White Tiger Phrases

At the Shiro Tora we have adopted a number of handy catchphrases which are both inspirational and informative:

Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative.

Absorb What Is Useful, Discard What is Useless, Add What is specifically your own.

Using no way as Way, Having no limitation as limitation.

If you see it taught, you see it fought.

Higher Consciousness through harder contact.

The moment of truth is in the fight.

Step don't stretch

Don't be afraid to get some dirt on your shirt

Hit Hard - Hit Fast - Hit First!

Train Hard - Fight easy

Fights are won in Training

The harder you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle

Don't mistake kindness for weakness

Adopt, Adapt, Improve

If he leaves 'em swinging, set 'em ringing

Leave your ego at the door

It's better to fight like a tiger than live like a pussy.

"Your answer is always violence."
"If you didn't want the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question."

If it's me or him, it ain't gonna be me!

The first rule of Self Defence - Learn to Hit f**king Hard!

One fist of iron, one fist of steel. If the right one don't get you, the left one will.

Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6

Never start a fight, but always finish it

It doesn't matter what the colour of the cat is, as long as it catches mice

If you're not living on the edge you're taking up too much room

These are some great slogans from No Fear T Shirts:
remember them?)

There are many things to be learnt from competition - bt fear is not one of them

Does not play well with others
(it appears "others" have a problem with losing)

At 200mph you have no friends





Some explanations:

Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative
Focusing on what you are good at, you can work to maintain and improve on these elements. It's also a great advantage in combat to play to your strengths.
Focusing on what you are not so good at you can work to improve, eliminate your weaknesses and become a complete martial artist and a fully functional fighter.

Absorb What Is Useful, Discard What is Useless, Add What is specifically your own
A maxim from JKD. Does exactly what it says. Absorb what is useful (including what you learn here), discard what is useless (including what you learn here) and add what is your own. Become your own fighter, your own martial artist and your own person, not just a carbon copy or clone. The creative, free thinking individual is more important than any established system.

Using no way as Way, Having no limitation as limitation
Also from JKD. Keeps in mind "the creative, free thinking individual is more important than any established system". We can train in any drill, technique or concept from any martial art, method or system. We are not bound by any constraints or restrictions, set routines or "syllabus".

If you see it taught, you see it fought
We got this phrase from the Dog Brothers. Quite simply, everything we do has a combat application, from punches and kicks, to traps, to chi sao, to sinawalli, to nunchaku manipulations. It all works in sparring and it all has application in real life. Nothing is just flashy or show or "for the sake of it".

Higher Consciousness through harder contact
Another great Dog Brothers maxim. For those who like hard and full contact sparring and competition, whether that be boxing, kickboxing, Thai, weapons combat, or those who just like to slam the mat hard, there is a lot to be learnt from this. Not everyone has to do it, but those who do are not "decending" to some more primative, thug-like level, quite the opposite in fact.

The moment of truth is in the fight
A great maxim from Vale Tudo. You can have all the concept, theory and drilling you like but ultimately this will just be "land swimming". You need to "get in the water" to see if you can really do it.
Hence our fully comprehensive, all ranges, all weapons sparring program. For those who want to do competition, in whatever format, we encourage it. And for street fighting and self protection, our program has been tested "on the doors" over a period of years.

Step don't stretch
An original one of ours. If you can't reach his elbow for a trap or lock don't stand there with your feet stuck to the floor stretching til you're off balance. Take a step nearer.

Don't be afraid to get some dirt on your shirt
This is something we coined in the early classes. Don't worry if somebody's shoe gets dirt on your shirt. Go for the contact. Stick it in the wash when you get home!

Hit Hard - Hit Fast - Hit First!
We're not sure who said this first, but it's sound advice. Use the Fence and Pre-Emptive strike and end the fight before it's begun. Everything else is backup.

Train Hard - Fight easy
Follows an old maxim. Self explanatory.
A similar one is
"bleed in training, don't bleed in battle".

or
the more you bleed in training, the less you bleed in battle
Also
"Fights are won in training".

The harder you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle
Same principle as above

Fights are won in Training
A favourite of Muhammad Ali

Don't mistake kindness for weakness
This is about letting someone off lightly if he tries to start something. Originally coined by the great JKD teacher Larry Hartsell.

Adopt, Adapt, Improve
Similar to Absorn what is useful.
We adopt training methods, techniques and tactics from various systems, both traditional and modern.
We adapt them for our purposes - street self defence for the streets of Britain today.
We improve on them.


If he leaves 'em swinging, set 'em ringing
Refers to the groin kick. The classic sucker move, but harder to land in real time than many people appreciate. However, if the opportunity presents itself, it can end the fight.

Leave your ego at the door
Self explanatory. A common MA dojo maxim.

It's better to fight like a tiger than live like a pussy
We got this from Kung Fu Panda I think. But as a philosophy it fits!

If it's me or him, it ain't gonna be me!
A Samuel Jackson quote from a Tarantino movie. But a great attitude to take into a fight.

The first rule of Self Defence - Learn to Hit f**king Hard!
Or to put it a different way - SD can be summed up in one sentence of 5 words - "Learn to Hit f**king Hard!"
Everything else is back up.

One fist of iron, one fist of steel. If the right one don't get you, the left one will.
My grandfather was a boxer in London back in the 1930s. This was his favourite saying.

Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6
Everyone knows that the law is the "second enemy".
If in doubt, in a SD sit, use maximum force to make sure you come out alive and deal with the legal consequences later.
Extreme situations call for extreme solutions.

It doesn't matter what the colour of the cat is, as long as it catches mice
Dont get caught up in names of styles, what it looks like, uniforms, etc. All that matters is the techniques and the concepts do their job properly.

If you're not living on the edge you're taking up too much room
STMA has always been about pushing the boundaries and this is a good maxim for the general lifestyle.