Guardian Quest Martial Arts Dojo

06/24/2026

MAX OF SEVEN...

This is breaking one-more than my max. What I came to learn is that if I break more than seven, expect the supporting cinder blocks to topple, too. That starts to add up cost and work!

But, sometimes, I'd save bricks for a final break before we ended a seminar day and just let the cinder blocks break. Eight scallops is a pretty consistent break for me - though, I admit, it's been a while.

ACQUISITION AND DISPOSAL ALWAYS AN ISSUE

The biggest challenges most years we did the breaking seminar was getting the bricks to the dojo, and getting rid of the broken one's after. Because the waste disposal people could not handle putting ALL the bricks in a dumpster all at once, we would literally spend four or five weeks throwing them out.

It got to the point that we couldn't even get them all to the dojo ourselves and just had to pay for delivery. When we had heavier pick-ups available, we could pile them up in the bed and go take them back to the brickyard for recycling.

AN EXPENSIVE FIVE SECONDS

I have a rapid-fire sequence I did sometimes with breaking one brick with my head, two each with my right and left hands at the same time, three with a heel drop, four with a side kick, and five with an elbow drop. But between scallops and cinder blocks, that was a $20 set up for less than five seconds of movement.

FIRE BREAK

Another fun nighttime break was bricks-on-fire. It actually isn't any harder than a regular break other than you can't set up AT the bricks. You have to just step in and break. I'd limit that to five since I had to make sure the bricks always dropped straight down so we could put out the fire. To get them to light up, we'd put strips of newsprint in the space between bricks and wet it down with lighter fluid so we could get a good flame going. It was a beautiful break to do at night.

BRICK BREAKING SEMINARS

The old way was that everyone got 20 scallops to break (and were welcome to get more if they wanted), and we had a set of rebreakable boards I liked. We'd learn the basics, practice on the rebreakable boards, and when they were ready - we'd go apply the techniques to the scalloped bricks.

It's important to get bricks with an even number of scallops so a natural break point is in the middle. A lot of scallops these days have five, so the natural break is off-center. Before then, we used to use half-caps (4"x16"), but those got harder to find, so we switched.

Even now, if I was going to do it again, the scallops are MUCH more expensive now! The last time I priced just the scallops, they were $3 each... just to break them! I also no longer have my rebreakable boards. I'd have to get another set, which is $400-500.

But I'll tell you this: That was a powerful seminar, and 80-90% of students - even kids - could get brick breaking to work on their first day. Some small percentage would only be able to do stomping breaks on their first day - but everyone could break one way or another!

05/18/2026

WHITE BELT: The Hardest Belt to Earn.

Starting is Harder than Continuing.

In particular, I'm not talking about the "well... let's take a few classes and see if I like it..." person. Anyone can just give something a shot and decide based on enjoyment.

It's REALLY "Starting" ... not "check it out"... not "give it a try"... not "see if it's fun"... START. Especially as an adult who hasn't been a brand new beginner at something for YEARS... to decide to be awkward, to decide to be clueless, to decide to start from the "I'm just me and I don't know anything, yet" kind of Start is HARD for a LOT of people.

Sure, there are those who are constantly doing new things... we see them in dojos all the time. They do GKKD now... they did BJJ a few months ago... took kung fu for a month... took a Taekwondo class in college... a little of this... a little of that... and now they're here with their sixth White Belt...

But, in particular, we're talking about someone who really STARTS.

Because that's hard for a lot of people. Once you start... just keep going. A Black Belt is the White Belt that just didn't quit...

WHITE BELT: The Hardest Belt to Earn.

Starting is Harder than Continuing.

In particular, I'm not talking about the "well... let's take a few classes and see if I like it..." person. Anyone can just give something a shot and decide based on enjoyment.

It's REALLY "Starting" ... not "check it out"... not "give it a try"... not "see if it's fun"... START. Especially as an adult who hasn't been a brand new beginner at something for YEARS... to decide to be awkward, to decide to be clueless, to decide to start from the "I'm just me and I don't know anything, yet" kind of Start is HARD for a LOT of people.

Sure, there are those who are constantly doing new things... we see them in dojos all the time. They do GKKD now... they did BJJ a few months ago... took kung fu for a month... took a Taekwondo class in college... a little of this... a little of that... and now they're here with their sixth White Belt...

But, in particular, we're talking about someone who really STARTS.

Because that's hard for a lot of people. Once you start... just keep going. A Black Belt is the White Belt that just didn't quit...

ADDITION: A lot of people seem to be missing the point. In the broader population, in order to go from no belt to belt, you have to do something different. You need to make room in your schedule. You need to make room in your budget. And you need to make that carve-out as a new permanent thing.

We're not talking about the dabblers who are just going to try it out... we're talking about someone looking for a new permanent path. But once you're gotten started... once you REALLY earn that White Belt by starting a new habit that you'll continue... the rest is just a matter of "keep doing what you're doing." Just don't quit and the belts start to follow one another with simple ease just by sticking to that habit of training.

Starting martial arts... REALLY starting... is a lot like my father remarking about quitting smoking. He used to say "Quitting is easy. I've done it hundreds of times." Which, of course, is to say he didn't quit. He just created a momentary pause in his smoking habit. A lot of people do that with a lot of things we think we start... we never really started... we just sort of tried it out... and we didn't earn the white belt as a real beginner... because we were not really beginning.

05/03/2026

WHEN AND HOW FAR?

A man literally gropes a woman's body... grabbing her butt or breasts obviously on purpose, obviously copping a feel, while making a very obscene (if drunken) comment about her clothes on the floor of his bedroom...

What's an appropriate level of FORCE in response? And by whom?

THERE WAS A DAY...

There was a day when pretty much any gentleman who was present - backed up by all the other gentlemen who might be present - would just deck the guy right then and there. If any of the gentlemen happened to be a husband, boyfriend, brother, father, son or other relative, no one would be surprised if it went a whole lot farther than just decking him... and if everyone was known to the local LEOs, they'd probably say he deserved it.

These are not those days.

TODAY...

If that same thing happened in 21st Century USA, every man who did violence when she was not in any danger of physical harm whatsoever would face some likelihood of arrest under most circumstances.

But what if SHE decked him?

SPECIFICALLY...

What if in response to having someone full-on grope her chest, she just hauled off and punched him full power right in the nose and left him bleeding with what could be a busted nose?

Or, in the Guardian Arts, we have a move called a Power Slap. It looks a lot like a slap, but the heel of the palm pops in at the last moment so it hits HARD... and if you "kempo-boost" it with nails, you could get a full-on palm strike to the jaw/temple, but also get nails raked across your face and maybe eyes.

Okay? Maybe okay? At least defensible, right? I think most juries would acquit for a breast grope if it were one solid hit.

What if it was butt instead of breasts? What it is was grabbing her arm trying to keep her from walking away?

TOTALITY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES

Some of it might depend upon other factors in the totality of the circumstances. What if she had been flirting with the man? "Just being nice" level of "flirting" might not change things, but what if it had been overtly sexual flirtation? What if they had previously been lovers? What if... and so on...

You can imagine any range of possibilities. Are there any extenuating circumstances that would change your view?

THE ART OF THE ESCALATING NO

Part of what I teach is The Art of the Escalating No.

1. Be Polite
2. Be Polite and Firm
3. Be Polite with a Warning
4. Be Impolite

Add that into your thinking. He's been pretty forward with her and she said a polite no, a firm no, and a no with a warning... and he keeps escalating and then gropes her, and that's when she hits him so hard with surprising force that goes to the ground - no knocked out - but clearly hurt.

Is that different than if it looked like a sexy, playful flirtation and then he pushes it to a grope and she decked him?

THE ART OF DEFENDING OTHERS

Then there's the Art of Defending Others.

That path also has an escalation.

1. Witness
2. Engage
3. In The Way (But Not In Between)

Start with making it clear to them that they are seen. Some people, when aware of witnesses, stop. In a case like this, probably not, but that's where you start.

Then Engage. Talk to them and try to get them talking to you instead of continuing to talk at the woman.

Finally, get in the way. If you know the woman and you are 100% sure that there is no relationship between the two (LEOs responding to domestic violence calls can tell you that victims often attack officers when they are arresting the abuser they were called to come get), in between might not be a terrible idea - but most of the time you just want to get in the way enough to keep some distance between them and make him have to deal with you to reach her.

But just in case she gets back involved from behind your back, don't get directly in between with your back to her. Also, just in case someone else grabs her, you want to be able to keep an eye out.

Then, if he gets physical with you, you have your standard self-defense escalation you can do because now you're the target.

DEFENSE OF HONOR

These days, there's very little room in the law allowing violence to "defend someone's honor," not even your own.

Maybe that's a better world. Maybe it's a worse world.

But it's the world we live in now.

05/01/2026

36 YEARS SINCE WE STARTED

May 1, 1990 is the official founding day of Guardian Kempo Kajuko Do. I'd been doing martial arts for 19 years at the time, and was formerly an instructor in another system, a member of the national board, and a regional director.

I had the help of ten grandmasters to do what I did. Grandmasters Marx, Riedner, and Boyer helped me the most in the early years, and Grandmasters Generalao and Tejero helped me the most in the latter years - and several others in between. I owe a debt of gratitude to Grandmasters Kuoha, Demura, Jay, Chau, Haralson, and Burk. Many others also contributed thoughts and ideas over the years through seminars.

I remember how bittersweet the anniversary was in 2020. It was the first one without me having a dojo. In 1990, we started in my mother's game room at the Ridgemoor house. By 1991, we were at a Rec Center, by 1992, two Rec Centers and subleasing in Pacific Beach. By 1993, we had a commercial dojo. 1998 we were closed and taught in a home and a park. In 1999 we opened the Spring Valley location and where there until 2019.

In 2020, no dojo for me. The Loyas had taken over teaching GKKD, but, of course, the Pandemic. They taught a few students at their home for while, but, for me, it was my first year without my own students to teach since 1989.

Today is the first anniversary since my 10th Dan Celebration last October... and it feels a little strange to have achieved such a milestone and have no one to be teaching.

That said... I am working on the next GKKD Book. Last year for my 10th Dan, we published the Menkyo Kaiden book. It's a first pass at my attempt to systematically leave a Menkyo Kaiden Multi-Media Library behind so GKKD can continue without me at some time in the future.

There's an old idea that masters, over their lifetime, would "write their book" in the form of master-students who would inherit the system. While I had four renshi-level students and some senior sensei, no one person ever learned the whole system.

The Senseis Loya were on their way as a team, and, in fact, they helped inspire the idea of a Soke Council (as opposed to a Soke Inheritor). Between the two of them, they could have done it, but it would have taken the two of them each playing to their strengths to really do all of it. It gave me the idea that maybe we can achieve Generational Continuity through a group rather than an individual.

As it is, the probability is high that GKKD dies with me. I'm okay with that. Over the centuries of martial arts history, I have no doubt that many, many family arts died out. Wu Mui Kung Fu still exists today after three separate times where there was literally only one living person who knew the whole art since its founding. There are arts in my generation that have died out, and many, many more that die with the last living master.

If mine is a one-generation art, that's okay. It did good work while it was here.

We did better than 30 for 30 in real self-defense and defense of others. We taught good leadership and good philosophy that continues to ripple through the generations. Right now, we have five art/dojo books, plus much of my philosophical material in many other books, audios, and videos. I'm working on the system book with the moves lists - looking to make it more than just a list of moves for our entire curriculum - but we'll see how that goes!

For all the Guardian students out there... Happy 36th Anniversary.

04/01/2026

I’m living in Texas these days… and apparently jujutsu gets used differently ‘round these them parts!

03/26/2026

"WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS..."

We used to have a saying. "What happens in Vegas comes home to the dojo floor."

That was for our Leadership Trips. Back in the dojo days we used to take leaders to Las Vegas for the Martial Arts Supershow. For three days, they'd be around the larger martial arts community and attend as many as ten seminars with leaders and masters in the industry.

From there, they'd take what they learned back to the dojo and teach it on the dojo floor.

ONE WEEK LEADERSHIP RETREATS

The leadership would typically have the opportunity to come to Las Vegas for a whole week. I'd put them up in a condo, buy groceries, and pay for their convention pass. With regularity, we'd treat them to a Vegas Buffet (though a couple of times someone else paid for it - as I remember one particular time that Joshua and Andrea Loya paid for the buffet), and, when we could manage it, we'd treat them to some kind of Vegas Show.

Sometimes we'd do a bonus activity. We'd been the Hoover Dam, to the Valley of Fire, to Red Rocks, to the David Tupaz Boutique (where David set aside a whole afternoon to talk with us), to a local water park..

All in all... some GREAT years!

SMALL GROUPS TO BIG GROUPS

There were a few years it was just me and one or two other instructors. In time, though, it came to be more an more of a leadership perk at the dojo. Many started to misunderstand it as a "black belt perk" since all of our Black Belts were leaders in the dojo and regularly taught - but, no, not just for the rank, for the leadership. A few Black Belts who specifically did not lead were not invited, but had to be reminded that it was a Leadership Perk, not a belt-based perk.

There were a couple of years I took much larger groups - as many as 14... twice! When my step-sons and other teens were leaders in the dojo, we started to have minors with us on many of the trips. Because of the excellent behavior and formality, we got special dispensation to bring people normally considered too young to attend. The regular rule was no one under age 16... but we had younger leader than that with us - and Sensei Ayden became convention-famous and well-liked by all those running booths. Sensei Noora (who might have been 14 her first time there) was respected almost instantly as a quality leader, and Sensei Vanessa was recognized for years for her red bow in her hair. So much so that the first year she wasn't there, I was asked about her half-a-dozen times!

For our GKKD 25th ANNIVERSARY trip, I brought the entire leadership team plus their significant others, got five condos (a mix of one and two bedroom units) and we had an amazing celebration. Some were surprised that I still invited my ex-wife - but she was a senior dojo leader - so, of course! And also "of course" she had her own space. I think that was 14 people for that trip, too.

PLUGGING INTO THE LARGER MARTIAL ARS INDUSTRY

Back in 1996, I was invited to join the American Council on Martial Arts by John Corcoran and wrote more of the Instructor Certification Manual than any other author - and, from that, starting in 1997, I started teaching at National Association of Professional Martial Artists convention in Florida. 2000 was my last year teaching there - but that's when I took advantage of being in Florida to start visiting Disney World and Universal Florida.

2001 was the first Supershow in Las Vegas. I missed that one. I heard about it after it was too late to attend, but starting in 2002, it was an annual thing. In 2020, it was canceled due to Covid... and remained shut down in 2021 (masks were still required... and it was a martial arts event... so....)... and finally in 2022 they finally got to apply all their planning to host the event. It had about half the attendance it used to have, and they lost a LOT of money on that one. They no longer host that event.

Instead, they have folded it into the Martial Arts Industry Association event, and since I no longer have a dojo, I no longer attend - though I do periodically ponder going just to see old friends and colleagues.

A FAVORITE VACATION SPOT

Meanwhile, Vegas has been and remains a favorite vacation destination. I used to come here when I was kid... often staying at Circus Circus or the original MGM (they were one of rare places that had shopping and a great arcade downstairs - and I used to hang out at the sci-fi shop for hours!).

There were less than half-a-million people living here for most of my life. I remember so many of the old casinos - the Landmark being a unique one from my childhood that I never stayed at - Vegas World - Frontier, Stardust, Desert Inn - got to stay at the Sands - Tropicana... so many places that are no longer there. My first Vegas show was at the Hacienda - no longer there - followed by Riviera - also gone.

When it came time to buy a timeshare, after visiting dozens of different presentations, we finally settled on Polo Towers in Las Vegas - and I really leverage my points into a lot of stays! I almost never spend full points for anything, 50%-75% off being my usual. That's part of how I seem to land on so many weeks of luxury vacation every year! I'm buying groceries instead of having every meal out, getting my weeks for half to a quarter of the retail point cost, and periodically getting dinners and show tickets for sitting through presentations (they call it an "update," but, of course, they're trying to sell you).

A POSSIBLE NEW HOME

I'm in no particular hurry to move, but my mother does have her senior living home picked out. She could move at any time she wants... but doesn't need to move anytime soon. When she decides to move, she won't need her sons handy anymore, and I'll move... maybe to Las Vegas (and maybe to St. Louis... and possibly to Orlando). Las Vegas is high on the list because almost all of my friends would come here sooner or later, but if I'm in St. Louis, I'll see my St. Louis friends often, but I don't think my other friends would pass through town very often if at all.

So... I'm looking... not looking specifically for a place just now... but looking at options to help me decide. I'm sure well in advance of an actual move, there will be posts.

11/28/2025

“If you’re going Black Friday shopping, be a decent human being and turn your phone horizontal before recording any fights. Thanks in advance.”