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Tonight’s dojo training was all about the basics, and arm conditioning. That sums it up in a nutshell.

To & fro across the dojo doing punches, kicks, reverse punches / kicks, stances, and doing things in an order that’s different from “normal”. Basically doing things as they’re called out. Pretty good cardio and mental conditioning to keep us on your toes. Super basics, but also super good to do.

We topped class with forearm conditioning. Look at the first exercise in this video for an example of part of tonight’s conditioning exercise (video is not from our dojo):

We also used up block, outside block, and lower blocks doing left / right punches & blocks as part of the conditioning.

And I also assisted one of our brand new students with Kihon Kata Ichi but to be honest he’s picked it up so well that he only gave me stuff to knit pick over. He’s been here for less than a week but he’s been training at home and it definitely shows. Good for him.

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10 Japanese Words Everyone Misunderstands in Karate by Karatebyjesse.com

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To Teach the Bo, or to Not Teach the Bo

The other day, I met a black belt in Taekwondo who – when he discovered I teach Kobudo – shared with me his school’s philosophy on the purpose and practicality of training with martial arts weapons. He explained that the headmaster at his dojo teaches weapons kata (bo, nunchaku and katana) as part of brown belt training, and really only does it as a nod to tradition. He then went on to state – almost verbatim – three arguments I’ve heard many times before:

1. It’s impractical to train with traditional weapons because you’ll never get to use them in self defense

2. If you did a stick or other weapon in self-defense, you’d be far more likely to go to jail than using your hands and feet

3. Before even attempting to learn weapons, you should first master empty hand techniques

As you can imagine, I disagreed. And, not just because Kobudo is my art…

Most people in martial arts are led to believe that when they are attacked on the street, they can rely on nothing but their hands and feet. After all…nobody carries around nunchaku, or a bo, or a sai as they go about their day to day life. In response, I say weapons are literally everywhere, it’s all in how you perceive them. Get your belt off in a second or so and you suddenly have a very effective nunchaku. Quickly roll up a magazine and you have a perfectly functional tanjo. The Club can make a great sai substitute in a pinch. You get the idea…

A week or so ago I addressed the “legality” of self-defense, and here’s the deal…you are no more likely to go to jail using a weapon in self-defense than using your bare hands. The thing that will determine whether you are arrested for manslaughter or aggravated battery is the degree of force applied in a situation. Overkill is overkill – whether you use your hands, or feet, or a club, or a stick or a gun. I’ve seen empty hand techniques in Goju-ryu, Krav Maga and Systema that will cripple or kill an opponent as quickly and violently (maybe even more so) as any bo, sai or tanbo technique. In fact, an in an episode of Pen & Teller: Bullshit! that aired last year, Pen Gilette explains that in many states you are more likely to face a manslaughter charge for accidentally killing someone with your hands in self-defense than if you were to shoot your aggressor with a gun or hit them with a baton.

The argument that one should “master’ empty handed techniques before attempting to learn weapons…to me… is just silly. I often wonder if individuals that support this view would say the same thing to someone who studys Iaido or Kendo or fencing, but doesn’t study an empty handed art. Historically if we look at most martial arts, whether they are combat oriented or for personal defense, one learned the use of weapons first and empty hands were considered a last resort. This was true for the ancient Egyptians, the Greeks, the Persians, the Romans and…yes…the Samurai. Even today, soldiers are taught mastery of multiple weapons before they get taught hand-to-hand combat.

Also…and, this may make me sound like a total Kobudo snob…but I think its general tacky to teach a “oh…and you’ll need this kata just because it’s tradition” weapons kata. A school either teaches weapons or doesn’t – and students that don’t explore any of the principles and technology of using a weapon shouldn’t be given a kata that serves no real purpose but to check a box. In fact, you can usually tell by watching someone perform a weapons kata whether they have done any kind of sparring or fighting techniques with their weapon…lots of fancy handwork and “showbiz”, lack of interpretation or intensity, too much focus on what the weapon is doing…all signs of “me-too” weapons training.

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A Discussion About Chi

The other day, a friend sent me an e-mail titled “Here, have a good laugh.” In it was a link to a webpage hosted in Riverview that sells a book called “The Secret of Martial Arts & Yoga.” So, I’m expecting to see some sort of hokey self-help by DVD thing. Instead, what I found made me want to do exactly what my friend suggested.

According to the website – a “must visit for anyone thinking of signing themselves or their children up for martial arts or yoga classes” – Karate, Aikido, Judo, Kung-Fu, Tai-Chi and Yoga are all forms of “witchcraft” that teach techniques for calling upon and manipulating dark energy forces (Chi, I’m assuming). It goes on to explain how an “ignorant, unprepared soul” can become addicted to this dark energy and be completely taken over.

Hysterical, right?

This got me thinking about my approach to Chi (Ki) and how I apply it to our Kobudo classes. As a person who is essentially a science-based skeptic, there is no conclusive physiological or biological evidence supporting the existence of Chi as a measurable energy or bio-chemical response. However, as a practicing martial artist and someone that has sought-out acupuncture as a medical treatment for severe injuries, I would be lying if I said I hadn’t felt it or experienced its effects: the rolling boil of energy I get performing kata, the flowing ball of focus I move with while performing Tai-Chi, the tingle that surges through my body as acupuncture needles to their work.

So, how do I apply Chi to my classes if I paradoxically deny and subscribe to its existence? Well, first let me say that I don’t think it’s a dark and seductive force that consumes the soul. George Lucas did not author our reality, and learning to harness Chi does not make you a Sith Lord. It doesn’t make you a Jedi for that matter either. It just makes you someone that’s in touch with yourself.

To me, Chi is a psychological force – a state of mind. Frustrated, in love, angry, giddy, anxious, blue, turned-on, relaxed…these are all states of mind, all with physical feelings and effects. To me, Chi is just another of these states of mind – a state that can be entered by becoming firmly aware of yourself, while at the same time focusing on everything or anything but yourself.

Hold on…I don’t know if that was clear, but I don’t want to delete it and do a re-write. So, let me explain real quick.

Let’s say you’re doing kata…or, better yet, let’s say you’re doing freestyle kata with a bo. Your mind is empty, your body instinctively goes through the techniques in your repertoire, you’re focused on the fight, you’re living in the movement, your stances are strong, you’re an object of pure flow and focus, energy builds, rhythms intensify, you’re unstoppable…then…suddenly…a thunderous ”Hi-yah!”

Yeah, that’s Chi.

You’ll notice that in that paragraph I never once used words like “think” or “decide.” Chi may be a state of mind, but it has nothing to do with thought. Chi is a mindset based on instinct, on action and reaction, on ability and impulse, on focus without focus…on mu: mindlessness. That’s why someone that practices meditation can experience Chi with no physical activity but breathing.

Now, this is just my opinion on Chi…there are going to be those that completely disagree. You know what? I’m totally ok with that. I just thought it was a topic worth talking about, especially in light of the e-mail my friend sent me.

So, in class will I talk about Chi? Absolutely! Will I talk about it like some mystical energy that allows you to do amazing, superhuman feats? Um…no…sorry.

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Karate Girls

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Unsu (雲手), literally “cloud hands”, is the most advanced kata found in the Shotokan, Shito-Ryu and karate styles and is generally taught to karateka at the 3rd to 4th Dan.

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I mean, is it just me, or have we lost something essential to ourselves when moments of quietness are considered socially awkward, even when interacting with friends, family members and/or acquaintances?

from KarateByJesse

source:http://www.karatebyjesse.com/?p=1014

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