Combat Kenpo

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Combat Kenpo Martial Arts instructor
Author
Martial Arts Mindset

📚Book on Amazon

10/04/2026

What can a bonsai possibly teach us about martial arts?

Quite a bit, actually.

As I work with this little tree, I’ve found myself thinking about something I’ve experienced many times during my years in martial arts.

When we’re beginning, we usually think improvement means adding more.

Another technique. Another combination. Another answer.

But as we gain experience, sometimes the opposite happens.

We begin removing unnecessary movement. We stop wasting energy. We recognize habits that aren’t helping us. We start understanding principles instead of simply accumulating techniques.

A bonsai isn’t shaped by endlessly adding things to it.

Sometimes a branch is redirected. Sometimes one is removed. Sometimes the best thing you can do is give it the right conditions and allow it to grow.

Maybe people aren’t so different.

Growth isn’t always about becoming more.

Sometimes it’s about removing what prevents us from becoming better.

That’s one of the ideas I think about when I use the word evolution.

📘 My book Combat Evolution explores my philosophy of martial arts, fighting, learning and personal development.

Combat Evolution — available on Amazonâ ïżŒ

Keep learning. Keep refining. Keep evolving.

09/24/2026

I saw him trying to figure it out
and the teacher in me couldn’t walk by.

I wasn’t planning to teach a lesson at this moment. I simply noticed a young student working on something and trying to figure it out for himself.

The teacher in me took over.

Moments like this remind me of something I’ve come to appreciate more and more after many years in martial arts.

None of us learned this alone.

At some point, somebody stopped for us. Somebody corrected our stance, showed us a better way to move, explained something we didn’t understand, or simply gave us the encouragement to keep trying.

Eventually, the roles change.

We become the person who stops.

We become the person who teaches.

Knowledge shouldn’t end with us. It should be passed on.

That’s also one of the reasons I wrote Combat Evolution. There are people I may never meet and students I may never have the opportunity to teach personally—but through a book, I can still share some of what martial arts has taught me.

📘 Combat Evolution — available on Amazonâ ïżŒ

09/22/2026

We may want to avoid going to the ground in a street fight. But what happens when we don’t get that choice?

That’s what I was teaching in this lesson.

We were working a counter to a side headlock. Ideally, I want to escape, regain control and punish the attacker.

But I wanted my students to think beyond the ideal situation.

What if my balance is compromised? What if the pressure is too much? What if, despite what I want to do, I’m going to the ground?

Now the situation has changed.

If I have an understanding of ground fighting, I’m not entering an unfamiliar world. I can understand position, movement, leverage and concepts such as following the path of least resistance.

Does that mean I want to go to the ground in a street confrontation? No.

It means I understand that a real confrontation doesn’t always give me the situation I would prefer.

That’s something I believe strongly about martial arts: we shouldn’t only prepare for what we want the fight to look like. We should develop fighters capable of understanding what is actually happening and adjusting accordingly.

You cannot predict every situation.

But you can broaden your understanding so that when the situation changes, you have somewhere to go.

That’s a major part of the philosophy behind Combat Evolution.

📘 Combat Evolution — available on Amazonâ ïżŒ

A FIGHT DOESN’T FOLLOW A SCRIPT. NEITHER SHOULD YOUR THINKING.One moment you’re standing. Seconds later you’re on the gr...
09/17/2026

A FIGHT DOESN’T FOLLOW A SCRIPT. NEITHER SHOULD YOUR THINKING.

One moment you’re standing. Seconds later you’re on the ground.

Distance changes. Position changes. Your opponent reacts differently than expected. Something that worked perfectly in training may suddenly require an adjustment.

That’s why I believe martial arts has to be more than simply collecting techniques.

Techniques give us tools. Training teaches us how to use them. Experience teaches us when to change them.

The goal is not to predict every possible situation. That’s impossible.

The goal is to develop the knowledge, awareness and adaptability to deal with a situation as it actually develops.

That’s one of the central ideas behind the way I train, teach, and why I wrote Combat Evolution.

If you’re interested in martial arts beyond simply memorizing techniques—if you want to understand the thinking behind fighting and adaptation—I’d love for you to check out the book.

📘 Combat Evolution — available on Amazonâ ïżŒ

09/06/2026

Don't train for one answer. Train to find the answer.

This picture represents something important to me about martial arts.

A real confrontation doesn't give us a script.

We don't get to choose the opponent, the circumstances, the environment, or exactly how the situation unfolds.

So training shouldn't simply be about collecting techniques and memorizing predetermined responses.

We need fundamentals. We need techniques. But we also need to understand why things work, how bodies move, how circumstances change, and how to adapt what we know to what is actually happening in front of us.

That's what I want students doing on the mat: learning, testing, thinking, adjusting and discovering.

The goal isn't to have one answer for every problem.
The goal is to become someone capable of finding an answer.

That idea is at the heart of why I wrote Combat Evolution.

📘 Get Combat Evolution on Amazon

Learn. Adapt. Evolve.

08/30/2026

I shared a thought inspired by the Lone Cypress, about those moments in life when we have to be willing to stand alone and do the work ourselves.

Then I watched this.

A group of birds moving together, and near the end, another bird joins them.

It reminded me that there is another side to that lesson.

Strength isn't always about standing alone.

There are times when we need independence. There are times when the responsibility is ours, and nobody can do the work for us.

But there are also times when growth comes from recognizing the right people, learning from others, and moving together toward something greater.

The lesson isn't always stand alone.

The lesson is learn to recognize what the moment requires.

That ability to adapt is one of the ideas at the heart of Combat Evolution.

Adapt. Learn. Evolve.

📘 Combat Evolution — Available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKYLFGNB?ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cso_cp_mwn_dp_PWNJGQB8KS54YMP18MDY_1&bestFormat=true

08/28/2026

I took this photograph of the Lone Cypress at Pebble Beach, California, and as I looked at that tree standing there by itself, it made me think.

It's alone against the ocean, the wind and everything nature has put in front of it. Yet its solitude doesn't make it look weak.

It makes the entire landscape more powerful.

Life is similar.

We need people. I've had teachers, family, students and friends who have been important throughout my journey. But eventually we discover that there are certain things nobody else can do for us.

Nobody can put in the work for us.
Nobody can develop our discipline for us.
Nobody can face our fears for us.
Nobody can decide the person we're going to become.

Sometimes you have to stand alone, not because you have no one beside you, but because the work is yours to do.

That's part of what Combat Evolution means to me.

Learn. Adapt. Evolve.

📘 Combat Evolution — available on Amazon.

08/26/2026

The belt isn't the reward. Who you became earning it is.

Presenting a student with a new belt is one of the moments I value most as an instructor.

The photograph captures only a few seconds. It doesn't show the hours of training, the mistakes, corrections, frustration, perseverance, and growth that came before it.

A belt isn't something I believe should simply be given because enough time has passed. It should represent something that was earned.

And years from now, the color of the belt may matter far less than the discipline, character, knowledge, and experiences developed while earning it.

Congratulations to my student on his accomplishment. đŸ„‹

This philosophy of learning, adapting and continuing to evolve is also at the heart of my book, Combat Evolution.

📘 Combat Evolution:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKYLFGNB

08/22/2026

Watching these waves hit the rocks made me think about something.

We spend a lot of time trying to control what happens around us, but life doesn't always give us that choice.

Problems come.
Plans change.
Things happen that we never expected.

What we can work on is how prepared we are to respond, adapt, and keep moving forward.

Martial arts taught me that lesson years ago, but I've learned that it applies to almost everything in life.

That's part of the philosophy behind Combat Evolution.

📘 Combat Evolution:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKYLFGNB

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3131 Custer Rd
Plano, TX
75075

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