Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy. Cobra Kai. It’s an exclusive discipline, a fusion of Shotokan and Tang Soo Do. It flaunts epic leg work and techniques, which include knee, side, and roundhouse kicks. It’s dynamic in sweeps and killer combinations with straight punches, back fists, and chops. So you’ll have to be Spartan-ready to sustain the relentless push your body and mind will demand.
Cobra Kai is an American television series and spin-off of the 1984 film, The Karate Kid. It simultaneously incorporates the original film characters’ lives with a new generation of Karate students.
So, what’s the allure of the streaming Netflix gem? Cobra Kai is a world phenomenon and an epic martial arts experience. So for this blog, we explore 6 Tips on How to Fight Like Cobra Kai – Nick Drossos Style!
“Life shows no mercy, so neither do we” – Johnny Lawrence – Cobra Kai
Tip 1: Train your body
Endure what could be physically grueling. This means training to be strong and tenacious. As a certified and practiced fitness coach and self-defense expert, I prepare you for intense physical impact.
The kind of physical conditioning that will enhance your know-how to fight like Cobra Kai, but also create a living, breathing powerhouse on the daily.
I advocate Spartan fitness; it’s tough, rigorous, and about achieving hard-core survival skills. The basis of such intense training is to achieve your peak physical condition to endure pain, fatigue, and discomfort—vital – life-saving stuff.
Krav Maga and Cobra Kai demand strength, cardio, and flexibility training. It’s critical for peak endurance and speed. As with all my clients, I give you only what you can barely handle; it’s a leading-edge approach that allows me to utilize my experience and skill set to assess your level of resolute and courage to escape and survive a brutal attack.
BE COBRA KAI READY! Join The Spartan Training Camp!
Intense weight training will help build explosive force – my ancestors – the ancient Greeks, typically used stones, logs, animals, and one another for the most formidable resistance.
Whether you train barefoot, hurl shot-put rocks, or HIIT at the gym, the aim is to make you a force to be reckoned with so you can learn to fight like lethal Cobra Kai.
Tip 2: Train your stances
The discipline from Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai crows Karate, but it’s actually a hybrid fighting style. Like Krav Maga, Cobra Kai values a combination of martial art techniques to deliver the most comprehensive self-defense system. The former utilizes boxing, wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Cobra Kai – Shotokan Karate. Cobra Kai also has several prime stances:
- Front Stance: Place one foot forward and the other foot behind. The front knee stays bent, and the back leg is straight. This stance is potent for forward movement and vigorous strikes.
- Back Stance: Place one foot forward and the other foot behind. The back knee stays bent, and the front leg stays straight. This stance is skillful for defense and counter-attacks.
- Horse Stance: Place both feet shoulder-width apart, with knees bent. This stance is trusted for stability and generating force.
- Straddle Stance: Place both feet wider than shoulder-width apart, with knees bent. This stance is excellent for stability and low kicks.
- Feet Together Stance: Place both feet together, and place hands at sides. This ‘starting’ position also exercises balance.
Tip 3: Study isolation training
In the original Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi teaches and instills in Daniel LaRusso the epic kata ‘wax on, wax off,’ in which he is set up to practice clockwise and counterclockwise motions to learn and internalize a defensive technique. The continuous repetition ensures that it becomes muscle memory.
Oblivious to the lesson in the making, Daniel finds it frustrating that instead of learning to master a martial art, his instructor gives him meaningless chores. He was unaware of the real-world training under the surface. The “wax-on” clockwise and “wax-off” counterclockwise motions are the foundation for specific martial art movements that will be used as defensive blocks when faced with a violent attacker. Once instinctual, a kata will propel you to act quickly and effectively in danger.
- Kata is the Japanese word for ‘form.’ The origin of practicing kata, accurate modeling, and posture ultimately spawned from Okinawa, Japan. Although its origins are vital in Karate, they are valuable in many other martial art disciplines.
- To illustrate techniques, Chinese Kung Fu developed kata – intricate and detailed movements revealing a plethora of micro-sequences, including punches, kicks, blocks, footwork, and breathing techniques. They honoured these techniques enough to archive them to influence future generations with their life-saving wisdom and offensive and defensive practices.
- The notorious Ming dynasty sent several Chinese families to settle in Japan’s Ryukyu, present-day Okinawa, and brought the gift of their kata with them to Japan
Tip 4: Train your focus
Kata’s of Cobra Kai are extraordinary for developing and sharpening your focus, as it demands a high degree of concentration. At the same time, it’s a valuable exercise to clear your mind and achieve a complete state of meditation. In the second season of Cobra Kai, Robby (Tanner Buchanan) achieves complete control of his body when he balances himself atop a tree branch – he has achieved his pinnacle of focus.
Kata’s practice in Cobra Kai also develops attention to detail. Being conscious of foot positioning, the body’s angles, and the timing of strikes are all pivotal. The more technicalities you can spot and assess, the greater your chances of saving your life. If you assess the Cobra Kai series, you’ll discover that the style is dense with hard sparring, indicative of solid focus.
Another product of focus is exercising visualization. It’s an essential player in the survival game in its capacity to advance your skill set. In Cobra Kai, the students strive to exercise positive visualization – more specifically – victory in a competition or mastering a technique. The focus will always entail achieving a clear vision in which you can defend yourself and win in a vicious attack. It requires ‘seeing it’ to believe it – which breeds the tenacity to keep fighting at all costs.
“Striking hard is about giving it your all” – Johnny Lawrence, Cobra Kai
Tip 5: Train your mindset
Mental Toughness is no easy feat. So much of Cobra Kai, Krav Maga, and real-world self-defense have meditative facets to their discipline despite their aggressive standing and reputations. With its strike first and strike hard philosophy training your psyche is crucial. So, Cobra Kai also concentrates on hard-core dedication, controlling fear, and resilience. The nitty-gritty of training a killer mindset.
In The Karate Kid, Miyagi-do honors strict defense, self-discipline, and mindfulness indicative of traditional Okinawan Karate. Akin to Krav Maga, Miyagi-do also maintains that fighting should be averted, which mental toughness could only produce.
Facing adversity involves not bowing down to what seems impossible in terms of setbacks, provocation, and challenges. Krav Maga hones in on high-pressure scenarios and impulsive, fierce drill testing, and Cobra Kai throws real-world life threats in martial arts and their daily lives, emphasizing how vast and prominent exercising mindset is.
Learning Cobra Kai also heightens mental clarity and reduces stress; it’s a natural product of a successful mind-body connection.
Blog: Krav Maga: 7 Top Tips To A Survival Mindset
Tip 6: Train real-world self-defence
I advocate that all your self-defense practice should center around real-world self-defense, I’ve revealed how katas are the crux of Cobra Kai and how the street fighting style is connected to Krav Maga and real-world life-saving scenarios. Arming yourself with a combination of these skill sets gives you an extraordinary chance for survival.
Learn how to defend yourself from the most lethal weapons on the street!
You emphasize preemptive striking to gain dominance or leverage over your attacker. Defend against choke holds, grabbing, and other vicious holds and restraints. Situational awareness and de-escalation remain pivotal in your self-defense instruction.
“Strike first, never wait for the enemy to attack” – Johnny Lawrence, Cobra Kai
Blog: How To Defend in a Bar Fight: Hands Up
I’ve added a Cobra Kai fight analysis to my renowned YouTube channel, and the new hit series – hits hard! I select fight scenes from the series and break them down to teach you mad skills to defend yourself. Assessing these raw, authentic videos is to offer viewers my epic life-saving instruction related to Cobra Kai!
- How to Fight Like Cobra Kai – Bar Fight – Managing space and distance, improvised weapons, and more!
- How to Fight Like Cobra Kai – School Fight – Protecting your center line, keeping hands up, strikes, chokes, kicks and tackles, situational awareness, etc.!
- How to Fight Like Cobra Kai – Hockey Fight – Facing multiple attackers!
Whether you’re a fan of the Cobra Kai series or simply looking to increase your arsenal of epic self-defense tips – it’s a martial arts style that’s destructive enough to harm a ruthless attacker – you must be prepared mentally and physically.
Krav Maga emphasizes neutralizing threats as quickly as possible, with techniques that incorporate strikes, kicks, grappling, and strategies against various types of attacks but Cobra Kai parades dominance and power, with techniques are militant and intrusive.
Most other martial arts styles hone in on discipline, self-control, and respect. The premise is growth and development, physical fitness, mental health, and practical self-defense – without raw aggression. This approach is synonymous with Miyagi-Do defense in The Karate Kid, in which he instills to attack only as a last resort and to stay otherwise committed to pure defense. The more aggressive Cobra Kai philosophy often triumphs with Karate designed winning at all costs to save your life.
“Something has got to be done. Someone has gotta step in, and stop the ass-kissing. That’s why we’re here. The world need Cobra Kai” – John Kreese, Cobra Kai
Blog: Adrenaline – Your Street Fight Drug! The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
It’s still critical to understand that the Netflix series is stylized for visual entertainment; it’s a fictional, karate-style system choreographed for the screen and brave imaginations.
Stunt Coordinator and Actor “Neglected”
It’s been exciting exploring the world of John Wick and now, Cobra Kai – it’s a rare opportunity to combine my real-world self-defense instruction with the outstanding fight scenes, which are dynamic, educational, and engrossing.
What’s more, as an ACTRA member, I am hitting new targets with my acting career. With roles in several feature films and epic stunt choreography gigs, I am heading in a unique direction, armed with an expert self-defense skill set, grit, and the drive to combat whatever feat comes my way.
With Stunt Man Dionisi Moula
There are a plethora of factors that come into play in the face of threat or brutal violence. Therefore, your skill set, physical and mental strength, and the elements of a dangerous scenario must be intelligently assessed almost instantaneously.
Krav Maga and Cobra Kai are practical disciplines that merit efficiency and effectiveness, achieved with only the most skilled instruction. Check out my Krav Maga Weapon Defense Course now!