At this level of leadership, especially in a very regimented society like the federal government, you can become so entangled in leading by the letter of the law, that you begin to live in the shadows of people’s disdain for your leadership by policy mentality.

Everyone around a Level 1 leader will begin to bypass that leader and reach out to leaders who understand the “spirit” behind policies, i.e. how to use those policies to develop best business practices for the organization. Coworkers, executives and customers don't want leaders that say no to everything because of this rule or that rule, but they want leaders that say "here are your options."

4. Bad Santa. No matter how great you are at anything in life, if you have a bad attitude, you just won't make it very far. Even if you do make it further than expected, you will never reach your full potential. It just won’t happen. (If the old adage is true that it success is 10% hard work and 90% attitude, then someone with a bad attitude is only going to reach 10% of their potential).

Sad to say, there is something that happens to federal employees once they pass their probationary period, and it becomes next to impossible to be fired for performance issues. Employees lose their smiles, they start to act like customers are bothering them, or may even purposefully procrastinate on paperwork and deadlines just to prove they are in charge. 

If you are a shining example of a Bad Santa within your organization, then you need to fix that frown on your face, be happy that you have customers, coworkers or a team to lead. Remember, that your talents may carry you for a while, but one day your bad attitude will make the wrong (more influential) person mad or fed up with your attitude, and they will begin to nitpick at your work so as to systematically get rid of you.

5. The Yes Man. One of the worst aspects of working within the government is its dynamic system of continuously intensifying bureaucracy. That is why working within the government is a calling; it requires people with the certain temperament that is rarely seen in the corporate and private sector. Even worse than that is the "YES" men and women who never stand up to the bureaucracy's monotony. 

If you are going to survive in the federal job sector, you have to learn to say NO. You have to learn to say NO because it is the right thing to do, to say NO because you have higher priorities that require your attention at the time, and to say NO because there is a way to do it better. 

If you are the type of person who is able to work on the small picture while looking at the big picture (organizational mission), then you will be an asset to your organization. Be the type of team member or leader that is committed to constant improvement, and not to doing the bare minimum. Moreover be a leader who knows how to keep themselves, their team and organization on track.

Working in in the federal job sector is a great opportunity to serve one's country, but remember it is a calling. I hope that you will take the points I made here to heart, and that it will help you to reflect on where you have come from, where you are now, and where you want to be in years to come.

Benjamin Moriniere is an entrepreneur, martial artists, musician, songwriter, artist and business consultant currently living in Japan. He has worked within federal HR for 8 years and is an HR leader for the top HR Office within the US Marine Corps.