Update

I have been injured over the past six months with a bit of plantar injury from running.  However, it really only hurt when I tried to pivot during my technique and kata practice.  So in November I decided to take a couple of months off to really get a handle on the injury.  With the [...]

Respect in the Martial Arts

I received a comment last week that didn’t make it past initial review, meaning it was a bit rude.  The thrust of the comment was simply that practicing martial arts was a decent enough thing to do with one’s time but that bowing and referring to senior instructors by strange titles should be beneath me.  [...]

Oh my God, he has a knife…

… wait we all have knives.  The nice thing about training in a martial art predicated on practicality is that you never know what a class is going to hold in store.  This was true the other night we did knife training.  It was a very good class.  Sensei spent a lot time working the [...]

The Same but Different

My wife, Ms. EMA, recently started back to Tae Kwon Do after a long absence.  She has previously been a 2nd Dan in Korea.  I will tell you from personal experience that she is very quick and her stance transitions are quite smooth.  It was not a night of my class so I volunteered to take [...]

How have people found me?

I recently reviewed the searches that people did in order to find this little site on Martial Arts.  Most of the search terms are pretty normal stuff:

the journey kenpo
kenpo kata
bad martial arts stars
kenpo conditioning
American kenpo running

Nothing really out of the ordinary here.  Although I have practiced a lot of different arts in my life, currently I [...]

A change of scenery

Tonight was my first night back to class since the weekend seminar with Grandmaster Tatum.  After the seminar was over my sensei tested for his fifth degree black belt.  I wish I could have stayed for the test but family obligations got in the way.  Tonight I had hoped to congratulate him on his achievement.  However, [...]

A great seminar

On Saturday, I was fortunate to be part of a seminar at my American Kenpo school held by Grand Master Tatum.  I didn’t realize how far I had to go until I went to this seminar.  I believe that I polish basics ad nauseum.  I like it and don’t really see it as a chore.  [...]

Teaching Helps … a lot

I usually don’t go to class on Wednesday, but as my wife had a big test on Wednesday morning, I begged off my Tuesday schedule so that she could prepare on Tuesday night.  So I went the next day, Wednesday.  I read or heard somewhere that you retain 10% of what you hear, 20% of [...]

Cross Training to Something to Love

When I started back into martial arts this year, American Kenpo specifically.  I did so because I needed some cross training that would keep my interest.  I had started running in March at the depressing weight of 293 pounds.  It was a slow and painful journey from 293 to my current weight of 255.  What [...]

Kenpo Freestyle

Getting used to contact takes some doing.  The thing about Kenpo (American or otherwise) is that you have to get used to taking some shots.  Well I can’t really speak to all Kenpo as I don’t know much about Shorinji Kenpo; however, the Kenpo that comes from the James Mitose/ William Chow variety has contact [...]