About Sander
27/08/12 09:21 Filed in: Martial Arts | Fitness | TRX / Cross Training | Brazilian Jiu Jitsu | Other | My experiences
This blog post is… well about myself. I am not writing this because I love talking about myself or out of narcissistic tendencies. I am posting this because I have had many questions about my background in martial arts, fitness, education etc. This is a great visual way to show everyone what I’ve done since I was a child that relates to my profession now.
I have been involved with a lot of different sports (especially in college of which I don’t have any visual materials for) and always continue to learn and try new things.
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Buddy Week
Define Defense will be hosting ‘Buddy Days’ during September 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th. During these days, everyone can bring friends, family, spouses and whoever else they want to join them in our classes.
It doesn’t matter if your guests have done any martial arts or fitness classes before, just invite them to show them what you do and to have some fun!
Anyone is welcome! The person who brings the most ‘Buddies’ will get a free Define Defense T shirt.

Back to School Promo
13/08/12 14:37 Filed in: Martial Arts | Brazilian Jiu Jitsu | Self Defense | Fitness | TRX / Cross Training | Strength & Conditioning
From August 15th until September 15th, we will be running a Back to School promo!
Youth MMA Program:
Any child who signs up, gets a free custom Define Defense Gi (value: $49.99)
Mixed Martial Arts & Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Program:
New clients get a free custom Define Defense rash guard (value: $40)
TRX / Cross Training Program:
New clients get a free Define Defense T Shirt (value: $19.99)
Metroseen.com Video!
Check out our professional promo video, made by Metroseen.com
Music by Roy Dean (www.roydeanacademy.com)
Metroseen is the place where you'll find the best local businesses telling their unique stories on video! These are extraordinary videos telling extraordinary stories. As you discover each place through these vignettes, you'll find that you're discovering your community as well! Check out other videos on www.metroseen.com
Music by Roy Dean (www.roydeanacademy.com)
metroseen.com presents Define Defense - Boulder, CO from metroseen.com on Vimeo.
Metroseen is the place where you'll find the best local businesses telling their unique stories on video! These are extraordinary videos telling extraordinary stories. As you discover each place through these vignettes, you'll find that you're discovering your community as well! Check out other videos on www.metroseen.com
About Modern Martial Arts & Our Curriculum
When we talk about Modern Martial Arts, many still have many questions about what style it is, what you learn etc. Our Modern Martial Arts is exactly what it sounds: a modern approach to martial arts!
Traditional martial arts are very rigid and more often than not unrealistic and ineffective. That is why we created our own program and curriculum by combining the elements that DO work and put them together. Our program includes everything from striking, kicking, armlocks and chokes standing and on the ground, takedowns, throws, self defense, weapons defense and grappling. It was our goal to step away from the one sided traditional practices which are outdated and offer something better... much better. You'll be more diverse and better skilled when you train Modern Martial Arts with us.
Only techniques that meet our standards and we believe are practical in a real situation were accepted and made it into the curriculum. Once you master our entire program, you will be a very complete martial artist because you are know what to do in all these different situations. If you combine the Modern Martial Arts with the No Gi Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program, you will learn everything you need to know for competition and MMA. However, that is a decision you make for yourself, depending on your goals.
Our Modern Martial Arts program offers the best of many different styles, for example:
- Karate
- Muay Thai
- Krav Maga
- Japanese Ju Jutsu
- BJJ
- MMA
- Kickboxing
- ...
Not only will you be learning more effective techniques, you will also experience strength and conditioning classes, enjoy complimentary yoga classes etc. Creating our own program and curriculum makes our program and clients more open minded towards learning more skills and evolving with martial arts/self defense instead of being stuck with a firm skillset that has been the same for decades or centuries.
Underneath you can see our curriculum, which has all the belt ranks and test requirements (excluding the amount of classes needed to test).
As you see, our curriculum is very strong and well rounded. Every single attack has 3-5 self defense escapes (not shown) so you won't get stuck in a situation. Testing is not mandatory as some of our clients simply come to get in shape or to learn how to defend themselves, compete etc. Other clients do want to get higher ranks and reach that black belt. If you look through the curriculum, you will see our black belts earned it as they master a great amount of skills and also learn to be critical towards what is effective and what is not. We do NOT want to teach our clients anything that is ineffective as this gives false confidence and can put you in serious danger.
Our black belt curriculum is available to view in our facility (degrees 2-6) and includes physiology, coaching, CPR and much more.
At Define Defense, we guide our clients and teach them the best way we can to make them the best martial artist possible.
Modern Martial Arts Curriculum at Define Defense LLC.
Traditional martial arts are very rigid and more often than not unrealistic and ineffective. That is why we created our own program and curriculum by combining the elements that DO work and put them together. Our program includes everything from striking, kicking, armlocks and chokes standing and on the ground, takedowns, throws, self defense, weapons defense and grappling. It was our goal to step away from the one sided traditional practices which are outdated and offer something better... much better. You'll be more diverse and better skilled when you train Modern Martial Arts with us.
Only techniques that meet our standards and we believe are practical in a real situation were accepted and made it into the curriculum. Once you master our entire program, you will be a very complete martial artist because you are know what to do in all these different situations. If you combine the Modern Martial Arts with the No Gi Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program, you will learn everything you need to know for competition and MMA. However, that is a decision you make for yourself, depending on your goals.
Our Modern Martial Arts program offers the best of many different styles, for example:
- Karate
- Muay Thai
- Krav Maga
- Japanese Ju Jutsu
- BJJ
- MMA
- Kickboxing
- ...
Not only will you be learning more effective techniques, you will also experience strength and conditioning classes, enjoy complimentary yoga classes etc. Creating our own program and curriculum makes our program and clients more open minded towards learning more skills and evolving with martial arts/self defense instead of being stuck with a firm skillset that has been the same for decades or centuries.
Underneath you can see our curriculum, which has all the belt ranks and test requirements (excluding the amount of classes needed to test).
As you see, our curriculum is very strong and well rounded. Every single attack has 3-5 self defense escapes (not shown) so you won't get stuck in a situation. Testing is not mandatory as some of our clients simply come to get in shape or to learn how to defend themselves, compete etc. Other clients do want to get higher ranks and reach that black belt. If you look through the curriculum, you will see our black belts earned it as they master a great amount of skills and also learn to be critical towards what is effective and what is not. We do NOT want to teach our clients anything that is ineffective as this gives false confidence and can put you in serious danger.
Our black belt curriculum is available to view in our facility (degrees 2-6) and includes physiology, coaching, CPR and much more.
At Define Defense, we guide our clients and teach them the best way we can to make them the best martial artist possible.
Modern Martial Arts Curriculum at Define Defense LLC.
Martial Arts & Fighting
19/09/11 16:32 Filed in: Other | Martial Arts | MMA | Brazilian Jiu Jitsu | Self Defense | Strength & Conditioning
Often, martial arts is stigmatized with negative actions or behaviors. This is caused by media, the film industry, certain professional or amateur fighters etc. However, in this blog article, I would like to prove that this should not be generalized and it does not have to be this way.
Originally, martial arts was developed to increase the chance of survival. Later on, it started to be used as a sport, in competition, as an art form and more. Mostly, the code of honor and respect was central and utterly important for the practitioners. Of course, there are always bad apples and all human advancements are always used for good and bad causes (think about samurais who valued honor vs. ninjas who were spies and mercenaries).
Some of these traditional martial arts styles are still widely practiced but unfortunately are also very outdated. This will be a ongoing discussion but someone practicing Tai Chi, Karate, traditional Judo etc. will learn many techniques that are simply not functional in a real life situation. This does not mean however, they are less worthy as an art form or for personal development. For self defense, these and many more styles are very overrated and sometimes even useless.
On the other side, martial arts has also evolved over the last decades. Think about Mixed Martial Arts. This is the ultimate competition martial arts form and has proven itself over and over again. For self defense reasons, it may also not be 100% effective though (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will not work with multiple attackers, an MMA fighter will not know how to defend against a knife or gun attack…)
The issue with this progress is that the self defense aspect is often overlooked and the honor and respect are mostly forgotten. The ratings have gotten so important that most fighters talk badly about each other and have very little respect left. There are exceptions, think about Georges St. Pierre, who has very strong values and is also one of the best martial artists and fighters in the world.
Martial arts and fighting overlap each other, no doubt about it. For me, it is your personal attitude that shows which one you are. You do not have to be mean or disrespectful to be a good martial artist AND fighter. Talking badly and insulting others only shows a bad attitude (and fear?) Honor and respect are extremely important in our facility. We respect our friends, instructors and teammates. We push each other and ourselves and test each other during training to become the best we can be. But there are no egos, disrespect, insults or anything else.
Our clients have different goals. Some want to become a martial artist to defend themselves, other want to get in shape and others want to compete. But we only train martial artists… that are really proficient in what they do, whether it is being prepared for protecting themselves/other or testing themselves in competition. Many martial artists can become fighters but not every fighter can become a martial artist. You will gain a huge amount of knowledge and skills to reach your goal and at the same time, you will gain friends and have fun.
Define Defense focusses on being the best studio in Boulder and offers a modern approach to martial arts, which consist of the most effective and realistic ways in martial arts. But we have also not forgotten about honor and respect. These are values that should never be forgotten. We don't practice traditional martial arts by any means but these values are timeless. We train individuals to better themselves and learn martial arts so they can feel safer, better about themselves or compete. We respect everyone's goals and do everything we can for you to meet those.
Originally, martial arts was developed to increase the chance of survival. Later on, it started to be used as a sport, in competition, as an art form and more. Mostly, the code of honor and respect was central and utterly important for the practitioners. Of course, there are always bad apples and all human advancements are always used for good and bad causes (think about samurais who valued honor vs. ninjas who were spies and mercenaries).
Some of these traditional martial arts styles are still widely practiced but unfortunately are also very outdated. This will be a ongoing discussion but someone practicing Tai Chi, Karate, traditional Judo etc. will learn many techniques that are simply not functional in a real life situation. This does not mean however, they are less worthy as an art form or for personal development. For self defense, these and many more styles are very overrated and sometimes even useless.
On the other side, martial arts has also evolved over the last decades. Think about Mixed Martial Arts. This is the ultimate competition martial arts form and has proven itself over and over again. For self defense reasons, it may also not be 100% effective though (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will not work with multiple attackers, an MMA fighter will not know how to defend against a knife or gun attack…)
The issue with this progress is that the self defense aspect is often overlooked and the honor and respect are mostly forgotten. The ratings have gotten so important that most fighters talk badly about each other and have very little respect left. There are exceptions, think about Georges St. Pierre, who has very strong values and is also one of the best martial artists and fighters in the world.
Martial arts and fighting overlap each other, no doubt about it. For me, it is your personal attitude that shows which one you are. You do not have to be mean or disrespectful to be a good martial artist AND fighter. Talking badly and insulting others only shows a bad attitude (and fear?) Honor and respect are extremely important in our facility. We respect our friends, instructors and teammates. We push each other and ourselves and test each other during training to become the best we can be. But there are no egos, disrespect, insults or anything else.
Our clients have different goals. Some want to become a martial artist to defend themselves, other want to get in shape and others want to compete. But we only train martial artists… that are really proficient in what they do, whether it is being prepared for protecting themselves/other or testing themselves in competition. Many martial artists can become fighters but not every fighter can become a martial artist. You will gain a huge amount of knowledge and skills to reach your goal and at the same time, you will gain friends and have fun.
Define Defense focusses on being the best studio in Boulder and offers a modern approach to martial arts, which consist of the most effective and realistic ways in martial arts. But we have also not forgotten about honor and respect. These are values that should never be forgotten. We don't practice traditional martial arts by any means but these values are timeless. We train individuals to better themselves and learn martial arts so they can feel safer, better about themselves or compete. We respect everyone's goals and do everything we can for you to meet those.