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
Philosophy
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
One Step Sparring is Uniquely Useful
Many people do not like one step sparring plain and simple. You will often hear, “This is not how it will work on the Street.” or “Why waste time on one step sparring when we have free sparring at our disposal?” I get it. I wasn’t always a fan of Continue Reading
If Black Belt Means One Thing For Your Lifestyle
I was recently reading a book, The Power of Discipline, and the last chapter was just the author congratulating the reader on completing the book (Walter 130)! I was very confused at first, but then the Author, Daniel Walter, explained that the whole idea of me completing the book was Continue Reading
Take a Break! The Risks of Overtraining
The companies we work for give us vacation for a reason! When we work for too long we get burnt out, we lose productivity, and we lose our direction. Our output to the company is worsened! Oh, you seriously thought corporate America does this out of the kindness of their Continue Reading
The Martial Arts Mentality – Part 2 : Goal Setting
Let’s discuss how we can use the martial arts mentality to improve our ability to set goals and achieve them. Goal setting is interesting in martial arts because for most martial arts, especially the traditional ones, the goals are predetermined. Not only are goals predetermined, but also the tasks to Continue Reading