Combined Arts Training and Tactics

The C.A.T.T. Martial Arts System

Origins
I figured it's time to start chronicling my defensive art. It's called Combined Arts Training and Tactics (really, I just wanted to name something the C.A.T.T. system) and it's actually a subset of my original style, Freewind Martial Arts, so I suppose I should talk a little about that.

Freewind Martial Arts
I developed Freewind with a solid concept in mind: maintain a core style as a foundation and add essences of other arts, distilled down to their pure effectiveness. The foundation was Tae Kwon Do and all of my students were required to learn the forms and requirements of that style. On top of that, I added elements of Kenpo, Filipino arts, groundfighting, Jeet Kune Do and boxing as sort of electives. The concept was simple: a solid, well-practiced foundation with peripherals chosen purely for their usefulness and functionality.

Keep It Simple Stupid
What I wanted to do with the C.A.T.T. system was to strip everything down to a core of effective, simple techniques that can apply to a variety of situations. Too many martial art systems are bloated, in fact, most of them are. I wanted a system built around a few proven and effective techniques that the practitioner trained with constantly and consistently until they were quick, powerful and second-nature. I call these the foundation techniques--a package of strikes that one can always fall back on. When in doubt, go to your foundation.

A Need-To-Know Basis
On top of that, I added need-to-know techniques for joint-control and manipulation, grappling and weapons (the knife, the stick and the staff) as well as an array of secondary strikes. There are no Kata or forms to speak of (by that I mean that I incorporate drills and bag work which, in reality, are forms by any other name).

So Lets Get To It 
Over the next several posts (interspersed by whatever I feel like on any given day) I'll be covering the foundation techniques of the C.A.T.T. system:

• Stance
• Hand strikes
• Kicks
• Knees
• Elbows
• Footwork

Let the fun begin!