In previous articles I’ve talked about my self-confidence journey, and how it is still far from over. Don’t get me wrong, I have come a long way from the depths of low self-esteem I used to live in, however there are still some times where I feel nervous or not Continue Reading
Philosophy
Why You Should Start a Blog Too
When it comes to being a martial artist, an instructor or a working professional, one thing is certain. We must be comfortable with sharing ideas. One thing that can prevent us at times when we are sharing our ideas, is the big question of doubt that we ask ourselves, “What Continue Reading
Be Honest With Yourself
One thing we may do every once in a while, hopefully not always, is quickly glaze over an article and immediately think we know all about that subject. We see this problem, especially in the media, where someone will form an opinion on something based only on one viewpoint or Continue Reading
“Be Like Water”
When Bruce Lee spoke about being like water and wu sien, we as martial artists immediately think of the physical application of flowing around your opponent, and being in a state of no thought. This principle goes much deeper though. Our brains are like embedded control systems. Mathematically and systematically Continue Reading
You Are a Mix of Your Closest Friends
My dad had a couple of sayings as we were growing up that I remember disagreeing with, one was “guys and girls can’t be friends without one of them catching feelings!” Reflecting on it now he might’ve said this to keep me from having a lot of male friends, he’s Continue Reading
Mean What You Say
My mom used to tell us as we were growing up, “never say anything that you wouldn’t want on the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper”. Obviously this is a bit of an exaggeration, and also now outdated as many people don’t read the newspaper anymore! But the meaning behind it Continue Reading
Strongest Muscle
I recently came across a post on Facebook that shared that latissimus dorsi are the strongest muscles in your body. Like everything on Facebook, I took it with a grain of salt, but it got me thinking a little bit about the correlation between this muscle and one of our Continue Reading
Misconceptions of Discipline
We were having a blog meeting and while going through all of the articles that we have saved for the future, someone said, “yeah David, you have 10 articles you can take a break!” While the recognition was nice, there was something about the statement that bothered me. You see, Continue Reading
Seguida and Contra
In the style of Filipino martial arts I practice, the Defensor Method, they categorize most blocks into two different energies: Seguida and Contra. Contra means “against”, and Seguida means “to follow”. A lot of the time, our first instinct when we think of a block is something that meets the Continue Reading
Whole Body is a Weapon
A concept we have in martial arts is to utilize your whole body in a technique to maximize power. For example when we do a kick it’s not just our leg muscles activating, we use our abs to lift, our hips to thrust, and the strength of your leg and Continue Reading