The mugger charges out of the alley and throws a whole, darned garbage can at you! Do you ask him to wait because you’re only on your tenth Karate lesson and haven’t reached the beating up the mugger section? Or do you ask him to hold off because, here it comes, you forgot to renew your contract after the fourth year at the local dojo?

There is a question in all this silliness, why does it take so long to learn the martial arts? You can teach a guy to fly a fighter jet, go to war and get shot down, spend time in a concentration camp, come home and run for political office, and win that office, and retire, in the time it takes to learn some systems of the martial arts. It takes seventeen years to get to Black Belt in one system that I heard of.

Some people will say what I’ve said is true, but you’re learning more than just self defense. You’re investing in your old age and solving martial mysteries and its all about the lifestyle, you know? But that trash can has just knocked you flat and the guy is still coming, and you’ve already taken ten whole lessons so what are you gonna do?

There is a saying, garbage in, garbage out. And, to draw a parallel, if something is hard to put into your head, then it is going to be hard to get out. So maybe it’s time to look for an art that is as fast to learn as boxing, or running, or some other easily understood sport.

Yes, I know Karate is not a sport, it is an art, but it can still be learned quickly and easily. It just has to be taught by concept, and not by one mystical technique after another. Techniques that are random data, to be truthful, don’t really relate to one another.

That is a problem, to be sure, even if you learn a thousand techniques, you might not have enough data to be able to make sense out of the whole thing until you reach one thousand and one. And, let’s face it, a hundred years is to long to become competent. And then go to heaven.

The solution is that the martial arts must be taught on a conceptual basis. Instead of having a fellow memorize endless strings of tricks, have him learn the rather simple principles behind those tricks. Have him learn conceptually and he’s suddenly going to be able to figure out those thousand techniques without any need for endless memorization.

That’s the key, you know, give him an acorn and water him, and watch the tree sprout. Unfortunately, most martial artists, not to be disrespectful, are lost in the branches. But that’s the real way to teach, give the guy a concept, plug him into a few situations which demand he create solutions pretty darned quick, and, zingo bingo, you’ve got yourself an instant martial artist.

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In this age where the world is not any longer as safe as it was, self-defense means safety. Self-defense is defined as being able to have the ability or skill to protect oneself and prevent others from bringing harm.

No one is too young or too old to benefit from knowing even a minimal amount of self defense. The reason for this is obvious. Being alone at times is inevitable. There are activities that require an individual to be by himself/herself alone.

To be assured of safety, an individual needs to be armed with a wide range of complete skills that will enable him to protect himself. Especially in women, there is a need to be equipped with physical techniques to escape, survive, or defy violent and unexpected harmful attacks.

The most popular of the self defense techniques has become martial arts. This could be in different sports like karate, aikido, karate do, kickboxing, and many others. These endeavors are especially designed and programmed to systematically defend ones self rather than hastily fight.

having self defense skills also helps with increased self esteem, confidence and peace of mind. If these key areas are enhanced, a person is more likely to secure himself and enrich the promptness of his response faculties.

If people will only give attention to learning self-defense, we could also contribute to the move to deter crimes in the community. It is already an established fact that crime rates tend to lower if the attackers know that people are armed with a full range of defense strategies. More often than not, they fear the possibility of being caught or knocked down. In turn, the commitment of misdemeanors becomes lesser.

When a person is trained in self defense they begin to be more aware of their surroundings and may be less likely to put themselves in dangerous situations. Persons with such sound well beings are less prone to becoming victims of crimes. Thus lessening their escalation even in the urban areas which prove to be more dangerous than when in the countryside.

The pay off for learning self defense is huge in terms of a persons well being. Don’t self defense for granted. Especially children, who always fall prey to attackers because they are small and helpless, need to get familiarized with self defense strategies even as early as their age. This would help them grow up stronger with more confidence and self esteem.

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Tomoroow I’ll head down to Ängelholm to do a one day seminar together with Joakim Bohm, RKC. Joakim has been coming up to train with me for a while now, he’s a good friend and certified as a RKC in May 09. We talked about getting a seminar going in his parts of Sweden and now we’re on.
On sunday I’ll head to Linköping to do a on day kettlebell seminar there too, its in cooperation with IF Kyokushin Center Linköping. It’s my first time teaching inLinköping and the Kyokushin people will probably be hard as nails and really great at the full body tension…
Anyway, I just got some help from George Samuelsson over Skype, with some FMS stuff for my shoulders, he also helped me with some Z-healt stuff and it helped put in minutes, awesome stuff.  George runs This Feels Good (http://www.thisfeelsgood.com/)
For more on FMS, keep posten on this [...]

Original post by Tommy Blom

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When it comes to martial arts movie stars one has to wonder who is better, Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal. They each have talents, that is obvious, and they each have areas where they don’t have talent. Let’s compare them and see who’s better.

As to who the better martial artist is, Jean Claude has muscles, can do the splits, and likes to bop heads. Steven Seagal, on the other hand, trained to 6th degree in Aikido. Though they studied different arts, judging by the technique thy display on film, I would have to give the edge to Seagal.

I think that Van Damme is better when it comes to acting. Van Damme trys to be act in his roles, and he always plays a variety of characters. Seagal just bills himself as bad, and wades in and bullies his way to victory.

When it comes to aging on the screen, I would have to say Van Damme is the winner. Seagal, I have to say it, looks out of shape. Those bad coats, for which he is famous, don’t really cover up his belly.

As to which ages better in real life, I would have to, again, say Van Damme. He looks like he works out every day, and, truth, his martial arts actually seem to get a little better. He actually looks like he is gaining in technique and trying to do more than just the splits and punch.

Now we come to the all important question of who makes the better movies. Van Damme has put out a couple of classic movies with Kick Boxer and Bloodsport, but Seagal, at least for his first few movie, really had Hollywood behind him. I think I might, in spite of his last few flicks, give the edge to Seagal, though if you threatened me with a karate chop I’d give up pretty quick.

Seagal has more wattage when it comes to screen presence. Though his last movies have rivaled garbage for their consistency, he had charisma in the beginning, and he still has a bit of screen presence. If he’d stop being the gaffer, directing, playing the music for, writing the script, producing, singing in, being the cameraman and the boom operator and everything else, and get off his opinion of himself, he might shine again.

So, hate to weasel on you, but it’s a tie game. Truth, though it seems like I am having a bit of fun with them, they both have offered cinema unique and fun perspectives on the martial arts. Forgive them their mistakes and pass the popcorn, that’s my motto.

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Something really weird actually happens when you do Pa Kua Chang. Pa Kua Chang is a martial art wherein you walk endless circles. Circles where you find circles within circles within circles.

Let me explain a couple of things first, before I explain this really weird thing that happens in Pa Kua Chang. You will find that weird is normal in this universe, and normal is weird, if you understand these things. All righty?

The circle must consist of eight steps from beginning to end. This is about one good leg sweep, or six feet in diameter. And, of course, the beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning, and so on.

Classicists claim that as you walk the circle, and put the palms in various positions that the positions stand for various phenomena. Thunder palms, lightening palms, water palms, fire palms, and so on. In this analogy they have created an entire universe. This universe can occupy a student for a lifetime, but, really, won’t explain what is really happening.

To understand what is happening, when one creates this Pa Kua universe, you must understand that the body is a machine. Power goes up the legs and down the legs, like alternating current. One must remember, at this point, that power is energy, and energy is the capacity for work, and the capacity for work is how much you can lift–and you should probably get yourself a good dictionary and start separating these terms.

Energy of the body is credited with being created by the tan tien. The tan tien is a point a couple of inches below the navel. The tan tien sends the energy down and up and the legs and back into the tan tien.

What happens is that the energy can be stored in the body, and the body becomes a storage device, a capacitor. After walking the circle enough times, holding the idea I’ve told you here, you will experience actual lightening going up and down your legs. Also, exploring the potential motions of the palms, you will experience a swirling barber pole energy swirl up and down your arms.

The point here is that Pa Kua is not mystical, but it does take a dedicated practitioner and a calm mind to experience what I have explained here. One must tell the body enough times and with enough sincerity, and this while walking the circle enough times, for the body to start acting as a capacitor. It is possible, however, and even easy as one learns to believe that this universe is not a trap, but a journey.

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