I train in multiple Martial Arts disciplines and frequently find myself comparing and contrasting the differences in striking techniques and hypothesizing why different arts perform their techniques as they do. A few questions continue coming to my mind: Do the strikes have practical application? How do we generate enough power with each hit to ensure they are effective? Is this variation ideal for my body type or someone I’m training? As I work through these questions, evaluating the execution of strikes in the different arts, I have learned to think through these questions in with scientific approach learned through my years of Kenpo training. In Kenpo, we talk at length about power creation in terms of “height,” “width,” and “depth.” Each term refers to how a practitioner’s body moves through space. When considering “ height ,” we generate power by quickly lowering the body. In Kenpo terminology, this is called “marriage of gravity” where power is derived from the weight of the body dropping. This can be seen in the dojo, dojang, or studio when a practitioner breaks a brick placed across two cinderblocks with a downward hammer fist. As the practitioner swings his fist towards the brick, he rapidly drops his bodyweight and, through “marriage of gravity,” places the full power of his dropping bodyweight from high to low into the fist, thus breaking the brick. Moving on to “width,” which may be the hardest to understand, we are referring mostly to rotation of the practitioner’s body. In Kenpo terms, this is referred to as “rotational torque.” How does rotation lead to “width,” as previously mentioned? Well, width can be defined as movement of a part of the body from left to right or right to left, as it relates to the trunk of the martial artist. This movement L-R or R-L results from the trunk’s rotation and can result in a whip-like action of the limb. As an example of expressing power via “rotational torque” in the “width” realm, think of hitting a heavy bag with a ridge-hand. Your trunk is not moving up, down, forward, or backward. You are simply rotating in place, causing the shoulder to move left to right or vice versa and throwing the extended arm along the horizontal plane as a whip creating power. Rotational torque may also be used to propel a limb linearly towards a target. For example, this is observed when throwing a ball kick with the rear foot or a cross punch with the back hand. As the back hip rotates forward in a rotational manner, the rear leg or hand is then shot forward thus creating a linear power derived from the circular movement of the hip or trunk, respectively. Now, let’s tackle “depth.” “Depth” refers to moving our body towards or away from a target. We move our body towards a target to increase power upon impact. In Kenpo terms we call this “back-up mass.” By thrusting our entire bodyweight at the target in conjunction with striking using our limb, we are adding the momentum of the entire mass of our body to the power of the blow. An example of this would be stepping towards an adversary with a stiff jab or stepping forward and pushing the hips forward as we throw a front kick generating power beyond that created by just extending the leg at the knee. At this point, you may be thinking, “This is all great in theory, but while fighting we never move in a singular plane (height, width, or depth).” I can’t argue with you on that. However, different fighting arts do put more emphasis on using some dimensions of power creation over others. In Part 2 we will dive into specific tendencies of a few systems to help you more thoroughly understand the movement tendencies of your art and perhaps even glean some useful tools from other styles to enhance your growth within your training. Before departing, I would like to whet your appetite for what’s to come next week. If you didn’t already know before reading this article, now you better understand height, width, and depth and how they are used to generate power. Now, I challenge you to take a moment and consider the ever-popular roundhouse kick. Different arts have their variations on how to throw it effectively. I would like for you to explore, “How can you execute a roundhouse kick and derive power from movement through all three planes of action?” Until next time… Salute, Ian Lauer 2nd Degree Black Belt American Kenpo 1st Degree Black Belt Tae Kwon Do 1st Degree Black Belt Hapkido 1st Degree Black Belt Coszacks Karate

t’s not uncommon for Martial artists of today to train across multiple disciplines. However, this was not always the case. In yesteryear, this was much less common and, in fact, frowned upon by many. One was expected to focus solely on a single style and master it at the cost of ignoring the potential advantages of assimilating knowledge from other systems. Some still cling to this singular ideology, but fortunately, most seem to understand the benefit of cross-training in multiple systems. However, please don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying that jumping from school to school is the key to becoming a proficient and capable Martial Artist. Rather, establishing quality habits and delving deeply into your base art, followed by expanding out and exploring other systems, is what I’m suggesting. Choose a primary art that becomes the rock upon which all your other studies are built. So, how do we choose our primary art? Well, first off, you must determine what is available. If you live in a big city like Los Angeles, options abound. You’ll find Kenpo, TKD, Judo, BJJ, Krav Maga and many other arts, all within a few blocks of one another. If you’re in a small town you may only have a few options within a reasonable commute. After determining the available options, you’ll want to observe some classes. By watching classes in different schools and speaking with instructors, you’ll get a good idea if a particular style is something you can see yourself doing and if you’d like to study under that instructor. It’s also not a bad idea to do a few trial classes in those that you find intriguing. Once you’ve done this, one art will likely excite you more than the others and grab your interest. That is the style you should study. I don’t care if it’s Kickboxing, Judo, Karate, or any system in particular. The important thing is that it excites and interests you. The art you choose needs to be something that you are or can become passionate about. It is through this passion that the necessary commitment and follow-through are born. The only way to succeed in the Martial Arts and life, for that matter, is by developing the fortitude to push through any challenges that come our way. By choosing to study what truly piques your interest, you set yourself up for success. When you start your studies, you should plan to be there for the long haul. Start with the goal of working to first-degree black belt and beyond. Depending upon the school, getting to black belt can take anywhere from 3-10 years with regular attendance. Once you earn your black belt, that is the time to consider cross-training in other systems in addition to continued training in your base art. As you add additional systems to your training plan, it is ideal to commit to them one at a time and work to the rank of black belt. By the time you reach black belt in a supplemental art, you gain enough experience to glean from it what you need to complement your base art. You can, of course, continue in the secondary art or transition to the addition a 3rd system. Either way, be sure to continue your studies in your primary art. Remember, that is your foundation. By following this process, you can be assured of lifelong growth. Before I let you go (until next time), I must add two caveats. The first of which is regarding “workshops.” I know you’ve seen flyers or social media posts about them. Workshops are where you study with an instructor for a very brief period. Usually, it’s a daylong event or at most a weeklong getaway. These are excellent ways to engage your mind and body as a Martial Artist. You will also likely pick up a few tips that will benefit your training. What’s different about these events from the long-term addition of a secondary art is that the exposure is for a limited timeframe. Consequently, you aren’t going back and forth between two similar systems and repeatedly sending your body conflicting information as it’s trying to learn. You temporarily step away from your base art, approach the instruction with an open cup, and see what you can pick up. You may find your next art in this fashion, but remember not to jump into full-on training in a second art until you have reached at least the level of black belt in your first. This leads us to caveat number two: When I say working to at least black belt in your primary art before exploring a second discipline, I’m referring to “similar” arts. If you study a style that is predominately striking, adding a second striking system can become confusing and lead to sloppy basics. For example, let’s say you study American Kenpo, and before establishing your basics, you start cross training in Tae Kwon Do. This will lead to confusion. Principles and teachings will clash before you have developed the wherewithal to compare, contrast, and assimilate the different teachings. However, if the arts are very dissimilar such as a striking art like Dutch Kickboxing and a grappling art like BJJ, you can progress in both and are unlikely to retard your growth in either discipline by engaging in both simultaneously. Instead, you become a more well-rounded Martial Artist. For this reason, I am a proponent of studying both a singular striking art and a singular grappling art simultaneously, should you desire. If you take this approach, beware not to establish the bad habit of quickly jumping from art to art. Whether you decide to train in a singular primary art or study one striking style and one grappling system concurrently when starting out, make a long-term commitment. Set the goal to work to black belt and beyond in your primary art and at least to black belt in any supplemental arts you study. As a basic rule of thumb, if a style doesn’t have a belt ranking system, like wrestling or boxing, plan on putting in at least three years of training for a supplemental art or a lifetime if they become your primary style. Remember, every system has something to offer a true Martial Artist. It is up to the practitioner to put in the work and make the style work for them. Salute, Ian Lauer CSCS 3rd Degree Black Belt American Kenpo 1st Degree Black Belt Tae Kwon Do 1st Degree Black Belt Hapkido 1st Degree Black Belt Coszacks Karate

Born in 1958, into a family of martial arts royalty, with deep Scottish roots, Rickson Gracie, third son of the renowned patriarch of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Hélio Gracie, since retiring from fighting, at center stage he is now focused on developing newfound ideals of wisdom regarding the neo-direction of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. That probably arose with age and from a deeper understanding of his martial art. Yet first, he directly jumped into a discussion of metaphysical tenets that go beyond his career of 200+ undefeated fights to joyfully expressing an ongoing important message he wants to globally share with all the reality, sports, and traditional based martial artists. The most essential skill a martial artist must learn…is to how to breathe. He explained what a martial artist is, the warrior aspect, the conquering an opponent and indexed the emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual elements of a person. He emphasized that breathing is the essence of how energy flows in the body, which makes you understand a dimension of yourself that you can’t grasp or integrate into your life if you don’t breathe properly. He pointed out how breathing works, the physiology and physicality behind it and noted how his breathing mentor, Orlando Cani, was like a second father, as Cani taught him breathing in 1986 and detailed how Cani two years later knew that it was time for Rickson to move on. Learning Jiu Jitsu from Hélio at 20, when Cani discovered Shaolin (Kenpo) at 29, then Taiji (Tai Chi) and Kalaripayattu , and focused on the animal instincts behind the movements, intertwined them with dance and yoga-influenced breathing, by 1968, Bio Gymnastics was born. Rickson recalled how he would follow Cani around the gym moving like a crocodile, monkey, and eagle. After covering topics on visualization, what he learned from his 1980 fight debut against Rei Zulu and how to use situations to expand one’s personal, mental, spiritual, and emotional growth, he detailed the significances of how at age 12, he had two cathartic moments: one about what makes him happy; and secondly, from a rugged uncomfortable snug as a bug in a rug endeavor. During the last section of the Podcast, Hickson described two brilliant new directions that the family’s Jiu Jitsu Global Federation was focusing upon. First off, an alternative approach to teaching, which he simply called Jiu Jitsu Invisible and summarized it by saying, “It’s about a feeling.” He next introduced an innovatively progressive way of teaching Jiu Jitsu. Labelled as the Empowering Methods , it ascertained that after one year of training, each student could select one of two options as to determine the next stage of training they would like to pursue. Choose wisely my fellow martial artists. Listen to the episode here

Bruce Lee didn’t “invent” the one-inch punch , but he certainly was a catalyst for its popularity the world over. I would bet dollars to donuts that you have seen a video of Bruce displaying the massive power he could generate in seemingly only one inch of movement. Here is a man of relatively small stature, at roughly 140 pounds, who through a punch at only finger length, could knock a man backwards off his feet into a chair that would proceed to slide across the wooden floor. If the only factor was strength, like that of the barbell bench press, then undoubtedly, many gym goers should have a much more impressive one-inch punch as they can surely lift more weight than Bruce. However, that is not the case. Bruce accomplished such an impressive feat because of his amazing ability to coordinate the movement of his entire body mass with extreme acceleration . To look at this scientifically, let’s consider just a couple of physics equations. If you hate physics equations, then feel free to skip to the following bullet points. Let’s explore these bullet points to see how Bruce was able to generate such force. First, I already mentioned that Bruce was only about 140 pounds, so that was all the mass he had to work with. Compare his size to a man weighing 280 pounds, and you would assume Bruce would only be able to use ½ the mass of the bigger man. However, most people are unable to coordinate their entire body and consequently use only a small portion of their total mass to back up their strikes. In other words, the 280-pound man may only be able to coordinate 25% of his mass due to poor technique and trying to punch “strong.” As a result, he is only using 70 pounds of mass. Contrast that with Bruce, who mastered the coordination of his body. You can see his whole-body spring into action in perfect unison. Bruce was able to capture and use all of his 140 pounds of mass and deliver more force to the target than the larger man. This explains half of his incredible force creation; but there is more to the equation. Now, it’s time to consider the acceleration portion of force generation. As mentioned before, acceleration is simply change in speed (velocity) divided by change in time. The faster you increase your speed and the less time you do it in, the greater the acceleration. So how did Bruce maximize this acceleration compared to the layman? Bruce was an expert and understood that to increase speed, we must be strong but also flexible and able to move from a relaxed state. Strength is necessary to induce the movement necessary to create speed. It is however limited by opposing muscle groups holding excessive tension. To combat this, improved flexibility and relaxation are paramount. What does this mean? Imagine your arm biceps and triceps both pulling as hard as possible. The arm will be stiff and unbending in either direction at the elbow. Now, imagine the biceps complete relaxed and the triceps flexing 100%. You can see that the arm extends with ease. In this instance, the triceps is the agonist muscle whereas the biceps are the antagonist . So, if you want to maximize output, the antagonist must be as relaxed as possible allowing the agonist to exert its maximum power with the minimal resistance. This coordination between the antagonist and agonist muscles is facilitated through improved flexibility and relaxation via breathing exercises, amongst other practices. When this coordination, flexibility and relaxation is mastered, the practitioner’s speed is maximized. When you combine this maximized speed with the coordination of total body mass, the resulting force production speaks for itself. When you understand the components of force creation, Bruce Lee’s one-inch punch is no longer some mystical phenomenon. It is, however, an excellent example of full-body coordination of both mass and movement. We should all aspire to gain such control over ourselves through our Martial Arts pursuits. Salute, Ian Lauer 3rd Degree Black Belt American Kenpo 1st Degree Black Belt Tae Kwon Do 1st Degree Black Belt Hapkido 1st Degree Black Belt Coszacks Karate

As an avid weightlifter, I am all for resistance training and what it can do to improve your martial arts. It undoubtedly assists in increasing your strength which is a component of creating power in your techniques. However, it is not the only, or even main part, in the quest for maximizing the force of your strikes. Other factors such as coordination, flexibility, relaxation, and speed are of the utmost importance. Perhaps, nowhere is this more evident than in the “ one-inch punch .” Bruce Lee didn’t “invent” the one-inch punch , but he certainly was a catalyst for its popularity the world over. I would bet dollars to donuts that you have seen a video of Bruce displaying the massive power he could generate in seemingly only one inch of movement. Here is a man of relatively small stature, at roughly 140 pounds, who through a punch at only finger length, could knock a man backwards off his feet into a chair that would proceed to slide across the wooden floor. If the only factor was strength, like that of the barbell bench press, then undoubtedly, many gym goers should have a much more impressive one-inch punch as they can surely lift more weight than Bruce. However, that is not the case. How did Bruce generate much more power than men twice his size? Bruce accomplished such an impressive feat because of his amazing ability to coordinate the movement of his entire body mass with extreme acceleration . To look at this scientifically, let’s consider just a couple of physics equations. If you hate physics equations, then feel free to skip to the following bullet points. F = m a (Force = mass x acceleration) Where: a = (v – v0)/ t (Acceleration = change in velocity divided by time) This means: F = m x (v-v0)/t Force = mass times change in velocity divided by change in time All of this boils down to a few simple rules in the creation of Force : The more mass is moved, the greater the force. The greater the change in speed, the greater the force. The shorter the time in which this happens, the greater the force. Let’s explore these bullet points to see how Bruce was able to generate such force. First, I already mentioned that Bruce was only about 140 pounds, so that was all the mass he had to work with. Compare his size to a man weighing 280 pounds, and you would assume Bruce would only be able to use ½ the mass of the bigger man. However, most people are unable to coordinate their entire body and consequently use only a small portion of their total mass to back up their strikes. In other words, the 280-pound man may only be able to coordinate 25% of his mass due to poor technique and trying to punch “strong.” As a result, he is only using 70 pounds of mass. Contrast that with Bruce, who mastered the coordination of his body. You can see his whole-body spring into action in perfect unison. Bruce was able to capture and use all of his 140 pounds of mass and deliver more force to the target than the larger man. This explains half of his incredible force creation; but there is more to the equation. Now, it’s time to consider the acceleration portion of force generation. As mentioned before, acceleration is simply change in speed (velocity) divided by change in time. The faster you increase your speed and the less time you do it in, the greater the acceleration. So how did Bruce maximize this acceleration compared to the layman? Bruce was an expert and understood that to increase speed, we must be strong but also flexible and able to move from a relaxed state. Strength is necessary to induce the movement necessary to create speed. It is however limited by opposing muscle groups holding excessive tension. To combat this, improved flexibility and relaxation are paramount. What does this mean? Imagine your arm biceps and triceps both pulling as hard as possible. The arm will be stiff and unbending in either direction at the elbow. Now, imagine the biceps complete relaxed and the triceps flexing 100%. You can see that the arm extends with ease. In this instance, the triceps is the agonist muscle whereas the biceps are the antagonist . So, if you want to maximize output, the antagonist must be as relaxed as possible allowing the agonist to exert its maximum power with the minimal resistance. This coordination between the antagonist and agonist muscles is facilitated through improved flexibility and relaxation via breathing exercises, amongst other practices. When this coordination, flexibility and relaxation is mastered, the practitioner’s speed is maximized. When you combine this maximized speed with the coordination of total body mass, the resulting force production speaks for itself. When you understand the components of force creation, Bruce Lee’s one-inch punch is no longer some mystical phenomenon. It is, however, an excellent example of full-body coordination of both mass and movement. We should all aspire to gain such control over ourselves through our Martial Arts pursuits.

In the previous instalment on this topic, it was suggested at great length that a dedicated fanbase like the one attached to Mixed Martial Arts seems surprisingly uninvolved and uninterested in things like fighter pay. Surprisingly is actually a compliment to the average MMA fan here - because MMA fans as a rule really love their sport and its fighters. So, it is indeed a surprise the topic is not more prevalent in the consciousness and conversation of fans. Of course, if sport is an escape, it makes all the sense in the world to avoid how the proverbial sausage gets made and not talk about real life things. But, still. Nothing? Along with the treatment of fighters and their paychecks – however measly – comes the question as to why the Ultimate Fighting Championship has literally monopolized dominated the market in Mixed Martial Arts. If fans are indeed fanatics of MMA, how can they give so much of their attention exclusively to one promotion? In the beginning of the last bit on this, it was stated that it seems the MMA fanbase that exclusively follows the UFC as the sole producer of the combat sport, also appears to be tacitly going along with things just being the way they are. Would it be too much to say that it is simply accepted that when Dana White, who is the president of the UFC, says something, it is taken as what it is? When he says terrible things of fighters, that is alright? When he maligns the media (who essentially pay to promote his company), that is alright? Or the hinge pin of this discussion; when he maligns fans, that is alright? Think this is overstatement? Go search the phrase online “Dana blasts.” Part of the allure when MMA was burgeoning was that it was a fight sport with fighter-types associated – including its very vocal president. There was a feeling that we were all in on some Fight Club stuff. The voice for the company was saying we will be who we want to be. Then came legalisation in all states, stars (the writer groans when that word comes up), television deals, USADA, and apparel deals. And this last one is where we pause for a moment and remind ourselves. Many times from the man himself, it was stated the goal was to be super-duper professional like the other sports. A drinking game (figuratively of course) could be made of the times White says “this thing” referring to what they have built and how it is mainstream and huge and global and extra professional – super-duper, extra professional. Did we say, professional? And here we are with the sport having gone literally global. The promotion itself being in partnership with ESPN; possibly the most ubiquitous sports commodity on earth. And as recent as months ago, the president of the company is saying of boxers: “All those f****** guys are overpaid.” It is quite possible that this is an attractive quality to some. But this is a Martial Arts context we are in. The loudest voice in the sport said that people getting punched in the head for a living are being overpaid. Not ice-skaters. Not curlers. Boxers. Take a minute if you would, and go watch interviews from retired boxers. This is not really about pay if we have any empathy. Enter the other promotions. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Chatri Sityodtong – President of One Championship - answered some tough questions very candidly about the journey he has been on as a promoter. How the first three years were so very difficult. He spoke about how even now they are still working - having had some devastating setbacks due to the pandemic and other things – to become profitable. He also spoke of particular numbers gauging success for combat sports and how One is leading the pack – even over UFC – in many parts of the world. But what about the ethos? What about when told he is not as big or as good as UFC? What about the constant drone of always being a bridesmaid? Maybe taking a swing at a star like Nate Diaz is the shot in the arm he needs, right? Wrong. Chatri spoke of the ethos of his company being about the Martial Arts. He emphatically said UFC is an MMA company. He doesn’t want a star for stars’ sake. He wants the best strikers, the best grapplers, the best kickboxers, etc. He is not taking castoffs from other organizations. He is building his own fighters. And it would seem for all intents and purposes, succeeding at doing so. And not once has he ever told us we are idiots or as White did to a fan who said a card wasn’t good, “Stay home then, f***face!” – in public no less. We have not even talked about Bellator and Scott Coker’s reputation and integrity, or the backing that PFL has gotten from pretty significant investors, or even the smaller promotions producing some excellent talent. If in a discussion, this is the part where people ask weird impossible hypotheticals about champions in one place fighting champions in another. Aside from the actual evidence such as Eddie Alvarez spanning promotions and reaching the absolute heights in each, or the title fight between UFC Champion Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira essentially being a showcase of fighters not homegrown in the UFC, or seeing UFC fighters even in their prime struggling elsewhere – aside from all of that, people will likely still simply accept that the UFC has all of the good fighters and fights. If you go further past the top five in the UFC, you will see without doubt that things are way more equal and open in the talent pool. Still, UFC is best, right? Maybe. This is all to say that the UFC did it. They told us all ‘it is what it is’ and what it is is that we consume what we are fed. There seems no number high enough of fighters complaining about their lot in the UFC or fighters extolling the virtues of another organization that will make the casual fan take notice. Will this end up in the end being a ‘what might have been’? Could there have been a scenario in a parallel universe where fighters got to excel, be paid handsomely like other pro sports, be appreciated by fan and promoter alike, and have opportunities in a free market to appreciate in value? All while representing the honor of Martial Arts? The strange thing is that this seems to be a model that is not all that costly. It could be that everyone could win if done right. Wishful thinking perhaps – if the cost of doing business is less ego.

Crikey! Did you see that, mate?! It looks like a toxic person! They’re known to infect the environment they’re in. Get this: though it’s not the typical space people think of them inhabiting, sometimes they even find their way into the martial art school as students or, heaven seriously forbid, teachers! Ok, we’ll pause the mockumentary and meditate on this thought a bit differently. As martial artists, we often hope to find a martial art studio with an environment conducive to growth in our preferred ways, be it for self-defense, personal development, or overall skill acquisition. The unfortunate truth is, sometimes we are surrounded by people–or worse, a whole community–that actually does more harm than help. There are signs that you can recognize if you listen to your gut. It can be an uneasiness that arises when you partner with a person, it can be your hesitation to work with a teacher, or it can even be the frustration that fills the room when that person walks into the facility. Before you disregard that feeling and write yourself off as certifiably crazy, read on below. I'm willing to bet that you'll find a personality type you've encountered in the dojo, whether to hilarious results or more serious ones. The Abuser The squint of the eyes, the unimpressed body language, the barrage of words enlightening you to how many synonyms there are for the phrase “do better”. If you've been in the martial arts for any amount of time, it's likely that you've experienced or at least heard of a stern teacher who could make an entire adult dodgeball league wince with just a glance. Let me start by saying this: a strict teacher is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, for many people it can be exactly what they need. There is a reason why military training is the way it is and how it creates lasting bonds. With that being said, correction and candor is always best when rooted in kindness, whether it is on display in the interaction or not. Words should be shared and actions should be taken primarily because of investment in your progress–regardless of how blunt the way they express it may be. Unfortunately, the type of instructors we are talking about here are the ones that actually don’t give a rat’s ass about their students–or at least, they care more about themself, their reputation, and their dang ego than the students in their care. They hurt their students during demonstrations and then have very little regard or empathy for the damage done afterwards. They abuse their place in the dojo in disgusting ways. Afterall, you should just “suck it up”, “be stronger”, or “listen to your teacher!”. No bueno . Martial arts is the place where many go to when they want to feel empowered, where kids go to learn bully prevention tactics and adults go to learn real-world self-defense. It is not the place where serious physical or emotional damage should be done, especially when it is simply to stroke a weak ego. The Abuser doesn’t just abuse their students in harmful ways. They abuse the power they wield in the dojo and bastardize the gift of being a teacher. The Arrogant Psssh! Advice is for people who need it–”obviously” this person knows all that they need to know in life. The Arrogant students are those you work alongside with who purport to know how to do everything they've been shown after just the second or third time...and likely even the things they haven't yet been shown. Heaven forbid you try to offer help as a fellow student. Ego is a funny thing because it can be shown in small ways and in big ones. The extreme of this archetype is that of someone who stubbornly refuses help because they feel they know better, however the bit of ego inside of all of us can sometimes add resistance to new knowledge as well. Meditate on this. Don’t let this person be the one who looks back at you in the mirror. The Lazy This is the archetype that so many of us imagine when we think of a person running a bad martial art school. This is the old dude teaching at the strip mall Karate Studio who can barely tie his black belt all the way around his beer belly. It's probably been a long time since he's actually taken a class or put in time working on his own technique, however he certainly believes he can teach like he is God's gift to white belts across the world. Riiiight... As the students keep doing their techniques in the air, the teacher largely neglects any attention to detail (because he doesn’t know them, nor care about them) and instead chooses to just spout obnoxiously weak motivation at random. Yes, there is a distinction between being an able coach and a capable martial artist, however this guy can't walk the walk or talk the talk. Sometimes, a martial artist gets complacent in their knowledge and stops trying, stops working, and sadly stops acting like a martial artist entirely. Though they may not be the ideal coach, they do provide an important lesson: don’t let any amount of success breed complacency. The Apathetic I'll be honest...this person probably doesn't want to be in class. This is the teenager whose mom is forcing her to take class so that she can protect herself or the adult who thought that martial arts would be a fun place to make new friends and didn't think about all of the hard work that would actually need to be put in. Everybody has different motivations for joining a school, however it is important that they don’t let that motivation deplete and become an energy drain on the people they are around. There is no sense of urgency in this person’s actions and no clear motivation that can be distinguished from their speech. Occasionally, this archetype will surprise you and actually just be a very low-energy individual by nature. With that being said, who you choose to partner with during drills has a large impact on how well the embed lessons will assimilate into you. If you have a partner who keeps half-assing their work, it would do you well to find somebody new to work with. The “Real Deal” Sunglasses? Check. Motorcycle? Check. Ego and preconceived notions? Definitely check. This is the individual who disregards anything in martial arts that they don’t feel works. Problem is, they believe most everything is BS. Sure, they’ll play along with you and your buddies as you punch and kick the air in your cute lil’ Karate pajamas, but they “ know ” that it's just fun exercise. I mean, obviously any tactic that doesn’t prioritize immediately attacking with a pocket knife or Glock is just ridiculous. Even though they've never been in a fight, a high stress drill or sparring round, or even studied the psychology of violence, they sure do know “exactly what it takes to win one”. Just, uh, shoot three shots to the head. It doesn’t matter if it is a drunk uncle, a fight in a crowded club, or an attempted abduction. Hmmm... The question of “would this work with live movement and resistance?” is absolutely an important one to ask, however that should aptly be followed up with a pressure test before being completely disregarded. Context matters. The movements you train in your martial arts are likely to have an important meaning and application. If you throw everything in the trash before inspection, you will never find any treasure worth keeping however. ~~~ Ok. Time for some real talk. Each of these character types likely started off on the right path, they just either took a wrong turn or traveled too far. The presented personalities stand as extremes with which we can contrast our own behavior against. Check in with your habitual behavior and attitude before you become overly confident like the Arrogant or close minded like the “Real Deal”. Have the self awareness to see when you allow excuses to invade your mind like the Lazy or start going through the motions without intention like the Apathetic. We are constantly given opportunities to refine our mindset. Strive to be a positive personality that inspires those you meet on and off of the mat to be better.

Ronaldo Veitia Valdivie, the former head of the Cuban national women's judo team and one of the most successful coaches in judo history, passed away Monday in Cuba at the age of 75. He had been ill since falling into a temporary coma during an August visit to Spain after suffering heart problems. Valdivie took over as head coach of the Cuban women's team in 1986. He coached them in the Olympics from 1992, when women's judo first became a medal sport, through the 2012 games. In total, his judoka won five gold, nine silver and 10 bronze medals, the most total medals of any head coach in Olympic history. In 2018 he was inducted into the International Judo Federation's hall of fame .

Ang Lee (no relation to Bruce Lee) has been quietly working on the project for some time and is casting his son, Mason, in the starring role. Mason has reportedly been training in martial arts for the past three years to prepare for the part. The director first came to wide prominence with the 2000 wuxia-style martial arts movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which won the Academy Award for best foreign language film. His directorial debut was the 1991 movie Pushing Hands about a Chinese tai chi master living in New York. He's twice won the Oscar for best director with 2005's Brokeback Mountain and 2012's Life of Pi.

Two-time Academy Award-winning best director Ang Lee has finalized a deal with Sony's 3000 Pictures to direct a biopic of the late martial arts film star Bruce Lee according to Deadline . Among the film's producers are Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon. Ang Lee (no relation to Bruce Lee) has been quietly working on the project for some time and is casting his son, Mason, in the starring role. Mason has reportedly been training in martial arts for the past three years to prepare for the part. The director first came to wide prominence with the 2000 wuxia-style martial arts movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which won the Academy Award for best foreign language film. His directorial debut was the 1991 movie Pushing Hands about a Chinese tai chi master living in New York. He's twice won the Oscar for best director with 2005's Brokeback Mountain and 2012's Life of Pi.

The irradiation concept is a must-know for anybody serious about martial arts and strength training. The principle of irradiation will increase your strength, speed, and power. And it is fantastic for preparing the body for athletics and sports. Look at it like this: what you do during your deadlift will augment your strength more than just doing a deadlift. And the same goes for squatting and all exercises and activity imaginable. For example, irradiation is a technique to try during your movements, techniques, and exercises because it will instantly increase your rep count and power. What is the Principle of Irradiation? The irradiation idea was developed in the 1890s by Charles Scott Sherrington. His concept implies that as impulses from the nervous system increase, they transfer the signal to other muscles to contract. A muscle that generates significant tension will recruit and exacerbate the tension of the surrounding muscles. Donald Hebb, a prominent psychologist considered the "father of neuropsychology," also contributed to Sherrington’s Law. Hebb stated, "Cells that fire together will wire together." His discovery indicates that any two cells or systems regularly active at the same moment will connect and activate together. Irradiation Techniques Try it out. Put one hand on your triceps. Start by clenching your other hand by making a fist as tightly as possible. You can do it slowly or quickly, tightening your grip to max tension. You'll feel the contraction all the way up to your triceps. Unconsciously, this irradiation recruits all the muscles up to your mid-back. You can also touch your chest, shoulder, and back muscles to feel the impulse when doing the grip technique. Are you having trouble perceiving irradiation using the grip? Therefore, try this. Stand tall and clench your glutes the same way as described with the grip. Slowly or fast to max tension. It is essential to feel what is occurring between the relaxation and contraction. As you tighten your glutes, you will also feel your abdominal and leg muscles contract all the way down to your feet, rooting into the floor. There is an added irradiation effect if you do nasal diaphragmatic breathing that tenses the core. Understand when your muscles create maximum tension and force, they irradiate that tension to the neighbouring muscles. The stronger you become using irradiation, the more connected your muscles will be throughout your whole body. An Important Remark Regarding Stability To create maximum force and power, proper alignment and stability are required. If your joints lack stability and your hips and spine are misaligned, your strength potential will be diminished. You can force yourself to become stronger; however, this will only harm your body. What you don’t understand about your nervous system is that your ability to increase tension and force is restricted when stability is lacking. So, no matter how much force you generate or how many weights you stack on the bar to increase force, you are more likely to suffer from strain and injury rather than increase strength. Simply put, if something is not stable, the force will cause it to crumble and fall. Therefore, if you wish to get stronger, consider stability first! As I explain to everyone, stability is like the difference between diving into a lake from a dock versus a canoe. The dock is sturdy, and you can generate force from the sturdy platform to increase speed, height, and force. However, you cannot do the same from an unstable canoe on the water. Consequently, stability is the key to achieving peak strength, power, and explosiveness. What does this signify? When doing a squat, deadlift, shoulder press, bench press, etc., you can use irradiation to actively activate your lats, core, glutes, and grip. Irradiation induces isometric contraction, which enhances muscle tension and structural stability. The nervous system picks up on the tension and allows greater force augmentation. Consequently, if you apply the irradiation theory to your five-rep maximum, you can perform more repetitions. Therefore, recognize that your lack of stability and misalignment may prevent you from optimizing your strength. As your neuromuscular condition and coordination improve, your injury risk decreases as you activate the systems that enhance your strength. How to Implement Irradiation Tension During Exercises Utilizing the lats during Squats, Deadlifts, Rows, and Presses. Squats When you bring the bar onto your upper back, pull down on the bar and pull your elbows toward your ribs. This will activate and engage your core, mid-back, and lats. Deadlift Pinch your armpits. You will activate your lats throughout the deadlift by drawing your elbows toward your body. At the top of the deadlift, contract your glutes. As you descend, bend slightly forward onto your big toe, and you will feel additional muscular contractions. In addition, foot position will stimulate the ankles, knees, and hips. Rows Maximally clenching the bar with your fist will engage all the arm's muscles, from the forearm to your mid-back. Unilateral Shoulder Press The first approach to improve your press is to tighten and clench your non-working hand's fist. And at the same time, clench your glutes. In this manner, the shoulder press engages the entire body, not just the shoulders. In addition, the isometric contraction chain augments tension and force in the nervous system for the working arm to do more work, hence increasing the number of repetitions. The second method involves using a resistance band. Attach it high, so it provides a great deal of resistance when pulled down. Pull it down and maintain the isometric single-arm lat pull while performing dumbbell shoulder presses with the opposite arm. Also, contract your glutes as you press. This is my preferred method because it is very effective! Bench Press When performing a bench press, maintain a tight grip on the bar and attempt to bend it like a strongman. Gripping and trying to bend the bar will cause your elbows to move toward your ribs, activating your lats. This signal of irradiation reaches your shoulders and upper back muscles as well. During the concentric portion of the push, you can press your feet into the floor. This will engage your core, glutes, and hips, allowing your entire body to work during the bench press. Understand sometimes, tension is created by clenching, increasing abdominal tension, your grip, or altering your foot position. Now that you know what irradiation is and how it functions, try to include it in your movements. Check out the book INSTANT STRENGTH for more info about strength, speed, power, and explosive training or, to see more great videos to develop your sport and training, watch the BALANCED BODY channel.

In World War II, my dad was a Scottish Sergeant Major (SSM) in the British Army, who was responsible for training the new special forces unit, British Commandos, in Scotland in June of 1940. As a lad in the late ‘60s England, I saw a BBC documentary where an English SM (ESM) instead of using wooden guns to teach disarming skills he used a banana. When the banana-armed Commando attacked the ESM, he killed the Commando by dropping a heavy weight on his head. When a second Commando attacked, the ESM released a tiger that mauled the soldier. My dad didn’t buy into the documentary, yet he said the point was clear, Commandos must be ready for anything, no matter how bizarre the scenario and that they had to use any weapon at their disposal or create one on the fly. It’s the same point as to why Master Ken, founder of Ameri-Do-Te, began teaching self-defense 11 years ago that defied every martial artist on the planet by revealing their weaknesses and haughtily posting his self-defense strategies on YouTube. He basically turned over a new Page in his martial book and used video. As you listen to the podcast it will occur to you that his approach sounds more dangerous than Count Dante’s Dim Mak or “Death Touch” from the 1970s, as Master Ken is highly outspoken and never backs down on his opinions of any marital artist. FYI, when Master Ken was working on a film project, the filmmakers challenged him to come up with 17 different animal styles of kung fu as each person would say the animal and he’d create the style right before their eyes. Therefore, I believed him when he once told me that his famous Hurricane technique was not influenced by Chinese kung fu’s 10,000 bee skill. He also had never heard of kung fu’s vomiting style, where individuals learn to vomit at will. It was created by a Shaolin Monk who noticed that when giant house flies (1.25 inches long) ate non liquid food, it vomits digestive enzymes onto the food that digests it into a liquid pool. It then sucks up the liquid like a mosquito feeding on blood. I’m wondering if Master Ken is trying to perfect this technique. During the podcast, you’ll quickly realize that he’s a rebel with a cause, purposefully controversial, yet he stands by his self-defense philosophy and doesn’t apologize for it. Whether it’s a traditional stylist, an MMA (hence UFC) fighter or blatantly revealing to us what he thinks about each of the styles he’s learned, he gleefully bemuses them. Master Ken’s martial arts background includes boxing, Okinawan Goju Ryu, Okinawan kenpo, American Kenpo as well as informingly dabbling in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, stick fighting and Aikido, which is in no way related to the ancient Viking form of grappling known as Ikea-do. I feel that he might be part French because he has the Gaul to stigmatize each style and bench their approaches. I’ve heard, but please don’t quote me on this, that he might be developing a wooden samurai sword/stick fighting weapon called the America Do-Te Bo-Ken. It seems that when it comes to self-defense, often times Master Ken crosses the thin lines between, truth, reality, myth and the unrealism of crypto skills, that has nothing to do with blocks of crypto currency, but martial art plasticity and affability. If says he can do it, he Ken do it and he doesn’t make false claims. Master Ken’s blunt sleight of hand skills are nothing like his sleight of mouth skills. At the end of the day, depending on one’s level of critical thinking and emotional intelligence training, you might appreciate how he answers each of the no holds barred questions that are expertly twisted brilliant insights into simple onsite questions. Master Ken clearly interprets the inquiry with direct repartee-rambling abandonment that are molded into quasi-honesty…something that is rare these days. Listen to the full episode here: Episode 15: Master Ken