Innholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2020 i Black Belt Magazine

It’s the holiday season and — probably like you — I find myself spending more than the usual amount of time reflecting. I reflect about my life and I reflect about the decisions I’ve made, but mostly I reflect about the four decades I’ve spent in the martial arts. I tend to focus on the big picture rather than little things like who’s on top in MMA or what the latest fad is on the tournament circuit. My take on the big picture has boiled down to the eight goals listed below. I’ve set these as my personal training goals. Maybe they’ll match you and your training, as well. • Be able to strike. Here, “strike” means hit with all body parts, including the fist, open hand, elbow, knee, shin,…

On a Painted Dog BLACK BELT: Here’s a link to “Indian Farmer Paints Tiger Stripes on Dog to Scare Away Monkeys Eating Crops.” So if I wear a martial arts T-shirt around town, it will scare away bad guys. Right? Anthony Maguire: If it works, it ain’t stupid. Omar Gilani: Why wouldn’t anyone be scared? Isn’t wearing Tapout apparel synonymous with having a black belt? Alexander Vieux: From my experience watching Shaw Brothers movies, a martial arts shirt will just attract the evil minions of whatever dynasty is in power. Jason McNeil: Hah! I pretty much stopped wearing dojo T-shirts while out and about some time around brown belt. Got tired of people saying “Hey, what would you do if I did THIS!” Kenneth Baillie: Why advertise on a T-shirt?…

THE CONCEPT APPLIES even when catching a kick, the master said. His advice to me was to slide my front leg backward to get out of range and, once the foot or shin misses, attempt to grab the leg. Switching gears, Mas Aan demonstrated a self-defense technique for use against a shirt grab. As soon as the offending hand latched on, he slapped the arm down. Instead of using a slap that was strong enough to break the hold, he made his opponent stumble forward — at which point he uncorked an uppercut to the jaw. After that strike, he looped his fist downward and smashed his foe between the legs. This technique, coupled with the ones he’d just taught (see part 1 of this column), prompted me to ask…

FROM SOUTH KOREA: I’ve watched thousands of martial arts movies, but I’ve never witnessed one like director Lim Kyeong-taek’s No Mercy, which recently played at the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Throughout the movie and even during the credits, you could have heard a pin drop. I didn’t see anyone leave their seats. When the crowd filed out of the theater at the end, people barely looked at one another. My guess is no one could escape the unspeakable premise presented by the movie’s gruesomely uncomfortable plot. In-ae (played by Lee Si-young) is a bodyguard who, because of some previous brutal tactics she used to help a client, gets sent to prison. Upon release, she assures her mentally challenged, high-school-age sister Eun-hye that she’ll never leave again. Later, Eun-hye unwittingly…

In the early 1960s, when Americans were first hearing about The Beatles, Jhoon Rhee operated four martial arts schools in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland. The man who would become known as the father of taekwondo in America also regularly traveled around the country to a dozen clubs, where he tested students trained by his black belts. One such club was located on the campus of Texas A&M University, where Jeff Smith’s mother worked and Jeff, then a teenager, delivered newspapers. “One day on my route, I noticed a sign for a karate demonstration at the student-union ballroom,” Smith recalls. “I went and wanted to enroll [in the club], but it was for college students only. I talked to my mother, she talked to the dean, and they decided to…

Half the martial arts world loves YouTube because of the wealth of free content it provides. The other half hates YouTube, in part because it has the ability to create stars who might not have paid their dues in the dojo. We’ve witnessed this schism several times — for example, when we ran Master Ken on the cover. We also got a taste of the divide when we mentioned Master Wong on our social media channels. In both cases, we believe the haters are incorrect because these two YouTube stars are legitimate martial artists. For Master Ken, we presented ample evidence in our December 2014/January 2015 and October/November 2018 issues. Here, we offer a handful of essential lessons from Master Wong, which we’re certain will convince you that he’s the…

QUESTION: HOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT CANNABIDIOL? Royce Gracie: I learned about CBD [from] talking to friends, talking to my manager — with people in general — to educate myself. WHEN DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT PACHAMAMA CBD PRODUCTS? Gracie: When I was talking to Craig Cramer, he introduced me to the company. WHO IS CRAIG CRAMER? Gracie: Craig … is a black belt of mine. He’s been teaching for over 20 years — since the first UFC has been around. I try to go once a year to visit him, sometimes twice a year. Sometimes Craig travels and helps me out in seminars. WHAT APPEALS TO YOU ABOUT PACHAMAMA AS A COMPANY? Gracie: Pachamama is Mother Earth. It’s not the product but the people. The product is good, but…

• “You ask any athlete,” Mike Stone says. “He will tell you that it is 100-percent your mental attitude. I think people have to get back to knowing themselves.” • Stone then waxes historical: “To be honest, the phase I like the best in karate’s history in this country was about 1968 to 1972. That period, to me, was the best for technique that we’ve ever had in the martial arts.” • A SoCal karate school conducts a phone survey and discovers that the average cost for martial arts instruction in California is nearly $40 a month — with some charging more than $100. • One of the keys to winning, at least according to the Marine Corps judoka who won the U.S. Judo Association Championships, is flexibility. “I spent…

Is it true that in the past, Japanese swordsmen would say, “If I draw my blade, I can’t put it away until it tastes blood”? Dana Abbott: People who say that are ones I wouldn’t trust with a sword. (laughs) It’s what they’ve read in some book or seen in a movie. There were probably people in Japan 600 years ago who believed that because everyone believes what they want. But it doesn’t mean it was universal. Think about it: If a person is that enamored with the sword, it must have been a blade that belonged to a relative, maybe a grandfather, and if the person disrespects it, he’s disrespecting his grandfather, so he’d better draw a little blood with it — which doesn’t really make sense because the…

THIS MIGHT COME as a surprise to many who train in Japanese karate, who have come to regard Funakoshi (1868-1957) as the most towering figure in the art, the man who brought it from the countryside of Okinawa to Japan and the man who oversaw its introduction to the rest of the world. But it’s true. While Funakoshi was a central figure in those accomplishments, we know that there were others — some with more experience in karate than he had — who also contributed. We also know that a primary reason Funakoshi was promoted to bring karate to mainland Japan was the fact that he was well-educated and able to communicate with the Japanese at a level that wouldn’t lead to his dismissal as an uncouth hillbilly — which…

WE NOTICED that much of what’s called “indigenous” seems to have a mighty close parallel to Filipino blade work or European sword-and-dagger traditions. Now, this simply could stem from one or more of the following: • Human movement is finite, and battle efficiency dictates commonalties in tactics. • When cultures commingle, it can lead to apparent commonalties that result from “idea exposure.” • It’s tempting to transplant one’s assumptions when the historical record is found to be meager, which amounts to re-branding old sauce in new bottles. Note that I said some blade work, not all blade work, seems to share these commonalties. In no way am I condemning all historical weapons skills as not on the level, but I will be honest: The deeper my research goes, the more…

It’s important to synchronize your breath with your movement because breathing is the catalyst for improving strength, power, timing and coordination. Training your breath is not just about training hard all the time. It’s about matching your breath to your punch or kick. The following are the exercises I devised for Igor Leite so he could integrate his breath, power and speed. KARATE WALL-BALL THROW: Start with your weak side. Assume a standing side position or a karate stance. While holding a heavy medicine ball, inhale through your nose, tightening your abdominals. When your breath is at 90 percent, “exhale-hiss” and think about punching. At that moment, throw the ball against the wall as hard as possible. Pick up the ball and wait no longer than 20 seconds, then repeat.…

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TAKE, FOR EXAMPLE, the recent Urban Action Showcase & Expo, held at the AMC Empire 25 Theaters in New York City, where old met new both on the big screen and in the exhibition hall. A two-day event sponsored by HBO and Cinemax, the UAS was part action-film festival, part martial arts trade show and part photo op for fans looking to mingle with legends like kickboxing-champion-turned-actor Don “The Dragon” Wilson. “Events like this are getting bigger, and unlike the past, you’re now seeing more people showing up who have never done martial arts — they’re just fans who want to meet us,” Wilson said. INDEED, THE UAS CROWD seemed to be an eclectic mix of autograph-hungry fanboys, decked-out cosplayers and longtime martial artists who simply stopped by to pay…

EDGED-WEAPON ATTACKS are on the rise. Throughout the European Union, they’re almost epidemic. Even worse, edged weapons used in attacks overseas many times aren’t the 4-inch folders Americans are used to seeing. They’re 10- to 12-inch-long kitchen knives, which makes many of the standard disarms taught in martial arts schools more dangerous, if not impossible. The problem has grown so significant that London Mayor Sadiq Khan recently issued a proclamation: “No excuses. There is never a reason to carry a knife. Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law.” He basically banned knives for civilians to carry. LET’S STEP OVER the clichés — you know, “You’ll likely be cut when you fight someone with a knife,” “Use your pistol to defend against…

How in the world did Jeff Smith find the time to manage, first four and then 12, martial arts schools, to train the instructors so they can teach like professionals and to undergo the physical hardships one needs to endure to become a world-champion kickboxer? This was the seemingly preposterous challenge Smith not only faced but also took on with enthusiasm. To succeed, he’d have to be a one-man army with the work ethic of Superman! “I was training hard once a day with a morning workout thrown in, which was hard,” Smith says, “but not nearly as hard as life became in 1974 when I started kickboxing. “Going flat-out for three rounds at the first Professional Karate Association World Championships required more stamina than point fighting [did]. Once inside…