Click to Subscribe
Modern Agonistics is not a style, art or system. It is simply a format for training, experimentation and competition with weapons. The goals of the participants range from cross-training, self-defense and thrill-seeking, to craftwork [like weapon and armor fabrication] and attempts to reconstruct extinct fighting arts. Practitioners of over two-dozen fighting arts have utilized this format since 1998 without sustaining serious injury. Participants have been both male and female and have ranged in age from 11 to 65; in size from 75 to 375 pounds, and in experience from novice to professional. Most participants have been males in their late teens and early twenties. We have no dues, rituals, traditions or barriers. This is simply a network for combat weaponry enthusiasts. We are just a curious group of fighters. If you want to participate you are welcome. Our motto is "as real as you want it".

Agonistics is an ancient Hellenic term that translates as "contest-preparation". The root is Agon meaning "contest". The English word agony was borrowed from the ancient Greek term for "contestant's suffering" referring to the trials of a combatant. This is admittedly a terrible term to use in modern America, as virtually everyone misreads agonistics as agnostics which is also from the ancient Greek and means "no knowledge" and is used as a self-descriptive term by people who are not sure about the existence of divinity. My favorite misreading of agonistics was when the Baltimore City Paper ran our ad for a seminar at Sifu Clark's in 2005 as Modern Antagonistics. Some guy called me and wanted to know if we were a network for hate groups.
list→small    1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 
ModernAgonistics
APR/02/15 | ModernAgonistics
This bag work 'super cut' was created upon request from a reader at JamesLafond.com First half shows mostly warm-ups. Second half shows some boxing & burnouts. This is by no means an exhaustive demonstration of bag work possibilities.
Bag Work
Building Stick Stroke Mechanics: Answering A Video Coaching Request From Athenian Alex
APR/02/15
Footwear & Melee Tactics
A Vintage Machete Duel Between Kestle & LaFond
MAR/29/15
Combat For Men
Empty Hand and Armed Training
JAN/30/15
Roof Block Clinic
Sunday, November 30, 2014, 1:00 p.m. Jim Frederick's Kenpo
NOV/25/14
Fighting for Dom’s Helmet
Modern Agonistics Event Update
SEP/16/14
‘Sci-fi Male Solipsism’
Beauties in Beast Mode: Why Are So Many Men Applauding Masculine Women? By Jack Donovan
AUG/02/14
‘Always Existing by Nature’
The Wars of the Ancient Greeks by Victor Davis Hansen
JUL/27/14
Shadowboxing for Bare Knuckle
A Man Question from Brooklyn Shane
JUL/18/14
Worshipping in the Temple of Ouch
Achieving Self-evolution Through Combat
JUL/17/14
At The Gates of Inebriation
A Combat Confessional
JUL/06/14
‘And Your Mongrel Children Too!’
A Race-mixing Road Trip
JUN/17/14
The Strip
Notes on The Fighter’s Subconscious Eye
JUN/17/14
Staying Fight Fit Past Terminal
Notes on Fight Conditioning Past Fifty without Healthcare
JUN/12/14
ModernAgonistics
MAY/29/14 | ModernAgonistics
Song credit: Mustard Pimp - Pharaohs Camera: Erique Watson Highlights Reel of The "Alpha Brawl #1", an exhibition match between James (jean shorts) and Charles—May 18, 2014. The prize was a black sash, a gift from Arturo Gabriel, given to him by Billy Bryant. Modern Agonistics is a free and open community of weapon dueling enthusiasts, based in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. We do not capitalize on this video. More information at ( www.JamesLafond.com )
Alpha Brawl #1 Video
5/18/14: Charles versus James
MAY/19/14
Not Training For a Fight?
Why it Happens
MAY/18/14
Gabriel’s Belt #1
The First Modern Agonistics Alpha Brawl
MAY/15/14
Sympathy For The Goon
Combat Arts Pitfalls for the Big Man
MAY/06/14
Team Inebriation versus Team Sober
An Agonistics Anonymous Update
MAY/02/14
Charles versus James
A Modern Agonistics Challenge
APR/29/14
The Shanking Video
Saturday April 19th 2014
APR/27/14
ModernAgonistics
APR/26/14 | ModernAgonistics
Song credit: Faith No More - War Pigs Highlights Reel of THE SHANKING (April 19, 2014) Modern Agonistics is a free and open community of weapon dueling enthusiasts, based in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. We do not capitalize on this video. More information at ( www.JamesLafond.com )
Slash & Thrust
An Agonistics Guide to Round-Robin Scoring with Blades
APR/16/14
Ghetto She-beast versus Boxer-babe
A Real Boxing Self-defense Story from Harm City, Maryland
APR/15/14
‘Something Precious’
A Modern Munera for a Recently Passed Martial Arts Patriarch
MAR/14/14
The Shanking
A Blade-based Agon
FEB/24/14
Lightsaber Arnis
FMA Wand Strikes Examined
FEB/20/14
Strong Side Roof Blocks
Set One: The Snake & The Fan
FEB/15/14
Not Breaking Your Hand
The First Step To Surviving A Stick-fight
JAN/02/14
Submission Combat
Baltimore Area Training Schedule As Of 1/5/14
JAN/02/14
2014 Event Schedule
Modern Agonistics Submission Combat Meets
DEC/20/13
Backyard Valhalla
The Worst Combat Idea Since the French Knights Decided to Walk a Mile in the Mud at Agincourt: Agonistics Anonymous
DEC/16/13
Shanking Svetlana
A Minimal Gear Contact Progression
DEC/11/13
list→small    1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 
Use RSS to see updates
without even visiting: Subscribe
or Watch a quick video on RSS
Casting Darts Publishing In These Parts Contents
ONLINE WRITING
Search Blog
Harm City
Fiction
Modern Combat
Histories
Gaming


Featured
The author returns to the Northwest, to discover that there too hungered the insatiable social Beast.
 
History of the Future
Gibbon Summations
Upon The Earth Plantation America The Combat Space Harm City to Chicongo The Man Cave