Our Basic Principles

Guiding Principles of PinPoint™ Martial Arts

1. Controlling Your Center

1. Physical- Maintaining correct posture will both enable you to avoid being drawn off-balance by an opponent, and allow you to transfer the maximum effect of these techniques into your opponent.
2. Emotional – Keeping a clear, focused state of mind despite the common emotions of fear and anger which usually accompany a confrontation is critical to maintaining the fine motor skills of the PinPoint™ Method.

2. Controlling the Opponent’s Center 
   1. Physical – Keeping an opponent off balance physically makes it possible to apply techniques to larger, stronger opponents and make it more difficult for them to attempt to counter your actions.
   2. Emotionally – Learning tactics intended to mislead, confuse, and otherwise inhibit an opponent’s ability to make good decisions will further decrease their ability to counteract your actions.

3. Body Movement – Sometimes meeting an attack head-on is the correct course of action. Frequently however, avoiding / redirecting an attack achieves better results. Co-opting / commandeering an opponent’s momentum can also produce a significant tactical advantage .

4. Body Alignment – Generate power for striking and grappling by aligning and utilizing your entire body, including the legs and muscles of your core. Also learn how to create an alignment in an opponent’s body which will put them at a mechanical disadvantage.

5. Kyusho Jitsu – Pressure points induce specific physiological effects which you can leverage to escape, counter-attack, and diminish or eliminate an attacker’s ability to continue. Sometimes these effects include pain, but more often include weakness (due to what’s called the myotatic reflex), disorientation, and even unconsciousness.

6. Principle of Opposites – Kinetic Energy transfer from you to your opponent. Using the opponent’s energy against them.  Opponent wants to pull…do not resist, go with them.  They want to push, do not resist, go with them.  Using this principle against your opponent will help you to control their physical and emotional centers.  This is a key principle in the PinPoint™ Method.

7. Multiple Planes of Motion  

1. Striking – Utilizing multiple directions of movement can significantly increase the effectiveness of a strike. For instance, a punch in which the wrist is rotated upon impact can transfer more energy into an opponent with less effort on your part. The result is greater effect on the opponent with less risk of you sustaining an injury to your hand or wrist due to impact.
2. Grappling – Similarly, applying torque to a joint in multiple directions at once will produce greater results with less effort, increasing your chances of success against a stronger opponent.

8. Anatomical Intuition

1. Reactive Instinct – Instantly determine and apply the most appropriate technique(s) to achieve maximum effect based on the situation. 
2. Tactile Sensitivity – Every opponent will react differently to striking and grappling techniques. Determine the amount of force / pressure needed and also detect when a technique is not having the desired effect so you can transition to a different one — in fractions of a second.

9. Transitioning – Transitioning from one technique to another rapidly, without leaving an opening for your opponent to counter, is necessary to win a fight. The ability to do this is achieved by learning to intuitively apply all of the PinPoint™ principles described above.