About
About
My Story.
My Mission.
The school bully had no idea what he was up against when he picked on me!
Thanks to film stars and martial artists like Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Van Damme, Seagal and many more, growing up in the 80’s saw a boom in martial arts, like judo, karate, kung fu and ju jitsu.
You may have heard of the ‘5 Rings’ Shaolin style kung fu, well I had the ‘5 Claires’ style at my disposal. ‘Claire’ was a popular girls name in the 80s, and I had five in my class. When the bully pinned me against the wall and raised his fist ready to punch my lights out, they all raced to my aid. One held his arm, and I heard another say “don’t hit him, he’s only little”. I escaped a physical beating that day, but my pride was battered and my vulnerability severely exposed. Knowing ‘the Claires’ had greater life aspirations than to follow me around as my bodyguards, I embarked on a life long journey into the study of martial arts and self-defence, and 39 years later I bring you Bushido Bitesize.
I have been extremely blessed to have trained in some great dojos (martial art training halls) all over the world with some of the best sensei’s (instructor), including 7 years in Japan, where I truly learnt that size doesn’t matter when you have good technique.
Bushido Bitesize is a culmination of training, events and realisations about the realities of self-defence.
Heinous Crimes
A spate of heinous crimes in and around London in 2021, especially towards women got me thinking about how we could teach self-defence to the masses. I had recently become a father to a daughter and contemplated that one day she may not have the same drive or desire I had to go to the dojo several times a week for many years. Quite rightly, she would have other priorities, but what if there was a way to prepare her against the dangers without such a commitment of time. To ensure that she had an instinctive ‘go-to’ in the face of danger and even extreme violence.
Muscle memory
I loved getting a new grade in whatever martial art I was studying; a new coloured belt and set of new techniques to learn. However, it turns out this is not the best thing for instinctive reaction. Our muscle memory works best repeating simplified motor skills over and over. This is why riding a bike, catching a ball and even driving a car have become instinctive skills that we can perform without thinking. Thinking inevitably slows reactions down, which is the last thing you want when being attacked. Overloading the muscle memory with hundreds of techniques and scenarios, and along with the terror of being in a violent confrontation, could lead tonic immobilisation (freezing in the moment of fear).
Gaining the mental edge
A friend once shared that she had studied martial arts for 4 years, and also completed a self-defence course at university. Walking home late one night a man attempted to push her into a van. She admitted that none of her training came through, instead the strength work she had done at the gym was the only thing that stopped him, as he quickly realised she was no push over and swiftly moved on, looking for a weaker victim. This isn’t to say that martial arts training doesn’t work, but it shows that mental preparation is just as important as physical. It’s still a rare occurrence that we encounter danger, so it’s no surprise that our minds don’t always have a natural go-to against what is an extremely shocking and terrifying experience.
Effective Innovation
Bushido Bitesize
Using micro learning and the latest advancement in muscle memory technology, we have a chance for everyone to develop instinctive physical and mental skills to overcome danger and violence.
Our Simplified and Adaptable Combat System (SACS) can be learnt in 30 days, with less than 12-minute practice each day. It also includes the three principles of power, teaching your body how to leverage your weight to deliver powerful techniques, especially into strikes. When combined with tactical targeting, it offers an opportunity to overcome a much larger and violent attacker.
Our 3-minute micro reads help prepare mentally, with topics on situational awareness, tactical communication, attack psychology, tonic immobilisation and more.
The visualisation tools will train the mind to react instinctively, and help overcome tonic immobilisation (freezing in the moment of fear), and also accelerate your self-defence skill levels.
Bushido Bitesize mission is to give everyone the opportunity to access the App anywhere, anytime and embed a set of physical and mental skills into muscle memory so they become an instinctive life skill. Everyone needs something to fall back on in the face of danger and violence.
Be Ready
in 30 days
Just 7-12 minutes a day develop instinctive self-defence skills