My name is Ryan Birmingham. Combat Elements is a resource that focuses
on effective, practical, combat martial arts while also emphasising how these
principles relate to life and personal growth.
Peter Freedman, the founder and grandmaster of Freedman’s Method of
Ketsugo Jujutsu, also Guro Director of Brewster Arnis, is a Boston, MA
native that grew up fighting everyday of his life. This led him taking martial
arts training seriously as he needed it daily on the streets to fight and
survive. Though his martial arts training crosses many different systems,
he particularly found his Boxing, Ketsugo Jujutsu, and Arnis training to be the
most effective for him. He eventually founded a philosohy and method of
learning and teaching that emphasises the person, customizing the training
for them and how each person thinks and what there bodies can do. Also,
the method emphasises the learning of martial science, concepts, principles,
and understanding before the hard physical work and repitition is engaged.
I started training with Freedman Sensei in Arnis in 2000, after some self initial
defense training with Master Terry Dow in 1999. Peter was the right teacher for
me at the time as I was a 20 year old that had severe insecurity issues both
in defending myself, physically and verbally, but also life’s purpose. As I started
to get more involved in the martial arts, I noticed that I started to get more
involved in the other aspects of life. I became an avid reader of martial arts
books and evenually got interested in reading and studying other subjects
by extention. Anatomy, History, Nutrition, Survival, Psychology, etc. I became
a fierce student of everything.
Combat Elements began after my interest in wanting to organize together
the main principles of what I learned in both martial arts and personal
development. My goal is to share this vision, that Peter encouraged, and
create a central hub for resources to open minds and promote this type
of natural confidence in self.
