Welcome to the on-line home of the Zimmerman Academy. The academy was founded on September 19, 2011. The academy is dedicated to self defense and blends grappling and cane self-defense with Taekwondo to create a more holistic self-defense curriculum. We call this system Zimmerman Ju-Jitsu.
Kenneth’s and Caleb’s Black Belt Promotions
We currently train a hand full of personal students, while we continue to develop the curriculum. Over the next few years, we will be recording the curriculum.
Ken Zimmerman Jr. is the Head Instructor. Ken has 14 years of martial arts experience with 8 years experience in teaching. Ken also has been trained in several law enforcement defensive tactic systems. Ken is assisted by his two sons, “Trey” and Caleb. “Trey” holds two black belts and is a Yonkyu (Green Belt) in Judo. Ken has also trained 14 nieces and nephews over the years.
As a kid I always preferred sparring and self–defenses over learning forms. At the TaeKwonDo school I attend you will learn 5 Kichos, (Some added by our instructor) 8 Taegueks and 8 Palgwes as well as at least 3 extra forms due to the new creative and weapons forms requirements. This is a lot of forms for people to remember. The forms are the art of the martial arts so what can they teach someone who focuses on self–defense.
Zimmerman Self-Defense System Logo
They Teach Discipline
Aside from testing the memory of the practitioner the forms also teach discipline. It is very tedious repetitively doing these fixed patterns over and over again. Especially the lower level forms. They are training you to be committed to the rest of your training. After awhile, you will feel fatigued so it is also good for conditioning as well.
They Train you to Use Pattern Recognition
One of the things my dad reprimanded me for when I expressed my distaste in the forms was that most of my skill came from doing these forms. They train you to think in attack combinations around 3 or 4 and give you several to work with. While timing drills and shadow sparring can achieve similar results they are not quite to the same degree.
They Force you to Use Techniques you Might not Use
Comparing shadow boxing or shadow sparring with the forms most people would prefer to shadow spar. It seems like you would excel faster in the art by doing that as opposed to practicing patterned techniques. Not to mention walking drills teach you to do each technique on repeat.
In shadow sparring you are instinctively throwing or avoiding techniques. The pool of techniques people instinctively use is very shallow. It never comes to mind to use a spearhand or a cross block in shadow sparring. However in the forms you are subtly taught how to use each of these techniques within a combination and are forced to learn them to expand the list of what you can use.
Here’s an older article I wrote on breakfalls. This has less self-defense application than it has self-preservation however it still exists as incentive for people to learn how to defend themselves.
A break fall also known as a roll is one of the most important skills I’ve learned. I learned in Judo how to do break falls and I learned how to throw myself, so if I trip I don’t fall. I actually just roll back to my feet.
Jujitsu Practice at a Japanese Agricultural School in 1922
They started us out by just sitting down and rocking back, then from kneeling, after that from standing. Then they’d teach you how to roll to your back from the ground and stop on your back and absorb the shock. After that I had to teach myself how to roll to my feet, and practice on harder surfaces. It took me probably 6 or 7 years to master it though, so its not easy to develop.
There are three basic kinds of break falls the forward, the diagonal, and the backwards roll, but if you get thrown in different directions, you might modify it without realizing it. The best fall is the diagonal or side roll because it keeps the shock away from your spine. You roll from shoulder to opposite hip. The backwards is also good, because you can roll backwards if you get pushed, loose your balance, or slip running on the walls. (Yes that actually happened once) It’s technically a backwards diagonal since going straight back will seriously injure your neck. The forward one is okay, but your rolling right on your spine and you have to basically jump over your head. It’s harder to get back to your feet and is by far the hardest on the body.
Break falls can actually be used to break the shock of a drop from elevated height. When you jump off of something, your knees lock up when you crash on the ground, but if you roll you don’t have that big of a shock. For the most part I’ve used it to keep myself from a. getting hurt or b. looking stupid when I trip. I would encourage you to practice your break falls on a nice padded surface. Taking a class on Judo is also recommended for safety.
Kenneth Zimmerman III, Zimmerman Academy Instructor
Generally, when my father came up with the tier system he based it on the level of threat. The highest was lv3 which meant that the person was out for serious harm. In recent weeks I have considered whether or not a fourth level should be added for when you are dealing with armed attackers. The main reason for this is you do not want to fight an armed person unarmed. If they have a knife, a gun, a club or anything of the sort it can be severely difficult to defend yourself. This is not even taking into account of multiple attackers.
Zimmerman Self-Defense System Logo
Makeshift Solutions
There are many things environmentally that can help you deal with attackers. One such item is a magazine. When rolled up to a point it may not stab like a knife but it will hurt like mad when you hit with it. You can use purses and bookbags to knock them upside the head. There are mops and brooms that you can use like a staff and whack them with. Or you could pick up a chair and bash them with it. The possibilities are endless.
The Eye for an Eye Solution
I call this the eye for an eye solution because it’s based around having another weapon of your own just in case the situation escalates. It is here that I reinforce intelligent disguising or hiding of the weapon. My father’s favorite weapon is the cane. Almost no one suspects it is a weapon but it’s essentially a big stick that goes thump–thump with a convenient hook on one end that just so happens to be useful for assisting with issues walking. A lot of people favor large carbiner clips. These are things your attacker may not think are weapons and can be hidden in plain sight.
On the other hand if you choose to use something like a knife or a firearm you have to keep make it accessible enough for you to use but hidden enough that they can’t steal it and use it against you. Not only that there can be serious legal charges if you use it when the situation does not call for it. I would advise extreme caution if you choose to use these kinds of weapons.
The Best Solution
There’s an old Celtic saying, “a good run is better than a bad stand.” The entire goal of self–defense is to avoid as much harm to you and whoever you are protecting. The easiest way to prevent harm to yourself or others is to evacuate the premises of the violent fool. Don’t hang around for the sake of your own pride; just GET OUT.
Unless you carry a practical weapon on a daily basis like a cane, odds are against you having said weapon when you get attacked, and your multi tool that takes 5 and a half minutes doesn’t count. So I try to emphasize the importance of what’s around you. Everything has a purpose and a lot of objects can be used for combat.
Zimmerman Self-Defense System Logo
Opportunity Defense Drill
A drill I recommend is using only three safe objects to defend yourself. If you go into an area you think might be unsafe look around for opportunities to get an edge. A pipe or stick are very common and easy to work with. Just be sure to pick a weapon that goes thump, thump not whip, whip.
Opportunities that are common are more effective because you already know them. Sometimes you could be next to a trash can. Most people find it disgusting having trash flipped on them. Got a water bottle? dump the contents on them to distract them. A traffic cone could be used as a megaphone to draw attention. Lots of different opportunities to catch your opponent off guard for the counter or make a quick escape.
The Wall and Directions of Attack
Backing into a wall is usually thought of as a bad thing but in reality it’s much smarter. Being against a wall means you prevent ambushes from behind. It also limits the possible attacks to 3-5 directions. I wouldn’t go into a corner however because you won’t be able to leave the area after you’ve dazed your aggressor.
Final Note
In all situations being aware of your surroundings and constantly looking around and taking note of what’s around you will make you a less appealing target. As for the unlucky fellow who does decide to attack you he’ll think twice about attacking someone when he limps around smelling like a landfill.
There’s an old Celtic saying, “a good run is better than a bad stand.” This little bit of wisdom is one of the many we use to teach people basic self–defense principles. In this case the main idea is that fleeing an attack is better than staying to fight for the sake of pride or some other stupid reason.
There is no shame in running away. The entire goal of self–defense is to protect yourself or others from harm. One of the easiest ways to do that is to not be there. This is especially true when weapons or multiple attackers are brought into the equation. Generally, the wisest course of action in these situations is to simply to get away.
Stun them enough to create an opening to escape and then take the opportunity. Do not keep fighting only to bring down lawsuits if you win and potentially irreversible damage if you lose. A good run is better.
Similar to an older article on self-defense archetypes is the theory of thinking in terms of weakness. The most basic level in terms of learning self–defense is repetitive memorization. Most people who learn like this do not know why it works only that it does. Then the next level is the archetypes. Those who learn to use archetypes find how it works and reapply it to different attacks. The highest level is learning weaknesses to create defenses.
Kenneth and Me Rolling
I was speaking with one of the elite students from the class I go to at an advanced practice recently and he was telling me about how in Aikido this is how they would teach you. You would essentially end various defenses in the same counter based on the weakness you wanted to exploit.
This requires a heavy pull from the student to learn as most curriculum in competitive arts such as Taekwondo do not teach this method. They tend to stick with memorizing textbook techniques rather than finding why they work and implementing them elsewhere. Another problem is that experimentation is also something that I generally discourage children and beginners from taking part in. Finally, it takes a much longer amount of time to learn a series of weaknesses and how to exploit them than it would to teach them an archetype or even a series of defenses for various attacks.
Anyone who is a red belt or even blue belt should take an interest in learning the weaknesses and why their techniques work in order to better teach others and also to improve upon and develop better techniques.
One of the most overlooked aspects of self–defense is making yourself seem like a bad choice for a victim. There are three different aspects to this that are all equally important. Respect, awareness and confidence will all make you seem like a less ideal target and lower your chance of becoming a target for crime.
Respect
The first and most basic is to be respectful of others. This applies even when they are not respectful to you. The reason being is if both people in a dispute are acting irrational and disrespecting each other it can escalate to violence quickly. Sadly, the situation can be entirely avoided if you just defuse the situation or don’t start it in the first place. It isn’t a sign of weakness it’s a demonstration of wisdom. If you respect others there’s a better chance to defuse the situation. If they still want to fight you though it’s another story but do not give them incentive to get payback against you.
Newsboys Practicing Self-Defense
Awareness
The second is to be aware of your surroundings. This means keep your head out of your phone as much as you can. Keep headphones on a low enough volume that you can still hear what’s going on around you. Watch for any suspicious behavior. Normally this would be classed under common sense but there are so many people within my own generation who do not think about these things that they just walk around without a care in the world. You have to be aware of your surroundings, so you can escape before a conflict starts.
Confidence
The last is to have confidence in your mannerisms. Keep your chin up when you walk. Keep a strong posture. Etc. Thugs will want to pick on someone else because they want to pick on someone who they perceive as weak.
Conclusion
While this may not zero out your chances of becoming a target, it can help minimize the odds of being attacked. Self–defense in many cases starts long before the actual violence occurs because it is the other events that lead up to it. There are situations where people are just being evil parasites and you will have to shut their attacks down however those situations are out of your control. What is in your control is how you act before the situation begins.
I have been doing martial arts since I was five years old. I have gone to Willow Martial Arts for the bulk of it. One thing I have noticed is that when someone leaves they have a very difficult time recommitting the time and energy to working on TaeKwonDo. Only one person besides my father and I have ever left the school and recommitted after returning and he and I trained multiple times a week while we were gone.
Kenneth breaking at about 8 years of age
Commitment is Important
Contradictory to popular opinion committing to regular class attendance at a school, club or dojo is important. The main reasons are because you do not improve nearly as fast working with the same partner on repeat as you do working with a variety of partners.
It also forces you to be accountable for your training inside and outside of class. Self–accountability never works in anything because inevitably you will start skipping training or half–doing it.
You would also learn to do things that you would not have otherwise practiced on your own. I had a very limited practice of the forms specifically because I did not see much use aside from extending the duration of classes and training your body to act in combinations. However, the forms when practiced enough works to work on gaining strength and endurance for sparring and self–defense.
You Can’t Completely Train on your Own
When my father and I left the school because of the conflict in ideals we focused mainly on area’s we needed to grow in. In addition to that we cut out several training practices we deemed unnecessary that by the time we returned we were getting drained a lot faster.
Take Away
Keep practicing at your school and don’t avoid classes because you aren’t interested in the content of them. Stay and practice because you will fall behind the others that do attend the classes you miss.
Growing up learning martial arts was a lot of fun but it was rarely ever received well. Typically, when I mentioned my martial arts background to the majority of guys at my former church they acted as if it was an affront to their machismo. Most of the time they would reference little tricks to compensate and make themselves feel superior. The irony of this is we actually teach techniques in self–defense that are categorized as being less honorable ways of fighting.
Trey Breaking at 15 years old
Martial Arts Isn’t All About Competition
Most of the time there’s an issue because of the misconception that martial arts are all about competition which when you have TaeKwonDo and Judo that push for competition so often it is not a surprising assumption. The problem is, and this could be an article in of itself, many schools do not primarily focus on competition. There are three sects I have noted in the martial arts world the traditionalists who do it as close to the classic way as possible. The competitive school which is trying to create the best athletes to win competitions. And finally, the group that focuses on self–defense, crime prevention and overall safety. This is the group my father and I fall into.
Eye gouges, groin strikes, hair pulling, and numerous other techniques get blacklisted from competition rules for safety of the competitors. Most martial artists teach to use these “dishonorable” fighting tactics in self–defense specifically because it does a lot of damage, has high control or some other benefit that competition fighting does not have. In fact, in the self–defense group it is highly encouraged. It gives even the common man a distinct advantage over their opponents.
However…
In the first 5 UFC’s there were little to no rules. Hair pulling was legal and Royce Gracie actually used it to win a fight. Eye gouges were legal groin strikes were legal yet there was a distinct lack of these techniques succeeding. The reason for this is someone who is trained to fight probably isn’t going to stand still and let you stick your fingers in their eyes. The only reason Royce was even able to effectively use the hair pull was because his opponent had it in a ponytail which was like giving him a handle. So using these 5 competitions as evidence historically fighting dirty alone does not trump someone who trains in combat regularly or really just has any experience fighting. If you really want to defend yourself you should not just practice cheap tricks because on the off chance they fail you may pay for it.
In any area of the martial arts there needs to be conditioning. Within the groups that focus on traditionalistic approaches it comes as part of the program. For competitive they have to train a particular way just to be on par with the other competitors. The group that neglects conditioning the most is the area of focus I am primarily apart of the self–defense group. While talking to one of the elite students in my class he made the point that in self-defense you shouldn’t rely on adrenaline magically making you fit for the 20 seconds, escape and then go back to normal.
Kenneth and Me Rolling
When it comes to self–defense the entire goal is to create techniques and strategies for a person who is physically smaller, weaker and less aggressive to take down a bigger, stronger more aggressive opponent. This is the ideal when self–defense techniques are created. Sadly, many neglect the advantages of conditioning training and rely solely on the technique.
Conditioning for self–defense does not guarantee that you will have better odds of escape but it helps equalize what would already be a great disparity in combative abilities. The only thing you really lose by conditioning is the time it takes to train. It does not even take fancy equipment. Most warm-ups done in class can be done at home.
It really does not take much to condition yourself for self–defense. It all depends on your fighting style and starting body build. I prefer to hit fast and hard with striking and move like a snake with grappling. For my personal fighting style, I found having less muscle to work better to weave around my opponents. My father has the opposite fighting style. He likes to be strong enough to hit his opponents as few times as necessary and possibly take a hit or two with striking. Then with grappling he wants to pin them down with his weight, trap and submit them. He does much more body building in order to achieve this. The important thing is that you put yourself in better shape to reduce the chances of being a target and increase the probability of escaping.
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