Knowledge • Perspective • Capability
Sifu Journal & Field Notes
Articles and reflections by Alan Baker on training, travel, and the experiences that shape his work. Explore self protection, self defense, and the ongoing development of capability through study, practice, and everyday life.
90 articles in Self Protection & Self Defense
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Judgment in Martial Arts: Are You Training It?
Physical skill does not automatically create good judgment. Alan Baker explains why observation, timing, positioning, and decision-making deserve deliberate attention in martial arts training.
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La Mano Negra: Training the Blind Side in Keysi Fighting Method
Capability Academy • Keysi Fighting Method • Intelligent Optics La Mano Negra Training the blind side so primary vision, peripheral recognition, protective movement, and intelligent action remain connected under pressure.…
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Predator Alert: Training the Eyes to Stay Online Under Pressure
A field-tested examination of Predator Alert in Keysi Fighting Method: how to maintain visual awareness, articulate the Pensador, and keep the larger environment online under close-range pressure.
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Ahead of Time: Why Early Recognition Matters in Self-Protection
Situational awareness is more than a slogan. C-TAC teaches students to prepare, train their eyes to see, recognize developing pressure, and make better decisions while they are still ahead of…
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The Nucleus: How Keysi Fighting Method Trains Problems, Not Just Techniques
Technique gives a martial artist the notes, but the Nucleus teaches the student how to play the music. Sifu Alan Baker explores how Keysi develops adaptable problem-solving through drills, laboratories,…
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Two Continuums, Better Decisions: Understanding Force and Threat Escalation in C-TAC
C-TAC students study two essential continuums: the range of responses available to them and the escalating behavior of a threat. Training both helps students recognize change, avoid falling behind in…
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The Keysi Fighting Method Pensador Is Not a Single Shield Position
The Pensador is one of Keysi Fighting Method’s most recognizable ideas, but it is not a single guard or shielding position. Sifu Alan Baker examines how its protective structures articulate,…
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Stress Is a Programmer: Why Scenario Training Must Be Designed, Not Improvised
Stress does more than test performance. It can reinforce whatever responses have already been trained. Alan Baker explains why effective scenario training must be built through intelligent drilling, structured progression,…
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Keysi Fighting Method Training – 4 Man Box Drill
The Four-Man Box is not an uncontrolled four-on-one fight. It is a Keysi Fighting Method laboratory for developing 360-degree force and investigating how every action changes orientation, awareness, position, and…
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The Perpetual White Belt: What Combatives at the Lake Reinforced About Mastery
After a three-and-a-half-week teaching tour, Combatives at the Lake reinforced two enduring lessons: remain a perpetual student, and keep refining knowledge until what remains is simple, clear, and useful.
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If Your Training Starts With Assault Tactics, It Starts Too Late
Most martial arts training begins after the fight has already started. Real conflict often begins much earlier, with emotion, argument, posturing, distance, and boundary violations. A complete self-protection system must…
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The C-Tac Combat Blueprint In Self-Defense Training
The C-Tac Combat Blueprint showing the five primal environments of conflict. C-Tac Combat Blueprint thought tool for civilian self-protection training. Sifu Alan Baker discussing the Combat Blueprint on the Warrior’s…
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Dry Fire Target Transitions With Coach Dennis Rousseau
Capability Academy • Firearms Training • Target Transitions Dry Fire Target Transitions: Vision, Shot Confirmation, And The Time Between Shots Target transitions are where many shooters lose time, not on…
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What To Do When Someone Grabs You At Close Quarters
Sifu Alan Baker teaching Keysi Fighting Method close-quarter self-protection. Keysi Fighting Method training for close-quarter grab defense. Sifu Alan Baker and Jennifer working through a close-range self-defense question. Keysi shielding…
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The Corte De Manga Elbow in Keysi Fighting Method
Sifu Alan Baker teaching the Corte De Manga Elbow from Keysi Fighting Method. Keysi Fighting Method close-quarter elbow training with Sifu Alan Baker. Corte De Manga Elbow training from the…
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Keysi Fighting Method Instructor Camp With Sifu Alan Baker
Sifu Alan Baker teaching Keysi Fighting Method at an instructor camp. Keysi Fighting Method instructor camp training in Atlanta Georgia. Students training close-quarter Keysi Fighting Method with Sifu Alan Baker.…
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Training Pistol Fundamentals With Jim Foreman
Sifu Alan Baker training with retired Navy SEAL Command Master Chief Jim Foreman. Jim Foreman teaching pistol fundamentals and trigger control. Sifu Alan Baker and Jim Foreman during Tactical 21…
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Dirt Medicine Tourniquet Training With Paul Ekoniak
Sifu Alan Baker training trauma medicine with Paul Ekoniak of Tactical 21. Paul Ekoniak teaching Dirt Medicine tourniquet training. Tourniquet training demonstration with simulated blood loss. Sifu Alan Baker learning…
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Sifu Alan Baker trains with Guro Joe Wakey in Tampa, Florida, exploring Pekiti-Tirsia Kali timing, knife jab drills, footwork, and position.
Sifu Alan Baker with Guro Joe Wakey and Tuhon Tim Waid of Pekiti-Tirsia Kali. Guro Joe Wakey teaching Pekiti-Tirsia Kali knife jab timing in Tampa, Florida. Sifu Alan Baker training…
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Shooting From Cover With John Fleischer and Tactical 21
Sifu Alan Baker conducting firearms training on the range. John Fleischer teaching shooting from cover with Tactical 21. Defensive shooting lesson focused on cover, movement, and reloads. Sifu Alan Baker…
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Different Trigger Squeezes for Faster Shooting
Tactical 21 • Defensive Shooting Fundamentals Trigger Control Is Not One Speed: Precision, Reset, and Defensive Shooting A lot of shooters are taught one way to press the trigger. In…
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Never Give Up Flat: Ground Movement, Defensive Posture, and Protecting Your Weapon System
In grappling, one of the first things many people learn is how to bridge, shrimp, and recover position from the ground. Those skills are important. They build movement, timing, pressure…
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Another Outstanding Week at the Executive Protection Institute
Fresh back from another outstanding week at the Executive Protection Institute, I had the opportunity to teach Protection Response Tactics®, work with an exceptional group of future protection professionals, and…
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The Grappling Backdoor Escape
In this seminar highlight, Sifu Alan Baker breaks down the backdoor escape and explains why some grappling habits can become a liability in more hostile environments. This is not just…
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Why Traditional Martial Artists Struggle In Real Violence And How To Close The Gap
You can spend years training in a traditional martial art, earn rank, move beautifully in forms, flow through drills, and even do well in sparring, yet still be completely unprepared…
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Gear Creates An Illusion Of Safety And False Outcomes
If you spend any time in the defensive tactics, martial arts, or combatives world, you have seen the same scene play out. People suit up in large, padded outfits, full-face…
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Self-Protection, Self-Defense, and Self-Offense: What’s the difference and why it matters
Put simply: self-protection aims to avoid the fight, self-defense manages the fight that finds you, and self-offense ends the fight when no lesser option will do. Train all three. Build the plan that keeps you out of trouble,…
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