In the martial arts, especially when we are at a rank closer to black belt, we begin to be exposed to other instructors and other ways of doing things. Sometimes this will align with the way our instructors taught us to do things and other times it will not. Every Continue Reading
Philosophy
The Meaning of Politics in Martial Arts
You may have heard the saying, “when you put 2 people together you have a disagreement, when you have 3 or more people in the same room, you have politics”. The same can be said for martial artists; if you ask ten different people how a certain sequence in a Continue Reading
Look at Things From the Other Perspective
Before I was passionate about martial arts, my main hobby was music. The first job that I wanted was to be a rock star, so I began playing guitar as soon as my parents let me. I played in a handful of bands over the years, learned from many different Continue Reading
Dating Advice for Martial Artists
It can be easy for those that are immersed in martial arts or any other niche hobby or lifestyle to fall into the trap of thinking that they need to date someone that follows that same lifestyle or does the same activity. After all, how can our significant others really Continue Reading
Sometimes People Would Rather be Right Than Correct
Martial arts is one of few unique activities where you have to put your complete trust in someone else to teach and evaluate you. Sure you can watch videos online of how to do strikes and techniques, researching the exact way it’s supposed to be done. But you won’t know Continue Reading
What is The Purpose of Breaking Boards?
Last month, I published an article of my answers to commonly asked questions (Link here). Shortly after that, I realized that I left one out, “Can you break a board or a brick?”. The answer is yes, but most people don’t understand why we do this. Outside of the fact Continue Reading
A Fact About Good Leaders
I was reading The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C Maxwell, and one thing that he mentioned in the course of the book really stuck with me. He mentions that bad to mediocre leaders have followers underneath them while good to excellent leaders have and create other leaders Continue Reading
Does tradition still matter in the 21st century?
We are closing on nearly a century of when Japan began to export its martial arts of karate, judo and aikido to the wider world and much of their customs have become widespread. Whatever art or organization you associate with, it has been several generations since the modern era of Continue Reading
The Necessity of Training with Others and Connection
When we are training in the martial arts, we must appreciate each and every opportunity that we have to train with another person and we must respect that opportunity. We need training partners to get 100% of what we need out of our training. This is very obvious when it Continue Reading
Awareness and Avoiding Conflict
Many of us would go through life and will never experience a violent encounter, and I hope you, dear reader, never have to. However, there is something to be said about being prepared, both physically and mentally, so that, if we were to meet such misfortune, we would be able Continue Reading