One of the first commands we learn in any traditional martial arts is the command to come to attention. In Tang Soo Do and other Korean martial arts, it is “Cha-Ryut” (or Ryot), and it is one of those commands that is not only instantly recognizable, but quintessentially Korean. In Continue Reading
Tips For Avoiding Burnout… From Someone Who Just Burnt Themselves Out
Wow, life has been absolutely crazy as of late my friends. And in the spirit of transparency, I have personally been burning the candle at both ends and in the middle. I started a new job 2 months ago, and that has come with a larger-than-expected learning curve. Along with Continue Reading
Dealing with Injury and Setbacks
If you’re old enough to understand anything in this sentence, then it is very likely that you have been injured at some point in your life. It’s an unavoidable part of life: we all make mistakes, we can’t control everything around us, and entropy exists, so inevitably something will fall Continue Reading
Take a Page Out of a Dancer’s Playbook: Mark It!
There is never an excuse not to train. Practice methods used in dance can help us take advantage and make the most of any small opportunity we can get during even the shortest amount of free time on a busy day. When we look at some terminology used in the Continue Reading
How to Respectfully Voice Your Opinion to Your Seniors, Especially if You Disagree
In my article about politics, any group of human beings will inevitably have some form of politicking, whether we like it or not. It’s an unavoidable fact in society, and this is true even in martial arts organizations. As such, disagreements are bound to spring up, not just in interpretation Continue Reading
Where the Head Goes, the Body Follows
A strategy of certain techniques in martial arts is getting your opponent off balance so your technique has a greater chance of success. Once someone’s center of gravity is disrupted, their instincts will be focused on getting their stability back; since they’re distracted and at a positional disadvantage, it leaves Continue Reading
Time to Give and Time to Receive
When it comes to deciding whether to attend an event or participate in an activity, we can fall into the trap of asking ourselves, “What am I going to get out of this?” Or “What’s in it for me?” When deciding how to spend our finite amount of time, These Continue Reading
The Meaning of Bo
In my association, there is a rank called “Cho Dan Bo”, which translates to “black belt candidate”. It is a solid blue belt, and it is the rank that you receive prior to testing for your black belt. I discussed what “Dan” meant in this article, so this one will Continue Reading
Different Seasons in Life and Training
We all go through different phases of life, and with each different phase of life comes different priorities. In David Brooks’ How to Know a Person, he describes these as different “Life Tasks”. One of the key things to really seeing and understanding someone is to understand where they are Continue Reading
Martial Arts is About Socializing
For those who read the headline and your first instinct is to comment that I’m wrong, hear me out first. People who have trained for years tend to hyper-focus on getting the right technique, or executing the correct sequence of moves in their form, or dive into the applications of Continue Reading