About Peter Freedman
Peter Freedman Sensei (“Pete”) is world-renowned in JuJutsu and has been recognized by the Pugilistic Hall of Fame. He's a Grandmaster in JuJutsu and Brewster Arnis, a Filipino knife and stick fighting art. Pete has dedicated the past six decades of his life to martial arts training and is honored to share his formal techniques and practical experiences with the next generation.
Early Days
Pete grew up in Boston's violent South End, known as the Combat Zone in the 1970s. This area was plagued with poverty and organized crime. Homicides and gang violence were rampant. Pete's goal as a young man was to simply survive until the age of 19—as so many of his childhood friends did not. He had numerous attempts on his life and was shot and stabbed on more than one occasion.
Surviving the Streets
To survive the dangers of the streets, Pete learned how to bare knuckle fight from his father, a well-known boxer at the time. Mr. Freedman rigorously coached Pete, teaching him how to bob and weave while striking ping-pong balls strung up in their home’s basement. As Pete grew older, he trained in a variety of martial arts systems. His choice system was called Ketsugo JuJutsu, a difficult style where techniques were taught hard and fast.
Changing Young Lives & Creating Champions
While many of his peers were drawn to a life of gang-related activities, Pete focused his energy in a positive direction—opening an all-natural power-lifting gym in 1979. Over the next 15 years, Pete's Power Gym had a life-changing effect on countless at-risk youth in Boston's Combat Zone. He provided his students with a healthy alternative to joining a gang or committing a crime—training many of them at no charge. Thirty-five of these young trainees went on to become national body building champions. As shown in the photo below, Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn formally recognized Pete for his outstanding work in the community. Also pictured are WWE Hall of Famers and former gym members “Killer Kowalski” and “Big John Studd,” and the 80's icon Anthony Michael Hall. Pete continued to offer body-building training to local at-risk youth and provide private Jujutsu lessons until the facility closed in 1994.
Freedman's Method of Ketsugo JuJutsu
A few years after closing his gym, Pete moved to rural New Hampshire in the hope of creating a better life for his family. After building a Japanese-inspired private dojo on his Weare property, Pete offered Ketsugo JuJutsu lessons, a blend of the best martial arts systems he studied throughout his life. He also shifted his teaching methods from a hard style to a soft style—yielding like a willow tree instead of cracking like a pine.
This teaching method makes the martial arts form accessible to people of all ages, sizes, health levels, and athletic abilities—as the Japanese intended.. It employs a slow and safe controlled system of movement, as opposed to a hard and fast system in which only the strongest and most skilled opponent can win. Incorporating the best martial arts techniques gained from a lifetime of study and practice, Pete created Freedman's Method of Ketsugo JuJutsu, which he teaches today.
Freedman's Method of Ketsugo JuJutsu: Core Training Elements
This system comprises three core elements: Footwork, Nine Angles, and Flow Drill.
Footwork is the foundation of any art—the teaching of how to move the body.
Nine Angles represent the only physical angles from which one can be attacked—whether armed or empty-handed.
Flow Drill teaches how to flow from lock to lock, incorporating advanced components like body structure analysis and balance. Students develop an ability to react creatively instead of thinking. While concepts are shown in technique form at the start of training, very little is memorized. Instead, the emphasis is on instinctively and subconsciously moving the body, blending energy with that of the attacker. The goal is a creative flow with no mind (thought). Instead, calmness and muscle memory reactions are developed through Randori or dance of chaos. With Randori, one student is in the middle of a group of attackers and must defend against multiple opponents at the same time. This drill will mirror the level of proficiency of the given student. Students are encouraged to learn how JuJutsu works, instead of proving who is the most advanced.
Creating Humble Scholar Warriors
Pete believes in creating scholar warriors. As part of their training, his students are expected to follow a reading list as they grow in rank. Anatomy, mobility, and holistic medicine are also taught. The learning environment is a humble one. Ego does not exist in true JuJutsu.
Freedman’s Method of Ketsugo Jujutsu
A Ketsugo Jujutsu Sensei, I developed Freedman’s Method, a holistic self-defense training system. It goes beyond traditional training, teaching you how to use practice mental, emotional, and spiritual martial arts applications in your everyday life for balance and enhanced well-being.
Brewster Arnis Filipino Martial Arts
I trained under Guru Grande Master George H. Brewster, who perfected the combative system of Brewster Arnis. In 2000, GM Brewster appointed me as the new Grand Master. I am honored to continue his legacy, training others in a style of self-defense that incorporates physical, mental, and emotional components.
Training the Next Generation
It is my honor to share my vast martial arts experience with the next generation of martial arts students and instructors. Whether you are an experienced professional or new to the art, my self-defense training program adapts to you as opposed to requiring you to adapt to it.
Current & Past Students
I have worked with a variety of students, including those interested in fitness and personal safety, law enforcement and security personnel, and members of the U.S. Department Of Defense, Special Forces, CIA, and more.
Hear from Peter's Clients
Shodoshi Thomas LeBrun, Hogoshin-do
Pictured: Tom protecting Whitney Huston & Bobby Brown
"Peter Freedman Sensei sets himself apart by teaching, mentoring many students from beginners to advance practitioners . The students come from all walks of life, and he adapts accordingly. Those who belong in the fields of law enforcement and security would benefit from his commonsense approach whilst taking into account the use of force continuum. Police , and all involved potentially with force issues, would gain a wealth of knowledge within Peter's Ketsugo Jujustsu Method of self-defense. One would not be disappointed. As a teacher, I am "Forever the Student."
David Weinberg
Attorney, Self-Defense Instructor, and 6th Degree Black in FMKJ
“I met Grandmaster Freedman when I was an 18 year old freshman at Boston University studying international relations. I was looking to learn self-defense. I was planning on studying with him for 6-12 months and then go on my way. 28 years later I’m still a student of his and will never stop learning from him.
During my first class in his basement dojo in Boston’s South End, Grandmaster Freedman told me that he taught through principles and concepts versus memorizing techniques. This would hyper-accelerate my learning. He told me this was a “special private school.” When I earned my first promotion to “yellow belt that would be equivalent to a 5th degree black belt in other schools.” Yeah. I thought that was a hyperbole and about the dumbest thing I had ever heard. However, he was nice. I also liked the techniques I saw him demonstrate so I started training.
The saying, you don’t know what you don’t know, couldn’t be more true. 3 months into training I had my first martial science awakening. His dojo hosted a master jujutsu instructor from Ireland named Tom. I was excited to meet him. We had a class of about 18 students that day. I made sure to pair up with Tom as my training partner to begin the first series of drills. I thought he could show me some cool stuff. About 2 minutes into training with Tom I was beyond perplexed. Physically, I appeared to be the same skill level as him if not better. Mentally, I felt like I blew him out of the water. What?! I had never studied martial arts before. I was 18. He was in his 50’s. I wasn’t a prodigy. Moreover, I had only been studying for 3 months. I was so dumbfounded. I asked Tom, “how long have you been training in jujutsu?” He responded in his Irish accent, “23 years.” I was even more confused. “So what belt are you?” I enquired. “5th degree black belt, but if I was in your school I wouldn’t even have my white belt! This school is really advanced.” He said. My mind raced. I thought everyone trained like us. I had no sense of relativity as I had never studied martial arts before. Just as I was about to ask Tom what the heck he was talking about Grandmaster Freedman shouted out for everyone to rotate partners. As I walked to the other end of the dojo to pair up with another student, Tom approached Grandmaster Freedman. Tom asked, “what level black belt is that guy?” “Who?” Grandmaster Freedman asked. “That guy I was just training with. What level black belt is he?” Tom clarified. “Oh, you mean, Dave? He doesn’t have a belt yet. He’s just a beginner. He actually just started training with me 3 months ago.” Grandmaster Freedman told Tom.
Since meeting Tom my studies with Grandmaster Freedman became a lifelong journey into self-defense, martial science, fighting, weapons training, self-improvement, mental conditioning, discipline, body-building, alternative health, herbology, spirituality, metaphysics, energy healing, psychic development, and the dojo curriculum goes on. Grandmaster Freedman flipped my mind inside out and changed the way I view the entire world. I learned how to bio-hack everything and anything through his method of viewing hidden principles and concepts. This not only unlocks the mysteries of martial arts, but the entire world we live in. Initially, I used to watch in awe how fluidly his advanced students moved and how cool they looked when they effortlessly invented techniques on the fly during randori. I thought I would never be able to duplicate that. Here I am.
I went on to law school. I ended up becoming an instructor of Freedman’s Method Ketsugo Jujutsu (“FMKJ”). Over the years I’ve taught self-defense and weapons tactics to instructors of wing chun and JKD, NFL athletes, police officers in Los Angeles and South Carolina, a “no rules tough man” champion, and members of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), Marines, Army, Army Rangers who guarded President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton, and Spec Op Instructors for Counter-Terrorism.
I’m forever grateful for Grandmaster Freedman’s teachings and the time he spent mentoring me and his other students. Teachers like him do not exist elsewhere in the world. You might find a teacher who can fight, but he probably can’t teach well or doesn’t have the patience to teach. Or you find a teacher who can teach, but does not know how to fight. Or perhaps you find a teacher who can fight in the ring or octagon, but has never faced hundreds of life and death struggles, muggings, and assaults on the street against knives, guns, and multiples attackers. If you’re lucky to find a teacher with all the above, I bet the teacher won’t speak English, or worse, will withhold information. If the teacher doesn’t withhold information, I’ll bet you won’t be able to ask questions and he will teach through pain. You’ll be an anomaly if you don’t sustain severe injuries from your training.
Grandmaster Freedman’s real-world experience is unparalleled along with his skills both fighting and teaching. Every class is taught with gentleness and humor while you learn a form of battlefield jujutsu that has mostly been lost today. This was a martial art that was once practiced and treasured by some of the fiercest warriors in the history of mankind – the Japanese Samurai. It was secretly passed down from one generation to the next. This was the martial art that kept Grandmaster Freedman alive in Boston’s notorious South End while all his friends from his neighborhood died from knife and gunshot attacks. It is a privilege to call Grandmaster Freedman my teacher. It is an honor to call him my friend.”
