The human brain is a very interesting organ; just by thinking or reacting to something, your body will physically respond. When you’re anxious, your heart races and you start sweating as if you’re running a marathon, yet you could be standing perfectly still in a cold room. When you’re overjoyed, Continue Reading
Philosophy
Do Vs. Jutsu
I don’t know about you, but a younger Naive David Paprocki saw the arts of Ju Do and Jiu Jitsu (Also Spelled Ju Jutstu) and thought, “Hey, they both have the same first syllable. I wonder if that means something?” Well, It turns out young naive David wasn’t that naive Continue Reading
3 Keys to Technical Success
David In judging basic techniques in my students and myself, my three points of focus are always connection, vectoring, and alignment. For me, connection refers to synchronizing the timing of my hand and foot, my hip and shoulder, and my wrists and ankles. It is important to synchronize the entire Continue Reading
Being Well Rounded
In his book, The Secret Power Within: Zen Solutions to Real Problems, Chuck Norris tells a story of Bruce Lee’s one student and friend Pat Strong. Strong sought out to cross train in several different Martial Arts to make sure he was able to adapt to any fighting situation. He Continue Reading
More Than Just A Chop
Ever since the inception of Karate being taught to the public, people have always referred to the open handed techniques we do in our forms and applications as “chops”. Let’s be honest, you have probably called it that yourself at some point! Well let me tell you. Every time you Continue Reading
Know Your History
We all know martial arts is more than just punching and kicking, but did you know it’s also a form of storytelling. Each martial art, especially the traditional ones, is an expression of the ideas and culture of its time. When we perform the movements of the art, we are Continue Reading
Martial Arts Mentality – Part 3: You Not Them, The Conclusion
As we grow in our martial arts, we begin to learn more and more about our physical bodies. We begin to learn how flexible we are, how fast we can punch and kick, how to hold our balance more, etc. Not only do we begin to understand our bodies more, Continue Reading
The Benefits of Cross Training
“Go branch out”. That was a common thing for us to hear after receiving our black belts, typically after second degree. My instructor would encourage his students to begin exploring other martial arts after a certain number of years training, for it would make our Tang Soo Do stronger. It Continue Reading
The Martial Artist’s Bow
One of the foundations of every traditional martial art is respect; respect for your classmates, your instructor, your training space, your training tools, this list could go on and on. If you don’t have respect when you join a martial art, you learn very quickly you won’t make it far Continue Reading
Always Celebrate Your Accomplishments, Even The Small Ones
As working adults, it can be incredibly easy for us to become hyper focused on the end goal. In a long project it can be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel and we can get discouraged. For this reason it is important to take time Continue Reading