He is in demand right now, and one of his boot-camps can EASILY run you a few grand! This guy has trained military personelle, body guards, bouncers, celebrities and private civilians.

As soon as I saw what he was all about, I knew I had to get a hold of him… and I did. Blake agreed to chat with me for a lil bit while spilling some of his self defense secrets for you guys! We cover how to counter some of the most common attacks on the street, what type of specific workouts you can do to help you improve your self defense skills, he even shares his life-altering moment which almost got him KILLED!

Needless to say, if you’re a fan of martial arts, self defense or even combat sports, you’ll want to read and absorb every word. There is a shit load of stuff to learn from this guy, so grab some green tea and settle in… this intervew gets meaty!

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FJ: We are on with Blake today, and his expertise happens to be self defense moves and martial arts. So tell me a bit about yourself man, which art did you start with, and what systems have you practiced over the years?

Blake: Well, I began practicing Karate and Kung-Fu at the age of four. Almost immediately I was totally hooked. Seems like the more I trained the more I wanted to learn! Combine my unquenchable thirst for martial arts knowledge with a family that moves a lot, and you end up with a pretty wide range of styles.

In the end I went on to study and compete in Karate, Jeet Kune Do, Kung-Fu, Jiu-Jutsu, Aikido, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jutsu, Tae Kwon Do(Both A.T.A. and W.T.F.) Sanshou, Isshin-Ryu Karate and Muay Thai. I also did a little bit of MMA before being a Self Defense instructor took over.

FJ: Shit, now that’s who I call a well-balanced martial artist. It seems we both had similar beginnings, because I started with Karate also. What style did you train under? Because myself, I started with Shito Ryu, but I also had some dabblings under Kyokushin, and Shotokan.

Blake: My karate was actually a Chinese variation known as Kenpo Karate which was originally brought from Hawaii. Unlike traditional Karate schools, it is a less “rigid” style than the Japanese counterparts and resembles a mix of Kung-Fu and Shotokan.

FJ: Right on. Yeah early practitioners of Karate usually can’t “flow” very well. This can be a huge disadvantage in a fight. Now I am all about Bruce Lee’s philosophy… and it seems you are too with the wide variety of arts you’ve practiced. Would you say you learned equally from all the arts or were there one or two that had the most impact on your techniques today?

Blake: I think that the Jeet Kune Do philosophy is the “core” system of my self-defense, but the actual techniques are fairly equally distributed between the different styles. If I had to choose two, I’d say Muay Thai with a Jeet Kune Do twist makes up most of the self-defense techniques that I teach.

FJ:Yeah, I did a bit of Muay Thai myself… and their training is hardcore. I don’t think I ever walked away without incurring at least a few bruises. Loved that shit! So who do you teach? Is it all private or do you also teach techniques to law enforcement/military?

Blake: Unfortunately my self-defense training is in quite high demand. Because of this, my usual fee per person is $2500 dollars for 3 days. With these prices, most of my students are either military, law enforcement, bodyguards, or some other type of agency where the training is fully funded by their employers. I have had a fair amount of civilians take my course as well, but most are either other martial artists, celebrities, or doctors/lawyers as they are the few that can afford my fee.

FJ: Unfortunate my ass, I think that’s great. Now I understand for those that want this type of training; you are coming out with a program of your own to address this need. We’ll get to that in a second but before we do, let’s give away some good to our readers. I’ll fire off some offensive moves and I want to know your favourite defenses against them. First… the two legged take down.

Blake: Ah, a very common attack on the street indeed. If you watch any fight videos online, you’ll probably see a sloppy attempt at one of these at least once or twice.

FJ: Exactly, what is it 85% of fights end up on the ground?

Blake: Yeah roughly, but the truth is if you go to the ground, your toast on the street. If he’s got a buddy, you’ll just end up with a stomped in face, so the first thing you need to do is redirect his forward momentum.

There’s a lot of total BS when it comes to defending against two legged take downs, or even to make it more general, a front tackle. I’ve seen things such as elbows to the face, front leg knee’s, all sorts of complicated crap. Truth is, it’s pretty simple. All you have to do is pop your legs backwards, and do what’s known as a sprawl.

As you do this, you take both hands and put them on the back of your attackers head, and push towards the ground. What this does is redirect his forward momentum down, and 90% of the time they end up slamming face first into the ground, which unlike the nice dojo you practice in, is usually some form of nasty pavement or hardwood bar floors. Once he’s down, give him a quick kick, and bolt for the exit.

FJ: Perfect, yeah the sprawl has been effective in sparring as well. From personal experience (and as a backup plan) for those that miss the head because some “rushers” are mad quick… put your hands on their back and push down.

You may also miss if the attacker is slippery because of sweat… but this is more of an issue in a competition, the only way this could valid on the streets would be if both of your start exchanging a few blows beforehand.

Blake: Yes, in a real self defense situation complex motor movements fly out the window, you can miss completely and the sprawl is still effective. It’s the legs shooting back that give you a base so that you can stay standing if nothing else.

FJ:Very true. Now let’s talk about another common strike… the swinging hook punch, other wise known as the haymaker. I’ve seen two theories with this… some say step INSIDE the arc of the punch, and block with fore arm. Others say step outside the arc and counter with a straight. What’s your take on this one?

Blake: I teach something known as a strike interception, which basically relies on your body’s natural flinch mechanism to block any strike. If you look at gun fights, or knife fights, you always see damage on the hands and wrist areas. This is because the body actually flinches fast enough to block the strike without you consciously thinking about doing a block. We then use this idea to “jam” or “intercept” the attacks.

So for the typical haymaker that you’d encounter on the street, the key is to use your forearm to actually strike to the inside of the upper forearm/bicep area and jam the strike before it gains power. Combine this with a simultaneous elbow to the face/throat area and you’ve got a pretty solid self-defense strategy.

And like I said, this is all subconscious, the body’s natural flinch mechanism takes over in high stress situation, which almost makes this all on auto pilot. It’s truly amazing.

FJ:Love it. That’s a solid way to go about it. Funny how we need to focus on boiling DOWN techniques to their bare minimum. Now kicks don’t usually happen on the street… though if I were to use one, it’d be the front thrust kick to push someone back since mine is fairly accurate.

What’s your favourite defense against the front kick and the round house? This is mostly for people who fight in tournaments and love sparring, but hey, you never know. There are some crazy mofos out there.

Blake: To use a kick, you have to be in kicking range. So our first goal is to close the distance. Especially on the street, you’ll find that most kicks are highly telegraphed and ineffective, so we can easily see them coming and close the distance. So as soon as you see the kick coming, you need to launch toward your opponent at a slightly offset angle away from the kick.

As you launch in, deliver a strike to the face with your lead hand to the face, toppling them over in the process. This could take the form of a jab, palm heel, any fast lead hand strike.

If you can’t do that, the best thing is to move with the kick to minimize the impact, and then close the distance as his leg is coming down. He’ll be on one foot so you’ll have time to attack with little resistance.

FJ:Right, one of the things I harp on is the counter low round kick to their supporting leg when I teach my karate class. Works like a charm every time as long as the timing is right.

Now Blake, those are some kick ass tips, and I know I’ll be making a few changes to my training in the future. Let’s talk fitness for a sec. Self defense can be learnt by anyone but you’re obviously is good shape. I think learning self-defense techniques while ignoring your fitness is ludicrous. How do you stay in shape when you travel around and teach so much?

Blake: The key is focus and intensity. When it comes to anything in life, if you want success, you have to be committed. Most people are surprised to learn that I actually only work out 20-25 minutes a day, and 3-5 times a week. The key here is that I’m not goofing around. In the gym, you are not there to flirt with the girls, you’re not there to chat with the receptionist, you’re there to get in shape. You have to have 100% focus and workout with 100% intensity.

FJ: Did you folks catch that? About 3 times a week! Dude I get emails all the time asking me if that’s enough time to see results, because I preach the 3-4 times a week as well in my fitness book. And I’m always like… “Hey, why not put the advice to use and try it out?” I don’t know which idiot is spreading the lies that more is better. I’d like to kick his ass. The key is RECOVERY… after you workout you need to recover!

On the side note, I’m guilty as tried when flirting with the girls… if you guys out there are like me, and can’t resist, don’t be a retard and just stand there talking to her while your body is cooling down. Talk to her then ask her to spot you or workout with you. Two birds… one stone. What do you think?

Blake: Excellent tip! I must admit that’s a new one for me. I’ll be hitting the gym in a bit, I’ll let ya know how it goes

FJ:Awesome, can’t wait to hear about it. Race her on the treadmill and then reach over and press the intensity buttons on her machine. Great fun! Ok back on point, now when you’re on the go, there is no question that body-weighted exercises are your best friend. Are there are particular ones you’d recommend for a martial artist or ones that you prefer in general?

Blake: Self-defense is explosive so I make my training explosive. Frog jumps, Russians, Burpees & Clapping pushups are a few of my favourites. I like them because they give great strength increases and work on my explosiveness at the same time.

FJ:Yes clap pushups have been quite effective for me as well. Is there a routine that you follow? Like if you were in a hotel room and wanted to get a quick 30 minute session what would it look like?

Blake: First I’d do quick 2-4 minute warm up and 2 minutes of light stretching. Then it’s 5-6 minutes of leg work. This usually looks something like 1 minute of frog jumps, 30 second rest, 1 minute of russians, 30 second rest, 1 minute of pistols, 30 second rest. Just keep doing leg exercises and short rests in between.

I focus on speed. Then I’d do some core exercises such as clams(not sure what the proper name is?), leg raises, dragon flags etc. Then its 5 minutes of upper body work, such as clapping pushups, burpees, handstand pushups etc. Then I finish it all off with a quick cool down and some deep stretching.

I do all my body weight exercises timed rather than on reps so that I can focus on explosive speed.

FJ:Clams and Dragon Flags… Im sure a few people are like “Wtf” on that one. Mind giving our friends a little explanation on those?

Blake: Clams are pretty simple, you just lay down and put your arms straight overhead. Keep your upper and lower body straight as possible, and bend at the hips to touch your hands to your toes. Great abdominal workout.

Dragon flags are a little trickier. If I’m in a hotel room with a low bed, I can do them, but they usually require a weight lifting bench. To perform them, lie down and make your body as stiff as a board. Grab onto the bench with both of your arms near your shoulders, and attempt to lift all of your body from your shoulder blades down upwards.

At first you’ll probably have to cheat and bend at the waist, but eventually you can actually lift your entire body up by tensing all your muscles and tightening your abs. They were a favourite of Bruce Lee’s and are ridiculously intense.

FJ:Yeah also for those that don’t know, clams is another name for V-snaps… an exercise done quite a bit in gymnastics and one I highly recommend in my fitness book.

Blake: Ah yes, I’ve heard them called v-snaps too. It’s all the same thing.

FJ:Yeah for sure. Now at one point or another we’ve all been caught by the straight hit to the solar plexus… which results in you getting winded. Let’s say the attack is inevitable because your block was mis-timed and you know it’s coming. Are there any tips that you’d give to minimize the pain? One that’s been pretty effective for me is the exhale of breath.

Blake: Yes…exhaling sharply is really the best thing you can do for a hit like that. Luckily on the street people generally don’t throw too many straight punches, much less straight punches to the body. Fights are fuelled by anger and hatred, so most of the strikes are big looping punches with the aim to take your head off. I’ve seen extremely experienced fighters resort to wild looping on the street.

FJ:Really? All that training goes out the window that quickly huh? That brings up an interesting notion for me. What’s the point of you training for years if at the time of need your body doesn’t bring forth what’s needed? What changes would you recommend people implement so that everything they learn “STICKS”… I know you said instinct is a big part of it. Care to elaborate? Like specific ways you can train for it… because it’s obvious not a lot of people understand how to leverage their body’s instincts when it comes to a self-defense situation.

Blake: Well the problem with most martial arts is that they try to rewire your brain. They try to take things such as roundhouse kicks and fancy blocks, and make them natural movements to your body. This is because in a real fight, natural movements the body is familiar with is what will end up coming out.

It’s the sad inevitable truth. Rewiring the brain can take 10-15 years, and even then the brain prefers to use the simple movements it literally practices 24/7. Things such as lifting your arm to grab something, raising your knee to walk. I learned this the hard way, and it nearly cost me my life. Self-defense is about simplicity. That’s why I teach a system that actually takes natural movements you already know and refines them to a deadly self-defense system that is quick and easy to master.

As far as training for it goes, there is only one answer. Train with 100% intensity. If you train self-defense with me, it will be an experience you’ll never forget. Yelling, screaming, full force hitting… it’s all part of the game. You have to experience the adrenal dump to know how to handle it. We also wear full body protection, with face masks made out of hockey equipment. This lets you practice your self defense techniques at 100% power without worrying about hurting your partner, at least not too bad.

The fitness benefits are also excellent. Training like this puts your body into survival mode, your heart races to 170 BPM and you pour sweat like you wouldn’t believe. Simply put, dojo training is near worthless if it doesn’t simulate actual real life situations.

No one comes up on the street, gets in a horse stance, and throws a nice straight punch. They come up, yell, scream, push you around, then they throw that hit. And when they throw it, they throw it HARD.

FJ:Nice! I can almost feel the raw intensity with that. I’ve only been in one fight in my life and that was in high school. It was a throat jab followed by a kick to the balls, so I ended that pretty quickly.

So I instantly noticed how you said you train with intensity… I run a kids program where sparring (no matter how old they are) is a crucial aspect of their training. Blocking a standard punch Vs. having a person throw one while moving is completely different. Now you said at one point dojo training almost cost you your life… is this something very personal or would you mind sharing? I think stories like this educate and inspire people. Especially the lazy ones (you know who you are!)

Blake: I don’t mind sharing it at all. It’s one of the biggest influences on my life, and it’s actually the reason I began learning and then teaching self-defense in the first place.

FJ:Awesome, alright so what happened?

Blake: It happened about 7 years ago. I was walking late at night, and took a shortcut to go meet up with a buddy of mine for a midnight snack. As I was going down one alley, I saw two huge guys emerge and start coming towards me. I tried to just turn around and go the other way, but there was a guy there too. I started to sum up the situation and quickly realized these guys wanted to fight.

The area was notorious for gang violence, so I suppose it was just a matter of wrong place at the wrong time. One of the guys came at me and I tried to kick him as he came at me. My kicks had already earned me two world championships at that time, but when it came down to it, it was more like a floppy wet noodle than the death cannon it had been in the dojo.

It temporarily stopped him but my follow up punch didn’t do much. To be honest, it probably just pissed him off even more. My vision was blurry, and my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest. I remember one of the others coming at me, but I don’t remember anything else. The next thing I remember is drifting in and out of consciousness in an ambulance, staring at the blood tattered brace around my neck.

It was at that point it dawned on me. All my thousands of hours in the dojo, hundreds of trophies and countless black belts…they didn’t mean a thing in the street. I felt like a total failure. All I had earned was a broken neck and a spot in the local newspaper(which was very embarrassing for someone with my reputation I might add.)

It took me a while, but I eventually began to rethink everything I knew about fighting, and self defense. It took me a while, but I eventually decided to give up my traditional martial arts training, and seek self defense truth. The rest is history I suppose.

FJ:That’s fucked, yet very eye-opening. It’s those moments that I think give you the turning point you need in your life. An epiphany if you will. I bet the newspaper story actually hurt more than the actual fight, did it not? I mean it seems like an asshole thing to say when you broke you neck, but having a rep as a black belt with trophies then ending up on the paper for being beat up would probably get me down more than anything else.

Blake: Yeah, it nearly ruined my career. At the time I was competing all across the world, head of a world class competition team, and had a good few sponsors. I was THE poster boy for martial arts. To be honest, after the incident, I was scared to go out. I always became afraid of what might happen…and didn’t know what to do.

But when I finally began learning self defense truth, my eyes were opened and I was transformed into the man I am today. My self-defense knowledge and training allows me to walk through life with ease, and I’ve seen benefits in all aspects of life. It seems like when you have that much knowledge and power, you give off an aura that almost everyone around you can pick up on and immediately respects.

I imagine you’ve seen the same thing with your fitness training, it’s an almost six sense people have. They just respect you, and treat you better.

FJ: OH yeah! I know that feeling. From a broad perspective it seems superficial and it sucks, but honestly, people need to embrace it already. Before I was in the shape I am today, I got nothing. Looks from girls? Nope. Respect from guys? Are you kidding? But once I started with my training, things changed. But here’s the funny thing ok… it changes you from the INSIDE!

I mean I am 140lbs with 6% body fat… so yeah, I look good at the beach. But I’m in Canada. For half the year were covered up in our sexy, fluffy & furry winter coats, so no one really knows what I look like. Yet, somehow… that same level of respect remains. As most people know I’m also not afraid to put people in their place when needed so I think it stems from that.

Blake: Yeah, it’s a phenomenal feeling that has to truly be experienced to believe it.

FJ: Now let’s play time machine for a second, because everyone likes to know “what could have happened”. Let’s say that you could go back to your unfortunate situation in that alley and you knew everything you know now. What would you have done differently? The guy who came at you, how would you have handled that because it obvious to me that you had the intuition to know that a fight was imminent.

Blake: Good self-defense happens in less than 7 seconds, with one to two quick techniques, but true self-defense never happens at all. In that situation, I couldn’t avoid the fight, but with the knowledge I have today I could quickly take the first guy out. After that, it’s a sprint for the exits while the other guys help their sobbing buddy off the ground.

Truth be told, that was one of the worst nights of my life, but it transformed me into the man I am today. I believe everything happens for a reason, so I don’t look back and regret it. Though I still am slightly ashamed of my lack of self-defense skills at the time. It wasn’t my fault though, I had been fooled into a false sense of security just like the thousands of other martial artists who get picked apart every year by regular street thugs.

FJ: Yeah man I agree… the student absorbs what’s taught to him/her. I had one student of mine who’s parent wanted to talk to me because her son got into a fight at school, and was she angry. So I asked him: “Was the fight avoidable?” he said no. I said “Did they try and hit you first?” he said yes… that’s all I needed to hear. Kind of hypocritical of her to be angry when you think about it. She is sending her son to me for that exact same reason.

But he had one bruise on his hand… so that was kind of a proud moment for me because I knew he did what he needed to do. Have you gotten back any positive feedback from a person experiencing a real world situation after learning your techniques?

Blake: Oh man, have I ever! Some of the stories I’ve gotten from my boot-camp attendees have blown my mind! Because most of my clients are guys that get in regular confrontations, such as body guards etc, they actually get to test it out first hand quite regularly.

One of my favourite stories is from a guy I trained in Texas. He was a bouncer on the side of his regular bodyguard job, and he was at a local bar one night when he got into a fight with a pretty big dude. Needless to say he wiped the floor with the punk, and it made the paper. As it turns out, the guy starting trouble was a pretty popular MMA fighter who was visiting the town, and had gotten a little out of hand. I suppose it just goes to show that even MMA isn’t the holy grail of fighting, or self-defense.

FJ: Hah yeah, as much as I love the octagon, people need to realize that laying down a triangle choke to a loser on the street is very unlikely. Though I always liked the fact that in a triangle, the last thing the person will remember before passing out is the smell of your balls. Love it. Haha, it’s probably a guy thing. So are there any details to that story? What’d the MMA guy try and do?

Blake: Well the MMA fighter got into his typical boxing stance, and started to square off with my student. However, what he didn’t realize is that he was in a real fight, not the ring. My student gave him a quick flick to the eyes, and then came over top with an elbow as the MMA guy clutched his eyes in pain.

In the street it’s anything goes, and this fight was over in two hits. I’m pretty sure he finished him off by slamming his head into a table or wall, I can’t remember off the top of my head. It doesn’t matter, after the elbow, the guys world was rocked so bad he could have blown him over.

FJ: Awesome, yeah the MMA dude was constrained by his “rules”… forgetting that there are none when it comes to the street. So you have quite the system in place from what I can recall. Now your website is: http://www.ultimatedefensesystem.com/, Are you planning on releasing a product such as a DVD series for those that want to learn effective self defense?

Blake: Well, I’ve gotten a lot of requests for a home training course over the years, especially for those who cannot afford the price of one of my $2500 dollar weekend boot camps. Last year, I finally decided to do it, and create a home training course to keep up with the demand. I’ve been working on it consistently for about 8 months now, but I tell everyone it’s been “in the making” for 19 years.

I’ve spent nearly $35,000 dollars of my own personal money to get it developed, so I’m very excited to release it. I can’t release too many details now, but I can tell you that the full thing is being filmed professionally in Full HD Video and Audio. I imagine the final course will be somewhere around 10-12 DVD’s, with 5 or 6 full length manuals to accompany the videos. Filming has been taking place for the last few weeks, and we should be wrapping up soon. After that, it’s in the hand of my video guys to get it ready.

I’m really excited to release it, as it’s something that has always been in massive demand. Up until now, the only way to learn my system was to pay for my weekend bootcamps, so that limited a lot of people from learning the self-defense truth. With this course anyone will be able to learn powerful self-defense moves that will keep them safe.

I also understand that not everyone can afford an expensive course on self-defense. As a personal thank you for everyone who has visited my site, I just released a few self defense videos that span as a 7-day course which I’m giving away entirely for FREE to anyone who visits my site. It was just released less than 24 hours ago, and the response has already been amazing.

FJ: Sweet, I’m definitely going to hop on that and check it out. I suggest everyone else do the same. I’ve seen a lot of videos in my day, and been to many seminars so this is going to be exciting to see. I wana thank you for taking the time Blake, I know I learnt some new stuff and at the very least, you probably helped out a poor chap from getting his ass kicked on the streets!

For those that want to reach you for questions and comments, is there an email address where they can reach you at?

Blake: Thanks for having me, it’s been a pleasure. For any questions about self-defense training and martial arts people can email me at blake@ultimatedefensesystem.com or questions@ultimatedefensesystem.com

FJ: No worries, I had a blast. Any last words of advice before we wrap this up?

Blake: K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid. Simplicity saves lives, and it’s the best way to stay safe. Throw away the fancy moves and stick to the basics and you’ll come out on top.

FJ: Agreed, it seems that cannot be stressed enough. Hopefully we can train together in the future. I have a mean yell! Thanks again Blake. We’ll keep it touch and let the folks know more about your program as an when it’s released.

Blake: Absolutely. I look forward to learning more about your Flawless Fitness Book and the methods you teach as well, I’m always up for more fitness knowledge!

FJ: No doubt! I am sure we’ll congregate again in the future and share some good stuff with everyone. Take care of yourself.

Blake: You too, bye.

—[END]—

Well… I sure as hell learned a lot from this, did you? Post your comments or thoughts below. Also remember to hip up Blake’s website and grab his free videos, they’re pretty kick-ass (no pun intended there). You should also follow him closely on Twitter. He is sure to send out a tweet the second his program is released: www.twitter.com/blakeholloway

To Being Fit & Sexy For Life (… and safe)

- FJ
FlawlessFitnessBook.com

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