Author: MichaelTucker

Michael Tucker is the chief instructor at A.C.T. Defense. He is currently ranked at 9th degree black belt in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu and is a Sentinal International Group Instructor. He has also successfully completed instructor development courses in Tony Blauer’s Personal Defense Readiness/S.P.E.A.R. System Basics and Rob Pincus’ Combat Focus Shooting. He has over 25 years experience in martial arts. He has worked as a Contractor for the US Department of Defense while training soldiers and DOD personnel before deployment to high-threat environments in hand to hand combat, improvised weapons, pistol and carbine shooting, and tactical driving. He as also been contracted to develop personal safety courses for Southern Company, Samford University, The Birmingham YMCA, KlassKIDS Foundation and others. He continually studies how human movement, behavior, psychology, physiology, and training methodology relate to the practice of martial arts and surviving violence.

You Don’t Know Kung Fu

Many people in my social circle who don’t train in martial arts will sometimes tell others that, “He knows karate.” Sometimes you’ll hear children that have started training say they know karate. And of course, Neo knows kung-fu. But in reality, I don’t know karate. I don’t even know budo taijutsu. But I do practice […]

When To Use Eye Gouging In Groundfighting

Dirty tactics such as eye gouging often come up in self defense instruction as a legitimate method of escaping an attacker. Specifically when on the ground. But as a stand alone tactic, they are very unreliable.

A Hidden Danger In Only Having A Gun For Self Defense

Every time I start to talk about hand to hand self defense, there’s always someone that blows it off with some variation of the following mentality: “I’ll just shoot’em.” But there is a hidden danger in only having a gun for self defense. The danger is that when all you have is a hammer, everything […]

What You Can Do About Active Shooter Events

Another active shooter mass murder at a school. All the same rhetoric about mental health, guns, armed teachers, etc. And of course…memes. Memes that take complex issues and turn them into fortune cookie wisdom. But nothing actionable. I’m not an atheist. I’m also not very religious (in the organized sense), but this is such a […]

The Myth of Martial Art Instructor Credentials

I think a lot of students and teachers place too much blind faith in martial art instructor credentials. John is a cop, therefore he is a qualified shooting instructor. Jake was in the military so he knows everything about combat. Jack lives in Japan and is a Shihan with 25 years of training so he […]