How to Escape from Duct Tape, Longsword Fighting & More: This Week in Martial Arts

Karate Guitar via YouTube
Via YouTube
Karate Guitar via YouTube
Via YouTube

Edit: I’ve fixed a few technical things that were causing me some problems on the back end, but I’m ready to rock ‘n roll now. If you saw the previous version of this post, I’ll have an update on the krav maga seminar I attended this morning soon.

For now, though, it’s time for This Week in Martial Arts.

Karate guitar. This is a video of a guy breaking bricks with both his hands and his head. It’s as cool as it sounds.

Escape from duct tape with help from NBC Dateline. This 1-minute video of “news you’ll hopefully never have to use” has been making the rounds among my friends in martial arts lately. I have personally not tried it, so who’s going to volunteer to help me out with this?

Fact or Fiction: Black Belt Magazine’s Keith Vargo tackles three myths in the martial arts both here and here. My favorite is the one about Bodhidharma, from which many martial arts trace their lineage. “The truth in the Bodhidharma myth is that, through his insistence on mental and physical discipline tempered with wisdom, the Indian monk is more the father of the modern martial arts than the people who invented the techniques of fighting are.”

If you’re interested in longsword fighting, this 4-minute video from the New York Times is for you. It reminds me a lot of the martial arts competitions I go to – traditionally with forms, sparring, weapons, breaking, and maybe grappling – because it’s such a proportionally small group of people doing what they love and train hard for.

Chances are you’ve heard of the Bubishi if you’re in a martial art like karate. Whether you have or you haven’t, Sascha Matuszak at VICE’s Fightland blog posted a great recap of how the Bubishi stemmed from China and later spread to Okinawa.

Get updates straight to your inbox!

Like what you’ve read? Sign up for my blog updates, and I’ll deliver them straight to your email. Then, share this link on social media!

[mc4wp_form]

By Adam Bockler

Adam Bockler is a B2B marketing professional, a black belt martial arts instructor, DDP Yoga instructor, and a personal trainer.