Innholdsfortegnelse for August - September 2015 i Black Belt Magazine

Bruce Lee oozes from the issue. In some instances, it’s totally intentional, and in at least one, it’s purely coincidental. Obviously, we have the “Little Dragon” on the cover. Thanks to Shannon Lee and the Bruce Lee Foundation for providing the classic image. Also in the intentional department: We have first-generation JKD student Richard Bustillo teaching the “5 Gates of Jeet Kune Do.” Four of those gates, he writes, come from the wing chun he picked up while training with Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto in the 1960s, while the remaining one is derived from his ongoing practice of jeet kune do and boxing. In the intentional-but-also-coincidental department, we have JKD and Filipino martial arts authority Paul Vunak, who’s here to conduct a short seminar on the science of destructions.…

Century Martial Arts has joined forces with famed instructor and American Top Team co-founder Ricardo Liborio. The relationship makes Century Liborio’s exclusive equipment provider and means that Liborio will assist the Century research-and-development team with the testing and marketing of new products. It also means Liborio will be a featured demonstrator at the 2015 Martial Arts SuperShow in Las Vegas. “There are so many exciting things going on at Century, and I’m happy to team up with them to help develop new products and grow the martial arts community,” Liborio said. “Century is part of my martial arts family, a group that I’ve grown with through the years. I’m looking forward to working with their great team to create innovative and functional new products.” A native of Brazil, Liborio helped…

It wasn’t that he didn’t see beauty in the art of jiu-jitsu. He merely thought it was imperative to emphasize that fighting is a serious affair with potentially dire consequences for the loser and sometimes for his or her family. Judging whether a martial art is good is very different from judging whether a dance or a painting is good. Dancing and painting possess various artistic qualities, while fighting is all about effectiveness. IN THE MARTIAL ARTS, the critic of another person’s style is seen as a negative force, and people’s sensibilities are upset if anyone suggests that a particular art is not as good as another. There are several reasons for this dislike of criticism. First, a group belief often develops when people engage in a shared endeavor —…

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Your father’s name has been in the news a lot recently. Probably the biggest story came in late March, when Brett Ratner, director of the Rush Hour movies, talked about a possible plan to remake Enter the Dragon. Actually, we’re not involved in that. Warner Bros. owns Enter the Dragon, and certainly they can remake it if they’d like to. I do think it would be silly to remake that movie because the thing that made it such a smash was Bruce Lee. If you take him out of it, you basically have a James Bondian plot with some person doing what I’m sure would be interesting and fun action sequences, but I don’t know that it’s possible to make that into a classic — not without Bruce…

Kenpo 5.0 founder Jeff Speakman is in talks to develop a reality-TV series called Perfect Weapons. A promo piece is available on YouTube. Some local Japanese politicians have teamed up to create council to foster ninja-themed tourism during the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The taekwondo skills of Paige McPherson, a bronze medalist at the 2012 Olympics, were featured in a two-minuteplus online ad from Mercedes-Benz. Beth Tarini has launched a campaign to raise funds to study how taekwondo can be used to treat ADHD. crowdrise.com/fightadhd SoCal hapkido master Fariborz Azhakh appeared with host and former NFL player Tony Gonzalez on a National Geographic show investigating the “unbendable arm.” A promo piece for the segment, called You Can’t Lick Your Elbow, is on YouTube. Morné Swanepoel, a South Africa–based martial arts…

One of the fringe benefits of my course of study is it gives me access to two departments at the university. I attend classes, as well as practice san da and traditional wrestling, in the Wushu Institute. At the same time, I hone my Greco-Roman wrestling in the Department of Olympic Sports. To enter a Ph.D. program in China, a master’s degree is required in addition to a number of exams. The program lasts four years. Year one is an intensive study of Chinese language; I had that waived because I’d already passed the Chinese-language proficiency exam. So I walked into year two, which combines studying with training. The following is a breakdown of what my experience has entailed so far. THE TRADITIONAL Chinese wrestling team at SUS is composed…

Three months earlier, I couldn’t have told you what a prostate was. I knew that most older males have issues — although younger ones can, too — but I hadn’t given it much thought. I was in good shape, ate healthily, didn’t smoke and didn’t use drugs. If prostate cancer wanted a victim, surely it would zap my beer-guzzling, burger-gnawing, cigarette-sucking neighbor. Nope. It picked me. I’ll spare you the decision-making my family and I went through as to which surgery to have. Instead, I’ll explain how I used the martial arts to prepare for the operation and recover afterward. ALTHOUGH I WAS FIT, the doctor said the procedure would go easier if I dropped 10 to 20 pounds. He either didn’t factor in or didn’t care that I was…

I blame David Carradine, may he rest in peace. If he hadn’t done such a fine job portraying Kwai Chang Caine for three seasons on the Kung Fu T V series, chances are the Wester n world — or, at least, America — wouldn’t think that China’s Shaolin Temple is the sole source of Buddhist martial arts in Asia. Back in the mid-1980s, I first heard r umors of a little-known Buddhist fighting art in South Korea. But seeing how that was long before the advent of the Internet, searching for clues proved an arduous task — especially because I was not yet a Black Belt staff er and therefore had no access to the magazine’s network of contacts. My only option was to fl y to South Korea and…

CENTURY MARTIAL ARTS’ VERSYS VS.BOB It’s the first free-standing bag on the market to offer all the benefits of the Century VS.3 with the added feature of a BOB-like torso with arms. This unique combination allows athletes to experience the most realistic training outside of live sparring. (SEE WEBSITE FOR PRICING) CENTURYMARTIALARTS.COM OTOMIX’S ORIGINAL LITE MARTIAL ARTS SHOE This slip-on shoe has been a best-seller for Otomix for more than 25 years, and now it’s new and improved! The lightweight and flexible Stingray sole wraps your foot for enhanced balance without adversely affecting your kicking power or your ability to feel the floor. Recommended for traditional martial arts, MMA and yoga. $69 OTOMIX.COM REEBOK’S ALL TERRAIN THUNDER SHOE This new trail runner from Reebok is designed to deliver cushion and…

Unified Weapons Master, an Australia-based firm that’s promoting a new form of competition revolving around weapons combat, has revealed plans to develop the Lorica Amazon, a version of its unique armor that will enable women to take part in future events. UWM has spent the past four years refining the prototype of the men’s armor, with the design expected to be finalized later this year. The armor uses the company’s proprietary sensor technology and medical algorithms to determine what damage would have been sustained by the competitor had he or she not been wearing the protective suit. The information is collected from 54 sensors spread out across the body, with many being read thousands of times a second. It’s then wirelessly sent to an advanced scoring system that allows analysis…

Her announcement jogged my memory, and recollections from 14 years ago started surfacing. For seven years, Kyle Cordova took karate lessons from my wife Martha and me. He was a standout, and we were looking forward to mentoring him for many years, but his family relocated to Sacramento, California, when he was 10. Words from his mom Realynn brought me back to the present: “Kyle credits you and sensei Martha for helping him get where he is today. So do I.” Eager to talk about her son, Realynn explained that he’d doubled the lead unactor in Footloose for the angry dance scene in which Ren does his acrobatic routine and for the scene in which he does a flip off the back of a truck. Having worked with several people…

• The higher page count is intended to give the editors room to announce the 1977 Black Belt Hall of Fame inductees: Man of the Year — Chuck Norris, Karate Player of the Year — Bill Wallace, Judo Player of the Year — Allen Coage (who’s also ranked the No. 1 male judoka in the United States), Judo Instructor of the Year — Hayward Nishioka, Karate Instructor of the Year — Glenn Keeney, Kung Fu Artist of the Year — Al Dacascos, and Special Recognition — Dan Inosanto. • Chuck Norris elects not to join the roster of actors who will be added to the cast of Game of Death as the producers labor to finish the film. • Bill Wallace speaks out in defense of his friend, the late…