April 18, 2015

Pre-blog notes:

– I’m in Indianapolis today, spending a portion of the day teaching DDPYoga level 1. If you’re reading this, stop by!

– I post a new This Week In Martial Arts every Saturday morning. When you’re done with this one, go back and check out all the other cool links I’ve pulled over the past few months by going through the This Week In Martial Arts tag.

– If you like this post, please remember to share via social media using the icons at the top and bottom of this post.

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– I share cool links throughout the week, so like my Facebook page, and you can also follow me on Twitter.

This Week In Martial Arts

Bruce Lee prefers kung fu. At least, that’s what he said during this underground interview in 1964. Kung fu is like water, he says. “Water is the softest substance in the world,” he says, “but it can penetrate the hardest rock.” I think this video is great because Bruce says he’s 24 years old in this video. Despite his age (I’m 25) and the fact that this video was shot 54 years ago, many still hold Lee’s words in high regard. Thanks to Mr. Steve Aldus for passing that video along.

Do you crack your knuckles? I do. Several times a day, even. So what happens to our finger joints when we do it? Obviously, a sound. But the sound is created when a cavity forms between the joints, according to Mashable. Fortunately, this research suggests joint cracking isn’t damaging and could indeed be healthy for your joints.

These are the seven habits of highly persistent people, according to FastCompany. Persistence is a huge factor in success in fitness, martial arts, and almost every other aspect of life. I was on a flight from Boston to Chicago last fall heading home, and I happened to sit next to a fascinating man who was heading to a college reunion. I told him what I did for a living, and we talked for the entire flight about marketing, technology, and education before he opened up to me about his double hip surgery. As we parted at O’Hare, his parting words to me were, “Keep moving.” That’s persistence.

If you practice martial arts, you probably also practice forms. And you might be confused as to why there are pauses in them. After all, forms are about self-defense, right? So why would there be pauses? Jesse Enkamp explains:

[I]n a real fight, there is no need for pausing at all. … But that’s not what we’re talking about here. Because the performance of a kata is NOT a fight. [When the performance] is skillfully done, onlookers get goosebumps. Just like any art.

Speaking of forms…

You’re only fighting one person at a time, say Kane and Wilder. This obviously rejects the idea that form movements are against two people. In a Shuri-ryu kata, the basic interpretation is that you’re pulling one guy’s wrist (and thus, body) behind you while you’re tripping another guy with the other leg. Ludicrous. I can’t imagine how anybody buys that today.

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Plugs and Upcoming Events

Peoria – On Wednesday, April 22, I’ll be introducing the concept of inbound marketing to students at Bradley University.

Galesburg – I’m competing at the Galesburg Academy of Martial Arts tournament next Saturday, April 25.

If you’d like me to bring DDPYoga to your next event, contact me.

April 4, 2015

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This Week In Martial Arts

The night: Historic. The moment: Electric. The Rock, Ronda &the WWE Universe: Magic. We’re just gettin’ started… pic.twitter.com/mUOoBIFsaQ

— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) March 30, 2015

Ronda Rousey threw out a hip toss at WrestleMania last Sunday. The UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion joined The Rock in a segment with Triple H and his wife, Stephanie McMahon. After tossing Triple H over her hip, the champ locked up Stephanie’s arm until she could escape. While the deal was apparently a one-off, fans are clamoring to know whether we’ll see a one-on-one match between Stephanie and Ronda or a mixed tag team match with all four at some point, or See the full video at Uproxx.

This is what happens when you stop exercising. Finnish researchers studies 10 pairs of identical twin men, one of whom exercised at least twice a week, while the other exercised less than that.

The study was small, but the takeaway is clear: Quitting your fitness routine can trigger body and brain changes that mess with your cardio fitness and strength and set you up for chronic conditions such as diabetes, says Jordan Metzl, M.D., sports medicine physician and author of The Exercise Cure.

The doctor noted that muscles can begin to atrophy within a few days of not exercising.

Here’s what a fighting Franciscan Friar thinks about martial arts and religion. It’s fitting that on this Easter weekend I’ve recently come across this article. My Twitter pal Kris Wilder – who’s been one of my favorite martial arts authors for years – eloquently explains how the two lifestyles mesh.

Some smile at the perceived inconsistency while others take a moment to build the mental bridge from a white karate gi to a brown habit. But when I say, “You have heard of the Shaolin Monks, right?” then everything clicks into place. I am just a western expression of similar values.

Here’s my review of Kris’s latest book.

If you thought anything Ronda Rousey did at WrestleMania was fake, check this video out. Thanks to my friend Karl for sending that along to me.

The last man to beat Floyd Mayweather still regrets it. The New York Times profiles Bulgaria’s Serafim Todorov just weeks away from the richest fight in boxing history.

You may be wondering how professional fighters can hit without being knocked out. This thread sums it up pretty well. In short, concussions cause knockouts. And concussions happen when the brain smacks the skull. Fighters have many options available for keeping the brain from hitting the skull, such as blocking and proper alignment of the head.

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Plugs and Upcoming Events

If you’re headed to Indianapolis, I’ll be teaching a DDPYoga seminar at the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 18.

Look out Bradley University. I am speaking to Bradley’s chapter of the American Marketing Association on Wednesday, April 22.

Galesburg! I’m making a rare competition appearance on Saturday, April 25.

April 1, 2015

No matter what stage of your martial arts journey you’re in, you should get The 87 Fold Path To Being The Best Martial Artist by Lawrence A. Kane and Kris Wilder.

This book is 330+ pages, but it’s an easy read because it’s divided into (you guessed it) 87 chapters. Each chapter reads like a blog post, so the book essentially is a collection of blog posts.

I dog-eared about a dozen chapters that I want to further consider for my martial arts training and my life.

In fact, it helped me make a couple of important decisions already about my training.

I’d imagine that whenever I re-read this book, I’ll mark different chapters because I’ll be at a different stage.

Three main thoughts stick out to me after reading Kane and Wilder’s latest book…

Broad vs. Deep

The authors advocate deep knowledge instead of broad knowledge. As I read this book, I was also reading Positioning For Professionals by Tim Williams. Williams urges companies to use positioning to differentiate themselves from their competitors. I couldn’t help but notice the parallel between martial arts and business in this instance.

Be Brutal In Your Approach

Wilder and Kane say you should try to break what has been taught to you. Find ways a technique doesn’t work so that you can find a way it does work. And get new information to fold back into your martial art. With this approach, you can find what your art really means.

Find Where The Path Appears

The authors talk about finding the point in your journey “where the target fell away and the path appeared.” I thought I would share my story about that here.

For three years, my target was black belt. Once I achieved it, I set a goal for my 2nd degree. Since then, I took a detour and found some new martial arts and an additional instructor. I learned that karate wasn’t the only martial art out there, and that other martial arts are just as – if not more than – effective as karate. I recognized similar movements and techniques, allowing me to pick up the old Yang-style form more quickly than others who started with me that didn’t have martial arts experience. My instructor has exposed me to new people and new places. In the past five years, this experience has led me to better understand what Kane and Wilder talk about in their previous works.

Thanks to Kris Wilder for sending me a copy!

January 31, 2015

You might as well change my middle name to “Honky Tonk” because I did some honky tonkin’ this week while I spent a few days in Nashville for a marketing seminar.

I know, I know… I’m shocked, too.

My cousin lives there, and she took me to some fun places to eat delicious Southern food and ice cream sandwiched in between see live country music.

Somehow, I still managed to find some good martial arts links while I was away.

Avoid road rage. That’s the message put out by Evander Holyfield in a new PSA commissioned by Georgia law enforcement officials. “You never know who you might run into,” the ad says.

“Don’t be deceived by the enbusen rule,” write authors Lawrence A. Kane and Kris Wilder. In other words, just because your form – Japanese, Okinawan, Korean, Chinese, etc. – tells you to move a certain way doesn’t mean your attacker isn’t going that way. And if you’re not learning interpretation and application of your forms, you should find a capable instructor.

“What does it mean when an open hand covers a closed hand?” This is a question I’ve seen pop up every now and again on StackExchange. In Japanese and Okinawan martial arts, it means “sho chiku bai.” But, I’ve also heard from my friend Sifu Ed Parker that in Chinese martial arts, an open hand represents peace while a closed hand represents war. “Peace always conquers war,” he says.

Bang! Nope, this isn’t an ad for DDPYoga. It’s Master Ken’s new video, showing you when to bring a knife to a gunfight. “Sometimes,” he says, “don’t ever always bring a gun to a knife fight.”

“We’re not practicing dead karate.” This is one of my karate instructor’s favorite lines to use. Typically, he says this when he sees me being lazy with my hand or not coordinating my body correctly. But, in another way, he’s saying what Jesse Enkamp is saying here. “A system that is blindly followed – no matter how intelligently designed – can never mimic the dynamic totality of life,” he writes. What I think Jesse is saying (I like him, but he tends to write a lot of extra stuff around his main points) is that your martial art should always be changing, always evolving. In other words, your martial art is alive.

Speaking of karate that’s alive…

“Karate is a way of life,” Mr. Jim Price says in the latest episode of The Martial Arts Podcast. Sure, he’s not breaking new ground. Many martial arts have said it. But when you listen to Mr. Price, you can tell he really means it. In this podcast, his respect and admiration shines through for his sensei, Phillip Koeppel. Mr. Price also talks about transitioning from my style of karate, Shuri-ryu, and transitioning to Matsumura Seito-ryu.

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January 24, 2015

It’s fun producing a podcast, but it’s hard to squeeze all the great martial arts content I see on there. That’s why I’m introducing my new feature, This Week in Martial Arts.

In case you missed them, here are a few cool – and fun! – martial arts videos and articles I found this week.

Worried about being attacked by a chainsaw? Read through this StackExchange thread for some tips, I guess. It keeps coming through my weekly digest, so it must be important, right? The highest-voted answer contains a real gem in it, I think: “If you find yourself in this situation,” he says, “you are likely going to die.”

“Try to not be an asshole sometimes.” Bullying takes many different forms. This Cracked video shows some instances where people meant well, but wound up coming off like jerks anyway. Think before you act. Try not to be an asshole sometimes.

Here are 10 ways you might not have known that Okinawan karate is different than Japanese karate. If you’re considering joining a martial arts program, look at Jesse Enkamp’s blog first. Or, if you’re like me, and you’ve only done one nation’s version of the art, gain a different perspective.

New to chin na? So am I. This book will help you get started.

Karate and wushu are looking to enter the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, according to Yahoo. Karate has lost previous bids for the 2012 and 2016 Games.

Every move in kata has a purpose, says Kris Wilder. If you train in forms, kata, poomsae, whatever, read this. This book (written with Lawrence A. Kane) opened my eyes to the depth and breadth of martial arts when I was 16 years old.

Master Ken is back this week to show us how to catch two punches. “Luckily, if you know Amerido-te, it ain’t no big deal.”

Rules can change styles. Jack Slack takes a look at styles such as MMA, sanshou, lethwei, and how their rules have influenced their development over the years. And if you don’t know what those styles are (like I didn’t before I read this), this neat article introduces you to them. (VICE’s Fightland)

I’ve been to two Iain Abernethy seminars, and during one of them, he talked about a martial artist doing a form that had a hop in it. Iain asked about the hop, which didn’t appear to have any practical self-defense application. After some investigation, he found out the hop was included because the person who developed the form had a pole in the middle of the workout area – the hop was to move away from the poll before proceeding with the next move of the form.

Rules can change styles, and so can environments, it would seem.

On my upcoming podcast, I welcome Sensei Jim Price. To be among the first to know when it’s published, subscribe for free to The Martial Arts Podcast.

Don’t forget to like my podcast page on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter @adambockler.

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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!

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