Reflexes can be both an advantage and a hindrance in a fight. These impulses are part of every human beings natural defense mechanisms against attack, and kick in the moment our bodies perceive any immediate danger to us. It is why, for example, if you were to suddenly slip head first into the ground, your hands immediately go out in front of you in order to break the fall, or why you would cover your head and duck if a heavy object were falling towards you. Our reflexes play an important role in combat, as well, keeping our hands in a defensive guard in front of our faces or shuffling ourselves backward as the opponent advances. However, reflexes are a purely defensive mechanism, and the fact that they are hard-wired into our nervous system gives any opponent you could face something to exploit, such as feinting a high attack which you defend against by raising your arms to block the incoming strike – and thus removing them as a line of defense against your torso.
Master Ken, founder of the street lethal art of Ameri-Do-Te and the world’s only 11th degree black belt, understands the advantages and disadvantages of natural reflexes better than anyone. That’s because he understands anything related to the art of combat better than anyone. His martial arts training first began approximately thirty-seven seconds after his birth, and in that time, Master Ken has devoted himself to mastering every martial art ever created. After becoming the deadliest martial artist to ever live, he realized the flimsiness inherent in every fighting system ever developed, and after doing away with all of their weaknesses while retaining their respective strengths, he developed the most powerful martial art in the world, Ameri-Do-Te. This also gave way to the Ameri-Do-Te catchphrase, “Best of All, Worst of None.” His solution to the problem of having one’s natural reflexes exploited in a fight can be summarized in three simple words: “Weaponize the Flinch”! If you have any interest in making sure that your own natural reflexes can never be used against you in a fight, this installment of “Enter the Dojo”, like every entry in Master Ken’s acclaimed web-series, is something you simply cannot afford to miss!
