Breathing is essential during workouts, exercises, and martial arts training. Many people believe that there is just one way to breathe i.e. in and out but the reality is contrary to this notion. There are numerous techniques related to breathing. Some institutes even conduct courses on breathing techniques to relax the body and mind only. […]
Is your EGO getting in the way of your martial arts learning? Different blog this month on, well the title says it clearly but what do we mean by it? During my 49 years in the fighting arts I have met, trained with and instructed many martial artists, travelled to over 25 countries giving seminars […]
Drill it Drill it Drill it Seems a funny title Drill it drill it drill it, But how is any skill learnt? Only by repetitive action can one build the necessary neural pathways to enable it to be engrained in your mind at the subconscious and physiological level. Looking at your martial arts training we […]
Street Fighting Samurai Style We always have to grapple with our mind between studying a martial art, style or system and it being practical for use on the street. On the street it is messy, dirty, aggressive with no judges to call yame (stop) usually you are out numbered and once you are in the […]
How do you learn martial arts? Your instructor shouts at you and says do it like this, watch me, he then goes through a series of combinations and you are supposed copy and learn it from that but you don’t even remember the first technique or whether he used his left hand or right hand. […]
A time to reflect The year is nearly over and now it’s time to reflect. How did your training go? Did you do all the things in your martial arts that you wanted to do? Have you completely changed course? Have you given up on martial arts training? Are you evolving or doing things different […]
Can you flow? Water flows, the waves on the sea flow, a fountain flows, nature flows. In the dictionary it explains the meaning of flow as; ‘’To move or run smoothly with unbroken continuity.’’ How does this relate to our martial arts training? Or for that matter anything we are trying to achieve in life […]
Is your martial art pressure tested? So many people do so many different types of martial arts and everyone has their own reasons for doing each one. The main reason is if push came to shove would it be an effective aid in saving your life if needed and does your training reflect a realistic […]
There is only one angle of attack and defence? This is a funny observation, how many angles of attack and defence do you know? When learning the knife, sword, stick or just boxing how many angles are there? In the Filipino arts most styles teach a basic 6 to 12 angles of attack and defence […]
Hips Don’t lie Not just a Shikira song, funny thing to say in a martial arts blog but please bare with me. Martial arts and it really does not matter what style/system you use should be about effortless motion using the body to its maximum effect but with economy of motion and efficiency of movement. […]