Here is a short video on coaching and working with kids.

I have been getting a lot of email lately with questions that are not really answerable in article or email format, unless I want to take a lot more time to respond that what I have available. Here is a video answering one of the more frequent questions; how should I stand before the fight…

In an article published on a feminist “news” site, claiming to address the topic of self-defense, the author used a line that still bothers me. The line was “and the amazing and impossible ‘be aware of everything around you all the time.’” This mischaracterization of the subject of awareness does have a basis in a…

I found this talk from Dr. Angela Duckworth on the subject of kids, success and grit. Give a listen. What I really like about this is the way in which, through my work with KICKSTART KIDS, I get to see this first hand as year after year I have students who have futures very much…

As 2014 comes to a close, and 2015 bears down on us like a runaway freight train… I want to thank those of you who have read my writing and especially those who take the time to share posts and even drop a line to me, even those who disagree with my points. I still…

After several emails asking for ideas regarding what would be the most important things a person should know or do in order to increase personal safety, I decided that this is a good place to answer. The fact is that increasing personal safety can be done for most people without ever learning martial arts. However,…

Have you ever “unfriended” someone on Facebook because you knew their latest status update was directed at you? Did you take this action without talking to them to see whether or not it really was about you? Have you ever assumed that you knew why a person was saying the things to you that they were saying,…

By all appearances, it seems that there is a baffling lack of thinking in this country right now. What I will cover here is a strange, almost contradictory circumstance. We have a situation where people have a Soundbite Overload, and yet at the same time seem to be suffering from a Factual Deficit.

Your lifestyle plays a tremendous role in your personal safety. The good part about this is that your lifestyle is a factor 100% under your control. In this article I am going to take a look at some of the lifestyle choices people make that affect their personal safety, and offer some points of consideration…

Within the martial arts, the term self defense is misused and overused to the point where people, often as not, don’t know that it is a legal term, and as such not really open to personal interpretation. This is so common that as a martial arts instructor, when I mention consequences of using fighting techniques,…

I was sent the following link by a friend who asked me what I thought of the article. How to Exercise Our Right to Defend Ourselves without Being Victim-Blaming When I saw the line in the link “Self defense blame victims” to be honest, I threw up a little bit. But I went ahead and…

There is a lot of talk and concern lately over these random violent attacks. As a personal preference, I like to not “date” my articles unless I am writing about a specific event, but with the frequency of these attacks right now it seems that it will not take a great deal of imagination or…

There are many articles out there along this line, ranging from how businesses end up losing their best employees, to how teachers fail their students. In this offering I am going to list what I feel are the ten best ways to be sure your students will quit. They are listed in no particular order…

Our long promised FREE online self-defense course is now live! The decision was made that the road to take was covering the information left out of the typical self defense course. We decided to use the Udemy platform to deliver the course. To take the course, go to http://www.udemy.com/self-defense-101 and sign up. The sign up process is…

On  September 29th of 2013 we crossed the 15,000 views mark and I was astonished. Today we crossed 20,000, and I feel humbled. For a tiny weblog written by a guy like me, to me this is amazing in such a short period of time. I thank all of you for reading what I write,…

Sometime during the day, we crossed the 15,000 views mark! I am pleased with this and want to thank our readers who enjoy what we publish, and those who share what they found worthy of sharing. While the sidebar shows articles dating back to 2008, please remember that this site, http://www.wallacesmedley.com has only been active…

Alright, there is quite a bit of hate being thrown around and it really does need to be addressed, but how can one address it when emotions are being intentionally stoked to such high levels? For a start, one who wishes to address the issues should start with an attitude of respectful dialogue. So, from…

We just crossed the point of 10,000 views of this website! I thank all of you who stop by, and I especially want to thank those of you who comment or send emails letting me know that you like what I am doing here. I am humbled and appreciate you more than you know. I…

There is still time and space available for the Kris Wilder Seminar! Save some money if you register before Friday! Don’t miss it! Kris Wilder 2013 Seminar Texas

When I meet someone for the first time, and tell them what I do for a living, I am often given the response along the lines of, “That’s not a job.” And to be honest, what I do does not feel like a job. Yes, I get paid. Yes, I show up every day. Yes,…

We have a lot of things coming up in 2013! In addition to our upcoming additions to be added, including a video segment, as well as a training blog and a whole host of other additions, 2013 looks to be a very good year here. I thank all of you for your support, and hope…

For the beginner student in martial arts, it can be extremely difficult to tell the real from the fake when meeting the people who teach martial arts classes. In this essay, I am going to give you some tools that will help you to determine if the person teaching the class is a real instructor,…

In the attached article here you will find an article with a disturbing video of a 16 year old girl violently stuck from behind. The man was running up behind her but somehow his steps were not heard or noticed. I am working on a longer essay to address the subject, but this video is…

I just want to send a quick note out to those who follow this blog. First I wish to thank you all for the follows, the Facebook likes, and the mostly kind emails. I really do appreciate all of it, and it does keep my drive alive to make this blog high quality in terms of…

  Like many people this terrible event hit me hard. Due to my role as a martial arts and self-defense instructor I was getting emails, texts and messages all day about the event. Before I begin anything, I want to say that above all there needs to be heartfelt condolences going to those affected by…

A few months ago, I pulled my books offline with the idea of updating them. They no longer represented the way I am doing things, and I wanted them to be as accurate as possible. In a conversation with an old friend of mine, he made note that this was a mistake, as I could…

It has been a bit of time since my last post. In the time since, I have been flooded (well…not really flooded) with emails that contained questions, criticisms, and comments. I have decided to answer some of them here, as this is as good a format as any. So, let us begin… You have gone…

I want to take a moment to thank those of you following my blog here! We crossed the 1,000 views mark in a very short time, and are crossing the 2,000 views mark in less time than it took to get to the 1.000, and that is due to my regulars. I thank you for…

Kris Wilder has published an article I wrote on the Martial Secrets Blog!! You can read it here: http://www.martial-secrets.com/2012/04/01/kickstart-for-kids-making-a-difference-by-wallace-smedly/#comment-1487

I want this to be the best possible blog for my friends and readers. Please take a moment and let me know what you would like to see more of here in my future posts. Thank you in advance to any who take the time to complete this!!

I was speaking to a friend of mine a few hours ago. I asked him if he would be interested in joining me for some workouts over the summer. I have looked at a number of workout programs, and the one that is the most interesting to me is Iain Abernethy’s Extreme Impact Martial Arts….

In the mid 90s, I had a martial arts club that was doing well enough that I was able to move out of the rec center where we were holding classes and into a storefront space. Like anyone starting out, I had little money, and more ideas than I could ever hope to bring to…

When a martial artist reaches the age of 40, does everything really change that much?  I turned 42 last year. I don’t really feel all that different from how I felt even five years ago. So it is not really the actual number 40 that matters, but age happens and things do change as we…

            To some degree, we all engage in wishful thinking. When we buy a lottery ticket, and we imagine what we will do with the money, we are doing just that, wishful thinking.             I have made no secret of my initiation into the martial arts through the door of mysticism. The true appeal of…

In the martial arts we have a very strange habit of taking off our shoes when we enter the training area. This is the reason most martial arts schools smell like a strange mix of sweat, and feet. The original reason for this ritual is probably a simple matter, like sandals fly off when you…

       Once again, the idea for this is lifted from a podcast by Iain Abernethy. He put together an excellent work on what traditional martial arts and modern mixed martial arts can learn from each other. In this piece I am going to take a look at what I feel are the things that…

     I have had a few requests from some old friends to write about this, so here is an intro into my days in wrestling.      Like anyone who was in their early teens in the early 80s, I watched a LOT of pro wrestling. Unlike a lot of people, my favorites were not Hulk…

       There is a struggle facing the practitioners of the Traditional Chinese Martial Arts (TCMA). This is something which is always facing any martial art as the world evolves, but it seems at that right now we are closer to the edge of irrelevance than we ever have been before.      In the TCMA,…

       I wanted to put up a quick update on where some of the articles have gone. It was time to do some house cleaning. As I have been examining some previously unexamined beliefs and practices in my training, things have changed. Specifically, in my series tiled “Forms: Step by Step”, a lot of…

There is a really strange subculture in the Chinese Martial Arts, almost like a cult. In fact, I have, many times, referred the Chinese Martial Arts family as a cult. I will go into greater detail about this presently, but I wish to first make clear that I am not referring to everyone who practices…

       I have been reading a lot, and thinking a lot lately about the unexamined beliefs in the martial arts. I wrote a series of unrelated article for my blog lately which dealt in various ways with the strange cult of the martial arts, and some of the absurdities which are spouted as if it…

       I wanted to write at length about Qi. Every time that I started, other concerns or cares would stop me (I do have a family and a life outside of martial arts). Eventually, a series of unrelated notes became something more, and then became edited into what is in front of you now. Here…

     In my previous post, I talked about the misuse and over use of the word “master” in the martial arts community. Today I will talk about the grossly misused word “warrior”.      The word warrior carries many heavy images within it, and it is this almost universal feel of awe and respect for a…

                I was thinking about some of the terms we use every day, or nearly every day, and how we tend to use them incorrectly. In discussing this with a friend, we noted how often people will use the word “momentarily” in a context where the proper word would be “presently”. If you say to…