Lineage matters in martial arts. Not for reasons of snobbery or tradition for its own sake, but because a martial art is transmitted person to person. The quality of what you learn depends directly on the quality of the chain of transmission between the original knowledge and your instructor.
When parents enrol their children at Inception Academy, they are connecting to a lineage that runs from one of Australia's most innovative martial artists through to a local instructor with 35 years of experience in exactly this system. That is worth understanding.
Bob Jones: Building Something New
Bob Jones began his martial arts training in Australia in the 1960s. The martial arts landscape at that time was dominated by imported traditional systems: Japanese karate, Korean styles, judo. These systems had real value, and Jones trained seriously in them. But he was also asking questions that were not always welcome.
The central question was practical: does this work, and if not, why are we doing it?
Jones was not a contrarian for the sake of it. He had deep respect for the traditions he trained in. But he had also seen, in real encounters and in honest training, that every style had gaps. The karateka who could not grapple. The judoka who could not strike at range. The practitioner whose excellent technique stopped working the moment an opponent did something outside the expected script.
His response was systematic. He trained across multiple disciplines, not to sample them, but to understand their principles deeply enough to extract what worked. He tested techniques against resisting partners rather than accepting them on the basis of tradition. And he built a synthesis: a system that drew on the most effective elements of multiple traditions, integrated around functional principles, designed for practical self-defence.
That system became Zen Do Kai and the broader Bob Jones Martial Arts (BJMA) framework.
The Philosophy Behind the System
The name Zen Do Kai carries the philosophy: "the best of everything in the way of the warrior." This is not a marketing claim. It is a commitment to an approach.
What Jones built was explicitly not a style in the traditional sense. It was a methodology. The BJMA system is designed to be updated: if something is not working, you acknowledge it and fix it. If a better approach exists, you incorporate it. The system's integrity lies not in preserving a particular set of techniques unchanged, but in maintaining the commitment to functional effectiveness.
This made BJMA genuinely ahead of its time. The mixed martial arts revolution of the 1990s validated Jones's core insight at scale, demonstrating to global audiences what he had been teaching for two decades: that single-style practitioners are systematically at a disadvantage against well-rounded opponents.
Jones built BJMA well before that validation arrived. He built it because the logic was sound, not because the mainstream agreed.
The Growth of the BJMA Network
From its origins in Queensland, BJMA Zen Do Kai grew into one of Australia's largest and most respected martial arts organisations. Dojos were established across Australia and subsequently in New Zealand, each affiliated with the BJMA system and maintaining the curriculum standards that Jones established.
The growth of the network was not just institutional. It reflected the genuine value that practitioners and parents found in the system. Dojos that taught a complete, principled curriculum with real emphasis on character development attracted students who were looking for something more than sport competition or surface-level fitness training.
The BJMA affiliation was a quality signal. When a dojo operated under the BJMA system, parents could be confident that the curriculum had structure, that the values component was genuine, and that the lineage of instruction was traceable to practitioners who had tested the system seriously.
Shihan Nick Putt and Viking Dojos
The path from Bob Jones's Queensland origins to Halswell, Christchurch runs through Shihan Nick Putt, our chief instructor at Inception Academy.
Shihan Nick Putt has trained in BJMA Zen Do Kai for 35 years. He holds a 5th Dan grading, which represents decades of training, testing, and teaching at the highest levels of the system. His instructor credentials are not ceremonial. They represent a genuine depth of understanding of the Zen Do Kai system, its principles, its history, and its application.
Putt operates the Viking Dojos network, of which Inception Academy is the Halswell location. The Viking Dojos represent the local expression of the BJMA lineage: the same curriculum, the same standards, the same philosophical commitment to practical self-defence and character development, delivered by an instructor who has spent his entire adult life in this system.
The Viking Dojos name reflects both the practical and the cultural dimensions of what the dojos teach. The Norse warrior tradition, like the Japanese martial tradition, placed equal emphasis on fighting capability and character. A warrior who could fight but lacked honour was not respected. A person of character who could not protect themselves or those they cared about was also incomplete. The integration of those two qualities is what the dojos aim to produce.
What the Lineage Means for Your Child
When your child trains at Inception Academy in Halswell, they are connecting to 35 years of continuous BJMA Zen Do Kai practice through Shihan Nick Putt, and to the 50-plus years of development of the system through Bob Jones and the BJMA network.
That lineage is not just history. It has practical consequences.
The curriculum your child trains in has been tested. The techniques work, because generations of practitioners have refined what does and does not hold up under pressure. The progression makes sense, because it reflects accumulated understanding of how skills build on each other. The values framework is embedded rather than decorative, because it was built into the system from the beginning.
An instructor who teaches a system they invented last year may be talented. But they have not had decades of students pushing back against their assumptions, finding the gaps, and developing their understanding. Shihan Nick Putt has. The system has.
When you walk into Inception Academy, you are walking into a dojo with genuine lineage, genuine depth, and a chief instructor who has spent his adult life doing one thing very well.
Come and see what 35 years of BJMA Zen Do Kai looks like on the mat. Book a free trial for your child at Inception Academy in Halswell.
Our Zen Do Kai curriculum page explains how the system is structured and what your child will learn at each stage of their journey.
