tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50006308835365824332024-03-13T07:47:55.723-05:00Martial JourneysA blog about martial arts, travel, and the human condition.gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-29260509727724425792021-12-27T15:16:00.002-06:002021-12-27T17:55:52.044-06:00Changes<p>Hello everyone! </p><p>This is not the first time things have been quiet here for a while, but as some have suspected, it's different this time.</p><p>You all deserve an explanation and details, but first... this sure has been a ride, and I can't thank you all enough for being a part of it. I have always been acutely aware of the caliber of martial artist who pay attention to Martial Journeys, and that has kept the bar very high. Your intelligent and thoughtful comments and questions constantly inspired me to make better content. I will always be grateful for that. Thank you so much for your support, and the time and attention you've given to Martial Journeys. My world has been better for it, and I hope yours has as well, in some small way or another.</p><p><b>So what's with all this mushy stuff?</b><br /></p><p>Over the summer, I made the very difficult decision to shut down Martial Journeys and return to a (gasp!) desk job. As it turns out, it's pretty much the coolest desk job ever, but that's beside the point.</p><p>I naively hoped I'd be able to keep Martial Journeys going in some form once the dust settled from all the changes. Which is kind of like thinking a zombie apocalypse won't make you late to your anniversary dinner. Laugh all you want--I hoped. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6NlhPkJDqNI/YcoT3pI2rbI/AAAAAAAAsls/ws4ltoVLItUJn8NtxilA_j4W5nXfwm2eQCNcBGAsYHQ/zombies.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="799" height="266" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6NlhPkJDqNI/YcoT3pI2rbI/AAAAAAAAsls/ws4ltoVLItUJn8NtxilA_j4W5nXfwm2eQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/zombies.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Okay, but after this chase I REALLY have to get to the steakhouse. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/w4nd3rl0st/6084086433/in/photostream/">photo credit</a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Now that the dust has settled, it's clear that continuing my local school and the online seminars is not realistic. There won't be new blog posts or podcast episodes, but existing blog and podcast content will remain available. I'll still be reachable through the Martial Journeys group on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/martialjourneys">Facebook</a> and on <a href="https://twitter.com/MartialJourneys">Twitter</a>. And of course, I'll still be training.</p><p>As for why I'd make such a dramatic career change, there are a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that it is hard and not any fun to teach martial arts during a pandemic. It's also hard to pay the bills when all your students' programs are frozen and you can't bring yourself to charge them for remote classes. And even in better times, even though I love teaching martial arts, I did not enjoy running a business.</p><p><b>So what am I up to, then? </b></p><p>Story time: </p><p>There are lots of version of this story out there--who knows how many of them are actually true--but we all know the sort. Some young, unassuming, beginner, usually a girl, shows up to class on her first day. Some arrogant higher rank responds with something like "Aw, cute, a girl wants to learn to fight." But when they spar, she unleashes everything she's got, and the arrogant upper belt doesn't know what hit him. She faces down an extreme challenge and wins not with size or strength or experience, but with a bold heart and the right attitude. Like I said, you've no doubt heard a version of this story before, or maybe even been in one. Keep your version of that story in your back pocket for a minute.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4AAsxVLD8ro/YcoXRIOX-_I/AAAAAAAAsl0/vg3S4KCgh4E0d4Ib4V2ve30w-9dcBl_lACNcBGAsYHQ/bigstock-Chess-confronting-white-pawn-8293097.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="3008" height="266" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4AAsxVLD8ro/YcoXRIOX-_I/AAAAAAAAsl0/vg3S4KCgh4E0d4Ib4V2ve30w-9dcBl_lACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/bigstock-Chess-confronting-white-pawn-8293097.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bring it.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />When the pandemic hit and we were all stuck solo training, online games became my primary social activity. In particular, I started playing this weird little co-op game called <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2019/8/27/20806677/blackout-club-enhanced-horror-xaviul-laugh-last-god-encounter">The Blackout Club</a>, which just happens to be the most criminally underrated game of all time. <p></p><p>I don't talk about it much in martial arts circles (notable exception <a href="http://www.martialjourneysofmadison.com/episode-38-games-in-the-martial-arts/">here</a>), but once upon a time I was a video game programmer. I can play a game and get an idea of how it was made. In The Blackout Club, I saw a small team attempting to create something so ambitious that even a team of ten times the size would never even have tried it. But like the beginner in the story, they came out punching with everything they had, and against all odds it <i>worked</i>. It was inspiring enough to reawaken my desire to create. I dusted off my resume and started checking job boards.</p><p>Because life is crazy, that small team that inspired me is the one I've landed on. I work at <a href="https://www.questiongames.com/">Question</a>. While closing the Martial Journeys chapter of my life is incredibly heavy, I'm excited about the new chapter.</p><p>Again, I can't thank you all enough for your support over the years. Blogs and podcasts are nothing without readers and listeners, just like classes are nothing without students. You've all made this a fun and rewarding experience for me, and I hope it's been equally fun and rewarding for you. Take care, keep training hard, and have fun.</p>gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-39360673817108597902021-06-01T05:06:00.003-05:002021-06-01T05:24:10.059-05:00Podcast Duel!<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/martialjourneys/posts/3023014097966706">Click Here</a> to help the Martial Journeys Podcast win!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/lesbubka/posts/382170296575703">Click Here</a> to be a traitorous folly-ridden lout!</div><div><br /></div>Friends, I need some help. The <a href="http://www.martialjourneysofmadison.com/category/podcast/">Martial Journeys Podcast</a> has been challenged to a duel! What villainous ruffian of a podcast would do such a thing? Why, none other than the <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/les-bubka-accidental-podcast-or-something-like-that/id1515239839">Accidental Podcast Or Something Like That</a> by <a href="https://lesbubka.co.uk/">Les Bubka</a>. I think we can all agree that this injustice cannot stand.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uTmoJyeXbPU/YKvPwrqkCpI/AAAAAAAAp-Q/5CTOXTX1ZicvSv9L34GhiwQgcOtCs25twCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/podcast%2Bbattle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uTmoJyeXbPU/YKvPwrqkCpI/AAAAAAAAp-Q/5CTOXTX1ZicvSv9L34GhiwQgcOtCs25twCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/podcast%2Bbattle.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>The stakes are very high, since whoever loses this duel must commit the great shame of posting a video of how to use <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IftIgEvnSc">hikite</a> to generate power. Astute podcast enthusiasts may note that my enemy has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_TyaOUf0yg">already created such a video</a>. I think we can all agree that this is because the Accidental Podcast has no honor, and not because Les is hilarious. In any case, my sworn enemy has promised that should he lose the duel, he will post something even more ridiculous. And of course, if I lose, I will disgrace my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWsATiuiIVgdPr6MRUc-4KQ">brand new YouTube channel</a> with an appropriately embarrassing video.<br /><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BdaOPsEUBtA/YKvCojqd9HI/AAAAAAAAp-I/_hi1xozEXksmyaD9QgB0_PgY3ByPEuTMQCLcBGAsYHQ/s609/Duel%2BOrigin.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="609" height="313" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BdaOPsEUBtA/YKvCojqd9HI/AAAAAAAAp-I/_hi1xozEXksmyaD9QgB0_PgY3ByPEuTMQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h313/Duel%2BOrigin.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How Podcasts Get Into Fights</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>So, friends, my fate is in your hands. The duel will last for the month of June, at the end of which we will compare the Martial Journeys post against the Accidental Podcast post, and see which has more likes/reactions. So all you have to do is like <a href="https://www.facebook.com/martialjourneys/posts/3023014097966706">this post</a>, and stay far, far away from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lesbubka/posts/382170296575703">this post</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>May the best podcast win!</div></div></div>gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-82084212798553998192021-05-01T05:00:00.002-05:002021-05-01T05:00:00.248-05:00The Physics of High Blocks<p>What is the optimal angle for a high block?</p><p>Very often high blocks are really strikes. But getting your arm over your head to intercept a blow is not an insane thing to do, and that's what we're looking at today.</p><p>First, let's look at the physics of something you probably don't want to do.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JoU-1HuQcJc/YIyhrVrRnrI/AAAAAAAAoLY/3b6wpEjZ_fobJQk-xafK_yp83hcBKqbPACLcBGAsYHQ/arm%2Bangles.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1309" data-original-width="2048" height="205" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JoU-1HuQcJc/YIyhrVrRnrI/AAAAAAAAoLY/3b6wpEjZ_fobJQk-xafK_yp83hcBKqbPACLcBGAsYHQ/arm%2Bangles.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louvre material, for sure.</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>At 0° your forearm is parallel to the ground. In this scenario, you're taking the full force of the blow on your arm that would otherwise hit your head. This is usually a pretty good trade, but it could be better.</p><p>Once your arm is angled, there's the potential to let the blow slide off the arm. In terms of physics, part of the blow's momentum will go into your arm (ouch) and part of it will be deflected harmlessly away (yay). </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sK-KjqEgZ_c/YIysljTNDKI/AAAAAAAAoNc/hvxtdSP2pboJITHv2mGlk_RwZSK1SaIpACLcBGAsYHQ/IMG_20210430_201528223.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sK-KjqEgZ_c/YIysljTNDKI/AAAAAAAAoNc/hvxtdSP2pboJITHv2mGlk_RwZSK1SaIpACLcBGAsYHQ/IMG_20210430_201528223.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I did math so you don't have to!</td></tr></tbody></table><br />This all boils down to two equations:</p><p>momentum <b>transferred </b>into the arm = momentum x sin (90° - arm angle)<br />momentum <b>deflected </b>by the arm = momentum x cos (90° - arm angle)</p><p>Or more simply:</p><p>Ouch = 100% x sin(90° - arm angle)<br />Yay = 100% x cos(90° - arm angle)</p><p>Traditionalists are welcome to adjust their glasses, pull a pencil out of their pocket protector and tap this into a calculator. I'm going to just ask my phone because I'm a hip young whippersnapper and not cringey at all, bruh, YOLO! Also you just lost The Game.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UwS5kCE9CuE/YIyPlOJhJuI/AAAAAAAAoKY/BAzZ3wdJIag3C9V4O2duIn_RRmlRISsygCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1080" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UwS5kCE9CuE/YIyPlOJhJuI/AAAAAAAAoKY/BAzZ3wdJIag3C9V4O2duIn_RRmlRISsygCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="135" /></a></div><br />Here's a nice little chart:<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JA1IlL2JKj8/YIyccNe8gsI/AAAAAAAAoKg/ygGQouVx744Y1Xn7Omxg7K1rSqEsXEFqQCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="785" data-original-width="813" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JA1IlL2JKj8/YIyccNe8gsI/AAAAAAAAoKg/ygGQouVx744Y1Xn7Omxg7K1rSqEsXEFqQCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="249" /></a></div><br />The percentages don't add up to 100% on all of them because adding vectors doesn't work quite like adding plain old numbers. But the math is sound. If you multiply those percentages by how hard you're getting hit, that will tell you how much momentum is going into the arm and how much momentum is deflecting the weapon.<p></p><p>So, from this chart, it looks like the best angle is 90° because ALL of the momentum is deflected and NONE of it goes into the arm. Which sounds great until you think about what a 90° block actually looks like:<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BknZBFd_w6Y/YIyg0oGhQ8I/AAAAAAAAoLI/280ISH_HuQ8tpnLleqe5LgyDHcoFb9PzQCLcBGAsYHQ/90%2Bdegrees.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1099" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BknZBFd_w6Y/YIyg0oGhQ8I/AAAAAAAAoLI/280ISH_HuQ8tpnLleqe5LgyDHcoFb9PzQCLcBGAsYHQ/90%2Bdegrees.jpg" width="129" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I could have blocked, but the stupid author insisted on a stupid<br /> 90° angle."</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>So at 90° against a blow coming straight down, you're not protecting your head at all. At 80° you're covering a tiny part of your head. If you do manage to line it up just right, you're deflecting almost all of the impact and taking very little damage to the arm. But that is extremely risky and ill-advised in the chaos of a situation where you need to deflect a blow to the head. At the other extreme, a 0° angle covers the most head area, but you deflect nothing. And it's a good idea to deflect SOME because then the attacker's body can follow along to the side as you deflect, giving you a little control over their movement. </p><p>What's the best angle? The best angle is the steepest angle that actually catches the blow. But in high-stakes situations there are no guarantees, so some margin for error is a good thing. Also, in the spirit of recognizing that there are no guarantees, there are no guarantees that the blow is going to come straight down. </p><p>So ultimately, the optimal angle isn't even the right question. Better questions are, did you deflect the attack? Did you take serious damage? Can you still fight? With all that in mind, happy training!</p>gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-34410453342385702292021-04-01T05:00:00.007-05:002021-04-01T05:00:05.668-05:00Why Are Left-Handed Fighters Called Southpaws?<p>Spoiler: It's not baseball.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rUfVREi5wQ0/YGN-eugjRMI/AAAAAAAAmFc/anST6w6-eskodXUX4VVvRgs-o8NuQ-dagCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="312" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rUfVREi5wQ0/YGN-eugjRMI/AAAAAAAAmFc/anST6w6-eskodXUX4VVvRgs-o8NuQ-dagCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="213" /></a></div><br /></div>There's a popular story--and it IS just a story--that the term "southpaw" originated in baseball. According to the story, old baseball diamonds were built with home plate to the west, so that a pitcher's right hand was on the north side and the left hand faced the south. So any left-handed pitcher used his southern "paw" to throw the ball. <p></p><p>This idea has been thoroughly debunked, but if you ever heard it and believed it, don't feel bad. This myth has been around since at least 1908 when baseball writer Tim Murnane had to explain that he used the term "southpaw" because players were left-handed, not because their left hands sometimes faced the south. To say nothing of the fact that baseball diamonds didn't all face the same direction in the first place! Moreover, in the mid 1800's when the term started to appear in baseball, it was used to refer to any left-handed player, not just the pitchers.</p><p>There are slightly older accounts of the term being used in boxing than in baseball, and that may very well be where the term "southpaw" began to be used to refer to a person. But before that, the term was more widely used to refer to a person's left hand, with the first recorded usage being in 1813.</p><p>No one is really sure why a person's left hand became known as a south paw. The best guess out there is that it's because south and left were associated with the devil and/or general badness. Traces of this remain today when we might describe a person's uncharacteristic poor decision as having their judgment go south, or refer to the devil on our left shoulder when we're not proud of our motivations in a particular decision. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fgB8uA1u-lE/YGN-1Q36qdI/AAAAAAAAmFk/5efNeYJinTw_DuKyitsyapOAw1k5rodSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s626/lorem-ipsum-angel-devil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="626" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fgB8uA1u-lE/YGN-1Q36qdI/AAAAAAAAmFk/5efNeYJinTw_DuKyitsyapOAw1k5rodSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/lorem-ipsum-angel-devil.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The stockiest of stock images.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>For us as martial artists, the difference between left-handed and right-handed students tends to be small. A right-handed student may have an advantage when it comes to forms, because most of them were created by and for right-handed practitioners. In a similar vein, there is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1059767/">this</a> disturbing suggestion that being left-handed significantly increases your chances of dying in combat, because the tools that can save your life are made for right-handed users.</p><p>On the other hand (no pun intended but I'll go with it), a left-handed student may have an advantage in sparring other martial artists because both lefties and righties tend to get more practice against right-handed sparring partners. Left-handed people only make up about 10% of the population, so statistically speaking, 90% of the partners and 90% of the practice will be against right-handed opponents. Which explains why left-handed fighters are so dramatically over-represented at the professional levels in combat sports. 17% of professional boxers and almost 19% of professional MMA fighters are left-handed--they're almost twice as common as they are in the general public.</p><p>So being left-handed can make a fighter just a little bit more dangerous than their right-handed counterparts. For combat sports like boxing where the term may have originated, more dramatic language can translate into ticket sales. All those devilish connotations could have been to a fighter's advantage. It's not hard to imagine a clever wordsmith playing up a left-handed fighter's devastating and maybe even diabolical "southpaw" power shot.</p><p>But imagination aside, we know that calling an athlete a "southpaw" didn't come from baseball but rather from a term for an actual left hand. And if you thought otherwise, well, that myth has been duping people for over a century, so I guess we're in good company. But let's not propagate it!</p>gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-69917496489975676992021-03-01T05:30:00.007-06:002021-06-01T05:31:13.368-05:00Should You Train Both Sides Equally?<div>"1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10! Switch feet! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10!"</div><div><span> - Every instructor ever</span><br /></div><div><br /></div>The most common way to train basics is to practice a technique for some number of reps on one side, then switch feet and do the same number of reps on the other side. But there are a couple other schools of thought out there. And which one is best depends largely on what your goals are.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DWp_kph1pck/YDGbGFExH-I/AAAAAAAAj1s/WzPBD9-bH4kTmm4HKZGHaWaNckXuBXVJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s861/train%2Bboth%2Bsides.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="861" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DWp_kph1pck/YDGbGFExH-I/AAAAAAAAj1s/WzPBD9-bH4kTmm4HKZGHaWaNckXuBXVJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/train%2Bboth%2Bsides.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Approach #1: Train Your Side</h2><div><br /></div><div>One school of thought is that you should prioritize the side that you are most likely to use. You see this a lot in sports. If you're an elite sparring competitor, you've probably come across this idea quite a bit. Almost everyone has a "strong side," which is especially easy to see in, say, boxing. Fighters are known for being orthodox or southpaw. If you're not likely to switch your stance, you'll get more benefit for your training time if you practice from the stance that you're going to use. </div></div><div><br /></div><div>And while that is a great idea for winning, it's not such a great idea for overall health. When you train asymmetrically, you condition your body asymmetrically, which can lead to muscle imbalance, posture problems and injuries. This phenomenon is especially obvious in fencing, which is an extremely asymmetrical sport. Fencers typically hold a weapon in one hand without ever switching. They also spend a lot of time in what is basically a back stance. If you think about where you're sore after some intense stance work, you can imagine why elite fencers tend to have larger calf muscles on one side. But often they'll also have more developed muscles on their entire back leg and on their weapon arm, and even on one side of the torso. Muscle imbalance, besides looking kind of freaky, can give you some pretty significant joint pain and even interfere with your movement.</div><div><br /></div><div>Which is why a lot of martial artists, including myself, prefer...</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Approach #2: Train Both Sides</h2><div><br /></div><div>If your conditioning is symmetrical, your body will develop symmetrically. (This is kind of a lie. There are other things that can cause muscle imbalance, and in fact most people have some minor asymmetry, but for the most part this is pretty safe to say.) </div><div><br /></div><div>So if you throw the same number of punches on both sides, you'll stress the muscles on both sides of your body equally and strengthen them equally. Same deal for kicks and throws and stance work and anything else we do. </div><div><br /></div><div>But there's one downside to this, which is why some people prefer...</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Approach #3: Train Your Weak Side</h2><div><br /></div><div>Very few people are truly ambidextrous. You probably have one side that's more coordinated than the other. If that bothers you, the natural solution is to give the other side a little more practice.</div><div><br /></div><div>And there are some good reasons to do that! But here I would caution people to be careful and think about what exactly you NEED your weak side to do. If it's just a dislike of the idea that one side is more skilled than the other, maybe consider that it's not that big a deal. No matter how much you train, you're unlikely to ever have exactly equal skill on both sides of your body. And if you try, you could end up training your weak side disproportionately enough that you develop some of those muscle imbalance problems.</div><div><br /></div><div>One way to get around this is to work your technique in an easy, relaxed way. You can fix very many technical details without physically working all that hard. And since you're not pushing the limits of your strength/speed/flexibility/etc., you're not forcing your muscles to adapt. Don't get me wrong, you need to stress those muscles some. But doing some very light finesse work and then blasting a target 10 times on each side will cause a lot less muscle imbalance than blasting a target 500 times on one side and 10 times on the other.</div><div><br /></div><div>-</div><div><br /></div><div>Good luck with whichever approach is right for you!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-25115850352790534122021-02-01T16:36:00.000-06:002021-02-01T16:36:10.461-06:00Knife Hand Blocks and the Carotid Sinus<p> Among many things that martial artists have named badly is the knife hand block. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--19OwvPmVzA/YA4ANbXz0hI/AAAAAAAAjWw/Wo42I90Bz4MsGT_eyNtpcVpS-SQGntGIwCLcBGAsYHQ/knife%2Bhand.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1562" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--19OwvPmVzA/YA4ANbXz0hI/AAAAAAAAjWw/Wo42I90Bz4MsGT_eyNtpcVpS-SQGntGIwCLcBGAsYHQ/knife%2Bhand.jpg" width="183" /></a></div></div><br />If you try to block something with that front hand, well, good luck with that. There is a block involved, but the larger, more obvious motion of the front hand really only works as a strike.<p></p><p>There are a lot of style differences in knife hand blocks, so depending on what exactly you study, the specifics are going to be a little different. But in general, the BACK hand is the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr3xV17CHdQ" target="">block</a> (or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4MeTwPPKfQ" target="">trap</a> or <a href="https://youtu.be/l0g9BChDvHE?t=158">grab</a>) and the front hand is a strike. And while there is a lot to explore in that back hand, this article is about the striking hand.</p><p>There are a few interesting points to notice.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">1. Your weight is on the back leg.</h3><p>Knife hand blocks are almost always done in a back stance, with the weight predominantly on the back leg. This is to facilitate what is going on with the back hand. Many applications involve pulling the enemy forward into the strike , so that back-foot weight distribution helps. But the downside is that the strike has to be effective without putting a lot of weight into it. One way to reliably do that is striking a vulnerable area like the neck.</p><p>You have a lot of important things in your neck, and hitting any one of them hard enough can ruin your day if not your life. A committed strike anywhere on the neck is serious business. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ir8eHqD8Gsk/YA9O3LMYSCI/AAAAAAAAjXw/GDPmCUqeEnEx5heyC73b1dY6bEvJOgWLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s909/StrongSquishyOuch.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="909" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ir8eHqD8Gsk/YA9O3LMYSCI/AAAAAAAAjXw/GDPmCUqeEnEx5heyC73b1dY6bEvJOgWLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/StrongSquishyOuch.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bringing that oh-so-famous Martial Journeys wisdom.</td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br />2. The carotid sinus is a prime target for the strike part of this technique.</h3><p>Your carotid arteries are the main way that blood gets into your brain. At the base of each carotid artery you have a squishy spot called the carotid sinus. They have a lot of baroreceptors, which have the job of monitoring blood pressure in the artery so your brain can make sure it's getting the right amount of blood. Too much blood pressure in your brain or too little is very bad, but fortunately your body is pretty good at getting it just right.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wLqGGPs1Jtg/YA9Jg6jt1BI/AAAAAAAAjXY/m2D-9jBh2QMrs6Rs00izW2w3ZyucgUnwACLcBGAsYHQ/s600/Carotid_Artery.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="548" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wLqGGPs1Jtg/YA9Jg6jt1BI/AAAAAAAAjXY/m2D-9jBh2QMrs6Rs00izW2w3ZyucgUnwACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Carotid_Artery.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2122_Common_Carotid_Artery.jpg" target="">image credit</a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p></p><p>While it's certainly not the only potential target for damage in the neck, the carotid sinus is certainly an interesting one. I should digress for a moment to point out that it may or may not be a viable target, depending on what exactly the back hand is doing and even just the chaos of combat, the enemy's neck could be rotated any number of ways. You might not have a good angle on the carotid sinus. Maybe you'll hit the wind pipe or vertebrae. That is not any less serious, but again, that's beyond the scope of this article.</p><p>I'm focusing on the carotid sinus for this article because there seems to be a perception (which I'm sorry to say <a href="http://www.martialjourneysofmadison.com/episode-22-fictional-martial-arts/" target="">I may have contributed to</a>) that short of a blood choke technique, an attack to this area will be painful but have limited effect otherwise. Actually it can be much worse.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">3. This technique can end a fight.</h3><p>The idea of striking a pressure point and having the person just keel over sounds like some weapons-grade bull. And when something sounds like bull, it's usually bull. Lean into your black belt level eye roll technique and then go hit something to try to blot said bull out of your brain. But it turns out that some interesting and awful things can happen from a strike to the carotid sinus.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GumOoKDgRyQ/YA9KvLdYswI/AAAAAAAAjXk/ZG3daLRaqUIIqUmXWSRfcZTaUnTBdLD8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s310/Bullshit.svg.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="310" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GumOoKDgRyQ/YA9KvLdYswI/AAAAAAAAjXk/ZG3daLRaqUIIqUmXWSRfcZTaUnTBdLD8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Bullshit.svg.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know my audience, and you are not fans of bull.<br /><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bullshit.svg">image credit</a></td></tr></tbody></table><p>If you really want to understand it, I recommend <a href="https://www.fullpotentialma.com/self-defense-slap/">this article</a> by <a href="https://www.fullpotentialma.com/instructor/" target="">Brian Sagi</a>, which explains how a strike to the carotid sinus can cause the brain to freak out about changes in blood pressure (I mean, you did squish it pretty good with that strike, and that will definitely affect the pressure, so your baroreceptors are kind of right?) and respond by rapidly decreasing blood pressure in the brain until the person falls unconscious. Lights out, from a strike to the neck.</p><p>I would hope this would go without saying, but THIS IS NOT SAFE TO PRACTICE. Although getting hit with this is usually not lethal. Usually.</p><p>If you really, really want to practice disrupting a friend's brain function and evacuating blood out of their brain, I have the following recommendations.</p><p>1. Don't.</p><p>2. Watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfKYb0eWK_U">this video</a> before trying it out.</p><p>3. Seriously, don't play games with this stuff. </p><p>You can safely practice a knife hand block by striking air, or by your partner keeping a hand up in front of the neck. Hit the hand or arm instead.</p><p><br /></p>gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-17646699878159512102020-12-30T15:57:00.000-06:002020-12-30T15:57:01.502-06:002020, Martial Arts, and Personal Responsibility<p>Unpopular opinion time.</p><p>Yes, 2020 was a uniquely awful year. A global pandemic, social isolation, livelihood challenges, a distinct lack of slow news days... hopefully 2020 will be an anomaly that we can all look back on as a weird time that we all got through.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-36EWyNoEqx8/X-zps4hfgoI/AAAAAAAAb5M/UeELgXLUs2sZJwR7Zp8UtofTVEb6B4SZACLcBGAsYHQ/s338/2020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="338" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-36EWyNoEqx8/X-zps4hfgoI/AAAAAAAAb5M/UeELgXLUs2sZJwR7Zp8UtofTVEb6B4SZACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>I have gone all-in with the meme that 2020 has been a malicious abomination that is actively out to get us. It has amused me during a time when amusement is a much-needed salve. And <a href="https://9gag.com/tag/cabin-in-the-woods" target="_blank">I'm</a> <a href="https://imgur.com/gallery/DYWgbQv">not</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KABSYzPqTTg">going</a> <a href="https://hugelol.com/lol/675601">to</a> <a href="https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/things-i-didnt-have-on-my-2020-bingo-card-bingo" target="_blank">stop</a>.</p><p>But.</p><p>Real talk time.</p><p>We made 2020 what it was.</p><p>Think about the things that went wrong this year, all the lowest of the low points, and you'd be hard pressed to think of one that wasn't a direct result of--or exacerbated by--decisions made by humans. </p><p>Pandemics are governed by science, but humans chose to make it political, to listen to the experts or not, to make one less trip to the grocery or give in and buy the comfort food, to sacrifice one holiday season to save lives or not, to spread misinformation or fact-check diligently, and so forth. </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9QsFgIw5bRE/X-zt2Yp5VRI/AAAAAAAAb5Y/UPi0ts1VecA91keshSZ52__MYEnaLXcJACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="737" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9QsFgIw5bRE/X-zt2Yp5VRI/AAAAAAAAb5Y/UPi0ts1VecA91keshSZ52__MYEnaLXcJACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="208" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/donttouchmysplitends/">credit</a>.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />With various parts of the world in government-mandated lockdowns, and other parts of the world leaving it in the hands of the people to make the best decisions to balance necessity against the spread of the disease, a lot of martial arts schools are closed. Very many of us have found ourselves without our classes, instructors, training partners, and sometimes livelihoods. Which, besides being painful, it has also been a test of our ability to adapt, to persevere, and to do what is right even when it is hard.</p><p>Isolation has been its own awfulness, and without our classes and training partners, we martial artists have lost a major avenue for social connection, which is no better or worse than the garden variety isolation blues that non-martial artists are facing. It's just easier to go unrecognized, since most of us don't show up to class because we're eager to chit chat. We go to train, and the social component is a less-visible side benefit. 2020 gave us an opportunity to recognize our dojang friendships, casual though they may be, and either do right by those friends or not. After all, those friends have also lost their martial arts classes and social connections.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Bqz1tT3ME3E/X-zw34vqe-I/AAAAAAAAb5k/D35gopD51PQb2uNQ1VHdlzBYWFARpOo8ACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="500" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Bqz1tT3ME3E/X-zw34vqe-I/AAAAAAAAb5k/D35gopD51PQb2uNQ1VHdlzBYWFARpOo8ACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="205" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo <a href="https://imgflip.com/i/3y3b9e">credit</a>.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Looking back on 2020, I can think of many decisions I can be proud of, and just as many things I could have done better. And the problems of 2020 aren't going to magically dissipate on January 1st. It's going to take a lot more than a turn of a calendar page to meaningfully improve humanity's biggest problems.</p><p>But, we're up to it, right? We, as martial artists, who proudly say we are physically and mentally strong, that we value character and character growth, that we want to be leaders in our communities (or at least positive influences on those communities), and that we are good people who strongly believe in the power of martial arts to make the world better?</p><p>Let's walk the walk. 2021 will be exactly what we humans choose to make it.</p><p>Let's do it right.</p>gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-1254240121950861252020-05-08T22:47:00.000-05:002020-05-08T22:47:21.481-05:00Karate Lotion!Like much of the world, I have been doing a lot more hand washing lately than I used to. Which in turn has caused me to go through a lot more hand lotion. And this leaves me with a bit of a problem, which is that I really dislike most hand lotions. <br />
<br />
The main thing is the smell. <br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I don't want to smell like food.</li>
<li>I don't want to smell like a delicate flower.</li>
<li>I don't want to smell like a hospital.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And there's surprisingly little left over when you eliminate all of that.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But today I conjured up some vague recollection of a friend of a friend making their own lotions. Maybe I can do that! Maybe I could launch a whole line of Face Punch Lotions and name them things like Roundhouse Kick and Legendary Warrior. I bet I could sell like two jars.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3_-HswlLPQM/XrYnD3-w9PI/AAAAAAAAMjs/Jx5vGbkZDHM_Yoglr5Bs4OCjJCjl8wzkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Face%2BPunch%2BLotions.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="740" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3_-HswlLPQM/XrYnD3-w9PI/AAAAAAAAMjs/Jx5vGbkZDHM_Yoglr5Bs4OCjJCjl8wzkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Face%2BPunch%2BLotions.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But most importantly, I could have hand lotion that smells however I want! What does Roundhouse Kick lotion smell like? What does Legendary Warrior lotion smell like? Actually most martial arts things just smell like sweat, but I don't need any help smelling like that. And I do need hand lotion.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, then, with my perfect lotions, I don't have to smell like a food, a flower or a hospital. But what DO I want to smell like?</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>I want to smell like a mighty death punch walking the earth in human form, confidently striding amongst mere mortals.</li>
<li>I want to smell like ten thousand cuts of a samurai sword.</li>
<li>I want to smell like the goddess Athena, so clearly in a mood after being momentarily inconvenienced by destroying an opposing army, that it only takes a sidelong glance to silence the next mortal who tries to explain warfare to her.</li>
<li>I want to smell like a flying side kick so powerful and precise that it can rend an entire forest into perfectly cut makiwara materials in a single blow.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Yes! I will finally have hand lotion that I love!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I tracked down directions for how to make hand lotion, and scoured the internet for ingredients. And that is when reality came crushing down on me.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It turns out, making lotion is hard and expensive. It would cost me hundreds of dollars to even give it a try. Well. I can repurpose that old bottle of body cream under the sink for free.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I know you're crushed, but Face Punch Lotions was just not meant to be.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-74754665414642230912020-04-06T20:20:00.000-05:002020-04-06T20:22:41.377-05:00Form Name or Metal Song?Recently <a href="https://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/" target="_blank">Iain Abernethy</a> pointed out that some kata names sound like death metal bands. For most martial artists this would elicit a smile and a nod, but this blog is weird and you're weird for reading it. So for all my favorite weirdos, here is a fun little quiz. I'll present two phrases. One is a translation of a form name, and the other is a metal song. Guess which one is which, and see how many you get right!<br />
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(Quick side note: Some of these translations are disputed. Don't shoot the messenger, just have fun.)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7zmcIU231fE/XovUhQSXtaI/AAAAAAAALEg/k_0LQGID5xcwA_rkBAg7A_Llrz8bsw4gACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/form%2Bor%2Bmetal.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="910" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7zmcIU231fE/XovUhQSXtaI/AAAAAAAALEg/k_0LQGID5xcwA_rkBAg7A_Llrz8bsw4gACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/form%2Bor%2Bmetal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span id="goog_1572819133"></span><span id="goog_1572819134"></span><br />
<b>Which is a form name, and which is a metal song? Click your answer to find out if you were right!</b><br />
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Round 1:<br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C5%8Dj%C5%AB-ry%C5%AB#Gekisai" target="_blank">Attack and Destroy</a> <b>or</b> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ6ZD8v2DCU" target="_blank">Seek and Destroy</a><br />
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Round 2:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhlzi16UGps" target="_blank">For the Greater Good of God</a> <b>or</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taekwondo#Forms_(patterns)" target="_blank">Might for Right</a><br />
<br />
Round 3:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKZgAVygp9A" target="_blank">Your Body is a Battleground</a> <b>or</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naihanchi" target="_blank">Internal Divided Conflict</a><br />
<br />
Round 4:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wankan" target="_blank">Emperor's Crown</a> <b>or</b> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgjwhKCBM9Y" target="_blank">King's Eyes</a><br />
<br />
Round 5:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1NIbHsXCws" target="_blank">Rest Calm</a> <b>or</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%8Dchin" target="_blank">Tranquil Force</a><br />
<br />
Round 6:<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0fPuYR3I_k" target="_blank">Power of One</a> <b>or</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyeong#Color_Belt_forms_3" target="_blank">Ancestors</a><br />
<br />
Round 7:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMOTWd4TgJ4" target="_blank">Rise and Fall</a> <b>or</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABsank%C5%AB_(kata)" target="_blank">Gazing Heavenward</a><br />
<br />
Round 8:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chint%C5%8D" target="_blank">Fighter to the East</a> <b>or</b> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtLvlaGJJEU" target="_blank">South of Heaven</a><br />
<br />
Round 9:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wRreoNRGwk" target="_blank">Center of the Universe</a> <b>or</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyeong#Color_Belt_forms_2" target="_blank">Heaven and Earth</a><br />
<br />
Round 10:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jion_kata_group#Jion" target="_blank">Temple Sound</a> <b>or</b> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gSsp7vasSA" target="_blank">Spirit</a><br />
<br />
Bonus Cheating Round:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seisan" target="_blank">13</a> <b>or</b> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_yl2WuiW4g" target="_blank">13</a>gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-60155940796119689162020-03-19T14:33:00.003-05:002021-01-24T16:10:53.069-06:00Solo Training Resource List<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RTit-fnUHHY/XnPIptQKwVI/AAAAAAAAKO4/Zrt_K-cA_nwrBolz-v5opi98PII7mxLhQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/kick-taekwondo-martial-art-pose-fly-sport.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="910" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RTit-fnUHHY/XnPIptQKwVI/AAAAAAAAKO4/Zrt_K-cA_nwrBolz-v5opi98PII7mxLhQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/kick-taekwondo-martial-art-pose-fly-sport.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In the face of a global pandemic, martial arts instructors all over the world are looking for ways to help their students train at home while classes aren't being held. My own tiny school is doing this as well. But that does little for the instructors who are also stuck training at home. During these trying times, we have an opportunity to come together and support each other.<br />
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In that spirit, I'm offering up the lessons that I created for my students for anyone who wants to try them. Those who read this blog tend to be more advanced than the students these were created for, but you may enjoy them nonetheless.<br />
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If you have created exercises or workouts for your students to do at home and want to share them with a wider audience, please leave a comment on this post with the link. I will add them to the official list as quickly as I'm able.<br />
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<b>The List:</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.martialjourneysofmadison.com/tag/home-training/" target="_blank">Martial Journeys of Madison At-Home Training</a><br />
<a href="https://t.co/GUQqoe4feR?amp=1" target="_blank">Leigh Simms Progressive Karate</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weggrEvUpAc" target="_blank">Clubb Chimera Martial Arts Shadow Sparring Workout</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeZzJq-JueQ" target="_blank">Karate Nerd 10-Minute Karate Workout</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grCfabdSCz8" target="_blank">IMOK Karate Class Video</a><br />
<a href="https://iainabernethy.co.uk/iain-abernethys-applied-karate-kata-bunkai-app">Iain Abernethy's Applied Karate Kata Bunkai App</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0szXDXc9vt8">Taekwon-Do Senior Instructors Class</a><br />
<a href="https://mymartialarts101.com/2019/10/07/solo-training/">Solo Training Dos and Don'ts</a><div><a href="http://www.senseiando.com/martial-arts-home-workout/" target="_blank">Happy Life Martial Arts Home Workouts</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/124995177587163/260006945496245/" target="_blank">Northampton Martial Arts Online Classes</a><br /><br />
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Fine print for those contributing links:<br />
1. Please, only one link per school. If you want to offer multiple workouts, please use a link to a tag or a playlist or some other format that will allow for a concise single link.<br />
2. Please only submit your own content. That way I know I'll only post links with the permission of the person who created it.</div>gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-20746515237871093952019-12-19T12:44:00.001-06:002019-12-19T13:02:24.731-06:00Martial Movement SeminarHi everyone!<br />
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Most of my seminars are part of the <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/search/label/50%20States%20Challenge" target="_blank">50 States Challenge</a>, and I teach at them for <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/search/label/causes" target="_blank">charity</a>. But this one is something different. I've been invited to do a joint seminar with fellow martial arts blogger Pat Bolton of <a href="http://www.imokkarate.com/" target="_blank">IMOK Karate</a>.</div>
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And you're invited, so save the date!</div>
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Saturday, March 7, 2020 from 1:00 to 3:00</div>
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We'll be at 55 South Gammon Road in Madison, Wisconsin, which is the <a href="https://lcecmadison.org/" target="_blank">Lussier Community Education Center</a> gym.</div>
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If you'd like to come, drop Pat an email at imokkarate@gmail.com.</div>
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We're trying hard to make the seminar style-agnostic, so it doesn't matter what kind of martial art you do--just bring your enthusiasm. We're going to cover biomechanics, joint health, power generation, applying forms/kata in self defense, and conditioning. And just because it seems somehow impossible or just morally wrong for me to be involved in a project like this and not introduce a little Martial Journeys weirdness, we're also going to do some of <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2018/06/how-to-make-and-train-with-jegi.html" target="_blank">this nonsense</a>.</div>
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Here's the official flier, which you're welcome to print out and display if you like:</div>
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Please come! I would love to meet you in person. Email Pat to register <a href="mailto:imokkarate@gmail.com" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-36975391661730680182019-02-01T22:38:00.000-06:002019-02-01T22:40:12.663-06:00Two Approaches to Mental StrengthLike most martial artists, I've been punched. Aside from a few that were particularly hard or unusual in some way, most of those punches were pretty forgettable.<br />
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But the other day, I got a punch I will never forget. The kind that has you standing in line at a grocery store two days later pretending everything is okay when it Definitely. Is. Not. This punch came in the form of four words:<br />
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"I canceled my chemo."<br />
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My instructor proceeded to tell me about how he had to work outside in the cold this week, and if he had his chemo treatment, it would be too painful for him to complete the work. He explained that he couldn't take the time off because he needed the money, so he canceled his chemo appointment instead.<br />
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So that was my punch, and I'd trade it for a dislocated jaw any day. But as hard as this is for me, it is obviously much worse for him and his family. I have the mental strength of a martial artist. I can be everyone's rock, right?<br />
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How To Maximize Mental Strength</h3>
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When we talk about physical strength, having a strong body can mean being able to lift heavy things, excelling in physical workouts, being resilient to illness, and so forth. Mental strength also encompasses a lot. It's the discipline to crank out those last few reps, the motivation to force yourself to go to class even if you'd rather stay home and relax, and the focus to keep your mind from wandering when you need all your attention in order to get a job done.<br />
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Just like a serious physical ailment can destroy all aspects of your body's strength, hardship can kick your discipline, focus, motivation, patience, and so forth, to the curb.<br />
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The good news is, mental strength trainable. The even better news is, martial arts can be a great vehicle for training mental strength.<br />
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So what do you do when you need all your mental strength?<br />
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1. Reframe your stressor as a challenge. </h4>
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If you never challenge yourself, you'll never improve. If you're never failing, you're not challenging yourself. So as insurmountable as your stressor may be, in some ways it's not so different from the heavy weight at the gym, or your nemesis sparring partner, or whatever other physical challenge you're trying to overcome. Just like those physical challenges, if you've chosen a goal that is so easy that you have no chance of failing, you have chosen a goal that will not help you improve. And just like practicing martial arts will make you better at martial arts, practicing with your problem will make you better at dealing with your problem.<br />
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Once you understand that whatever situation is giving you a beating is ultimately not that different from your regular training, you can approach it with a healthier mindset.<br />
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2. Let the little stuff go.</h4>
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There's <a href="https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/willpower-limited-resource.pdf" target="_blank">science</a> behind it, but it's also just common sense that when you are enduring hardship, it makes no sense to make it even harder on yourself. If you put a lot of your mental energy into the proverbial deck chairs on the Titanic, the actual sinking ship is going to be that much harder to face because you're mentally fatigued. Focus on what's most important, and cut yourself some slack if you're not perfect in other areas.<br />
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3. Train your mental strength.</h4>
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Hopefully you started this one before you need it. Just like your physical conditioning, it takes time. Very hard training that makes you dig deep to find the strength to finish will condition your ability to finish things you don't want to finish. Ignoring distractions in your training space will condition your ability to control your focus and direct your mind back to the task at hand when it wanders. Focusing on your next technique when some corner of your brain is telling you to feel embarrassment or pride about the last one will bolster your ability to spend your effort on things that can actually affect the outcome of your struggle.<br />
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4. Manage your energy levels.</h4>
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As trite as it sounds to include "self care" in a list like this, it's a cliche because it's true. Taking care of your health and getting quality sleep will absolutely help your mental strength. Beyond that, whatever boosts your energy is as individual as you are. Spending time with friends, cuddling pets and getting lost in a book, splurging on a snooty dinner out, watching a movie, getting to class... all of that has a cost in time, money, or both. But if it gives you the energy to jump back into the fight with gusto, it also has a lot of value.<br />
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So that's my toolbox. Here's how I've used it lately.<br />
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I put on the biggest lie of a smile for the students who come to train. No one is going to get the class they need if I'm not strong for them. Focus now, despair later. Make jokes about stances so that everyone is laughing while they're pushing themselves to improve. Don't give the elephant in the room even an inch. Make sure no one uses a particular 6-letter C-word. Model excellent mental strength for students who still need to learn those skills.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everything is just fine. Actually, that's an old picture, so everything really is fine.</td></tr>
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Off the training floor, I do everything I can to help out financially and logistically. Try to give him a little more freedom and means to focus on his health. That requires a measure of mental strength, too.<br />
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But that's me. I'm not at the center of this turdnado, and the person who IS at the center has trained a lot longer than I have. I wondered, does a lifetime of martial arts make you strong enough to face this? So I asked.<br />
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Here's what he had to say.</h3>
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1. Stay positive.</h4>
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"When someone hears you have cancer, they always say, 'I'm sorry.' But I don't feel sorry for myself." He then proceeded to talk about some good things that have come out of his experience with cancer, like learning from the experience, being more connected to the people around him, and increased spirituality. He emphasized how important it was to stay positive in order to have the mental strength to keep fighting.<br />
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2. Maintain self control.</h4>
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It's easy to imagine what he's going through and think that he must be stressed out, irritable, in constant physical discomfort, and on the edge of despair. But interacting with him, you'd guess none of those things. He credits his martial arts experience with giving him the skill of calming himself and maintaining that calmness, for the mental strength it has instilled in him, and the physical strength as well. Because, as he put it, "You can only build so much of your mind without considering your body." I'm sure <a href="https://www.avma.org/ProfessionalDevelopment/PeerAndWellness/Pages/Physical-Health-Impacts-Mental-Wellness.aspx" target="_blank">no doctor would disagree</a>.<br />
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3. Keep learning.</h4>
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He specifically mentioned "drawing strength" from learning from the experience. He talked about how the experience has made him more aware of the connection between his mind and body. He says he has also learned to open up as a human being, and is now more conscious of his own feelings and the feelings of others.<br />
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4. Keep being you.</h4>
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Actually what he said was, "Always remember to keep giving." But he has a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/ken-bent-cancer-fund" target="_blank">GoFundMe</a>, and I was afraid it would sound really self-serving, so I changed it. But "always keep giving" is such a pure reflection of who he is as a person. This is someone whose generosity has exasperated business partners by giving away so much for free to people who couldn't pay. Someone who has given so selflessly to his students and to the community that there's not enough left for himself, a martial arts retelling of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life" target="_blank">It's A Wonderful Life</a>. This is someone who swooped in like the mentor figure in some saccharine after-school special and helped me regain my footing after my own really awful story.<br />
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And I'm one of his less dramatic stories. I know about ex-felons who turned their lives around because of his help. I know of at-risk kids who he put on the right course. I know of kids who were bullied to the verge of suicide who pulled through in part because of him. His life has been a series of <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/quantum_leap/" target="_blank">Quantum Leap</a> episodes, minus the time travel. How many of us see our lives that way? If we could travel to the past, we say we'd try to make small changes that had heroic consequences for the present. But who tries to make small changes in the present with heroic consequences for the future?<br />
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I've lost track of how many times I've heard him say some variation of, "I didn't train for X years so I could keep it, I learned it so I could give it away." That variable X has increased over the time that I've known him, and is now up to 47 years as he said it to me again today.<br />
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Friends, I don't ask for much. Sure, I appreciate the likes, shares and subscribes, but I don't have a Patreon, a paid content section, DVDs or books or supplements or snake oil for sale. Even my seminars I do without a paycheck. But right now I'm asking. If you can help, please do. <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/ken-bent-cancer-fund">https://www.gofundme.com/ken-bent-cancer-fund</a><br />
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<br />gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-62532542892562319492019-01-01T08:33:00.001-06:002019-01-01T08:33:27.050-06:007 Tools for your New Year's ResolutionIt's New Year's Day, so it's time for all that "new me" stuff that tends to fall by the wayside before February 1st. Personally, I have never really done the New Year's resolution thing. I am constantly working toward goals, but they seldom line up with the calendar year.<br />
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To be successful in your goals, it mostly comes down to a whole lot of "wanting it." That said, having the right tools can make it a little easier. So with that in mind, here's a list of my favorite tools for pursuing challenging goals.<br />
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1. A good goal. </h4>
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Aw, you thought I was going to recommend a bunch of things you could go out and buy, and here I am leading with an abstract concept. Sorry dude, none of this is going to be easy. If it were easy, we'd all be 10th dan Olympic athlete rock stars with multiple PhDs. If that's you, congratulations. You can stop reading now. You obviously have a good grasp of setting and achieving goals. If instead you're scarfing down microwave ramen while watching cat videos and trying to decide whether you want to spend the rest of your evening studying, training, or playing video games (don't laugh, we've all been there) then this is for you.<br />
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Some goals fail before you even get started. Want to get better at stuff? That's not specific enough to work toward. Aiming to get better at sparring? How will you know when you get there if you can't measure it? Hoping to flying side kick the moon out of the sky? That's not achievable. Want to run a 4-minute mile because the bragging rights would be cool? Like I said earlier, most of achieving goals is a matter of really wanting it, so pick something relevant to what it most important to you. Want to win a national championship someday? If you can put it off until later, you probably will, so you need a deadline. <br />
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There's a popular mnemonic to help you remember this: SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound). Setting a SMART goal helps set you up for success. There's more on this topic in <a href="https://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/content/how-set-your-goals-2007" target="_blank">this episode of Iain Abernethy's podcast</a>.<br />
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2. Glucose. </h4>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Willpower magnified by a power of a hundred billion or so.</td></tr>
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Glucose is basically what powers your body. Doing just about anything requires glucose. Anything that requires effort will deplete your glucose a little bit, even just exercising your willpower. Actually, this is a bit of an oversimplification, and more research is needed (you can read more about the science of willpower <a href="https://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/science-willpower-0" target="_blank">here</a>) but for our purposes we can just consider willpower to be made out of glucose. So getting out of bed, climbing into a really cold shower, saying no to the free cookies in the break room, being nice to that coworker who ignored your advice and "fixed" a bug by breaking every other similar feature in the project and then acted surprised when it did exactly what you said it would, getting your butt to class when you're really not in the mood, etc., all expends glucose. <br />
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Some people refer to this concept as "spoons." The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory" target="_blank">idea</a> is that you have a finite number of spoonfuls of energy, which you spend throughout the day. I prefer to call them magic points or mana, because in my nerd brain, spending mana sounds way cooler than using spoons. But whether you call it glucose, spoons, willpower, or mana, the important thing to remember is that you don't have an infinite supply. When you run out (and you will!) you are done. Your willpower is gone, and you'll snap at the obnoxious coworker, or you won't say no to the cookie, or you'll go to bed instead of to class, until you get your energy back.<br />
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You can make your goals easier to achieve by managing your glucose. Don't waste it on things that won't help you achieve your goal. That's also why it's so important to work on only one goal at a time. If you want to ace your upcoming belt test, but you also want to publish a novel, pick the one you want to work on, and let the other wait. This might hurt! Setting aside something else that is important to you is just another really hard thing you'll need to do to achieve your goal. Because trying to split your glucose between the two is a good way to fail at both. Ace your belt test. The novel will be there right where you left it, when you have the spoons it deserves.<br />
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The other thing you can do is replenish your glucose. You do this by eating.<br />
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But what if you have the very common goal of losing weight? If you run out of glucose by willing yourself to avoid calories, and you can only replenish that glucose by saying yes to calories, what do you do? This is why dieting is hard. So, acknowledge that it's going to be hard. It's extremely important to not waste the glucose you have, because if you're dieting, your glucose will often be in short supply. Don't use it to force yourself to practice guitar or clean the garage. That can happen after the weight comes off. Second, you can manage how and when you replenish your glucose. Eating a healthy snack right before you know you'll need to expend willpower can help.<br />
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3. Tracking software.</h4>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If your goal is to look unnaturally organized...</td></tr>
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When a goal is important to you, you probably don't need to be told to track it. You probably think about it all the time. Give those thoughts a place. If you're a pen-and-paper sort of person, you can try a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Martial-Notebook-Lawrence-Kane/dp/0615986102/" target="_blank">training diary</a>. If you read that sentence and adjusted your glasses while saying, "That's not very efficient because it's not searchable or customizable and will not automatically calculate my progress," I'm sure you'll have no trouble setting up an elaborate spreadsheet. (Weight loss spreadsheet people, try <a href="https://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/" target="_blank">The Hacker's Diet</a>.) If you've got money to throw around, you might find a <a href="https://www.wareable.com/fitness-trackers/the-best-fitness-tracker" target="_blank">wearable fitness tracker</a> that helps with your specific goal. Or there's my personal favorite, which is goal tracking games like <a href="https://habitica.com/" target="_blank">Habitica</a> or <a href="https://www.superbetter.com/" target="_blank">SuperBetter</a>. Or even better, use some combination of trackers to suit your specific needs. What you use doesn't really matter so much as just having a place to track your progress. See that it's working (or that it's NOT working, so you can adjust your plan) and keep yourself motivated.<br />
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<h4>
4. Video games.</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rPTFIjhXDxU/XCqfK55VQ1I/AAAAAAAAF6A/b25L7gmd800exXQ0Afz_VseLgnNeMVZcQCLcBGAs/s1600/Sony-Gaming-Video-Games-Ps4-Controller-Playstation-2619483.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rPTFIjhXDxU/XCqfK55VQ1I/AAAAAAAAF6A/b25L7gmd800exXQ0Afz_VseLgnNeMVZcQCLcBGAs/s400/Sony-Gaming-Video-Games-Ps4-Controller-Playstation-2619483.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eat my fire attack, monster.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Hear that? That's the sound of a thousand martial artist rolling their eyes. But bear with me. Video games are something I enjoy, and your thing might be something else. But if I just threw 8 quadrillion roundhouse kicks, you can bet that Dracula is about to get pwned. After your 8 quadrillionth roundhouse kick, maybe you treat yourself to a good movie, or maybe you mosh to smooth jazz. Whatever. You do you. But reward yourself. And dieters? Reward yourself early and often. 'Cause let me tell you, when the fate of the Koprulu Sector lies in the balance, and I'm building up my zerg army, and my base just got cannon rushed, I guarantee you I have no idea how hungry I am.<br />
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<h4>
5. Accountability buddy.</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5VdUenqiIZ8/XCqjo_6cBZI/AAAAAAAAF6M/itxOg-Mtxq8mSzI1N33snof9ZGNLSmWOACLcBGAs/s1600/young-couple-workout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5VdUenqiIZ8/XCqjo_6cBZI/AAAAAAAAF6M/itxOg-Mtxq8mSzI1N33snof9ZGNLSmWOACLcBGAs/s400/young-couple-workout.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This picture both delights and terrifies me.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Having someone to keep you accountable can be huge. Maybe your instructor does that for you, or maybe you've got a great training partner, friend, or significant other. It's more fun when your accountability buddy is working toward a similar goal, but really it just has to be someone who is invested in your success. Having access to that encouragement, having someone to vent to when the going gets rough, and knowing that someone else will notice when you persevere or slip up, all makes you more likely to succeed. <br />
<br />
That's one very good reason to line up your goals with the calendar year. It's usually easier to find accountability buddies when so many people are enthusiastic about their New Year's resolutions.<br />
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<h4>
6. Plans.</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rub7mMkX_gA/XCqlM4DsInI/AAAAAAAAF6Y/YiR3B09jZgAJ2cN1pdXja26Z9955ZC7cQCLcBGAs/s1600/plans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rub7mMkX_gA/XCqlM4DsInI/AAAAAAAAF6Y/YiR3B09jZgAJ2cN1pdXja26Z9955ZC7cQCLcBGAs/s400/plans.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tear this ship apart until you've found those plans!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I don't have a whole lot in common with Darth Vader, but we both want those plans. Schedule time to do the things that will set you up for success. Try something like this: Sunday at 4 PM is time to create a meal plan and grocery list to stick to my diet. That 15 minutes immediately after class is when I'll work on my flexibility. The first thing every morning will be forms practice. Whatever your goal is, having the time to do it is essential.<br />
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<h4>
7. Luck.</h4>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lZLQUSXbTeQ/XCqTxm-5IVI/AAAAAAAAF5M/dz1vnFMgk4cJzHVizlMtisriZ09z0EDwgCLcBGAs/s1600/Luck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1040" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lZLQUSXbTeQ/XCqTxm-5IVI/AAAAAAAAF5M/dz1vnFMgk4cJzHVizlMtisriZ09z0EDwgCLcBGAs/s400/Luck.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I roll twenties!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Like I mentioned before, achieving your goals mostly comes down to wanting it badly enough to do the hard work of making it happen. But it's dishonest to pretend that luck doesn't enter into the equation at all. Even though it's borderline heresy to some, the truth is, there's just too much randomness in the world for life to be a perfect meritocracy, where your success or failure in your goals comes down exclusively to the work you put into them. <br />
<br />
Some extreme examples: Your goal is to save a certain amount of money from each paycheck, and you win the lottery. Now you don't have to live frugally to achieve your savings goals. Let's say you're trying to increase the number of push ups you can do by the end of the month, but the flu takes you out of training for two weeks. Or you're training for the Olympics when you lose a leg in a car accident. In those cases, it's really easy to see that your goals need to be readjusted. But smaller factors can add up and impact your goal, too.<br />
<br />
If you've chosen a good goal that is an appropriate challenge level for you, a little luck one way or the other could be the difference between success and failure. Not so? That's either because you've chosen a goal that is so easy that you will only be challenged when your luck is bad, or a goal that is so hard that you have no real chance unless your luck is very good. If you are really challenging yourself, really pushing the limits of your physical or mental strength, luck will get to push you around a little bit. <br />
<br />
The key is to be honest with yourself about your effort and progress, whether you succeed or fail. There's a fine line between making excuses and knowing when bad luck did you in. And there's an equally fine line between false pride and knowing when good luck gave you a boost. If you're completely honest with yourself, you can make the most of whatever hand your were dealt, and go into your next goal with more insight. "I added 5 reps per set last month even though I had the flu, so I should be able to improve even more this month," or "Having a training partner every day last week made it really easy to get to the gym, but my schedule is back to normal this week so I should plan accordingly," are realistic assessments of luck that set you up for success.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fm0h8-TwkbA/XCt6BA355MI/AAAAAAAAF6o/Ws61w7u8VjgcPXcdwrGF0kVqHS_JtmGjQCLcBGAs/s1600/mountaintop%2Bsuccess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fm0h8-TwkbA/XCt6BA355MI/AAAAAAAAF6o/Ws61w7u8VjgcPXcdwrGF0kVqHS_JtmGjQCLcBGAs/s400/mountaintop%2Bsuccess.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Best wishes to everyone in the new year, and best of luck to everyone in your goals for 2019!<br />
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<br />gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-80243367309169853992018-11-01T04:58:00.000-05:002018-11-01T04:58:12.344-05:00Cat!<div>
I made a flier for a pressure point seminar taught by a cat.</div>
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Why would I do that? I have my reasons. Those reasons aren't as important as the fact that I now have a flier of a pressure point seminar taught by a cat.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But the main reason is because I just finished a <a href="http://www.martialjourneysofmadison.com/episode-8-sexual-assault/" target="_blank">podcast about sexual assault</a>. I spent a lot of time being bogged down in very important and very serious subject matter, and it has left me kind of drained. So for this month's blog post, I'm not being serious at all. I'll go back to being helpful next time.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FQO8m6vyh0A/W9kYnjs5n4I/AAAAAAAAFFk/IsF48PJX6lU2QHRzFYHTSjVLttGvzFjpgCLcBGAs/s1600/Pressure%2BPoint%2BSeminar%2BFlier%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FQO8m6vyh0A/W9kYnjs5n4I/AAAAAAAAFFk/IsF48PJX6lU2QHRzFYHTSjVLttGvzFjpgCLcBGAs/s1600/Pressure%2BPoint%2BSeminar%2BFlier%2B2.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
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gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-37828338059767814042018-10-01T05:22:00.000-05:002018-10-01T15:15:41.172-05:00Lock In What You LearnedFrom <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/search/label/Washington" target="_blank">Washington</a> to <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/search/label/Arkansas" target="_blank">Arkansas</a>: A teaching technique from Sensei <a href="https://kriswilder.com/" target="_blank">Kris Wilder</a><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WhT2S7wLaDA/W7AuHwiIfbI/AAAAAAAAE4A/q1NeB68xY9smdVItepnqIVM2pjxDbDKvQCLcBGAs/s1600/Washington%2Bto%2BArkansas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="962" height="242" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WhT2S7wLaDA/W7AuHwiIfbI/AAAAAAAAE4A/q1NeB68xY9smdVItepnqIVM2pjxDbDKvQCLcBGAs/s400/Washington%2Bto%2BArkansas.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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One of my favorite things about the <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/06/50-states-challenge.html" target="_blank">50 States Challenge</a> is passing on what I learned at previous stops. After taking some time to process everything I've been taught, I pass along a <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/search/label/Takeaway%20Technique" target="_blank">Takeaway Technique</a> that exemplifies the lesson from the previous school. Then after I pass it along to the next school, I put it on the blog for all to see. You can blame <a href="https://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/" target="_blank">Iain Abernethy</a> for this, since it was his idea.<br />
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When I was in Seattle, I got a lesson in teaching.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qZnCvJKU5Bo/W6_pI6G0lUI/AAAAAAAAE2U/FCMKurSUqBo6Ek1g3HkYyov8kLoJAtYEQCLcBGAs/s1600/lightning.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1124" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qZnCvJKU5Bo/W6_pI6G0lUI/AAAAAAAAE2U/FCMKurSUqBo6Ek1g3HkYyov8kLoJAtYEQCLcBGAs/s400/lightning.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Which is kind of like saying this fish got a lesson in static electricity.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I got <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/09/lessons-in-seattle.html" target="_blank">a lot of good stuff</a> out of Sensei Kris, but it was easy to choose what piece of it should be the takeaway technique.<br />
<br />
I had just finished teaching the oldest group of students about kicking mechanics and pivoting theory, with a digression into two-person forms. Just as we were wrapping up, he asked each student in the class what they had learned.<br />
<br />
Each student in the class had an answer, and those answers were diverse. Some of them mentioned specific techniques that were new to them. Others mentioned details of techniques that they didn't know before. Others came up with observations about life.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZOiSdXlsUjU/W7AvWAE2neI/AAAAAAAAE4M/zWwar-Tj5v0bz_S6pGyrcU0dNrUWfoPmgCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC00106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZOiSdXlsUjU/W7AvWAE2neI/AAAAAAAAE4M/zWwar-Tj5v0bz_S6pGyrcU0dNrUWfoPmgCLcBGAs/s400/DSC00106.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whoooo, that was fun. I wanna go back.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I instantly loved what Sensei Kris did. By doing that, each student had to reflect on the class and think of something that was useful to them. That by itself made it far more likely that they would remember it. It was sort of an on-the-spot personalized mini review session. I imagined that once a student has been put on the spot with a question like that, in future lessons they might keep it in mind that they might be asked again.<br />
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For example, say a student is told to throw a punch for the thousandth time. As the class gets busy throwing punches, that student might be just going through the motions. Until someone points out to him that he could get more power if he adjusts his stance. The student could file that information away for later, thinking, "There's a good thing to mention if I get asked what I learned today." And by filing it away to be recalled at the end of the class, it could also be recalled later, say, the next time he was throwing punches. And he would remember it whether he actually got asked at the end of class or not. It was brilliant.<br />
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Later Sensei Kris pointed out an aspect that I hadn't noticed. He said that while it's really useful to the student, it's equally useful to the instructor. He said it gives him insight into his students and how they learn. He said that some students mention very specific mechanical things, while others mention general feelings of techniques, and others cue off of stories or jokes. As he said this, I remembered examples from the class I taught.<br />
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I have incorporated this into my teaching, and I'm so happy with the results. I've gotten responses from tiny details like, "I should turn my foot more when I throw roundhouse kick," to grander observations like, "The power isn't coming from where I thought it was coming from." And, not gonna lie, it's pretty cool as the instructor to hear all of your students articulate their learning and how much they got out of your teaching. Try to trip over nothing on your way off the mats so your head doesn't get too big.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AWVxV2WV2OU/W7F6ikJ6a6I/AAAAAAAAE44/gm1cTFSs_l84oGLzEz07jCnA-gH3yz-pACLcBGAs/s1600/DSC02031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1066" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AWVxV2WV2OU/W7F6ikJ6a6I/AAAAAAAAE44/gm1cTFSs_l84oGLzEz07jCnA-gH3yz-pACLcBGAs/s400/DSC02031.JPG" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is it cool with you guys if I just spend the whole blog post bragging on my students?</td></tr>
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If you're interested in trying this out yourself, here's how.<br />
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<h4>
For Instructors:</h4>
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1. Don't warn the students that you're going to ask them what they learned.<br />
2. Ask each student individually and give them time to answer.<br />
3. Everyone has to come up with an answer. No sitting out.<br />
4. No one is allowed to repeat someone else's answer.<br />
5. If a student can't think of an answer, let them think about it and come back to them later.<br />
6. You may want to ask the least experienced students first. It's a little harder to answer last because if someone else gives your answer before your turn, you have to quickly think of a new one.<br />
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<h4>
For Students:</h4>
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This part is me riffing off of what Sensei Kris taught me, so don't hold it against him if you don't like it.<br />
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If your instructor doesn't ask you what you learned, you can still ask yourself. Do it right after the class ends. Write it down, if you like. Just reviewing it in your head will be useful, but having a record is even better.<br />
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You shouldn't have any trouble thinking of something you've learned in a class. If you're consistently having a really hard time, it might be time to take a long, hard look at your training and see if anything needs to change.<br />
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-<br />
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Full disclosure: I kind of messed this up <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2018/08/kicking-snot-out-of-cancer-and-other.html" target="_blank">when I was in Arkansas</a>. When I saw the huge turnout, I realized that there was no way everyone would be able to provide a unique answer. So instead I asked for a handful of volunteers to give it a try. Even with the smaller group, I didn't leave enough time for it at the end of the lesson. It was really rushed trying to get answers out of everyone, and on a couple of them I had to let them slide without providing their own unique answers.<br />
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Just my luck that the first time I foul this up, it's at a seminar for the 50 States Challenge.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ypOpcnwpVQ4/W7AleUT6HgI/AAAAAAAAE3s/nf0ctV6sHislnUQY2AJURn3LZxCvexJHQCLcBGAs/s1600/facepalm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ypOpcnwpVQ4/W7AleUT6HgI/AAAAAAAAE3s/nf0ctV6sHislnUQY2AJURn3LZxCvexJHQCLcBGAs/s400/facepalm.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brandongrasley/8227882239" target="_blank">Photo Credit</a></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8o_BUDFzO64/W7Al4F6o9mI/AAAAAAAAE30/JxODzOzfouM0F1qhrW39j57L-g6cjBjPACLcBGAs/s1600/kid%2Bfacepalm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="960" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8o_BUDFzO64/W7Al4F6o9mI/AAAAAAAAE30/JxODzOzfouM0F1qhrW39j57L-g6cjBjPACLcBGAs/s400/kid%2Bfacepalm.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pixabay.com/en/boy-facepalm-child-youth-666803/" target="_blank">Photo Credit</a></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ra-ivb828Vs/W7Ak_-BN73I/AAAAAAAAE3k/Ua25aAXFehsroKrLyMG4GXFH5S24lhSNACLcBGAs/s1600/cat%2Bfacepalm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ra-ivb828Vs/W7Ak_-BN73I/AAAAAAAAE3k/Ua25aAXFehsroKrLyMG4GXFH5S24lhSNACLcBGAs/s400/cat%2Bfacepalm.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gunnarries/17941696501" target="_blank">Photo Credit</a></td></tr>
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Well that was embarrassing!<br />
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<br />gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-2835761312019093042018-09-01T14:41:00.000-05:002018-09-01T14:41:06.302-05:00Understanding School Bullying PoliciesI know in my <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2018/08/kicking-snot-out-of-cancer-and-other.html" target="_blank">last post</a> I assured everyone that I had a <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/search/label/Takeaway%20Technique" target="_blank">Takeaway Technique</a> for you, but I'm putting that off yet again. It is coming, I promise, but today I'm taking a quick detour to talk about bullying policies.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qcryITAf_t8/W4fkGFyH18I/AAAAAAAAEkU/7q0uj4tn5-ctPPzM0ZDrciuED615u-TzQCLcBGAs/s1600/Bullying%2B-%2BHigh%2BSchool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="849" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qcryITAf_t8/W4fkGFyH18I/AAAAAAAAEkU/7q0uj4tn5-ctPPzM0ZDrciuED615u-TzQCLcBGAs/s400/Bullying%2B-%2BHigh%2BSchool.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh, high school, how I don't miss you. <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%C5%A0ikanovanie.jpg" target="_blank">Photo Credit</a>.</td></tr>
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In the United States where I live, schools' policies about bullying vary between school districts and individual schools. Private schools especially are likely to have their own school-specific policy, but even in public schools there is no guarantee of consistency from one school to the next. Most anti-bullying policies sound good on paper, but in practice some are better than others.<br />
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Imagine, for a moment, that you are working for a school and have been tasked with writing a school's bullying policy. Obviously, you don't want bullying to happen at all, but you recognize that it will happen, and what you write determines how it will be handled. So, how should it be handled?<br />
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Ideally, if you are in that position of power, your primary goal will be to minimize bullying and protect the victims. However, this is very hard to do with a policy. How do you create a blanket statement for how bullying will be punished fairly? How do you handle cases that are not clear-cut as far as who the instigator is and who the victim is? What do you do if the school misjudges who is the aggressor and instead punishes the kid who was only trying to defend himself? What do you do if the parents of the students involved don't agree with how the school has handled the problem? And, what happens if your policy seems fair on paper, but eventually an edge case comes up where everyone can see that a bully is behaving egregiously, but according to "the letter of the law," he has done nothing wrong?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ONhmk9XkI6Y/W4fpmHrkbAI/AAAAAAAAEkg/b0tArDTKhJ8vg1PR0CPcpCICZCtqZ1zRQCLcBGAs/s1600/Bullying%2B-%2BNon-Physical.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ONhmk9XkI6Y/W4fpmHrkbAI/AAAAAAAAEkg/b0tArDTKhJ8vg1PR0CPcpCICZCtqZ1zRQCLcBGAs/s400/Bullying%2B-%2BNon-Physical.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Creating a fair and effective bullying policy can get especially murky when the bullying is not physical and occurs in digital spaces that are less visible to teachers and parents.</td></tr>
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Violence is incredibly complex (and bullying even more so because it is not always physical), so creating a policy to handle bullying can be daunting. One solution is to make it vague, giving educators and administrators more leeway in handling specific cases. This comes at a price, though, because educators and administrators are often already stretched very thin. This gives them an extra workload, and a high-pressure one at that. What happens if they make a mistake and mishandle a case? What happens if the case is handled fairly, but the bully's parents disagree and threaten to sue? Can the school afford to pay damages? What will happen to the quality of education if the school has to pay out a massive settlement?<br />
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One way to protect against this is to minimize transparency. The school probably already has a policy to protect the privacy of students' personal information including grades and disciplinary record. By expanding the confidentiality policy, you can ensure that the victim and the victim's family don't learn of how the situation was addressed at all. All you have to say is "We are conducting an investigation and will respond appropriately." The parents will have to take your word that the situation is being addressed sufficiently.<br />
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With this kind of policy, the school is protected and the students' well-being is entrusted to the adults who can address the situation on a case-by-case basis. So, is this policy effective?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-96goNnQbYVM/W4fxu9fL5iI/AAAAAAAAEkw/jA0kNRtYBAIy1UaodNy4lXIzqFdf4QaxACEwYBhgL/s1600/Bullying%2B-%2BGrade%2BSchool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="960" height="187" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-96goNnQbYVM/W4fxu9fL5iI/AAAAAAAAEkw/jA0kNRtYBAIy1UaodNy4lXIzqFdf4QaxACEwYBhgL/s400/Bullying%2B-%2BGrade%2BSchool.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hopefully. 'Cause this is awful. <a href="https://www.maxpixel.net/Finger-Child-Suggest-Bullying-3362025" target="_blank">Photo Credit</a>.</td></tr>
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Hopefully, under a policy like this, the teachers and parents will handle any situations well. Usually the school and its employees have the best of intentions, but when it comes to resolving issues, the policy will protect them but not help them.<br />
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If you are the victim, the parent of a victim, or the instructor of the victim, it can seem like the bully has more rights than those who actually need protection.<br />
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Suppose a larger boy corners one of your students in a bathroom stall and physically attacks him. What should your student do? If he physically defends himself in a school with a zero tolerance policy, he'll face the same punishment as the bully. The school doesn't have to determine which kid was in the wrong and just suspends both of them for fighting. Telling students to never fight under any circumstances puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the victim who must choose between enduring the abuse until an adult arrives, or physically defend himself against school rules. In order to physically defend himself, he not only has to stand up to a bully but also the school itself.<br />
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So in this case, should your student put up with physical abuse until an adult intervenes? The worst bullying tends to happen when adults are not around, so he might endure a lot if he doesn't fight back. If he goes this route and trusts the system, what if the system doesn't stop the bullying, or even makes it worse? That can happen if a bully is punished and wants to retaliate against the victim for reporting them.<br />
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In this case, the victim and the victim's family most likely won't be allowed to know anything about how the situation was addressed. They might ask for the bully to be removed from the classroom or otherwise denied access to the victim. This is extremely unlikely to be allowed. A far more common solution is to offer to remove the victim from the classroom.<br />
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Understandably, this option is not popular with victims. A kid who has been bullied extensively probably has very poor self esteem and is at least somewhat socially ostracized. Having that kid sit at their own separate lunch table or stay in the classroom at recess is not going to be good for that student's social or mental well-being. And if the victim turns down this kind of "help," well then gosh, I guess the bullying wasn't that serious after all!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0vpQQPOX4fQ/W4f9ij2FaFI/AAAAAAAAEk4/2bHiASQlLnMWWBhbgMBU5vJeu10hbwmnwCLcBGAs/s1600/Bullying%2B-%2BSocial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0vpQQPOX4fQ/W4f9ij2FaFI/AAAAAAAAEk4/2bHiASQlLnMWWBhbgMBU5vJeu10hbwmnwCLcBGAs/s400/Bullying%2B-%2BSocial.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adults enforcing the social isolation that the bullies intend to cause is not exactly a solution. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/abbydadams/5080042020" target="_blank">Photo Credit</a>.</td></tr>
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Not every school is like this, and not every situation plays out like this. In fact, this is more of a hypothetical worst-case-scenario. (Not really, it certainly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicides_that_have_been_attributed_to_bullying" target="_blank">does get worse</a>.) But if you encounter a school's bullying policy that seems ineffective, frustrating, or just makes no sense, try thinking of the policy as a tool to protect the school rather than a tool to protect the students. If it suddenly starts making sense in that light, at least you will have an understanding that will help you in future interactions with the school.<br />
<br />gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-8656900750670954982018-08-01T17:39:00.000-05:002018-08-05T15:57:14.340-05:00Kicking the Snot out of Cancer and Other Arkansas StoriesFor my second stop on the <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/06/50-states-challenge.html" target="_blank">50 States Challenge</a>, the kind folks at <a href="http://rivervalleymartialarts.com/" target="_blank">River Valley Martial Arts</a> agreed to host me. The dojo is in Russellville, Arkansas, a town of less than 30,000 people, few enough that I got teased for being from the <i>city</i>. That was funny to me, because being so near Milwaukee and Chicago, Madison seems small to me. But later I realized they weren't joking--Madison has a higher population than any city in Arkansas. It was a bit of regional culture shock that I didn't expect.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vIdkm3Dgl3E/W1ywjvUKL-I/AAAAAAAAEeg/vl907EDBIMQvYF2JXI_qH4slC78oLCrPwCLcBGAs/s1600/20180618_173716_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1226" data-original-width="781" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vIdkm3Dgl3E/W1ywjvUKL-I/AAAAAAAAEeg/vl907EDBIMQvYF2JXI_qH4slC78oLCrPwCLcBGAs/s400/20180618_173716_c.jpg" width="253" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kicking in the How To Learn Any Kick event.</td></tr>
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Their main program is faith-based, which had me curious. I wondered what a faith-based program would be like. The first thing I thought was that so many of my martial arts friends and students were not Christian, and how I would never have met them at a specifically Christian school. The idea of religion in martial arts is as weird to me as doing martial arts during a church service. But here is a whole school of people who specifically signed up for religion in their training. And the whole point of this project is to see and experience other ways of doing things, and Sensei Kyle Bennett offered me a great opportunity to do exactly that.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h2CcsWLXfjs/W1yqowhWCrI/AAAAAAAAEeU/XHVcidwtI14dpLnz-R0GeBGWBDYSfrRkwCLcBGAs/s1600/River%2BValley%2BMartial%2BArts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1121" data-original-width="1600" height="280" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h2CcsWLXfjs/W1yqowhWCrI/AAAAAAAAEeU/XHVcidwtI14dpLnz-R0GeBGWBDYSfrRkwCLcBGAs/s400/River%2BValley%2BMartial%2BArts.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sensei Kyle Bennett (right) and some weird blogger (left).</td></tr>
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In a striking coincidence, Sifu TW Smith released a <a href="http://kungfupodcasts.com/2018/05/19/christianity-meets-asian-martial-arts/" target="_blank">KungFu Podcast episode</a> about Christianity and Asian martial arts only a few weeks before my visit. I was eager to listen, but I waited until the return trip because I didn't want his perspective to color my experience at River Valley Martial Arts. Now that I've listened, I don't think it would have influenced my visit. He gives a really thoughtful and well-researched account as always, which I can strongly recommend to anyone interested in exploring the idea of Christianity in martial arts more deeply than I will cover here. Also, it was cool to hear him reference my <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2018/04/training-is-engineering-problem.html" target="_blank">Training is an Engineering Problem</a> blog post.<br />
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I drove into Russellville after a day of <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2018/07/back-to-martial-arts-road-trip-arkansas.html" target="_blank">sightseeing</a> and arrived at the dojo just as the youngest students' class was starting. The center of the training floor was set up with a huge pile of training equipment arranged into the shape of a life size car, complete with seats, seat belts, and swinging doors. After a warm up, the meat of the lesson was about how to get out of an abductor's car. The religious element was not pervasive--it was obvious in the beginning of the class and later during the occasional bible-referencing joke--they weren't praying in between sets or anything like that. At least in that class, I think a non-Christian could have participated with a minimum of discomfort.<br />
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After that class ended, I was up. Sensei Bennett introduced me to the students and handed the class over to me. It was a wide range of skill levels and ages, which makes the class a little more challenging to teach, but not insurmountably so. The topic was How To Learn Any Kick, and I went over kicking theory, balance drills, and conditioning exercises that can help people kick better regardless of their age or experience level. My goal was to make sure everyone got something useful, to make sure everyone felt like they got their money's worth, even though that money wasn't going to me. It was going to <a href="https://www.stjude.org/" target="_blank">St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VtoPcjaGwDg/W1yw9iRJfAI/AAAAAAAAEeo/sPGG3YOpwDUBXA6xY-4w4YM-nFOBcBfjwCLcBGAs/s1600/20180618_171312_a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1600" height="257" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VtoPcjaGwDg/W1yw9iRJfAI/AAAAAAAAEeo/sPGG3YOpwDUBXA6xY-4w4YM-nFOBcBfjwCLcBGAs/s400/20180618_171312_a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karate and Krav Maga students learning the nuances of pivoting.</td></tr>
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There are <a href="https://www.stjude.org/about-st-jude/why-support-st-jude.html?sc_icid=home-spot-teaser-why-support" target="_blank">lots of good reasons</a> to support St. Jude's, but the main reason is because they <a href="https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12847" target="_blank">efficiently</a> turn money into kids not dying of cancer. We asked attendees to make a donation instead of paying for the class. The very kind representative at St. Jude's set up a <a href="http://fundraising.stjude.org/rivervalleymartialarts" target="_blank">website for us to take donations</a>, but most of the donations ended up being made in cash, which River Valley Martial Arts sent in by check.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YMBmGtchUg0/W1yj_YO6WcI/AAAAAAAAEeI/oPahRvG8ww4X_6dmLaH0V_UlM-KVKoW8QCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSC02423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YMBmGtchUg0/W1yj_YO6WcI/AAAAAAAAEeI/oPahRvG8ww4X_6dmLaH0V_UlM-KVKoW8QCEwYBhgL/s400/DSC02423.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hundreds of dollars worth of cancer treatment and research.</td></tr>
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With only $20 being donated digitally, and $437 being donated via check, we ended $43 short of our goal. Maybe a few generous readers would like to chip in a few bucks and get us up to that $500 mark? You can still donate on behalf of the 50 States Challenge <a href="http://fundraising.stjude.org/rivervalleymartialarts" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Either way, it's easy to feel good about raising $457. That money goes directly toward treating young cancer patients, but the research is freely shared throughout the world so that other families can benefit from new treatments as well. Each donation to St. Jude's is effectively helping twice.<br />
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After that it was time to train. The school's main program is karate, but they also have a <a href="http://www.rivervalleymartialarts.com/krav_maga.html" target="_blank">thriving Krav Maga class</a>, which is the one I took. This was my first Krav Maga class, though I've had some exposure just by casual training sessions with martial arts friends who cross train. I was looking forward to trying something new.<br />
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The first part of the class was an intense workout of exercises that could be found in general fitness classes. This was very welcome because I had basically been sitting in a car for a week leading up to that class. My workouts on the trip had been limited because I had to train outside, and there was only so hard I was comfortable pushing myself in the oppressive heat. It was good to finally do a real workout in real air conditioning. I suspect that was one of the main draws for most of the people there.<br />
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After we were all reduced to quivering puddles of sweat, we were paired off to work on knife defense drills. All of the specific techniques were new to me, but they all made sense from a general martial arts perspective. Basically I relied on my understanding of the underlying principles of movement, timing, balance, etc., to keep up with the people who actually knew the techniques.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VbWpwWc_-Ok/W1y1I4gHWOI/AAAAAAAAEe0/YDi1I3XN3qMCxwJv_2NRcYX8RXRFhtx1wCLcBGAs/s1600/Training%2BKnife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VbWpwWc_-Ok/W1y1I4gHWOI/AAAAAAAAEe0/YDi1I3XN3qMCxwJv_2NRcYX8RXRFhtx1wCLcBGAs/s400/Training%2BKnife.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You're not going to get hurt, but it's still uncomfortable to get poked, so don't mess up!</td></tr>
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My absolute favorite part, though, was when we were paired off to wrestle over training knives. One of my partners (primarily a BJJ student, I think) specifically sought me out. I instantly felt like I understood him, because that's the kind of thing I would do. Visitors, if they've trained before, always behave unpredictably. Visitors present new challenges, even if they're not very good, because they'll spar/roll/drill differently than anyone else you've trained with before. That day I held my own against some partners, but not him. He soundly bested me every time. But I did surprise him a couple times, like it seemed he was hoping I would. One of those surprises was when I used my foot on his wrist to push his hand off the training knife. Then he turned around and did the same thing to me, only better. And I thought, <i>this is how training is supposed to be</i>.<br />
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I really enjoyed my visit, and I left feeling a little sad that I was so unlikely to see any of these people again. But I still have the <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-statebook.html" target="_blank">Statebook</a>, at least.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1MZM_9ldH1U/W1y6cuz1rHI/AAAAAAAAEfA/Olzo1VkUND4SU1q5hMr3339oX4eQKE-JACLcBGAs/s1600/Arkansas%2BStatebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1MZM_9ldH1U/W1y6cuz1rHI/AAAAAAAAEfA/Olzo1VkUND4SU1q5hMr3339oX4eQKE-JACLcBGAs/s400/Arkansas%2BStatebook.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks for signing my book, guys!</td></tr>
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Conspicuously absent from this post is my <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/search/label/Takeaway%20Technique" target="_blank">Takeaway Technique</a> that I learned in <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/search/label/Washington">Washington</a> and taught in Arkansas. That's because I'm saving it for the next post.<br />
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<br />gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-19259886198292604322018-07-01T05:03:00.000-05:002018-07-01T21:39:22.764-05:00Back to the Martial Arts Road Trip: ArkansasI've been posting <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2018/04/training-is-engineering-problem.html">rants</a>, <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2018/06/how-to-make-and-train-with-jegi.html">training articles</a>, and <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2017/07/11-ways-drumming-can-help-your-training.html">general weirdness</a> for so long, I figure some (most?) of you forgot that this is actually a martial arts travel blog.<br />
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To recap, I <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/06/50-states-challenge.html">had this idea</a> for a martial arts travel project, and <a href="https://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/">Iain Abernethy</a> was kind enough to <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/07/">help me get it started</a>. I visited <a href="http://westseattlekarate.com/">Sensei Kris Wilder</a> in Seattle, <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/search/label/Washington">Washington</a>. Then after visiting only one state, the project <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2016/03/where-have-you-been.html">had to be put on hold</a> while I <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2016/04/happy-times-with-grandmaster-park-chull.html">visited my ailing instructor</a> <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/11/in-forbidden-garden.html">in Korea</a> and <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2016/12/one-year-of-running-martial-arts-school.html">opened my school</a>. Being busy with owning a <a href="http://www.martialjourneysofmadison.com/">school</a> and starting a <a href="http://www.martialjourneysofmadison.com/category/podcast/">podcast</a>, the 50 States Challenge fell on the back burner.<br />
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What's the 50 States Challenge? Since most people probably forgot...<br />
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The 50 States Challenge boils down to three main pieces.<br />
1. I travel to all 50 states and find a martial arts school in each state to host me.<br />
2. At each host school, I teach something and I learn something to pass on to the next school.<br />
3. We support a charity chosen by the host school.<br />
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And then I blog about the experience here, illustrating how much the different styles and philosophies of martial arts have to learn from each other.<br />
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So after a long hiatus, I'm traveling again. This time I went to Arkansas because one of my students was competing at <a href="http://www.nasta.us/">NASTA Nationals</a> there. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I also visited <a href="http://rivervalleymartialarts.com/">River Valley Martial Arts</a>, supporting <a href="https://www.stjude.org/">St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital</a>.<br />
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If you've been reading my blog for more than a few seconds, you will not be surprised that it was not all seriousness. I wanted to get the full Arkansas experience.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4Nqlfd8MI1s/WzauEJUMvFI/AAAAAAAAD9I/BCa0VoBUIAoQToMuqqSSd9ljNtYjnwmOACLcBGAs/s1600/Yelling%2Bat%2BYellville.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="612" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4Nqlfd8MI1s/WzauEJUMvFI/AAAAAAAAD9I/BCa0VoBUIAoQToMuqqSSd9ljNtYjnwmOACLcBGAs/s400/Yelling%2Bat%2BYellville.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yelling at Yellville!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-745iT38Gztw/WzauMRtkcvI/AAAAAAAAD9M/jJgBHJ5yH0YYUq9p2hEctaF_0Laqal7MACLcBGAs/s1600/Rocking%2Ba%2BLittle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="612" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-745iT38Gztw/WzauMRtkcvI/AAAAAAAAD9M/jJgBHJ5yH0YYUq9p2hEctaF_0Laqal7MACLcBGAs/s400/Rocking%2Ba%2BLittle.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rocking a little at Little Rock!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2RK0GmNl1oE/WzauUZe_lhI/AAAAAAAAD9U/5VLXbGI0coonMQyFw_dJlKSPqOmJeW1-QCLcBGAs/s1600/Toad%2BSuck%2BArkansas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1040" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2RK0GmNl1oE/WzauUZe_lhI/AAAAAAAAD9U/5VLXbGI0coonMQyFw_dJlKSPqOmJeW1-QCLcBGAs/s400/Toad%2BSuck%2BArkansas.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wait, what?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This little resident of Toad Suck was still learning how to fly. He (she?) let me get pretty close before squawking a protest and hopping away.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xfje3hFhUaQ/WzayhP50C3I/AAAAAAAAD90/OiaDOWMc6_0yBhhy_hY-G7AkHTe11Jq8gCLcBGAs/s1600/Baby%2BBird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xfje3hFhUaQ/WzayhP50C3I/AAAAAAAAD90/OiaDOWMc6_0yBhhy_hY-G7AkHTe11Jq8gCLcBGAs/s400/Baby%2BBird.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's okay, little guy. I can't fly either, and I've been training FOREVER in bird years.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
One of my first stops was Beaverfork Lake, where I snapped this picture of an old bridge. It was built almost 150 years ago to cross Cadron Creek, where it stood until only a few years ago when it was restored and brought to this park.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H2WfgneIHg0/Wzax9iY5lHI/AAAAAAAAD9s/Bd6ikHP12UAuNK_IC0ud1n6i2ROFsD5nQCLcBGAs/s1600/Springfield-Des%2BArc%2BBridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H2WfgneIHg0/Wzax9iY5lHI/AAAAAAAAD9s/Bd6ikHP12UAuNK_IC0ud1n6i2ROFsD5nQCLcBGAs/s400/Springfield-Des%2BArc%2BBridge.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><insert tortured analogy about building bridges to the past and future here></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
That park was one of many picturesque places where I could have stopped. Arkansas has a lot to offer if you're into the outdoors. In June, it helps if you are not a wimp about the sun trying to kill you. I'm pretty sure at one point I was more sunscreen than person.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EQutB13Xp04/Wzazy3w7xyI/AAAAAAAAD-A/A_Svzltw0r0Eb1lO6Rgq9pPD71Qc52y1ACLcBGAs/s1600/Buffalo%2BRiver%2BNational%2BPark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1040" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EQutB13Xp04/Wzazy3w7xyI/AAAAAAAAD-A/A_Svzltw0r0Eb1lO6Rgq9pPD71Qc52y1ACLcBGAs/s400/Buffalo%2BRiver%2BNational%2BPark.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It looks like Buffalo River, but it's actually a pool of my sweat after training in the heat.</td></tr>
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<br />
Buffalo River National Park is especially interesting in that within its boundaries is the Rush ghost town. It was once a thriving city because of its zinc mines, but as the value of zinc waned, so did Rush. There are still some buildings standing, though. Unlike most ghost towns, these buildings are protected by the National Park Service, so they are preserved better than most.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pe2evkO5CsA/Wza1h9FLmJI/AAAAAAAAD-Q/cp99vbKB8CQgjtLrpIFg1LJ4qDBuNsIbwCLcBGAs/s1600/Rush%2BGhost%2BTown%2BHouses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1040" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pe2evkO5CsA/Wza1h9FLmJI/AAAAAAAAD-Q/cp99vbKB8CQgjtLrpIFg1LJ4qDBuNsIbwCLcBGAs/s400/Rush%2BGhost%2BTown%2BHouses.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4S7HDrtaFk0/Wza1h2SzVoI/AAAAAAAAD-M/pl6N9uJjBoMFI3h1RU-RJ81owfccCqPsgCLcBGAs/s1600/Rush%2BGhost%2BTown%2BHouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1040" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4S7HDrtaFk0/Wza1h2SzVoI/AAAAAAAAD-M/pl6N9uJjBoMFI3h1RU-RJ81owfccCqPsgCLcBGAs/s400/Rush%2BGhost%2BTown%2BHouse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The houses were fenced off with signs everywhere forbidding entry. I'm sure it wouldn't be safe, and certainly the buildings couldn't withstand much foot traffic, but that didn't stop me from wanting to explore. I would really have liked to peek inside.<br />
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Then there's <a href="http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/eureka7.html">Pivot Rock</a>. If you brave enough hairpin turns, you can walk a wooded trail to see these weird rock formations that have been a roadside attraction for over a hundred years.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a1QARWFygZM/Wza3TmmtPqI/AAAAAAAAD-g/NtMgz2oZnWkaq4kHY713v7-AF8MynUICQCLcBGAs/s1600/Pivot%2BRock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a1QARWFygZM/Wza3TmmtPqI/AAAAAAAAD-g/NtMgz2oZnWkaq4kHY713v7-AF8MynUICQCLcBGAs/s400/Pivot%2BRock.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the upside down pyramid formations at Pivot Rock.</td></tr>
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In North Little Rock, there is a place called <a href="http://friendsoftheoldmill.org/">The Old Mill</a>, which is neither old nor a mill. It's a replica built in the 1930's in the style of mills of the 1830's. It has a little fame by being featured in the opening credits of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind_(film)">Gone With The Wind</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TKefnZWxlCM/Wza5kzMltjI/AAAAAAAAD-0/TiTvCKZn4zUQtU1R1hyhbZNwcZ0RGT5lACEwYBhgL/s1600/Old%2BMill%2BHouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1364" data-original-width="908" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TKefnZWxlCM/Wza5kzMltjI/AAAAAAAAD-0/TiTvCKZn4zUQtU1R1hyhbZNwcZ0RGT5lACEwYBhgL/s400/Old%2BMill%2BHouse.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It might not be real, but it's pretty!</td></tr>
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<br />
The park around it was picturesque as well, not to mention teeming with wildlife. There were ducks, geese, turtles, birds and fish everywhere.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FqNmPRQEn1c/Wza5kksymjI/AAAAAAAAD-0/i8JOnvv4Fe8EpyzI-dpFF19k_XbNPdK-QCEwYBhgL/s1600/Old%2BMill%2BGrounds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1040" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FqNmPRQEn1c/Wza5kksymjI/AAAAAAAAD-0/i8JOnvv4Fe8EpyzI-dpFF19k_XbNPdK-QCEwYBhgL/s400/Old%2BMill%2BGrounds.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Also not real: all the wood in this picture. They're sculptures.</td></tr>
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Next up in my whirlwind tour of Arkansas parks was the one I was most looking forward to--America's only Taekwondo park.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nwp8P2VOlo4/Wza-EDBBTLI/AAAAAAAAD-8/Ze4ROdBV0RcLKc9eUwLlrCG5mH_1Y6_eQCLcBGAs/s1600/Taekwondo%2BPark%2BGate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nwp8P2VOlo4/Wza-EDBBTLI/AAAAAAAAD-8/Ze4ROdBV0RcLKc9eUwLlrCG5mH_1Y6_eQCLcBGAs/s400/Taekwondo%2BPark%2BGate.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This looks exactly like every picture I ever took in Korea.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://www.grandmasterhulee.com/gate-and-garden/">The H.U. Lee International Gate and Garden</a> is in downtown Little Rock, which by no coincidence is also the headquarters of the <a href="http://www.ataonline.com/">ATA</a>, which practices Songahm Taekwondo. It is so much like parks in Seoul, that I felt like I was back in Korea, once again running around in oppressively hot weather with a camera, loudly announcing "I AM A TOURIST" in signs that everyone can read.<br />
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The park even had haetae sculptures on either side. These mystical dogs are creatures of justice trusted to protect the people from fire and natural disasters. They're also the <a href="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/05/117_24099.html">symbol of Seoul</a>, and you can see statues of them in places of importance throughout Korea.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BoWW53531zM/WzbASPVOn-I/AAAAAAAAD_I/l_m6yd4T-sAz0L5EVw4lopsHp9Sadnr1wCLcBGAs/s1600/Haechi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BoWW53531zM/WzbASPVOn-I/AAAAAAAAD_I/l_m6yd4T-sAz0L5EVw4lopsHp9Sadnr1wCLcBGAs/s400/Haechi.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Haetae! Who's a good boy?</td></tr>
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Immediately past the gate, there are statues of taekwondo students bowing to greet visitors. </div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_jv7ELs5zxE/WzbC0B9eDvI/AAAAAAAAD_U/DBS5R0g-qTwYOYU0GO2YgxSCm8-9QeVLgCLcBGAs/s1600/Student%2BStatues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_jv7ELs5zxE/WzbC0B9eDvI/AAAAAAAAD_U/DBS5R0g-qTwYOYU0GO2YgxSCm8-9QeVLgCLcBGAs/s400/Student%2BStatues.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Students greet visitors to the garden.</td></tr>
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I had a lot of busy feelings at this park, when I probably should have been feeling more tranquil. The feelings intensified as I came to the main display in the garden, a bronze bust of Eternal Grand Master Haeng Ung Lee and a giant lineage chart behind him listing the most prominent figures of Songahm Taekwondo.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>I'm visiting a park honoring a style of taekwondo that I don't train in. My kwan doesn't have a park, and probably can't afford the $1.4 million dollars that these guys paid to get one. But if we did have a park, I would totally rather go there than here, so I guess I don't belong here. Except that THE WHOLE POINT of me being in Arkansas right now is a project about tearing down the walls between different styles and letting us all help each other. Focus, Carlson! Get some good pictures now, and mull over it later.</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Having mulled it over later, it was the laser focus on one style of taekwondo, centering on one particular lineage, excluding figures of other branches whose achievements and contributions were equal to or greater than some of the names that did get listed, that made me feel weirdly unwelcome. By excluding other styles, I felt excluded, too, like this place is only for Songahm people. The cynic in me wonders if that exclusion could have been the intent, to improve the influence of their style by essentially creating a giant ad for it in the form of a downtown park. But I tried to enjoy the place in the spirit that it was probably intended--to honor something they care about and the instructor who made it possible, and welcoming visitors to share in something they love.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SUuzuOUHiBM/WzbKbI9KpwI/AAAAAAAAD_g/Ik5uiW_OD0ks_Nm-I3bTwmIJ6gAIJT6EgCLcBGAs/s1600/Haeng%2BUng%2BLee%2BStatue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1364" data-original-width="908" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SUuzuOUHiBM/WzbKbI9KpwI/AAAAAAAAD_g/Ik5uiW_OD0ks_Nm-I3bTwmIJ6gAIJT6EgCLcBGAs/s400/Haeng%2BUng%2BLee%2BStatue.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The centerpiece of the garden.</td></tr>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Despite my roller coaster of conflicting thoughts, I do recommend this place to any other wandering martial artists who find themselves in Little Rock, especially if the weather is nice and the sun isn't trying to melt you into a quivering puddle of sweat and sunscreen.</div>
<div>
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<div>
Very near the taekwondo park was a restaurant called <a href="http://www.flyingfishinthe.net/">The Flying Fish</a>. Not to imply that I didn't enjoy my meal there, but the most notable thing was the Billy Bass Adoption Center. Remember <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mouth_Billy_Bass">those singing fish</a> that were all the rage in the early aughts? Well, I found them. Like, all of them.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C49ozkD7X-M/WzbM5sUVkTI/AAAAAAAAD_s/FinYHQSn6aI3AGWcrP62lLMd-Wx7zXbRACLcBGAs/s1600/Billy%2BBass%2BAdoption%2BCenter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C49ozkD7X-M/WzbM5sUVkTI/AAAAAAAAD_s/FinYHQSn6aI3AGWcrP62lLMd-Wx7zXbRACLcBGAs/s400/Billy%2BBass%2BAdoption%2BCenter.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walls and walls of retired singing fish. With no batteries, thankfully.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I left for home early on a Tuesday morning, when there wasn't much traffic on the rural highways, and it wasn't too hot yet.</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CAkDFu9LfT4/WzbQ_7bUHRI/AAAAAAAAD_4/JEj3PM4gSNo9VomHsDLfIIV0f_S9kgK1QCLcBGAs/s1600/Deserted%2BRoad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CAkDFu9LfT4/WzbQ_7bUHRI/AAAAAAAAD_4/JEj3PM4gSNo9VomHsDLfIIV0f_S9kgK1QCLcBGAs/s400/Deserted%2BRoad.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From a scenic overlook on a deserted road.</td></tr>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Usually when I'm travelling for Martial Journeys, I am busy. I have more things to do than time to do them. I frantically rush from one spot to the next, trying to get the right picture to make a good blog post. But when I got here, I was done and headed home. I took a minute to just enjoy the view. It felt so weird to be on a highway alone, seemingly the only person for miles in any direction. I supposed that people didn't have much reason to be there at that hour. Except for me, and I was there enjoying that view because I do martial arts. It's been a weird journey.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S7IapOWbmsk/Wzau6_0SVCI/AAAAAAAAD9g/jWrePV1kB-MpkvxCV4NHLwt_ES1oK7HgQCLcBGAs/s1600/Blank_US_Map.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="1600" height="247" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S7IapOWbmsk/Wzau6_0SVCI/AAAAAAAAD9g/jWrePV1kB-MpkvxCV4NHLwt_ES1oK7HgQCLcBGAs/s400/Blank_US_Map.svg.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two down, 48 to go!</td></tr>
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<br />
Of course sightseeing was not the main purpose of the trip. I'll get to the martial arts in the next post, but if you just can't wait to have more Martial Journeys in your diet, you can check out my <a href="http://www.martialjourneysofmadison.com/category/podcast/">podcast</a>. I'll have a new episode out before the next blog post goes live.<br />
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gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-92070567010087597742018-06-01T05:08:00.000-05:002018-06-01T05:08:07.055-05:00How to Make and Train With a JegiA jegi (roughly pronounced "jay" like the bird and "gi" like the karate uniform) is a traditional Korean toy, similar to a shuttlecock. It's used to play a game called jegichagi (literally, "jegi kicking"). Legend has it that the game was developed from martial arts training. No one knows if that is actually true, but there's <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/09/taekyun-inside-jegi-and-outside-jegi.html">some evidence for it</a>. Either way, there's no reason it can't be part of your training today.<br />
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Traditionally, the jegi was made with a 100 mun coin and hanji, handmade Korean paper.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jLy7CgPWBtk/WwB8kR6fDhI/AAAAAAAADdE/bpltCro3dHIFR7Fp_gIFNcFlYwxZv-QhACLcBGAs/s1600/Sangpyeongtongbo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jLy7CgPWBtk/WwB8kR6fDhI/AAAAAAAADdE/bpltCro3dHIFR7Fp_gIFNcFlYwxZv-QhACLcBGAs/s200/Sangpyeongtongbo.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">100 mun Korean coin (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sangpyeongtongbo_01.jpg">photo credit</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Even though 100 mun might sound like a lot, this coin had so little value that in order to buy anything, you needed a lot of them. People would thread them onto strings like beads and tie off the ends, then they could drape the strings over their shoulders to carry them around. So even poor people had a lot of these coins lying around.<br />
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To make a jegi, the coin would be placed in the middle of a folded sheet of hanji paper. By poking a hole though the paper to match the hole in the coin, the paper could be torn into strips and pushed through the hole in the coin, resulting in a paper-wrapped coin with feathered paper strips coming out of the hole.<br />
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<h3>
Making a Jegi</h3>
<br />
In the spirit of the people who played jegichagi so long ago, we're going to make them out of whatever materials that we have at hand. I like to use plastic bags, coins and string, but you do you. <a href="https://www.quora.com/How-do-Jedi-make-lightsabers">Like a Jedi's lightsaber</a>, you will design your jegi to be one-of-a-kind, perfectly in tune with your connection to the Force, from only the purest Kyber crystals... wait, where was I? Oh, right, making a jegi.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xu4R2azxTno/WwCxbGSYJKI/AAAAAAAADdQ/gxltody0ujQCBCiHXfIKQnaVeZPhVjNlgCLcBGAs/s1600/Jegi%2BMaterials.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xu4R2azxTno/WwCxbGSYJKI/AAAAAAAADdQ/gxltody0ujQCBCiHXfIKQnaVeZPhVjNlgCLcBGAs/s400/Jegi%2BMaterials.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you don't have a cat but want a similar challenge level, you can toss your plastic bag into the air and cut your squares with a samurai sword before it lands.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
1. Cut squares.<br />
<br />
You want two squares of plastic, each about one square foot. For those who live in parts of the world that use a reasonable system of measurement, you get to make your squares 30 cm x 30 cm. You don't have to be exact, and in fact I encourage you to experiment with bigger or smaller squares and see what you like. Bigger squares means longer strips, and more air resistance, so the jegi will move more slowly through the air.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8Zmm311gfVg/WwCxwfqyK6I/AAAAAAAADdY/Cux1el1bVm8b8nVzTqQPeHU-e2Ex_qW8wCLcBGAs/s1600/Jegi%2BSquares.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8Zmm311gfVg/WwCxwfqyK6I/AAAAAAAADdY/Cux1el1bVm8b8nVzTqQPeHU-e2Ex_qW8wCLcBGAs/s400/Jegi%2BSquares.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
2. Pick your coin(s).<br />
<br />
You can use any coin you like, or really any small object that has a little weight to it. You can also use multiple coins. The important thing is that you get the weight right. Too much weight, and your jegi will fall really fast and be difficult to use. Too little, and it won't move easily through the air and it will be difficult to kick it high. You can experiment to find your personal sweet spot.<br />
<br />
I'm using a single penny. I like the weight it gives my jegi, and also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77C47XYm_3c">we should get rid of pennies</a> whenever we can. I should mention that this makes for a very light jegi, which will be difficult for traditional play but easier for martial arts training.<br />
<br />
<br />
3. Fold everything.<br />
<br />
There are easier ways to do this, but if your art is usually practiced barefoot, it's nice to have a little extra padding. If you want even more, you can wrap your coin in a tissue before following these steps.<br />
<br />
a) Fold your squares in half and place the coin in the center.<br />
<br />
b) Fold your coin into its own little strip along the folded edge.<br />
<br />
c) Fold the strip a second time.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p_URN1RcSFM/WwCx_XVRbZI/AAAAAAAADdc/nRydrFaVAWUOFwqQQ9Z7kJ2upW2E-rPLACLcBGAs/s1600/Jegi%2BFolds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="265" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p_URN1RcSFM/WwCx_XVRbZI/AAAAAAAADdc/nRydrFaVAWUOFwqQQ9Z7kJ2upW2E-rPLACLcBGAs/s400/Jegi%2BFolds.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
d) Roll it up.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ApQvM-SEXbg/WwCybwIlWJI/AAAAAAAADds/nWXHEkDIdvctgmms1BrtYqTFcVHpWHMBgCLcBGAs/s1600/Jegi%2BWrap%2BUp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="802" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ApQvM-SEXbg/WwCybwIlWJI/AAAAAAAADds/nWXHEkDIdvctgmms1BrtYqTFcVHpWHMBgCLcBGAs/s640/Jegi%2BWrap%2BUp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
4. Tie it off.<br />
<br />
Take your string and tie the plastic down near the coin, so the coin is secure and can't slide out.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MrHFODxG4XM/WwCyoimFDnI/AAAAAAAADdw/ByI89juiH78sMHYePHTWwL1vwSrhheXXACLcBGAs/s1600/Jegi%2BTied.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MrHFODxG4XM/WwCyoimFDnI/AAAAAAAADdw/ByI89juiH78sMHYePHTWwL1vwSrhheXXACLcBGAs/s400/Jegi%2BTied.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
5. Cut the plastic into strips.<br />
<br />
If you've been careful with your folding, it should be easy and quick to cut the plastic into strips, about 1 cm (half an inch for my fellow Americans) wide. If, like myself, you have the craft skills of a drunk toddler, you'll probably have to cut each strip individually. But success is a journey not a destination (or something) and eventually you will have a jegi. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sa9uw0pk5m4/WwCy8Iz3QDI/AAAAAAAADd8/dEpfwuiwiU8edktQ7egwqqZLujsfId9kgCLcBGAs/s1600/Jegi%2BCut%2BUp.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sa9uw0pk5m4/WwCy8Iz3QDI/AAAAAAAADd8/dEpfwuiwiU8edktQ7egwqqZLujsfId9kgCLcBGAs/s400/Jegi%2BCut%2BUp.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Qapla'!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
6. Feather out the strips.<br />
<br />
You've got it! Even if you skip all this arts and crafts nonsense and just <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=jegi">buy</a> a jegi, you will have to do this step, which is to separate the strips from each other so that they can catch the air individually. Wait, you can just buy these things? And I'm here with my scissors and string like a sucker?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xdNODp5lCS8/WwCzP5WM74I/AAAAAAAADeE/AczVUMIOugAzjvyHGGNKGcKa6Y0brvgWgCLcBGAs/s1600/Jegi%2BFeathered%2BOut.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1364" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xdNODp5lCS8/WwCzP5WM74I/AAAAAAAADeE/AczVUMIOugAzjvyHGGNKGcKa6Y0brvgWgCLcBGAs/s400/Jegi%2BFeathered%2BOut.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At this point, most humans would also identify this thing as a cat toy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
Let's Play!</h3>
<br />
So you have your own jegi! Now what do you do with it? Traditionally, jegichagi was played by kicking the jegi with the instep of the foot, trying to keep it from touching the ground, with the winner being the player who kicked it the most times before it finally fell. <br />
<br />
I play it a little differently. My method is picking it up, kicking it once, chasing it to wherever it fell, and trying again while some old Korean guy starts laughing on the sidelines, proceeding to demonstrate how easy it is and offering some advice that is beyond my language skills to understand. Anyway.<br />
<br />
Certainly you can play the traditional version of the game and use it to develop your hip muscles (or you can <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/09/taekyun-inside-jegi-and-outside-jegi.html">do that without the jegi</a>). <br />
<br />
There are also variations where you have to keep the jegi in the air using only a specific kick, or where you can't put your foot down between kicks, or where the jegi is kicked between players in a group. Have fun with it!<br />
<br />
<h3>
Let's Train!</h3>
<br />
If you're training barefoot, I recommend doing a few light practice kicks so you know how your jegi feels before you go nuts (or before handing off your jegi to a young student). <br />
<br />
Pick a striking technique. Any punch or kick will work. Toss your jegi into the air and try to hit it with the technique you chose. Don't worry about where it lands, just try to make your hand or foot connect with the jegi. If this is your first time playing with a jegi, you will probably find this plenty challenging. Experiment with which techniques are easy and which are difficult.<br />
<br />
Here are a few ideas, in order of difficulty:<br />
<br />
Reverse punch<br />
Front kick<br />
Roundhouse kick<br />
Side kick<br />
Spin hook kick<br />
<br />
I've never met a student who can reliably hit a jegi with all of those techniques. Even so, it's great for developing fast and accurate strikes.<br />
<br />
Here are a couple of my younger students working their kicks on a jegi:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz9xGHBtoGek1KD1DeIEUBFoQDmImTYaZBZI44SJiop5qhzGchqYadis5Qu9nnC7bFro59YluOIJ7otuMHZ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Lets Play AND Train!</h3>
<br />
Ever played a basketball game called <a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Play-Horse-(the-Basketball-Game)">Horse</a>? You can modify the rules to play with a jegi. <br />
<br />
One player issues a challenge. It can be anything from "I am going to punch it and not miss," to "I am going to kick it with a flying spinning roundhouse kick with my eyes closed and make it land perfectly balanced on your head while reciting Funakoshi's 19th precept in Klingon." The player then attempts whatever challenge they issued.<br />
<br />
If they succeed, the jegi goes to the second player, who must attempt the same challenge.<br />
<br />
If they fail, the second player does not have to attempt the challenge and instead creates their own challenge.<br />
<br />
If you fail a challenge you didn't create, you get a letter. Your first letter is H, then O, then R, and so forth. Once you spell HORSE, you are out of the game. The last player in the game is the winner.<br />
<br />
Happy training!<br />
<br />gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-18586924348524867442018-05-10T17:15:00.000-05:002018-05-10T17:15:50.498-05:00How to Vet SomeoneWe have to trust people in our lives. There's no getting around it. You trust the other drivers to stay in their lanes. You trust your doctor to prescribe you the correct medication. You trust your spouse to behave responsibly with the kids. And the good news is, this trust is usually reasonable and soundly placed. But sometimes we can end up in bad situations because of misplaced trust.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--b6ZJ7nKqAo/Wu5G33SOjZI/AAAAAAAADQc/nirC2u8RLNoUTHkfUmIcy0hoIgM8orwywCLcBGAs/s1600/Unknown%2BPerson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--b6ZJ7nKqAo/Wu5G33SOjZI/AAAAAAAADQc/nirC2u8RLNoUTHkfUmIcy0hoIgM8orwywCLcBGAs/s400/Unknown%2BPerson.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Never trust anthropomorphized punctuation marks. <a href="https://www.maxpixel.net/Question-Mark-Attack-Internet-Mask-Hacker-2883630">photo credit</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The answer is not to be perpetually suspicious of everyone. That is no way to live. But there are some things you can do to be safer.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Trust Your Gut</h2>
<br />
Your first line of defense is your initial interaction with the person.<br />
<br />
Your brain can hold on to seven details (give or take) at once. That means at any given moment, you are ignoring the vast majority of the details around you. It's called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magical_Number_Seven,_Plus_or_Minus_Two">Miller's Law</a>, and if you'd like to read more about it as it pertains to self protection, I can highly recommend <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40102.Blink">Blink by Malcolm Gladwell</a> and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56465.The_Gift_of_Fear">The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker</a>. But for now just understand that you have a biological limitation of considering only a few details at once. In order for you to function as a person, your brain has to efficiently choose and filter those most important details quickly and accurately, discarding the rest. <br />
<br />
A side effect of this phenomenon is that you can have a visceral reaction to a person or situation and not understand why. If you feel a gut-wrenching fear when meeting a stranger in a public place, you might not know why. Some people will tell themselves that because they don't know why they feel that way, they're being foolish, that there is nothing to worry about. We all have social conditioning toward being polite, which is usually a good thing, but it can sometimes make us less safe. That fear was caused by something--maybe the person was dressed far too warmly for the weather in a way that could easily conceal a weapon, or maybe the person was standing too close, or maybe the person parked right next to you in an otherwise empty parking lot, or maybe someone is just too determined to give you help you didn't ask for. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MSm12bmMY-Y/Wu5PqPK5GFI/AAAAAAAADQs/xbb86gcy4g8ssI8T5e0hCPKslkyx62xzQCLcBGAs/s1600/Creeper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="1200" height="223" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MSm12bmMY-Y/Wu5PqPK5GFI/AAAAAAAADQs/xbb86gcy4g8ssI8T5e0hCPKslkyx62xzQCLcBGAs/s400/Creeper.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What if they just pose for creepy-looking stock photos?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Your brain won't necessarily remember those details. You probably also won't remember the air temperature, what color his shoes were, or what the floor was made of. Those details weren't important, so your brain filtered them away. The important detail was that you were facing a threat.<br />
<br />
If a coworker "creeps you out," or the guy you've hired to mow your lawn inexplicably makes you uncomfortable every time you see him, you want to take those warning signs seriously. Trusting your gut will do a lot toward making sure the people you let into your life are worthy of being there.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Look Them Up</h2>
<br />
This section will probably be less useful to those who live outside of the United States, but there may be similar resources in your country. <br />
<br />
So, they didn't creep you out or raise any red flags when you met them, and now you're considering bringing this person into your life. The idea is to do a little due diligence before giving someone access to you or your family. If you need a pet sitter, if you have a new boyfriend, if you're signing your kids up at a local martial arts school, etc., you will need to trust a person who you don't know very well. But if the person has a criminal history, you can probably find out.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LjJkj47ccuU/Wu5AWeW05EI/AAAAAAAADQM/y9lukdwELxE_ar-C2VTgRRmk0l90EzocwCLcBGAs/s1600/Abuse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="883" height="325" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LjJkj47ccuU/Wu5AWeW05EI/AAAAAAAADQM/y9lukdwELxE_ar-C2VTgRRmk0l90EzocwCLcBGAs/s400/Abuse.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A history of domestic violence is a solid predictor of future violence. <a href="https://www.maxpixel.net/Abuse-Woman-Stop-Fear-Violence-Against-Women-Beat-1131143">photo credit</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
A quick note before using any of these tools--If you are looking up this kind of information for employment purposes, the laws are different and more restrictive. Check your state laws before doing a background check for employment purposes. You can still do it, you just have to do a little extra work.<br />
<br />
<h4>
1. Federal Searches</h4>
<br />
First there are the federal tools, which you can use in any state. The first is the <a href="https://www.nsopw.gov/">National Sex Offender Registry</a>. This is a free resource that lets you type in a name. Alternatively you can search by location, which is handy if you are moving to a new neighborhood. The other federal tool is <a href="https://www.pacer.gov/">PACER</a>, which allows you to access public court records such as criminal convictions. Some of its features are not free, but you can search for names without paying a fee.<br />
<br />
<h4>
2. State and Local Searches</h4>
<br />
The next thing to do is to check their local public records. This is another one that requires some caution as the laws are different from state to state regarding which records are public. In general, you can look at your own records, or you can look at someone else's records if they consent to it. Some states make the records public regardless. My home state of Wisconsin does this, and you can type any name into <a href="https://wcca.wicourts.gov/case.html">this website</a> to look for criminal convictions. Many states have similar tools, and a quick internet search should tell you whether your state or territory is one of them. Barring that, you can visit the local police station and court house.<br />
<br />
If the person has lived in more than one state, you'll have to check multiple states to get a complete picture. There are some commercial services that will do this for you, but their accuracy varies. You are better off doing the search yourself, if you can. But if you don't know all of the states a person has lived in and you want to check the entire country, it may be worthwhile to use such a service.<br />
<h4>
<br />3. Internet Searches</h4>
<br />
The easiest but least reliable method of looking someone up is to just do an internet search. But it's dubious... if you type my name into Google, for example, you are likely to find a whole lot about the much more famous television personality of the same name. You could find me by adding "Martial Journeys" to my name, but you would only see my professional life. It would be very hard for you to use Google to find my Star Trek Dresden Files crossover fan fiction. Mostly because I never wrote any. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OHBPXOAUrWk/Wu4-VCACepI/AAAAAAAADQA/7LxjDLoqgBU1VL3I8tAJ3XmgAVfSkoYvQCLcBGAs/s1600/Fan%2BFiction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="960" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OHBPXOAUrWk/Wu4-VCACepI/AAAAAAAADQA/7LxjDLoqgBU1VL3I8tAJ3XmgAVfSkoYvQCLcBGAs/s400/Fan%2BFiction.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Or did I? I didn't. <a href="https://www.maxpixel.net/Fantasy-Alien-Artfully-Science-Fiction-Surreal-2971848">photo credit</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
But if I did, you probably wouldn't find it unless you knew to look for it. So it's hard to know whether your new babysitter runs a dog-fighting business on the side, or is prominently involved in a hate group, or whatever, unless you specifically thought to check for those things. And you can't check for everything.<br />
<br />
However, there are a few things you can do to make the process a little less useless. First, search for their name and any aliases you know of. Try a search for their name and add either their profession or the state or city they live in. See if you can find their social media accounts. Do a Google Image search and click the "visit website" option to see what the related content is. <br />
<br />
Taking a few minutes with a search engine to try to vet someone before you let them too deeply into your life can save you a lot of pain down the road.<br />
<br />
<h2>
One Last Note: Find a Balance</h2>
<br />
One thing that we as martial artists (especially instructors!) have to remember is that balance is important. Training in martial arts should make your life better. If you make yourself so nervous and so cautious of everyone around you that you are unable to relax and enjoy your life, you might live longer, but it won't be much of a life. If you are so carefree that you obliviously walk right up to a threat and end up in some trouble, that is obviously not right either. You need to find a balance. There's no need to vet every single person you encounter. But for the big, high stakes question marks in your life and your family's life, it's often worth doing.<br />
<br />gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-19149644895490500622018-04-14T20:53:00.001-05:002018-04-14T20:54:34.515-05:00Training is an Engineering ProblemOn April 13th, 1970, an oxygen tank blew up aboard the Apollo 13 spacecraft.<br />
<br />
This caused a quadruple system failure--something the astronauts hadn't been trained to handle because it was assumed that if four systems failed at once 200,000 miles from Earth, it would be impossible for them to survive. But on their doomed lunar mission, that is exactly what happened. The astronauts and ground crew had to find creative solutions to problems no one had anticipated.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--770D6jfxlU/WtJ5RK1DlcI/AAAAAAAADCI/HwAfs-x2wz4qUHa0nOReqcwWLNiGm9K6QCLcBGAs/s1600/earthrise.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--770D6jfxlU/WtJ5RK1DlcI/AAAAAAAADCI/HwAfs-x2wz4qUHa0nOReqcwWLNiGm9K6QCLcBGAs/s400/earthrise.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is not where you want to be when everything around you starts to break.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
At one particularly dramatic moment in the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112384/">Apollo 13 movie</a>, the engineers on the ground are given the instructions, "We need to make THIS fit into THIS using nothing but THIS." The actor then dramatically dumps a box of junk onto the table, and everyone gets to work. (I'm paraphrasing, the actual quote from the movie is <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112384/quotes/qt0476826?mavIsAdult=false&mavCanonicalUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt0112384%2Fquotes">here</a>.)<br />
<br />
They needed to make round lithium hydroxide canisters fit into holes designed for square canisters using only what they had with them in the spacecraft. You can read all the gritty details <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo13.html">here</a>, but for now just understand that if they could not do this, three people were going to die of carbon dioxide poisoning.<br />
<br />
This was one of several engineering problems they had to solve to get the astronauts home safely. The academic solution would have been easy. Just design and manufacture an airtight seal of the appropriate dimensions and place it over the hole. Of course, that wasn't an option for the crew of Apollo 13. <br />
<br />
That is the quintessential engineering problem--making something work despite far less than ideal conditions. But even though we usually think of engineering problems in terms of technology, it's often useful to apply the same thinking to other problems. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sBupHoYhajM/WtJ-gxmU5II/AAAAAAAADCY/_LktQ_GLh5MaggZGGnoGV-m08y_UTMq3QCLcBGAs/s1600/Apollo_13_liftoff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1279" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sBupHoYhajM/WtJ-gxmU5II/AAAAAAAADCY/_LktQ_GLh5MaggZGGnoGV-m08y_UTMq3QCLcBGAs/s400/Apollo_13_liftoff.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apollo 13 liftoff. It was a marvel of engineering to even get this far.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
My broad use of the terms "engineering problem" and "academic problem" come from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Lecture">The Last Lecture</a> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch">Randy Pausch</a>, (which is excellent <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Last-Lecture-Randy-Pausch/dp/1401323251/">reading</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo">watching</a>, by the way), where he explains raising his kids after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. His professional background was split between academics and engineering, so those were the two ways that he knew how to solve problems. He said that if he approached raising his kids as an academic problem, he would certainly fail. He would objectively be a terrible parent because he would disappear from their lives at a young age. But by approaching it like an engineering problem, knowing that he won't be there for most of their lives, how can he plan for it and give his family as much as possible for the future before he disappeared?<br />
<br />
I find this thinking to be very valuable because most problems are engineering problems, but very often people approach them like academic problems.<br />
<br />
One example that comes to mind is when a coworker complaining to me about one of our bosses. He had a laundry list of faults about how this boss was terrible at his job and bad for the company, but there was no one higher up in the company willing to take any action against him. My coworker complained to me that <i>he should not behave this way</i>. And he was right, no one in that role should behave that way. But oxygen tanks shouldn't explode, and fathers shouldn't die when their children are young. Sometimes you have to deal with things that should not be, and build a solution under less than ideal circumstances. My coworker and I had to make a round peg of a boss fit into a square hole of a company using nothing but the tools and skills at our disposal, because it was an engineering problem. Was it fair? Of course not. But neither are quadruple system failures or pancreatic cancer.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a3P5mqQUxHg/WtKunMoOLlI/AAAAAAAADDE/_i0EgTwwRvkl_NhI3dWfo1t5qUeH4GqnACLcBGAs/s1600/work%2Bstress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a3P5mqQUxHg/WtKunMoOLlI/AAAAAAAADDE/_i0EgTwwRvkl_NhI3dWfo1t5qUeH4GqnACLcBGAs/s400/work%2Bstress.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most workplace problems are engineering problems.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Once you start classifying problems as either academic or engineering, they become a lot easier to solve. In my case, I started seeing engineering problems everywhere. Difficult training partner? Engineering problem. Opening a school on a shoestring budget? Engineering problem. Siblings not getting along while I'm teaching? Engineering problem. Scheduling issues? Budget issues? Personnel issues? Engineering problems. As an added benefit, once you start looking at your engineering problem in terms of the tools you have to solve it, it becomes less of a problem and more of a puzzle.<br />
<br />
Applying this thinking to your training can help you improve more efficiently. The first time I encountered this, it was before I had ever considered academic problems or engineering problems. I was a high school student on a volleyball team. <br />
<br />
There were a couple star players on the team, but most of us were beginners and our coach had to teach us all the basic skills. At one practice she showed us how to dig for a ball that had gone flying off away from the intended target. It was difficult--dive after the ball, propel yourself along the ground with your free arm, let the ball bounce off your hand instead of the ground--for the small chance that someone else would be able to rush in and return the ball over the net before it hit the floor. Long before we felt comfortable with the skill, we stopped working on it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YpkXq5LTySI/WtKmTgNgOXI/AAAAAAAADCo/z0SYMlL7hdoNGppWBiToYVzBKSZqRuAxACLcBGAs/s1600/Volleyball%2Bdig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YpkXq5LTySI/WtKmTgNgOXI/AAAAAAAADCo/z0SYMlL7hdoNGppWBiToYVzBKSZqRuAxACLcBGAs/s400/Volleyball%2Bdig.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's really hard! <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Volleyball_dig_02.jpg">photo credit</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Our coach explained that she was only introducing us to the skill, that she didn't want us to get good at it. She said that at our level, our practice time was far better spent on core skills, learning our basics well enough to prevent the ball from flying off unpredictably in the first place.<br />
<br />
It made sense. We were (mostly) novice volleyball players with a limited amount of practice time. Approaching it as an academic problem, we would have been doomed to failure--objectively unskilled players at the end of the season. We could certainly get better as the season progressed, but it was not realistic for us to master every single skill. But our coach approached it as an engineering problem (although I doubt if she would have called it that) and looked for how to make the team as successful as possible using only the players, tools and time available to her.<br />
<br />
Martial arts training is also an engineering problem. Real life violence is infinitely more complex than a volleyball game. Even dedicated students seldom practice, say, five hours per week. But even with that much training, it is not possible to master every single skill that might be useful in a violent encounter.<br />
<br />
Here is a very incomplete list of potentially useful skills:<br />
- the punching skills of professional boxer<br />
- the kicking skills of a taekwondo Olympian<br />
- the throwing skills of a judo master<br />
- an equivalent mastery in every weapon, improvised weapon and firearm<br />
- an equivalent mastery in awareness and de-escalation skills<br />
- an equivalent mastery in active shooter and bomb threat situations<br />
- an equivalent mastery in crowd psychology<br />
<br />
That is the academic solution--to prepare for everything you might need. But it's not possible. Even if you did not sleep, there would not be enough hours in the day to attain all of those skills to that high of a level. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bbJqFqkDhNI/WtKsKAuQlKI/AAAAAAAADC4/Ff-4dWJgtz8iPPn0dM1Iprv-uf06PGIAwCLcBGAs/s1600/stock%2Bform.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="207" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bbJqFqkDhNI/WtKsKAuQlKI/AAAAAAAADC4/Ff-4dWJgtz8iPPn0dM1Iprv-uf06PGIAwCLcBGAs/s400/stock%2Bform.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Training doesn't look like an engineering problem, but it is.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
So how do we look at this like an engineering problem instead?<br />
<br />
<h4>
1. Define the goal. </h4>
<br />
If you are training to win a judo tournament, you can probably skip all that boxing stuff. If you're training purely for self defense, there's a lot of footwork and complex kicking that a high level taekwondo athlete would need but you can safely ignore. If you're trying to pass your next belt test, you can put other skills on the back burner while you focus on promotion requirements. Being clear and honest with yourself about what the goal is should help a lot.<br />
<br />
<h4>
2. Prioritize what is common.</h4>
<br />
If you've got a tournament coming up, maybe it's legal to throw a kick to the head in the middle of a double back flip, but you are far more likely to face a garden variety roundhouse kick. So practice defending and countering a roundhouse kick. Depending on the rules of the tournament, roundhouse kicks are usually more common than other types of kicks. Punches are usually more common than ridgehands. <br />
<br />
Self defense training, in my opinion, is where this goes wrong most often. It's easy for us as martial artists to fall into the trap of thinking that certain techniques are widely taught, so we stand a reasonable chance of facing them in real situations. The fact remains that no matter how widely an arm bar is taught, we are far more likely to face a push or a punch than an arm bar. <br />
<br />
<h4>
3. Prioritize based on the progression of the event.</h4>
<br />
Just like when I was playing volleyball, there are decisions to be made about how much time to train for preventing a bad situation and how much time to spend on recovering from that bad situation. <br />
<br />
This is going to make some people mad, but it's true. If your goal is self defense (again, see #1), you are better off prioritizing preventing bad things from happening. Prevent going to the ground by learning to end the fight before it goes there. Prevent getting in a physical altercation by learning to de-escalate. Prevent needing to de-escalate by avoiding a situation before it has the chance to turn tense. <br />
<br />
Not getting into a fight is a skill! It might not be as fun to work on (Is your goal to have fun? Nothing wrong with that!), but if you are training because you are truly concerned for your safety, this is where you need to spend the bulk of your time. Don't ignore your physical skills of course, but your training time is better spent learning how to not need your physical skills.<br />
<br />
<h4>
4. Work on principles.</h4>
<br />
You can train more efficiently by working on principles rather than techniques. If you understand what you can do when an arm is extended toward you, it will matter a lot less whether the person is trying to punch you, push you, grab you, and so on. If you deeply understand how a hinge joint works, you can exploit its limitations whether you are manipulating someone's arm, leg, finger, or toe. It is a more difficult way to teach and learn, but ultimately it is more efficient than trying to ingrain a myriad of specific techniques to handle different but similar situations. That's the academic solution--to know the exact answer to the exact situation. Violence is just too complex to learn that many techniques.<br />
<br />gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-6939501948325914122017-09-27T20:03:00.000-05:002017-09-29T00:30:13.135-05:00The 3 Ways to Strike EffectivelyEveryone wants their strikes to be effective, by which people usually mean "hitting hard." But it's possible to have a "hard" strike that is ineffective, because what happens when a punch or kick lands is more nuanced than just how much muscle and effort is behind it. To fully understand this, it's helpful to think about exactly what happens during an impact.<br />
<br />
When something runs into something else, one of three things will happen:<br />
1. Something is going to break.<br />
2. Something is going to bend.<br />
3. Something is going to move.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wL4wjwJfdgM/WcFzSJI-5bI/AAAAAAAACCc/tsBY2QGJTAoD0M7agcCyssG8bmOcUgEMACLcBGAs/s1600/ice-cubes-1462093181CzQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wL4wjwJfdgM/WcFzSJI-5bI/AAAAAAAACCc/tsBY2QGJTAoD0M7agcCyssG8bmOcUgEMACLcBGAs/s400/ice-cubes-1462093181CzQ.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When you strike water, will it break, bend or move? It depends.</td></tr>
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<br />
Actually you're very likely to get some combination of those things, but usually whatever happens will be primarily in only one category. Which one you get (like almost everything in the martial arts) is just a matter of physics.<br />
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To paraphrase <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Solomon">Dr. Dick Solomon</a> from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115082/">3rd Rock from the Sun</a>, "Kicks don't hurt people! Physics hurts people!"<br />
<br />
I was going to get mathy about this, and then I found <a href="http://www.wayofleastresistance.net/2008/09/hitting-harder-physics-made-easy.html">this article</a> by Dan Djurdjevic. That article is objectively better than what I was going to write in every way, except that mine would have definitely included cat pictures.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_SAxdm-htE0/WcFkeTydqPI/AAAAAAAACBI/2YvLgtQJ2EwzuHaYgt6cGVprC_qLE28_QCLcBGAs/s1600/Twins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_SAxdm-htE0/WcFkeTydqPI/AAAAAAAACBI/2YvLgtQJ2EwzuHaYgt6cGVprC_qLE28_QCLcBGAs/s400/Twins.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I pass a million physics classes to get my degree, and yet my competitive edge as a martial arts blogger is still cat pictures. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
Striking vs. Pushing</h3>
<br />
If I throw a kick (or any striking technique, for that matter), I might be striking and I might be pushing. It is impossible to tell just by looking at the technique thrown in the air. It depends not only on how the technique is thrown, but also what is being hit.<br />
<br />
Let's say you're doing a front kick to a large practice pad. If you are striking, even if your strike is excellent, it probably won't impress many onlookers. Take that same technique to a human body, and you'll break bones (Category 1: Something breaks). But against a pad, the foam inside deforms a bit, and very little comes of the impact (Category 2: Something bends). The pad is doing its job--protecting the pad holder from injury--at the expense of making the kick appear ineffective. Oh look, Dan Djurdjevic did <a href="http://www.wayofleastresistance.net/2008/06/visible-power-vs-real-power.html">an article about this</a>, too! He even used front kick as an example! I DON'T EVEN NEED TO BE HERE!<br />
<br />
Where was I? Right. It looks ineffective. It actually IS ineffective, against the pad at least. The kicker was throwing a technique intended to break something, but the pad only bends. Nobody went to the hospital, so it didn't work! That's the price of safety. Everything has to be modified so that it doesn't work. That doesn't mean it's bad training or bad technique, only that you need to be aware of how and why it didn't work. In this case, it didn't work because a pad was used for safety. The kinetic energy has to go somewhere, and somebody thought it would be better for that kinetic energy to go into bending a pad than into breaking a person. (I know, crazy, right?)<br />
<br />
Now let's say you're throwing a very similar kick against the same large practice pad. This time, you throw your kick and the pad holder staggers back several steps. This looks impressive to onlookers, and they applaud you for your excellent technique, all except for the guy who immediately calls his agent to jump-start your career as the next <a href="http://chucknorrisjokes.linkpress.info/top-100">Chuck Norris</a>. Impressive, sure, but this is not a strike. It is a push. (In fact, in our style, we call this a push kick instead of a front kick, and maybe in yours as well.) Without the pad, this same kick would deliver very little damage to the pad holder, but still move them roughly the same distance (perhaps a little farther, because none of the kinetic energy being transferred would have gone into deforming the foam in the pad). <br />
<br />
So, which is better? That depends entirely on what you are trying to do. If you are trying to do damage, you need to strike. If you're trying to create space, you need to push. It's important to train both. <br />
<br />
<h3>
Training strikes and pushes</h3>
<br />
Heavy bags and practice pads are great for training pushes, because you get a lot of feedback as to your effectiveness. If your pad holder takes two steps back instead of one from your roundhouse kick, you know you are delivering more kinetic energy into your push. <br />
<br />
Strikes can be trained on pads, but you get more performance feedback from board breaking. If you can break a one-inch pine board with your technique, great! If you can break it while it is only held securely on one side, even better! If you are pushing instead of striking, that board is just going to move (Category 3) instead of break (Category 1). Breaking a board that is completely unsecured (being dropped and punched out of the air, for example) is even more challenging. But if you can do it, you know you have a good strike that is not pushing at all. Again, though, if you take that same technique to a heavy bag, the onlookers will yawn, except for that one guy who calls his agent to say never mind, that he was wrong about you being the next Chuck Norris.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OE-SCPvdxic/WcFwZp5L4uI/AAAAAAAACCE/F9hieNM4LZ0nZcLJDjjxRPywBqgXFw0YQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170801_194643252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OE-SCPvdxic/WcFwZp5L4uI/AAAAAAAACCE/F9hieNM4LZ0nZcLJDjjxRPywBqgXFw0YQCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_20170801_194643252.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plus when you put your foot through perfectly good lumber, you tend to feel pretty good about yourself.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
Striking and Pushing vs. Deforming</h3>
<br />
So, Category 1 (breaking) and Category 3 (moving) both have their uses, but what about Category 2 (bending)? Bending is more complicated. Bending can be as simple as squishing a pad, or as nuanced as changing an enemy's structure.<br />
<br />
If my kick to the knee twists his leg such that it is no longer supporting his weight and he falls over, he has neither been pushed back (Category 3) nor taken substantial damage (Category 1). I've changed his structure (Category 2) to create an advantage for myself. The same is true if I strike the groin and he doubles over, putting his head at an ideal height for a knee. (Technically he's probably driving that motion rather than being moved into that position by my kick, if you want to split hairs, but the bending happened all the same.) If I strike to the face and he leans backwards with his groin unprotected, that is also beneficial bending.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ocuf1aUIv38/WcFvz8AYb0I/AAAAAAAACB8/RQBHIqZ1hHM4xT4on5U6OGZx5knvQIu4ACLcBGAs/s1600/DSC01236.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ocuf1aUIv38/WcFvz8AYb0I/AAAAAAAACB8/RQBHIqZ1hHM4xT4on5U6OGZx5knvQIu4ACLcBGAs/s400/DSC01236.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strikes involved in joint locks and escapes from joint locks will be mostly bending impacts.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
The other side of the coin</h3>
<br />
Having an understanding of how a strike can break, bend or move is helpful for optimizing your techniques, but it's also helpful for keeping yourself from getting injured. You can use the same idea to defend yourself. This comes in two flavors:<br />
<br />
- If someone is trying to strike you, and you know what their goal is (break, bend, or move) you can manipulate your own structure and movement to try to make their strike fall into a different category.<br />
<br />
- If you're the one initiating the strike, some of that kinetic energy can still go into you. You generally don't want to be the thing that is doing the bending, moving, or especially breaking.<br />
<br />
Here are some specific examples of how managing these three types of strikes can keep you from getting hurt.<br />
<br />
1. Protective equipment of any kind is meant to turn breaking (Category 1) into bending (Category 2). Heavy bags, handheld targets, sparring protectors, floor mats, foam padding on weapons, etc., all exist entirely for that purpose. (Well, and to appease insurance companies, but that's another topic entirely.) When the impact happens, the majority of that kinetic energy goes into deforming the pad instead of deforming the person, making everyone a lot happier at the end of training. This is also why car hoods are designed to crumple in an accident, why you would rather slip and fall on a carpeted floor than a marble one, drummers don't like to hit concrete with their sticks (crediting <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2017/07/11-ways-drumming-can-help-your-training.html">Casey Grillo</a> with this observation--never tried it myself!), why gym shoes have rubber soles, and why buildings in earthquake-prone areas are designed to sway. Bending is just plain healthier than breaking.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wqV0uUtc9nE/WcFr_JVac8I/AAAAAAAACBY/c4EBch1WSbwQ-ua9x3rsAqCXgEPnyqMDwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC01537.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wqV0uUtc9nE/WcFr_JVac8I/AAAAAAAACBY/c4EBch1WSbwQ-ua9x3rsAqCXgEPnyqMDwCLcBGAs/s400/DSC01537.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Protective gear takes your percussive kinetic energy and uses it to squish the pad instead of injure your partner or yourself.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
2. If you've been trained to exhale when holding a bag for a strong kick, that is another example of making something bend instead of break or move. In this case, the thing that's bending is your lungs and your stomach, and it hurts a whole lot less than getting the wind knocked out of you. (Actually, there's a lot more to it than just converting kinetic energy into Category 2 here, but that's definitely part of it.) Learning to time your breathing can absolutely help protect you from the bad kind of impact.<br />
<br />
3. Once when I was <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/12/how-to-train-in-korea.html">training in Korea</a>, I was sparring against a guy with the stereotypical taekwondo build--tall, skinny, long legs that can hit you from clear across the room. It was <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/12/light-contact-means-light-contact.html">full contact rules</a>, so I didn't hold back when I knew I had him lined up for my side kick. That would have been fine, but I didn't anticipate him moving forward into my kick at just that moment. For a moment I thought I was going to snap him in half like a twig. But in an impressive feat of athleticism, he completely reversed his momentum and went with my kick. He tumbled a comical distance across the mat, halfway across the fairly large training floor. But he stood up completely uninjured, having converted my striking impact (Category 1) into a displacement impact (Category 3). Being able to "go with it" can prevent a whole lot of damage to your body.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q4Sx_O80xQo/WcFt4aqFeBI/AAAAAAAACBw/tltcNSK5Bo8hCx2scI-NTEq2M9lNZ2BDQCLcBGAs/s1600/Flickr_-_The_U.S._Army_-_Taekwondo_champion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1201" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q4Sx_O80xQo/WcFt4aqFeBI/AAAAAAAACBw/tltcNSK5Bo8hCx2scI-NTEq2M9lNZ2BDQCLcBGAs/s400/Flickr_-_The_U.S._Army_-_Taekwondo_champion.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Because the other option is just trusting your pads.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
4. <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2016/04/happy-times-with-grandmaster-park-chull.html">Grandmaster Park</a> cautioned me about teaching punching too early because of how difficult it is to punch well. Ideally, when you punch, you're delivering your kinetic energy into your target. But if your technique is off by even a little bit, that kinetic energy can go into you instead. The most common examples I've seen of this are when the thumb is not positioned correctly or if the wrist is not straight. If your thumb is protruding out in front of your knuckles so that it hits first, that kinetic energy is very likely to just break your thumb instead of breaking the other guy. The same goes if you have your thumb tucked inside your hand. If your wrist isn't straight and your arm isn't aligned properly behind your fist, your Category 1 breaking impact can get turned into Category 2 bending impact, which can be really awful for the tendons in your wrist. There are <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/09/teaching-kicking-at-west-seattle-karate.html">lots of</a> <a href="http://www.martialjourneysofmadison.com/why-knees-hurt/">reasons</a> to make sure your technique is correct. Just because something seems like an inconsequential aesthetic detail doesn't mean that it actually is. <br />
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-<br />
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I hope this has been helpful for understanding the different ways that striking techniques can be effective. If you are properly categorizing your movements as breaking, bending or moving techniques, you're already a step ahead of those martial artists who see no difference.<br />
<br />gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-70008171368255046062017-08-28T19:19:00.000-05:002017-08-28T19:19:46.223-05:00Motivation, Martial Arts and Video GamesRemember in <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2017/08/drumming-inspired-martial-arts-drills.html">that last post</a> when I said I once wrote and lost an essay about what martial arts has to do with video games? Well, I found it. I wasn't even looking for it. But here it is, cleaned up a bit from its original form. Enjoy!<br />
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-<br />
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<h2>
Teaching Martial Arts and Making Video Games Aren’t All That Different (2011 Essay)</h2>
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In 2005, I signed up at a new martial arts school shortly after starting a new job as a scripter and gameplay programmer at a video game company. I spent my days crafting engaging gameplay experiences among young, eccentric and irreverent creative minds, and I spent my evenings sweating in the reserved structure of the taekwondo school. At work I went out of my way to be just as irreverent as my coworkers, making sure use some spicy language for the benefit of a few coworkers who felt it necessary to curb their language and expression in my presence. After work, I had to flip a switch and turn it all off to be respectful of the martial art and the dojang where I trained. In the mornings, everything revolved around creativity and discarding old ideas just because they had been done before, but in the evenings old ideas were revered because they were traditional. I felt like every day I was living in two separate worlds that couldn’t be more different.<br />
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Several years later, I find myself thinking the opposite.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--aDqjIUycv0/WaSq9Yac_HI/AAAAAAAAB1k/i0L4dGyaAS48JTeyiXr1jPXX4SCZx7YzACLcBGAs/s1600/Signed%2BQ4%2BBox.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--aDqjIUycv0/WaSq9Yac_HI/AAAAAAAAB1k/i0L4dGyaAS48JTeyiXr1jPXX4SCZx7YzACLcBGAs/s320/Signed%2BQ4%2BBox.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The project I was working on at the time.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Despite the many and obvious differences, teaching a martial arts class and scripting a video game level are both done with a goal of providing a fun and rewarding experience.<br />
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What most people outside of the game industry don’t realize is that like martial arts classes, video game levels are also learning environments. For each game on the shelves, the rules are slightly different. Those rules need to be taught to the player, or the player cannot enjoy the game. It must be obvious to the player that doing A will result in B. Since lengthy tutorials can be tedious and not fun, game developers find themselves in the same situation as martial arts instructors. Material needs to be taught, and it has to be rewarding or the student/player will not continue.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RvVjN5GHOKE/WaSresbdHSI/AAAAAAAAB1s/rPLxZH_ep_ocorjKIo4Y7HKpLqAwpI4bQCLcBGAs/s1600/Dont%2BPlay%2BThis.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RvVjN5GHOKE/WaSresbdHSI/AAAAAAAAB1s/rPLxZH_ep_ocorjKIo4Y7HKpLqAwpI4bQCLcBGAs/s320/Dont%2BPlay%2BThis.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first game I ever worked on. Let's just say it would be an example of <i>something</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://immersyve.com/">Immersyve</a>, a consulting company that works with game developers (among other things), explains the psychology of what makes good games so engaging. They point to three key factors: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. They argue that when players can direct themselves and make meaningful decisions (autonomy), play the game with a high degree of skill as taught by their earlier experience with the game (competence), and enjoy interaction beyond themselves either socially or within the fictional world (relatedness), the game is engaging and players will return again and again.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.danpink.com/books/drive/">Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us</a>, Daniel H. Pink argues that whether we are in the workplace, at school, or in a recreational environment, we are most motivated when we have three key components: autonomy, mastery and purpose. He explains that when people are given the freedom to pursue things the way that they see fit (autonomy), can work toward being better at doing it (mastery), and are able to work toward something larger than themselves (purpose), they are most motivated and most productive.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2yDaU2pIpVY/WaStpAVt_0I/AAAAAAAAB14/7esMp1hJpuEpMRvSuckJGl66Wi4DW_UTQCLcBGAs/s1600/motivation-721821_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="1280" height="193" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2yDaU2pIpVY/WaStpAVt_0I/AAAAAAAAB14/7esMp1hJpuEpMRvSuckJGl66Wi4DW_UTQCLcBGAs/s320/motivation-721821_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Either that, or maybe it's cheesy corporate posters that motivate us.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
While reading Drive, I couldn’t help but notice the similarity. (It was no surprise to me when later I found that the minds behind Immersyve and Daniel Pink both cite the same sources in psychological literature.) Moreover, I couldn’t help but think that it very accurately reflects my martial arts experience.<br />
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Autonomy is emphasized with every new open-world game that hits the shelves. But when we think about martial arts, we usually think about discipline and rigid compliance over autonomy. Even so, autonomy is successful in the dojang. Allowing students to choose their own goals, whether it is a rank, or a trophy, or a fitness level, or whatever else, is much more motivating than goals that are imposed by an instructor. (Or a parent! Great example of that <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/09/sophals-story-professional-achievement.html">here</a>.)<br />
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On the other hand, mastery/competence is easy to see in both venues. Doing something well, or even just getting better at doing it, is rewarding. It’s true in practically every recreational activity in the world, but in martial arts, it’s not only true, it’s also often considered a particularly noble goal to do something well purely for the sake of doing it well.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K4irPoyTIZA/WaSv3isPoFI/AAAAAAAAB2E/kdO24gafPFM1Gn6Dr0I5PYFrw2mOmo3mwCLcBGAs/s1600/Belt%2BTest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="837" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K4irPoyTIZA/WaSv3isPoFI/AAAAAAAAB2E/kdO24gafPFM1Gn6Dr0I5PYFrw2mOmo3mwCLcBGAs/s320/Belt%2BTest.jpg" width="279" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Of course, getting a new belt is usually pretty cool, too.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As for purpose/relatedness, that is equally important to game developers and martial arts instructors. Players and students want to feel like they have gained something for their efforts. They want to be part of a community. They want to believe that their time was well spent and the result has value. This is much, much easier for martial arts instructors than it is for game developers, who are confined to virtual worlds. But the idea is the same.<br />
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I find this stuff fascinating. I hope some of you do, too.<br />
<br />gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-81249206010072971562017-08-03T06:35:00.000-05:002017-08-03T06:35:46.001-05:00Drumming Inspired Martial Arts Drills: Martial arts and Drumming Part IIIThis is the third and final part in the Martial Arts and Drumming series, which began with <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2017/06/how-to-teach-or-learn-any-physical.html">How to Teach or Learn Any Physical Skill</a> and <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2017/07/11-ways-drumming-can-help-your-training.html">11 Ways Drumming Can Improve Your Training</a>.<br />
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<div>
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To wrap up the Martial Arts and Drumming series, I'd like to share some training ideas that came out of this project. Some of these have very specific uses, but mostly you'll probably find the most value in them if your regular training starts to feel like a never-ending chore and you need to shake things up. Keep the fighting spirit! No one is holding you back! Train hard and have fun!<br />
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If you don't know how to read sheet music, it may be helpful to introduce yourself to the basics before getting too far into this section. As long as you know what quarter notes and eighth notes are, you should be fine for 90% of this. If those are nonsense terms to you, you may want to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5_27Gc28ls">click here</a>.<br />
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And if you're a drummer and not a martial artist, please, for the love of <a href="http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/oceanic-mythology.php?deity=LINGADUA">Lingadua</a>, do not try any of these without an instructor who can teach you the proper technique. Injuries happen, and they are much, much more likely without the supervision of a qualified instructor. It is simply not possible for an online article to include everything you need to know to try it safely. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t-_jfhr4oAE/WX_l7ylm0PI/AAAAAAAABxg/xHVTaphsHPsQt2mGCzjHKae0LWSqCI6IQCLcBGAs/s1600/Pads%2Band%2BSticks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t-_jfhr4oAE/WX_l7ylm0PI/AAAAAAAABxg/xHVTaphsHPsQt2mGCzjHKae0LWSqCI6IQCLcBGAs/s400/Pads%2Band%2BSticks.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready? Let's hit stuff.</td></tr>
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<h2>
1. Kick to a Metronome </h2>
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<h4>
Great for: balance, speed, agility, cardio, making your hip flexors cry.</h4>
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First you will need a metronome app for your smart phone. This is my new favorite training tool. It is so much more useful than I ever would have guessed. If you want to go really old school, you could get an actual physical metronome, but with the quality free options available on any smart phone, I can't really recommend a physical one. I use <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.frozenape.tempolite&hl=en">Tempo Lite</a>, but there are other good options out there.<br />
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Once you have a metronome on your phone, you can adjust the settings however you want, but try this to start. If you picked a different app it might not let you do exactly this, but do the best you can: 4/4 time signature, quarter notes, 130 bpm, with the first and third notes accented. Start with roundhouse kicks. On the accented notes, your kicking foot should touch the bag. On the regular notes, your foot should hit the floor. Adding a little hop between kicks can help you maintain your pace, and also help you stay light on your feet. Make sure your technique is correct (especially your pivot, as I have <a href="http://www.martialjourneysofmadison.com/why-knees-hurt/">ranted about in the past</a>), and be sure to do both sides.<br />
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One student commented that the metronome helped him stay light on his feet—something he has struggled with since white belt. He also seemed to be sweating a lot more than usual, and having a lot of fun. For me, it's nice to have the metronome keep me honest when I start unconsciously slowing down, as tends to happen when fatigue sets in.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Metronome kicking drill at 130 beats per minute.</td></tr>
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<b>Variation #1:</b> Set the metronome exactly the same except slow it down to about 60. Pivot (but don't hop) in between kicks. This is great for working your balance and control because it’s uncomfortably slow. If you just let your foot drop down to the floor, your foot will hit the floor too early and you'll lose the rhythm.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx5qhr2kRGVdrlSi_nqodxkoLkfXPtjnrI-GdIot3t7BwsCF4Qyy55GLz4Gp-dQ4U_PJ9WVDX4u3dMDh3hmqw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Metronome kicking drill at 60 beats per minute.</td></tr>
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<b>Variation #2:</b> If you've got a good solid pad for this, go ahead and blast it. See if you can make the sound of your kick completely drown out the sound of the metronome.<br />
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Other variations on this drill—try different kicks, try adjusting the tempo, try going for longer or shorter amounts of time. You should be able to go faster than 130 and slower than 60 to make it more challenging. You can play with the settings on your metronome app to facilitate double kicks or kicking combinations. There are lots of possibilities here.</div>
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Technically you could instead kick to music, but the metronome is nice because you can set the tempo to be exactly what you need it to be. Then once you have it down, you can push the speed incrementally to make it more challenging. The other benefit is that with fewer sounds, there's less distraction and it's much easier to match your kick to the rhythm.<br />
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<h2>
2. Balance Work </h2>
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<h4>
Great for: balance, strengthening your hips, making yourself feel better after how badly that last drill went.</h4>
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If you're like me, the first time you tried that metronome drill at 130 bpm, you could only make it about 30 seconds before drifting off the beat. I was shocked that I was able to iron out my drumming technique and play to a metronome faster than I was able to reliably kick to a metronome. (I'm not really a drummer, I'm a martial artist who likes hitting things enough that it kind of bled over into owning a pair of drum sticks.) It came down to a balance problem. As I was kicking, when the smaller muscles that control balance became even a little bit fatigued, it took just a fraction of a second longer to push myself upright after kicking. It was subtle enough that I had never noticed it before in all my years of training, and in fact I thought my balance was pretty good. However, it wasn't good enough to do that metronome drill for very long. So I supplemented my training with these drills.<br />
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Most balance exercises involve just trying not to fall over from some unstable situation. That is certainly valuable for some things, but I needed balance while I was moving. These drills are modified from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Solo-Training-Martial-Artists-Guide/dp/1594394881/">Loren W. Christensen's excellent Solo Training book</a>, which really should already be in your library.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RSkk1dtxa7I/WX5y2crwapI/AAAAAAAABwE/nTHyqqGeP50lPDli3OCTXW1VwmYmg5lOwCLcBGAs/s1600/Balanced%2BRocks.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RSkk1dtxa7I/WX5y2crwapI/AAAAAAAABwE/nTHyqqGeP50lPDli3OCTXW1VwmYmg5lOwCLcBGAs/s320/Balanced%2BRocks.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Balance work is really just picking a fight with gravity.</td></tr>
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Start by lifting your leg into a roundhouse kick chambered position. Do it however your style suggests, but make sure your standing foot is pivoted correctly (<a href="http://www.martialjourneysofmadison.com/why-knees-hurt/">please!</a>). While in your chambered position, keep your eyes fixed on something that isn't moving. This will get your brain to help keep you steady, and you're going to need all the help you can get. With your leg off the ground chambered for roundhouse kick, shift your weight back and forth between the ball of the foot and the heel. Practice on both sides, and do each leg for 30 seconds to 1 minute at a time.<br />
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<b>Variation #1:</b> Lift your leg into a roundhouse kick chamber. Try to keep your raised leg perfectly still and move only your upper body by bending at the waist. Shift your upper body forward, then back to center, backward, then back to center, left, and back to center, right and back to center. Again, do each leg for 30 seconds to a minute at a time.<br />
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<b>Variation #2:</b> If these are too challenging, you can make it easier by putting your hand on the back of a chair or some other steady surface. Be sure not to put any weight onto it, just use it to help you keep your balance. Alternatively, you can just try to hold the position without moving your weight around. This is valuable but the goal here is to work the muscles that will pull you upright after you start to fall away from upright. Those muscles don't work as hard if you don't let your center of gravity move.<br />
<h2>
<br />3. Experiment with Combinations</h2>
<h4>
Great for... well, it depends. </h4>
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Go onto Google and search for "drum stick control combinations." You might get better mileage with an image search, but either way you'll get a dizzying number of results with various patterns of L's and R's written over and over again. Many of them are written with specific rhythms, but you can ignore that. Pick some combination of L's and R's, at random if you like. The nice thing about these combinations is they generally have a good balance of working your right and left side. (If you want to go crazy with it, much ado is made of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040">this book</a>, which consists of nothing but this.) <br />
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For this example, I'll use this combination:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>R L R R L R L L</b></div>
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I am told this is called a paradiddle, and I'm also told that there are rudiments called pataflafla and flamacue and sometimes even <a href="http://www.ninjadrummist.com/drum-rudiments/hybrid-rudiments/">stranger sounding things</a>, but I'm pretty sure this is just a joke that drummers play on the rest of us. I imagine them snickering to each other, "Heh, I got another one! She thinks a <a href="http://www.ninjadrummist.com/drum-rudiments/hybrid-rudiments/chumbly-bumkinsteen-218/">chumbly bumkinsteen</a> is a real thing, and she's even going to put it in her blog!" Nice try, guys. Not falling for it.<br />
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But for now, we can work with this paradiddle thing. If you wanted to be a technically proficient drummer, you'd try to play those as evenly as possible, and I'd also recommend using drum sticks, but we're not going to do either of those things. Instead you're going to experiment with combinations that match our pattern of L's and R's. Don't try to match the suggested rhythm. Your rhythm needs to be dictated by the flow of whatever combination you choose.<br />
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If you're a beginner, any combination will do. If you're intermediate or advanced, try to choose a combination that makes sense for whatever your training focus is. If you're interested in tournament sparring, choose something that would score in the ring. If your focus is self defense, make sure your combination does damage efficiently. If you're practicing for show, choose something that is technically challenging and looks really cool. And so forth.<br />
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<b>Variation #1:</b> Paradiddle for Light Contact Sparring<br />
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There are plenty of options here, but in this example, she uses a right punch, left punch, right kick, right kick. That fulfills the requirements of the drill, to use our R L R R stick combination. For bonus points, she's trying to craft a combination that will score in a light contact sparring match. The first punch goes to the head, hopefully drawing her opponent's hands up and leaving the body open for the second punch. The two kicks go to the body and to the head in quick succession, since that can be difficult to defend against.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Paradiddle (RLRR) for light contact sparring.</td></tr>
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<b>Variation #2:</b> Paradiddle for Self Defense<br />
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Now the goal is to do damage. The combination she opts for is a right hand palm strike to the face, maintaining contact while the left arm comes in with an elbow to the head. Still maintaining contact (this target doesn't have shoulders so you'll have to use your imagination) she drives two knees into the gut with the right leg.<br />
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<b>Variation #3:</b> Paradiddle Just For Fun<br />
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This time she built a combination with no larger training goal in mind. The names of those kicks are different depending what style of martial art you practice, but you can see that she uses the same pattern--right foot, left foot, right foot, right foot.<br />
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The goal here is to explore outside of your go-to techniques and combinations (let's be honest, we all have our favorites) and to be more creative in your movement. Have fun with it!<br />
<h2>
<br />4. Play a Song</h2>
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<h4>
Great for: balance, control, speed, accuracy and timing.</h4>
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Ready to go really nuts? Pick a song, preferably one where the drums are fairly simple. You'll probably have to slow it down a lot. I don't care who you are, your hip is not going to be as fast as your wrist. And if your hip is as fast as a professional drummer's wrist, congratulations on medalling in every single event in the 2018 Olympics, and good luck with the PED scandals. </div>
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Once you've got a song and a tempo you like, you can try to "play" it on martial arts equipment. Try to find a few things that sound different when you hit them. I despise xray paper as a training tool, but I bought some for this project after grudgingly admitting that it makes a pretty cool sound when you hit it, and it's a very different sound than that oh-so-satisfying thump that comes from hitting most training pads. If you're hitting anything that was not designed as martial arts equipment, you probably want to wear shoes. Safety first, martial silliness second.<br />
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You will probably get more mileage out of this drill if you keep your contact light, but it will depend a lot on what you are hitting. Trying to get a similar volume of sound out of your various targets is an excellent way to practice your control, to make sure you have the precision of movement to hit with the exact amount of force you intend.<br />
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<b>Variation:</b> If trying a song is too intimidating, try a few combinations based on simple rhythms. Practically any sheet music will do. Pick a measure and assign each note to a target, and strike the targets according to the measure's rhythm. (This would be one of those times where if you can't read sheet music, it might be helpful to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5_27Gc28ls">get a quick and dirty introduction</a>.) Use your metronome app to make sure you're keeping steady. My students especially enjoyed this one. Experiment with it and have fun!</div>
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<h2>
5. Your Turn</h2>
<h4>
Great for: deeply understanding your art, having fun, crossing things off your bucket list.</h4>
<br />
This project has been incredibly rewarding on many levels. I <a href="https://vimeo.com/222289039">learned to play the drums a little bit</a>, and that's cool, but it's the smallest benefit of everything that came out of this. I <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2017/07/11-ways-drumming-can-help-your-training.html">met new people</a>, challenged myself mentally in ways that helped me grow, came up with some drills that will help me be a better martial artist and a better instructor, and my understanding of rhythm as it pertains to martial arts has expanded so much that I can't believe I ever thought I knew anything about it.<br />
<br />
So now it's your turn. Go try something. It can be anything, as long as it has nothing to do with martial arts and you've never done it before. Then look for the areas of overlap. <a href="http://www.karatebyjesse.com/">Jesse Enkamp, the original Karate Nerd</a>, says, "Sometimes it's important to look outside of karate to improve your karate. I have this philosophy that karate is like a mountain. … If you want to see your own mountain better, sometimes you have to climb the mountain next to your mountain. Looking from over here gives you perspective, meaning you see karate and its relationship to other stuff more clearly. … I try to connect the dots and see how this relates to what I'm doing, to give me new ideas and try to remix them into the karate mindset."<br />
<br />
So what have you been meaning to try someday, but never did? Now you have the perfect excuse because it's part of your training. It really can be anything. I once wrote (and subsequently lost) an essay about how teaching martial arts was similar to making video games. How is martial arts like fishing? Writing a novel? Breeding cats? Juggling geese? I look forward to hearing everyone's adventures in bilingual slam poetry, geriatric skateboarding, aerial cello playing, x-treme crocheting, jetpack snorkeling, and whatever else you ever wanted to try.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xP9VW35SEhE/WX52GltSLQI/AAAAAAAABwQ/9_FzVo_ZobgaTC1XYPej_61OaREU8vVyQCLcBGAs/s1600/8597279530_a7ee2f382f_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="930" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xP9VW35SEhE/WX52GltSLQI/AAAAAAAABwQ/9_FzVo_ZobgaTC1XYPej_61OaREU8vVyQCLcBGAs/s320/8597279530_a7ee2f382f_b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How is making Internet memes like martial arts? <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dannychoo/8597279530">Photo credit</a>.</td></tr>
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Seriously, go try something and tell me about it in the comments. I'd love to hear from you.<br />
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gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5000630883536582433.post-86206281619080083882017-07-20T14:43:00.001-05:002017-07-20T14:43:05.171-05:0011 Ways Drumming Can Help Your Training: Martial Arts and Drumming Part IIThis is Part 2 of 3 in the Martial Arts and Drumming series, which began with <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2017/06/how-to-teach-or-learn-any-physical.html">How to Teach or Learn Any Physical Skill: Martial Arts and Drumming Part I</a>.<br />
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<h2>
About This Project (and introductions for some names you're going to hear a lot in this post)</h2>
Before I get into anything else, let me start with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Rich">Buddy Rich</a>. Depending who you ask, Buddy Rich was either the best drummer who ever lived, or one of the best on a very short list. What is less widely-known is that he was a black belt in Goju Ryu karate. If there was ever any authority in the world to talk about the overlap between drum set and martial arts, he would be it. He once said, "I'm the first guy in this business to take karate seriously as a way to stay in shape." And if he wasn't also the last, I have not been able to track that person down in time for this project.<br />
<br />
But I'm pretty sure Buddy Rich is not doing interviews with martial arts bloggers these days. (Although if I managed to interview Zombie Buddy Rich, that would pretty much cement me among the most interesting martial arts bloggers, 'cause you can bet Zombie Bruce Lee would be next.) Fortunately, when you can't interview Buddy Rich, you can interview a Buddy Rich look-alike. I promise this is not quite as crazy as it sounds, so bear with me.<br />
<br />
This project started one day when I was <strike>mindlessly surfing YouTube</strike> being extremely productive while just having YouTube on in the background. I saw a music video with a drummer doing cool stuff. Of course any professional musician making a music video is very likely to sound cool and even look cool, but what caught me off guard was that this guy <i>moved</i> cool. I was professionally intrigued. It was fascinating to watch the economy of movement, the fluidity and intent of his movements.<br />
<br />
I had two takeaways from this experience. First (to borrow a phrase from <a href="http://www.karatecafe.com/podcasts/karatecafeep112.mp3">Paul Wilson over at Karate Café</a>) I basically have a "karate crush" on a drummer. That will definitely get me laughed out of some circles.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Laugh all you want, but first tell me you don't wish you<br />
had <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">this guy's fluidity.</span></td></tr>
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Second, it occurred to me very abruptly that drummers and martial artists probably spend about an equal amount of time thinking about hitting things. I thought there must be quirks of biomechanics that are common between the two, and details or ideas that drummers and martial artists could learn from each other.<br />
<br />
Drumming and martial arts have been part of the human condition for pretty much as long as there have been humans. There has never been any culture on Earth without music and drumming, and martial arts have been around since the first time a caveman punched another caveman in the face. These are two disciplines that are so intimately connected to who we are as human beings, that it seemed inevitable that there would be some overlap.<br />
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Going on that idea and not much else, I signed up for drumming lessons. <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2016/12/one-year-of-running-martial-arts-school.html">Opening my school</a> has meant that my "martial journeys" are going to have to be more metaphorical than literal. The sea is calling me, but I can't travel right now. I also took to heart the advice of some martial artists who I greatly respect, especially <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/12/interview-with-master-do-kihyun-part-2.html">Master Do Ki Hyun</a> when he said that a martial artist should "read a lot of books" about anything and everything because "the more knowledge you have, the better you can understand your martial art." He even learned two styles of dance to improve his <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/10/taekyun-as-combat-sport.html">taekyun</a>. Sensei <a href="http://kriswilder.com/">Kris Wilder</a> expressed a similar sentiment when he <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/09/lessons-in-seattle.html">harped on the importance of exploring outside of your field</a>. He talked about how it can open doors for you, and how at worst it's just going to be an interesting dead end.<br />
<br />
This is how <a href="http://madisonmusicfoundry.com/education/lessons/drums-percussion">Kai Andersen</a> got a really weird student. I'm the last in the line of people who will ever be amazing drummers, but Kai has been more than patient with me. He has been teaching drum set for 15 years and playing since the 7th grade. He has been in bands since then, and <a href="http://deviltodrag.com/">still is</a>. He plays just about any style of music, but might give you a dirty look if you mention country music. He also has a degree in journalism, and works for a <a href="http://www.wjjo.com/">radio station</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t9DhUV3kpq8/WWrCmOXbqHI/AAAAAAAABlU/LPcLzaIHKjwBXXb2LCmR3ZwyjuepzvLeACLcBGAs/s1600/nye-2016-kai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t9DhUV3kpq8/WWrCmOXbqHI/AAAAAAAABlU/LPcLzaIHKjwBXXb2LCmR3ZwyjuepzvLeACLcBGAs/s400/nye-2016-kai.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is this photo in black and white, or are Kai and his drums just covered in that <br />much ice? It's winter in Wisconsin, so you can never tell. <a href="http://jpederson.com/">Photo credit</a>.</td></tr>
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So that just leaves one last introduction—the drummer from the video that inspired this whole project. That was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CaseyGrilloOfficial/">Casey Grillo</a>, who is most famous for his work with <a href="http://kamelot.com/">Kamelot</a> over the past 20 years, but he can and will play anything. He started touring at the age of 16 with <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/376772-Debra-Dejean">Debra Dejean</a>. He owns a custom <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DrumStaticcom-162932020399277/">drum head company</a> and used to teach drumming. He's also apparently willing to be interviewed for martial arts blogs. I caught up with him when he came to Madison playing for <a href="http://www.queensrycheofficial.com/">Queensrÿche</a>. Coincidentally, he also bears some physical resemblance to Buddy Rich, which will be important later.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oqs1LUsJWng/WWFN0Q5nTDI/AAAAAAAABkU/PDAFtppNAVUlHIfKQi6h6EsiEcZxtxlkwCLcBGAs/s1600/KAMELOT%2Bendorsement%2Bshoot%2B%25C2%25A9%2BTim%2BTronckoe%2B2015%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oqs1LUsJWng/WWFN0Q5nTDI/AAAAAAAABkU/PDAFtppNAVUlHIfKQi6h6EsiEcZxtxlkwCLcBGAs/s400/KAMELOT%2Bendorsement%2Bshoot%2B%25C2%25A9%2BTim%2BTronckoe%2B2015%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Casey Grillo is almost as blurry in this picture as he is in the pictures I took <br />
myself. Thanks <a href="http://www.freemanpromotions.com/">Jon Freeman</a> for rescuing my blog from my terrible<br />
photography. <a href="http://www.timtronckoe.com/">Photo credit</a>.</td></tr>
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Turning off all the snark for just a moment, let me say thanks to all the people who helped make this project possible, but especially Kai Andersen, Casey Grillo, Bekah Simmons, Ruth Hansen, Iain Abernethy, and my students.<br />
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<h2>
1. The Intangible Skills, Character Building, and the Pursuit of Excellence.</h2>
The first people I interviewed for this project were martial artists who had dabbled in drumming. When I asked them what they felt the overlap was, their answers tended to be along the lines of discipline and patience toward practice, the value of hard work and perseverance, and the like. Originally I hadn't intended to include any of these answers in this post, because to quote <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6691892-falling-hard">Mark Law's excellent judo book, Falling Hard</a>, "We can declaim that self-discipline, initiative, confidence, and courage are all fostered by judo, while we neglect to remind ourselves that these are also the very qualities required to be a successful bank robber." Intangible skills like these are valuable in practically any pursuit, and can be pursued in practically any field. For this project I was more interested in gems that might not be learned elsewhere.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0LbFfJbes4E/WUcrgVPah2I/AAAAAAAABjU/BpQoDf-jKuESKktr3KdfNjicFW0B4p1PACLcBGAs/s1600/Frankenkit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0LbFfJbes4E/WUcrgVPah2I/AAAAAAAABjU/BpQoDf-jKuESKktr3KdfNjicFW0B4p1PACLcBGAs/s640/Frankenkit.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drumming and martial arts are both harder when cats are involved.<br />
But then again, so is everything. Also, yes, that is where I practice. <br />
Who will trade his hi-hat for my boxes?</td></tr>
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<br />
I changed my mind when I saw how much the drumming community emphasizes these things. I was a little worried asking an extremely accomplished drummer like Casey Grillo about what he is still learning. That wouldn't be an insult in the martial arts world, but what about drumming? My fears were unfounded and he (like everyone else) emphatically told me that no one ever is so good that they can't get better. My favorite example of this came from something Buddy Rich said at the age of 69, shortly before he died and long after he had first been heralded as "the world's greatest drummer." He said, "This is something that you have to become dedicated to it. ... It is something that you learn constantly. I'm still learning." There are a lot of martial artists (myself included!) who hope to be saying something similar at the age of 69.<br />
<br />
In a similar vein, I listened to this <a href="http://www.drummersresource.com/10-things-learned-interviewing-250-worlds-greatest-drummers/">list of lessons learned from interviewing hundreds of great drummers</a>. It's worth your time even if you have no interest in drumming, but martial artists will find familiarity in items like "everything takes time" and "hard work and consistency are the differentiators," as will harping on ideas like the importance of being humble and having a great attitude.<br />
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<h2>
2. Broad Physical Skills and Technique Development</h2>
The physical overlap between drumming and martial arts seems to come down to who you ask--if it's a drummer who does martial arts or a martial artist who plays the drums.<br />
<br />
Buddy Rich was <a href="https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/december-1980-january-1981-buddy-rich-revisited/">dismissive of the idea that karate could influence drumming technique</a>, because the movements require different muscles. Certainly that makes sense, in the same way that you wouldn't practice punching to improve your kicking. He did say, however, that martial arts training was good for his drumming by improving his <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1974/06/02/archives/how-buddy-rich-discovered-karate-and-tamed-his-temper-music-ever.html">overall health</a>, <a href="https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/december-1980-january-1981-buddy-rich-revisited/">stamina, energy</a>, and his <a href="http://www.bgtent.com/naturalcma/CMAarticle6.htm">speed</a>. Those are curious points because each item in that list resonates with something he was known for--his back problems and multiple heart attacks, the way he would end a performance being drenched in sweat, and the kind of speed that caused problems for the video technology of the day. He had the <a href="https://www.tellyouall.com/7-facts-about-bruce-lee-that-proves-he-is-a-true-legend/">same problem as Bruce Lee</a>, where he was just too fast to be recorded well. In Bruce Lee's case, they could slow him down and get a decent result. But a lot of video of Buddy Rich looks very choppy because the frame rate was just too slow to catch what he was doing.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N0wrGN33D08/WWrJs5-vqwI/AAAAAAAABlk/plxWdHah2E8FtSCE4216VLE8-L36t-E2wCLcBGAs/s1600/Buddy_Rich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="435" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N0wrGN33D08/WWrJs5-vqwI/AAAAAAAABlk/plxWdHah2E8FtSCE4216VLE8-L36t-E2wCLcBGAs/s320/Buddy_Rich.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whoa, there are pictures of Buddy Rich in <br />the public domain? Yay! <a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/jazz-photography-of-william-p-gottlieb/about-this-collection/">Photo credit</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Casey Grillo had a similar take on physical activities and their overlap with drumming. He uses long distance running for conditioning "because for being able to play double bass fast for long periods of time, the running definitely helps." He also suggested that activities like kiteboarding can improve balance, which is also helpful to his playing.<br />
<br />
At my level, I'm not very physically active when I'm drumming, so I don't think my martial arts experience has had that kind of impact on my playing. The only physical overlap that I have noticed was a fill that was giving me particular trouble. I was getting my hands tangled up together until I associated the fill with a tai chi movement that would get my hands out of each other's way. Then the fill straightened itself out.<br />
<br />
Other martial artists who have taken up drumming mentioned similar experiences, saying that drumming was easier to learn because martial arts had already taught them coordination and some measure of limb independence. Kai said that this is consistent with what he's seen in his other students who train in martial arts.<br />
<br />
The most fascinating thing about this to me is that anyone who was a martial artist first and a drummer second felt that their martial arts background helped them with their technique and nothing else. Then Buddy Rich, who is the only person in this case study who was a drummer first and a martial artist second, seemed to strongly believe the opposite. It's natural that when people learn a new skill, they take what they already know from elsewhere to help them with it. I wonder very much what Buddy Rich was like as a martial arts student. I'd love to be like a fly on the wall during one of his lessons and try to see how much his drumming influenced his martial arts training.<br />
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<h2>
3. Martial Artists Use Rhythm. A Lot. (No, really a LOT.)</h2>
The notion of martial artists using rhythm is not a new one. We usually don't call it rhythm--we call it timing. But if it quacks like an eighth note...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pDmZ7FK5Sw0/WWFG5A9AiCI/AAAAAAAABkM/VPDpI9XNHLYh683SdZ9iwDb_yaJqLluwgCLcBGAs/s1600/quacks-like-8th-note.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pDmZ7FK5Sw0/WWFG5A9AiCI/AAAAAAAABkM/VPDpI9XNHLYh683SdZ9iwDb_yaJqLluwgCLcBGAs/s320/quacks-like-8th-note.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quacks like an 8th note! I'm HILARIOUS! Or something.</td></tr>
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<br />
In the past when I thought about rhythm in martial arts, I thought of things like <a href="http://martialjourneys.blogspot.com/2015/09/taekyun-inside-jegi-and-outside-jegi.html">taekyun's dancelike method for teaching timing</a> by using a distinctive 3-beat rhythm, or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/martialartsdrills/videos/838312673008484/">drills that use rhythm to develop coordination</a>. I've even taught rhythm, albeit in the very crude way that martial artists tend to approach rhythm. <a href="http://www.senseiando.com/">Sensei Ando</a>, who has a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/AndoMierzwa">YouTube channel</a> full of good drills and ideas, put an excellent <a href="https://youtu.be/uyo_jGr6PnU?t=5m25s">example of this</a> into video form, where he's using rhythm to teach technique and posture.<br />
<br />
After starting with drums, I've started seeing exactly how prevalent rhythm is in everything we do. It's so much more than just when a technique should land. Every single movement, even just parts of a technique, has a rhythm to it.<br />
<br />
One example that shocked me early on was while I was teaching a student who was struggling with a speed drill that every taekwondo practitioner will recognize--hopping in between roundhouse kicks.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">This is a common way to build speed for sparring,<br />
later<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> replacing the hop with more advanced footwork.</span></td></tr>
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For my struggling student, I did the normal process of breaking down the drill in different ways to try to find something that clicked for him, but nothing was getting through. The way his feet moved reminded me very much of how my sticks moved when I first tried to play a simple beat. This particular student had played the trumpet for years, so I was sure he could handle a slightly more nuanced rhythm lesson. I had him hop on one foot and count eighth notes (for those not musically inclined, this is usually done by saying "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and") and let his other foot only touch the ground on the "ands" and hit the target on the numbers. It wasn't a magic bullet, but it helped him a lot.<br />
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<h2>
4. Managing Looseness and Tension</h2>
In my (granted, limited) experience, pretty much any drummer will tell you that it's important to stay loose and relaxed. But if you press them, a lot of them (including Casey and Kai) will admit that tension has a role to play, too, but they don't put a lot of thought into that tension. That mirrors the martial arts world fairly well, in that looseness has such an important role to play in movement and power generation, but so does tension. We don't usually emphasize tension, though, because tension is easy. It's developing that looseness that's hard. <br />
<br />
Fortunately, I got some good advice on this. In drumming, getting that looseness seems to come down to four main pieces: warming up, mentality, breathing, and practice. (Sound familiar? I hope so.)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Warming Up</b> - As far as I can tell, there's no standard way of warming up in the drumming world. Some people do stretches, others work <a href="http://www.40drumrudiments.com/">rudiments</a> as quickly as they can, others play simple patterns to a metronome, and so forth. Kai emphasizes the importance of being hydrated. Basically, it's as all-over-the-place as warm ups in the martial arts world. But practically everyone agrees that warming up is essential to playing well, by having that looseness and the fluidity and speed that comes with it.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Mentality </b>- Kai especially had a lot of interesting things to say about "mentally getting into that space where you can stay relaxed." What martial artists might describe as focus or discipline, Kai described like this: "I think it's a serious conversation you have to have with yourself constantly. I always tell everybody ... you constantly have to keep yourself in check. Constantly remind yourself, because otherwise you get excited and just lose your technique. So I think a lot of that is having a real good internal dialogue with yourself pretty much constantly while you're practicing." If you're a martial artist and have never fallen into the trap of tensing up when you're nervous, concentrating, or even just losing your fluidity because you're focusing on something else, you are definitely in the minority. One common pitfall is clenching the jaw--something I've never done in martial arts, but I catch myself doing a lot as a drummer. Weird.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Breathing </b>- Casey told me that some drummers have specific breathing techniques, but the people I talked to didn't. Still, they agreed that breathing was important for staying fluid. They didn't think about their breathing. The important thing is to make sure you're not holding your breath. Unfortunately, it's pretty common to start holding your breath when you're concentrating.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Practice </b>- Of course, a lot of it comes down to repetition. When movements are familiar, they are more efficient and comfortable. When I asked Casey about his fluidity, he told me it came from playing in a Top 40 band, four hours a night, six nights a week, 50 weeks a year, for 15 years. (Casey, if you're reading this, I don't say this very often to people who aren't martial artists, but you are way better at hitting things than I am. I guess this explains why.) Maybe take that thought and throw a few extra kicks today.</li>
</ul>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">15 years x 50 week/year x 6 nights/week x 4 hours/night x 60 minutes/hour x <br />maybe averaging 300 strokes per minute = Maybe I should be getting my own<br />reps in instead of doing math. 300 kicks per minute, though? <a href="http://www.timtronckoe.com/">Photo credit</a>.</td></tr>
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<h2>
<br />
5. Being Smarter About Overuse Injuries</h2>
One thing that the average martial artist could probably learn from the average drummer is a healthier attitude toward repetitive stress injuries. I'm not talking about the injuries that come from the punch you didn't quite evade or the breakfall that went badly—I'm talking about the joint pain that comes from repeated incorrect movement. This is something I've <a href="http://www.martialjourneysofmadison.com/why-knees-hurt/">ranted about in the past</a>, and I will scream it from the rooftops until the day I can't tie my belt anymore: your art should make you stronger, not weaker. There are times to be tough, but a repetitive stress injury is not one of them. I've seen students, usually testosterone-poisoned teenagers, respond to my caution toward injuries with "I ain't scared of nothin'!" To which I reply, "Well, try to develop a mild fear of doing permanent damage to your body." More often, though, students bear it silently and an instructor has to be very attentive to realize anything is wrong. I've seen students, usually older adults who learned their stances from someone else, respond to a correction with an awed, "I don't feel any pain at all when I do it this way!" To which I reply, "You're not supposed to! Your technique shouldn't injure YOU. It should injure the OTHER GUY."<br />
<br />
Drummers don't seem to have this problem. If a drummer's back, hip, wrist, or whatever starts hurting, nobody seems to think the solution is to just toughen up and keep doing the same thing. I was told in a very early lesson that if something hurts, even if you're doing it "correctly," you need to change it. We could use more of this attitude in martial arts, where instructors sometimes rigidly adhere to stylistic details that are not healthy or safe for some body types.<br />
<br />
<h2>
6. Thinking Ahead to Optimize Solo Performance</h2>
Whenever I do an interview for Martial Journeys, there's no telling what's going to happen. I'm going to relate a somewhat personal story here. At one point Casey said that when he's playing he's thinking not about what he's doing but about what he's <i>about </i>to be doing. When he said that, I had a sudden flashback to when I was training seriously for forms (kata) competition.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yep, that was me doing my thing.</td></tr>
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<br />
I took silver at Nationals twice before I grudgingly had to accept that there was no gold at the end of this rainbow and I would never do any better. But back when I was training that seriously and at the top of my game, that's exactly how it was for me, too, all the time. Once a movement was done, it was completely inconsequential. Even when it was in progress, once I was committed to the movement, it was too late to change it, so it was a waste of mental processing power to think about it. I was always thinking at least one movement ahead of where I was.<br />
<br />
I don't train that way anymore now that I'm not competing. My limited training time has to be optimized for my current situation and new goals. But remembering it so vividly in the middle of doing an interview was a gut punch. Getting all nostalgic would have been exceedingly unprofessional, so of course I just finished the interview. But if that hasn't haunted me for <strike>days</strike> weeks… anyway, I'll round out this bullet point by saying that thinking one step ahead is a good way to train for solo performance.<br />
<br />
<h2>
7. Larger Muscles vs. Smaller Muscles</h2>
One thing that absolutely floored me over the course of this project was something Casey Grillo said in his instructional DVD. (It's out of print, but my Google-fu is strong and I was able to buy a copy. Tracking that down was no small feat, probably my greatest accomplishment in drumming. But this story ends with Casey finding out I was looking for it and even agreeing to be interviewed, so I can't complain. Anyway, I digress.)<br />
<br />
Here's the thing that shocked me in the DVD, where he's talking about playing fast double bass:<br />
<br />
"Basically, the feet are floating, and you're using your ankles instead of your legs when you play double bass. What happens with most players is they ... use their whole legs and they are pounding back and forth. ... So what's happening with the floating feet technique is we're not using our leg, the full leg, we're using our ankle, and it's just basically moving back and forth, and it's making a really fast motion. ... This, for me, is the fastest way to play, and I don't get fatigued, ... And what you should do, you should play with this ... and see what muscles it's really working. If it's working your bigger muscles, you probably don't want that."<br />
<br />
Wait what?<br />
<br />
In martial arts, if you use your smaller muscles to power your movements, you are going to at least have a bad day, and maybe even some significant injuries. My first thought was that he must be conserving energy by moving less of his body. Of course you'll be less fatigued if you move only your feet and not your whole leg. But no, his whole leg moves when he plays. I can't say I understand exactly what he's doing, and I don't have enough bass drums to even try it, let alone learn it. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">I can't show Casey's DVD because that's copyrighted<br />
material, <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">so thanks <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC39zIffRzupQfJjz0uxmv_Q">Ryan Alexander Bloom</a> for making </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">this </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">video of similar movement </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">publicly available.</span></td></tr>
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<br />
So I ended up approaching this from a very academic direction. Preferring large muscles over small muscles was something that I thought was a universal principle not just in martial arts, but in body movement in general. But here I've seen a glaring exception to that rule, and I wondered if there are any similar exceptions in martial arts that I had overlooked. Maybe there's some weird joint lock or something where you're not displacing much of your own body or the other person's, and it is better to use smaller muscles to drive the technique? For the life of me I can't think of one. Even so, I don't think it was a waste of my time to really think about and analyze the muscles I'm using for various movements. In fact I'd say it's a valuable exercise for anyone to try.<br />
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<h2>
8. Balance and the Importance of the Throne</h2>
So a drummer's seat is called a throne, like you're going to rule the world from the center of the universe or something. Martial arts instructors don't get to laugh at this, since we get paid to be called sir or ma'am and have people bow to us while we yell stuff at them.<br />
<br />
Snark aside, the way drummers talk about the throne often reminds me of tai chi. The throne is a drummer's connection to the ground, and it's the source of the drummer's balance. Drummer and biomechanics expert <a href="https://www.facebook.com/drummermechanics/">Brandon Green</a> says, "Really we should be building our drum set entirely around the drum throne." Casey Grillo hauls his throne all over the world because he won't use any throne other than his own. He also devotes an entire chapter of his DVD to the importance of the throne and how it contributes to very nuanced balance work--such that just moving one arm to a drum on the opposite side of the body can shift the drummer's weight enough to disrupt the balance and pedal work.<br />
<br />
You can only train in tai chi for so long before you hear some variation of this blurb from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%27ai_chi_classics">Tai Chi Classics</a>:<br />
<br />
"Tai chi is rooted in the feet, powered in the legs, directed in the hips and expressed in the hands."<br />
<br />
In both drumming and martial arts, the untrained eye focuses on the extremity that's doing the hitting. We see a hand doing some intricate work with a drum stick the way people see us twisting our hands around to create a joint lock. What the hands are doing is important, but that movement all starts closer to the core. It's the rest of the body being in the right position that makes that intricate hand work possible. And that body positioning comes from being properly balanced, and the balance comes from being properly rooted to the ground.<br />
<br />
<h2>
9. Using Rhythm to Manipulate an Opponent</h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some pretty standard Lesson 1 stuff for learning to play drums.</td></tr>
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<br />
Some of these are more difficult than others. With my limited musical background (a handful of instruments I played for 1-2 years each as a kid) it was very strange to me that playing the exact same beat but delaying a bass drum hit by a fraction of a second could make such a huge difference in the difficulty. Moreover I learned from Kai that this wasn't just a quirk of my experience, and in fact the ones that were hard for me are hard for most beginners.<br />
<br />
I absolutely loved what Casey had to say about this phenomenon (after a quick detour to encourage me just because I mentioned that something was difficult--class act). Basically, he explained that rhythms are more difficult when you put things in between other things. "You're filling in gaps. ... There are these subdivisions." He was pointing to some 8th notes and 16th notes in my lesson book. "And you can divide it way more than that. You can have 32nd notes, 64th notes, basically you have 64 notes in a measure, it's pretty stinking fast. And you can take some away. Like these 8th rests, you can put a little rest in between those, a little bitty gap." Essentially, the difficulty comes from the speed and/or complexity that comes from subdividing and inserting something in between those subdivisions.<br />
<br />
This reminded me greatly of something I heard from Ruth Hansen, a martial artist who has dabbled in drumming. She recalled her first tournament sparring experience like this: "She came at me throwing continuous rear leg roundhouse kicks. It was my first tournament, so in the moment I didn't know what to do. Later it was obvious; strike <i>between </i>the rhythm of her kicks. I couldn't, at the time, because I was standing wrong, my feet too far apart to change up my own rhythm."<br />
<br />
I like this example because it is simple, but advanced tournament fighters use the same principle. If you can land your scoring technique while your opponent is in the middle of a transition, they are especially vulnerable. This inevitably involves sneaking your technique in between whatever movements your opponent is doing.<br />
<br />
So, <i>the way you make a rhythm difficult for a drummer is the same way you make things difficult for your opponent--by getting in between</i>. <br />
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<h2>
10. Establishing and Breaking Rhythm</h2>
Taking this idea one step further, it's easier to score your points if you are the one who sets up your opponent's rhythm.<br />
<br />
I happened across this fascinating <a href="http://www.drummersresource.com/anatomy-drumming-john-lamb/">quote</a> by drummer and author <a href="http://johnlambdrums.com/">John Lamb</a>:<br />
<br />
"You should define rhythm according to how the brain and the body changes when you listen to rhythm. And to make a long story short it's actually pretty straightforward and really well studied in the field of music therapy. ... Basically when we listen to rhythm, when we listen to music, our brain synchronizes to the music ... [it's] a bit of a simplification, but we start to think in time with the music. And so rhythm isn't a thing that we have. There's no metronome in the brain that keeps perfect time. Instead, it's something that we're in. It is something that is by definition shared."<br />
<br />
This is extremely useful information to competition fighters. If you can synchronize your opponent's brain to your rhythm, how much easier would it be to get your points? A lot.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Wallace_(martial_artist)">Bill "Superfoot" Wallace</a> had a very effective way of doing this. It's not a terribly unique strategy, but he was uniquely good at it. (If you go to his seminar, he'll break it down in all the gritty detail, but for our purposes I'll just give you the broad strokes.) <br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>First he would skip in and throw some kick, not intending to score and intentionally coming up short. Then he'd immediately fall back to a comfortable sparring distance.</li>
<li>He would then skip in and throw the exact same kick again, but this time a little deeper so that his opponent would have to move. This is enough to establish the pattern. His opponent is now in this rhythm: watch the skip, watch the kick, evade; watch the skip, watch the kick, evade. </li>
<li>On the third time, he would spring the trap. He would skip in and kick according to the established rhythm, but it would be a different kick. If his opponent was expecting a roundhouse kick to the right side of the head, he might evade by shifting to the left with his hand up on the right side of his face. But if the attack is now a hook kick coming to the left side of his head, his evasion will do him no good and he'll eat the kick.</li>
</ul>
<br />
There are a lot of good fighters who do this, or some variation of it. As a general rule of thumb, if someone reacts the same way twice, there is a very high probability that they will do it a third time. Build your rhythm with your opponent, and once they are in your rhythm, you know what they will do and when they will do it. Hit them where and when they are vulnerable. Easier said than done, of course, but this is the principle of how it works.<br />
<br />
<h2>
11. Another Take on Forms/Patterns/Kata</h2>
People practice forms in a lot of different ways for a variety of purposes. Some take it seriously strictly as a self defense textbook, others focus on performing for competition, and some enjoy it just as a solo workout. Others use it as a connection to the great martial artists of the past, in a way that <a href="https://iainabernethy.co.uk/">Sensei Iain Abernethy</a> explains far more eloquently than I can:<br />
<br />
"When we read a good poem, or listen to a good piece of music, we can connect with the thoughts and emotions of the people who produced those works. It's more than letters on a page or vibrations through the air. Good art can profoundly connect two human beings in a shared experience. Kata is similar. When we move in the way the past masters moved, when we connect with them through their work; we gain the opportunity to feel what they felt and think what they thought. We are walking in the footsteps of the past masters when practicing and studying their kata. It's much deeper than just mimicked motion."<br />
<br />
Drummers don't do kata per se. It would be very unusual for a drummer to try to completely copy another drummer's movement, right down to their look and mannerisms. But wouldn't it be interesting if somebody tried it? If a skilled drummer tried to copy a great drummer of the past as perfectly as possible, to "move in the way the past masters moved" and connect with that past artist in a way that martial artists sometimes do but drummers usually don't? Wouldn't it be cool if I could interview someone who did that? I'm just kidding, I totally did. Here's Casey Grillo auditioning to play Buddy Rich in a movie.<br />
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<br />Casey wasn't doing this as a learning exercise, but he ended up learning nonetheless. The experience caused permanent changes to his drumming. "That was my first time ever playing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_grip">traditional grip</a>." He still mostly uses <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matched_grip">matched grip</a>, but now he has another tool in his toolbox, and it comes out sometimes. But there was a more sweeping change to his playing as well. "Also I tilted my snare like Buddy to try to make it more authentic like him, and that was the first time I ever did that. ... That's the way I do it now. I just did it for the video, but after I did it I thought, 'Wow, this kind of makes sense.' It just stayed like that. I started tilting everything else now, too. ... It's more comfortable. I can be more on top of the kit instead of leaning back."<br />
<br />
Seems like there's something to be said for "walking in the footsteps of the past masters."<br />
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-<br />
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This series will be continued with Drumming-Inspired Martial Arts Training: Martial Arts and Drumming Part III.gcmaybehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073948672772179284noreply@blogger.com2