In June of 2009, I was set to test for my Cho Dan Bo Blue Belt (Black Belt Candidate Rank) in Tang Soo Do. I was very excited to take this test, but during the test itself, something didn’t feel quite right. About half way through the test, I started Continue Reading
Inspiration
Hidden Benefits of Individual Sports
Everyone always talks about the advantages of team sports and how they develop a lot of life skills for kids later on. Don’t get me wrong, I completely agree with this sentiment and fully encourage and support team sports. However, I feel as though individual sports sometimes get overshadowed by Continue Reading
Strength Training and How it Can Improve Your Martial Arts
You may find yourself having a regular training routine: you go to the dojang two or three times a week, you get a good sweat in, and you feel like you’re in shape. Not that one can’t get in shape just by doing classes, especially for those who are brand Continue Reading
Finding The Secrets to Good Technique: A Story About Jump Kicking
When I reached the rank of green belt in Tang Soo Do around 15 years ago, my instructor took out the student manual and read to us the expectations for brown belt. He made sure to emphasize the following point: Must be able to demonstrate jumping techniques. In particular, the Continue Reading
Repetition: A Key to Growth
In my Filipino martial arts class, we practice a variety of striking patterns and a series of blocks against general attacks, usually with sticks but can be translated to empty hand or knife. We drill in these patterns and all their permutations; when we do a High Low High attack Continue Reading
Perform at the Level That You Want to Reach
I remember a time during one of my classes in my electrical engineering program when one of my professors was returning our graded midterm exams to us, and one student received an unpleasant surprise. He had received a deduction of five points on one of the problems! Now this class Continue Reading
Being Japanese and Practicing Martial Arts in America
Being Japanese and very obviously Asian in complexion and physical stature, I have often been asked “do you know karate?” or “are you a ninja?” long before I started training in martial arts, and it only got worse once I wore apparel that clearly showed that I did. I suppose Continue Reading
Getting Started in Martial Arts Part 2: The 3 Goals of Different Martial Arts
Last time we categorized martial arts in 3 categories. Those categories were striking, throwing, and grappling. Read about those categories in part one, here. Now we will further categorize martial arts into 3 more categories. I call these categories “The Art”, “The Fight”, and “The Competition”. I will elaborate more Continue Reading
It’s Ok To Not Have All The Answers – All The Time
For a while, if a student asked me a question I didn’t know the answer to, I’d get really self conscious. I began to question my martial arts knowledge, and would start to think that all my years of training suddenly didn’t matter and I wasn’t fit to teach. It Continue Reading
The Importance of Relaxation and Control in Your Training
Whenever you feel like you are relaxed in your training, relax even more! Many times, we can feel like we are relaxed in our technique but in reality, we are recruiting a lot of muscles in order to create power. While, yes, this power might be there, it will not Continue Reading