I am an everyman.

Father, husband, son, brother, and friend.

Steadfast, unwavering, witty, generous, and insightful.

I am a lifelong researcher and martialist. At the end of the day my personal interest in the martial arts is to allow me to provide men, women, and children with the most reliable commonsense methods of self-protection available. I will look at almost everything at least once but I am partial to methodologies and manuals from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

I have been involved in the martial arts world for close to 35 years as of this writing. My training over the last 20 years has been primarily in western methods such as bare knuckle boxing, catch-as-catch can wrestling, savate (DDLR), as well as a variety of military oriented hand-to-hand combat methods. I have found comfort in my abilities knowing that I can rely on these methodologies heaven forbid such an occasion should arise. Though my youth was entrenched in the eastern martial arts of judo and karate I quickly grew to prefer the western methods of combat simply due to my stature as a larger man of predominantly European descent. Additionally, there is considerably more empirical data to support their practice and use.

Much has been lost in regards to the traditional martial arts at this point. Bunkai is theoretical at best in most cases. Generations of misinformation have turned schools into unreliable sources of historical information regarding their own systems and the efficacy of what they are teaching.

I am an introvert by design but I have been known to do things that run the risk of gaining attention which is a fun balancing act to perform. I never thought that after all of this time I would still be getting used to my skin. I also never thought I would be able to speak in front of a crowd, let alone a nameless, faceless, mostly anonymous crowd that this digital world provides us with.

Sincerely,

C.F.