Tai Chi Is Cool Again

Today i have a video for you guys to check out. This is a Tai Chi master who does a great job of taking Tai Chi back from senior citizens. Tai Chi Combat does a great job of showing the practical application of these traditional moves.
       Most often when we think of Tai Chi we think of slow meditative movements. It is not often that people think past the peaceful air of Tai Chi's appearance and look to see what is being acted out. Take for an example, Parting the Wild Horses Mane, which enacts a trapping and twisting motion that is used to bend or break the arm, leg and or neck if caught in the middle. Beyond the grace of Tai Chi it is still a killing art and T'ai Chi Ch'aun roughly (poorly) translated means "Grand Ultimate Fist"
      There is certainly beauty in Tai Chi but no martial art is worth something if it does not help protect you from attacks. So lets take a moment to thank Master Wong for sharing his knowledge. Master Wong has several more videos on youtube about Tai Chi and some on Wing Chun. (if you couldn't already tell from his hand speed.)

Tai Chi Combat

Weapons Retention

There is a split down the middle of our society on how people feel about fire arms in the United States. Some people feel that all problems can be solved without fire arms, which in most cases is true. Yet others hold up the argument that a gun for self defense could prevent you from being jumped and having your head kicked in by 6 people, should you find yourself in such a situation. Both arguments hold some ground. However, what will always stay true is the fact that your weapon is only good to you when you are the one holding it.

Wether you have a gun, a knife, a stick, or a hand grenade the only way to use it safely is to make sure it does not get used against you. The term for keeping your weapon as taught by police and military is called Weapons Retention. There are many techniques for this, one or more for every way someone can try to strip your weapon. The police practice what is called pin and spin, which is almost as simple as it sounds. Simply pin your hand to your holster, preventing another hand from pulling your pistol away and spin on your front foot, turning your hip and holster out of reach. The moves brilliance is its simplicity. However the technique itself, in my mind, is only a reaction to the flaw of open carry. 

By having your weapon in plain sight, yes it implies that you have nothing to hide, however it leaves your weapon exposed for a criminal to capitalize upon. To conceal your weapon as a law abiding citizen, allows you to appear less threatening to a bad guy in a crisis. Leaving you the opportunity to use or not Use your weapon as the situation allows. Even if some criminals see an armed populous as a deterrent; a easily reached weapon is an opportunity for some very bad things.

People who choose to carry firearms who do not understand the  principle of Weapons Retention, may find themselves on the wrong end of the barrel. If you are willing to take on the responsibility of your second amendment right, practice gun safety, take a few classes, protect and educate your family and children, and for everyone's sake be in control of your weapon at all times!

The muscle tendon changing classic

Here is a Shaolin exercise you can practice very easily in your own home. Much like Yoga this exercise is more of collection of postures rather than a combination of techniques. The stretches worked in this series of movements combined with slow, deep and controlled breathing opens up energy paths in the body, strengthens your muscles, and tendons and works to repair damage you may have caused from poor lifestyle or injury. Please watch. This "muscle tendon changing classic" can take a long time to preform properly but even doing a little bit of this exercise every day will improve your posture, and mood.

The Muscle Tendon Changing Classic

An Awesome Spinning Back Fist

MMA is seeing an evolution of techniques with every match. The sport has gone from the traditional face to face punchfest, to bouts with cartwheel kicks and people jumping of the cage like spider monkeys. One unorthodox technique has been shining through for years however, and it is due to many factors. The spinning back fist has racked up several famous knock outs and i believe although its a wild move it deserves some recognition. Here is a clip showing how a fighter (Yahir Reyes) went from being pushed back by someone he didn't want to go to to toe with, to winning the fight.

Yahir Reyes turns it around.

Rules to live by

Here is a link to a code of moral conduct written by Ip Man A master of wing chun. He is the man responsible for bringing the art to the worlds stage. Today wing chun is respected by schools and military around the world as one of the most effective and deadly martial arts. It is due to the power of this discipline that these words were penned. However if you read them you might realize that the majority of it goes beyond martial arts and should be adopted by all people. It is a moral code and a very easy one to follow. Please Read.  Rules to live by

Keeping Killing Fun

There are endless amounts of people out there with humorous martial arts video podcasts. But to this day Ask A Ninja is still my favorite. I don't keep up with him anymore but what i can tell you is that if you look up Ask a Ninja or visit his website you will be sure to have a few serious laughs. But be careful, he is a Ninja and he will kill you.

here is one of my favorite posts of his for your viewing pleasure.

Ninja Omnibus

The Best Intro in any tutorial ever!

I stumbled upon this video a few months ago. Although it is a great tutorial from someone who deserves much respect, i can't shake the feeling that this is something you could see on Tosh.0. If you don't laugh just a little bit during the intro Im sorry but you are clinically depressed and should really just go back to bed.

No Handed Cartwheel Guy

Sweet Justice

Here is a story to refute those out there who feel that a gun is the end all beat all of a fight. More evidence that a person with a cool head and the right training can defend his life no matter what the circumstance. Please do not take this article as proof that you personally can defend yourself from a gunman. This story happened in very specific circumstances, and if you read the article through, the martial artist in question handed over his valuables without resistance. 


Fatty Fat Gunman Gets beaten and shoots himself trying to rob an Ultimate Fighter

Somebody had to say it.

Here is a great guy helping us all out with his public service, making us all a little more aware of some truly STUPID martial arts techniques. Watch and enjoy.

Don't these techniques ANYWHERE!

Conditioning for Pain Tolerance

     Most all Martial Artist exercise conditioning of their bodies for specific usages. For example Mauy Thai and Karate practitioners often harden their shins because the round house kick is integral to their strategy. On the other hand many different styles of Kung Fu train to harden their hands and fingers because these small bones are often their main striking surfaces. Any of these exercises condition the bones using what is called Wolf's Law. However the training also has an additional benefit of improving your pain tolerance. Pain Tolerance put simply is the amount of pain a person can withstand before reacting, submitting, or passing out.
      Mind over matter does have a lot to do with a persons pain tolerance however every person has their breaking point. So the question is what can we do to our most vulnerable parts such as pressure points and  other parts of us, that we can't simply bang against trees and rocks and metal? What has worked for me is gradual self infliction of pain and or pressure to my pressure points. The beauty of this is that it is something that can be practiced little by little in your day to day life. Here is one simple exercise you can try for yourself.

Apply pressure to your nail bed just in front of your cuticle. This pressure point is used often to teach women's self defense because it takes little to no strength to inflict pain to this area. Continue to apply pressure until you feel it is to much for you to handle, than stop. Bare in mind this is not your actual pain tolerance, but more so the amount your mind will allow you to apply pain to yourself, before your mind says "HEY MAN! what are freaking retarded?" So now once you find that point continually apply pressure till the pain is to much, hold for a moment, and release. Over time your mind will allow you to experience this for longer periods of time as the nerves get used to it. Do this on all our you digits in rotation and i guarantee you will learn more about yourself and improve your pain tolerance in the process.

    

One thing leads to another

People have been practicing Martial Arts since prehistory, and through the years literally thousands of different styles or disciplines have been formed. Many of these styles were formulated based on family traditions and reenactments of animals in the wild. Whatever their base of idea we now have thousands of different styles and millions of different schools. However there is one common denominator, all these styles were used against each other, and there for helped each other evolve. The northern styles such as Wushu with their Long fist techniques were tested against southern styles like praying mantis kung fu in times of war and civil unrest. Over the years as these arts grew more acute and finite and as politics took place over war, we begin to see a boiling over effect in Martial Arts. An effervescent act of progression where arts not only begin to reflect one another, but also begin to spontaneously create entirely new disciplines of practice. Take for instance Jiu jitsu. Jiu Jitsu began in japan (believe it or not MMA Crowd) and was a very hard style the tournaments and practice often left practitioners injured. Over time a prominent Jiu Jitsu Practitioner, Jigoro Kano, eventually restructured the art in a way where people could train and compete while sustaining much less injury. And thus Judo or the "gentle way" was born, it is now practiced world wide. Just another example in Martial Arts of how one thing leads to another.

The Right Attitude

     Today's MMA crowd is notorious for its ego. Im sure we've all seen the guy at the bar wearing his Affliction T shirt with that face on like he just smelled a fart. Or the guy at the dojo who you don't even wanna train with because every time he tries a technique he forgets that you are his workout partner and not his opponent. What these people are lacking is humility, respect and love. Yes, thats right love. When we train, we train to better ourselves and our partner, which is much different then competing in a tournament. If we hurt our training partner than he wont be back the next day to help us get to the next level. So wether you are light years ahead of your training partners or have a lot to learn from them Love them, because they are the hand that feeds you. 
     Now when it comes to competition we are talking about a whole other realm of action. You are there to win, and martial arts is a combat sport so we don't hold back. However, there is still a place for love, humility and respect in competition. No matter the outcome we must always remember we agreed to take on this challenge to learn and better ourselves. So even if you lose, you must find a way to transmute your feelings into positive ones. Remember Martial Arts training is not just a physical exercise to strengthen our bodies, it is a path to enlightenment. So if you consider yourself a real martial artist, leave your ego at the door when you come to train or compete. 
     Here is a great example of the right attitude after a loss, as told by Forest Griffin after his loss to Anderson Silva. http://youtu.be/V1R50LpFh_M

Basic Krav gun defense

     I found this video recently while searching for unarmed gun defense techniques. Here is a great example of how someone with unarmed combat training can overtake a fool hardy or unskilled attacker with a gun. For those of you who don't know anything about defense against a gun, the theory goes like this. If the gun is within reach (that means you do not need to take the time to step forward to reach the weapon) on average your action to grab, deflect, or take away the gun will be faster than the attackers reaction to pull the trigger. The focus here is that you the defender makes the choice to act fist, forcing the attacker into a position where is one step behind, and now reacting. 
     What i like most about this clip is that the lead instructor points out the footwork in the drill, making the motion the most efficient and in a martial sense the most effective. Now i know many of you who watch this will see flaws in the technique such as; the attacker still has the gun. But bear in mind this is what is called an entry move designed to set up a series of different option for continued striking and gun take aways. 
So with no further ado. http://youtu.be/kVtEpqLC0uU

Need A Laugh?

If any of you out there think Martial Arts is all serious and based solely on structure and discipline, fortunately, you're wrong. The Martial Arts community is full of people who love to laugh, entertain and also poke fun at each other. With all the bumps and bruises you get while training you learn pretty quickly that laughter truly is the best medicine. Another thing you can learn from a few years of real training is how  many schools out there are training a bunch of garbage that could get someone seriously hurt in the street, or worse.  There is a great sight to look over these schools and make sure that your training does not become what the founders of this website call, Bullshido. On this site you can find instructors teaching the art of Qi power which is believed to give you the ability to put some one to the ground without even touching them (BULSHIT!) ::cough cough:: as seen here. http://www.bullshido.net/forums/vbtube_show.php?do=tube&tubeid=961#watch

So please take some time to browse the site Im sure you'll get a laugh or two and also keep your eyes peeled for special event like my personal favorite, Tae Kwon Do sucks month.

http://www.bullshido.net/

A Great Sight You Should See

Good morning everyone!


     Im running a little behind on my posts for the day, so this will be short and sweet. For any Martial Arts enthusiast who are interested in the art of Wing Chun Kung Fu I have the site for you. Inside you will find a wealth of links to videos, schools, forums and much more. For those of you who are not familiar with Wing Chun Kung Fu it is a close quarters, high intensity and highly intricate striking art most recently made popular by Donny Yen in the Films IP MAN 1 and 2. Wing Chun is also the first Martial Art to be excepted on any substantial level created by a woman. This style uses proper bone alignment and economy of motion to make it possible for a person of small stature to be able to defeat a much stronger opponent. I love this discipline of Martial Arts and I am sure with a little research you will too. This site does not spoon feed the links to you but with a little searching you will find links here you can not find any where else on the net. Enjoy.  http://www.wcarchive.com/

Aging vs. Growning

     Through my experiences in the martial arts field i have noticed that age is not as much of a factor there as it is in other parts of our lives. People who do not train or have some regular exercise seem to age more rapidly and experience more strain on their bodies. The best way to relate this with the theory that "an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted on by an outside force." 
     For about four years i competed in national Karate and Kenpo tournaments and to this day one of my favorite sparring partners is an over 50 year old man we can just call Wolf Larson. His age seems to be one of his greatest allies, because people often underestimate his speed and skill. I enjoy training against his experience and furthermore love to laugh at myself when i fall into one of his traps. The man is a walking bag of bricks, yet he has the fluidity of a man half his age. The point Im trying to make is that it is his choice to train that has halted this aging process. However nothing can take away his life experience or undo his years of training. So with no further ado here is a glimpse of the man himself.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=150646421636328

Be Thankful

Its Thanksgiving everyone. Once again its a time to calm your mind, surround yourself with the people you care about and remember to appreciate all the things that might have slipped your mind. Wether you are a genuinely positive person or someone who is down and out, this holiday is a chance to reset the computer. A chance to shake off the burdens of your day to day stress and even if life is kicking you in the teeth, just say "thank you, may i have another" Because in all reality our lives could be much harder to deal with.


http://youtu.be/kY1vEqmLNgk

Welcome

      Welcome to my Blog. Here I will be updating the progress of my business New Blood Entertainment (Scottsdale, AZ), notifying people of developments with my martial arts organization Defensive Fundamentals System (North County, SD)


      This blog will also be touching on martial arts and entertainment based topics. I will be posting commentaries on training videos, martial arts movies as well as recent and upcoming fights from online media sources. Most importantly giving you simple and efficient ways to better your life and your training regime through a foundation of Love, Honor and Respect. 

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