Use these 4 tips to improve your matches!

It's not about being big.

The old phrase "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" can be true in martial arts. Sports like jiujitsu are often built around the premise that your opponent's weight and momentum can quickly be turned on them. That's why it's not always about being the bigger or stronger one, but the one who can utilize leverage and martial arts principles.

Understand that winning a sparring match isn't about being big or small, it's about having the stronger presence of mind. Your beliefs and skills will be more important than your body weight; the more advanced your skills, the more you'll be able to maximize your own.

Enhance your strikes.

Putting the force of your body weight behind your strikes will add more power to your moves, catching your sparring opponent off-guard and letting them know you're not to be trifled with. An amateur will punch with his hand - a professional will punch from his shoulder. You will seem to gain strength and power out of nowhere if you can properly leverage your body weight.

Take advantage of your opponent's weight.

Taking advantage of your knowledge of body weight means you should be able to use that knowledge on your opponent. For example, you can grab their hand, but it's more powerful to grab the area that controls more weight - the wrist. The more control you have over your opponent's weight, the less power they'll be able to muster to fight back. It's important to understand how to use your own weight so that you know how to keep an opponent off balance.

Staying grounded.

When defending, it's important that you don't lose your cool and forget to keep balanced and grounded. It's much harder to attack someone who has strong footing than someone who is distracted and off their guard. Try to stay balanced as much as possible - oftentimes the person with the best balance wins the sparring match.

Photo Credits: parhessiastes

Originally posted 2009-08-19 03:09:31.

Improve your confidence.

How? By improving your confidence. Is this really the case? If you don't believe me, here are three ways sparring improves your confidence in the other areas of your life:

• Sparring forces you to trust yourself. When you're sparring with a partner, there's only one way you can win: through your own action. You're not going to win unless you have the self-belief that tells you that you can win. That's how sparring will improve your belief in yourself: by forcing you into a situation in which you must trust yourself, or lose. Trusting yourself is one of the most important features of confidence: when you trust yourself, you are both relaxed and alert. You believe you can win. And when you practice this kind of self-trust habitually, it leaks into your life as a whole.
• Sparring simulates real-world danger. It's one thing to punch and kick at the air, but there's something different when you actually fight someone else, isn't there? The rules you've learned seem to go out the window and you wonder how you simply win this match in front of you. Sparring teaches you that there are variables you don't always count on when faced with someone else. Not only that, it gives you practice in working against someone who has his or her own interest at heart.

Let's use another sport as an example: golfing. You can read all you want to about golfing - proper grip, how to transfer your weight when swining, proper mental techniques - but they don't mean much until you actually strike that first ball. It's the same way with sparring, and you'll learn that confidence is often achieved through experience.

• Sparring gets you to confront a real obstacle. Part of developing self-confidence is about striking down obstacles. This doesn't mean that you want to obliterate your opponent; it simply means that you have to take on an obstacle head-on. When you spar, there is someone standing between you and your goals: will you stand to the challenge or go back into your shell? When you find that you can stand up to challenges, your self-confidence increases.

Photo Credits: parhessiastes

Originally posted 2009-07-23 05:49:09.

Ju.Do.

Many people have heard the word "judo," but only know it as a martial art - how it is distinguished from the other martial arts isn't clear to them. But those who study judo and other martial arts know that there is a great degree in difference between the fighting forms, and that judo is an art form in and of itself. In order to help you learn more about judo, here are five facts that will help you get started.

• Fact #1: "Judo" comes from two words. Like many other martial arts with foreign backgrounds, the word "Judo" actually comes from different words put together. "Ju" refers to something that is gentle, and "do" means "the way" or "the path." In other words, Judo translates as "the gentle way," which gives you some insights as to how Judo is styled as a martial art.
• Fact #2: Judo developed in the mid-1800's. Jujitsu was perhaps the most commonly practiced Japanese martial art before the 1800's, as many Samurai warriors would practice it as a way to defeat opponents with swords and armor. With the arrival of Western influence, guns became more prevalent and swords became outdated, leading to a demand for a new type of martial art.
• Fact #3: Judo is based on making your opponent's energy work against them. When Judo was developed, it was developed on the premise that it could work well as a sport, not necessarily as an improved method of combat. With the arrival of sports and teams, judo became popular as a way of exploring competition and athletics, not necessarily killing or defeating an opponent.
• Fact #4: Judo became an Olympic sport in 1964. Judo rose in popularity during the early 20th Century and eventually saw an increased popularity so high that in 1964 it was accepted into the Olympics.
• Fact #5: Judo is primarily defensive in nature. Many people don't think that Judo functions as a martial art in and of itself because it is limited in its scope: it seeks to emphasize self-defense by using your opponent's energy against them, and does not emphasize striking or wrestling.

Judo is perhaps a prime example of a martial art that has contributed to world though rather than promoted violence, since it has mostly been used as a way of making sport.

Photo Credits: parhessiastes

Originally posted 2009-07-20 05:27:38.

Confidence or Cockiness?

In Bruce Lee's "Jeet Kune Do," he strove to create a type of martial art that would incorporate the others, not striving to be flashy at all, but instead simply be the most effective as possible against an opponent. In Lee's own philosophy, he told people that they should strive to be like water, in that water is flexible, ever-flowing, but can also be focused to make a formidable force.

Understanding confidence from this perspective is important. The urge to dominate other people is not what defines martial arts - if that were the case, then you've come to the wrong place. Instead, true confidence comes from discovering the power within yourself to create a true system of self-defense that simply works.

What is that system? True self-defense would mean never fighting; living a life of peace. And many martial arts stress that the warrior is meant to be at peace, and that war is what happens when people fail to achieve it.

Can you tell the difference between confidence and cockiness in this context? A confident martial artist will have no need to show off their fighting skills; a cocky martial artist, who is not confident but instead feels the need to prove something, is actually less effective because of his or her arrogance.

Embrace the functional ideas of Jeet Kune Do; strive for what works, not what impresses other people. If you're in martial arts to become cocky, you're in the wrong discipline. If, however, you want to learn martial arts in order to gain confidence, then you're on the right path. Find a martial art that aligns with your values of true self-confidence, not something that feeds your ego's need to dominate other people. You'll learn that self-confidence was the true path all along.

Photo Credits: Igor Bespamyatnov

Originally posted 2009-12-15 03:51:26.

What is mental presence?

Mental Presence: A Definition

When you're sparring with someone, you usually have two ways of interpreting their presence. You have what you see (the physical presence), and you have what you don't see (mental presence). The mental presence of your opponent will partially be shaped by your own interpretation of him. If you're scared, their mental presence will be larger. If you're confident, it will grow smaller.

Whoever has the larger mental presence will often have the advantage in a fight. Mental presence is often boosted when the opponent is not sure about you - uncertainty can quickly turn into fear. When you are much faster than your opponent originally estimated, you gain a boost in mental presence.

How to Develop a Larger Mental Presence

The more confidence you build, the more mental presence you'll have. Of course, this is easier said than done. In order to build confidence, you'll have to practice being assertive. In sparring matches, concentrate on being assertive even if it's at the expense of your fighting skills. It will be important to isolate one skill - your fearlessness and assertiveness - in order to build it up for a while. Once you feel comfortable standing tall and being assertive, bring your skills back into the mix. You should find that you perform much better.

Surprise is the quickest way to build mental presence. If you don't appear strong but your moves have the added strength of assertiveness behind them, your opponent will be more in the dark as to your true abilities. The more uncertainty and surprise you can generate in your opponent, the more mental presence you'll have.

Remember that mental presence comes from within. It comes through the self-discipline to work on your confidence and skills. It also comes from understanding your opponent's mind and knowing how human beings typically react when surprised or caught off-guard. To have mental presence, it's important that you take action as opposed to reacting.

Photo Credits: thivierr

Originally posted 2009-08-17 03:37:16.

Side Splits

Meaning, it will take time and action.  Let me break this down into two parts:

Time:

Unless you are naturally flexible, attaining the side splits WILL take time.  Let me repeat myself, it will take time to attain the splits.  By following the directions below, the average student will attain and keep the splits within 3 – 5 weeks.  Please note, attaining the splits in two weeks is possible, but building the muscle memory where you KEEP the splits, will take slightly longer.

Action:

Set and write down your goal with a time frame for completion and an action plan. Writing down your goal of attaining the side splits will turn talking-out-loud into a focused goal.  Goals are more likely to be accomplished when you have written them down.

Also give yourself a realistic time frame for completion.  For example, four weeks will be a realistic period if you follow the steps below. After you write down your goal of attaining the splits within a certain time frame, you need an action plan.  Our action plan requires stretching two time a day, minimum.

Step One: Dynamic Stretch

Every morning you will do dynamic stretching.  Dynamic stretching is active stretch to warm up your muscles.  For the splits, you will be kicking your leg up in the air.  Do this controlled and be sure you can feel the muscles in your leg stretching each time you kick.  You want to kick your leg forward 25 – 50 times, then backwards 25 – 50 times and to the side 25 – 50 times.

For the front kick, don’t bend your knee too much and swing your leg forward like you’re kicking a soccer ball, but the kick will continue as high as possible.  Usually about chin level.

For the back kick, hold on to a chair and pretend like you are kick starting a motorcycle and continue to motion with the momentum as high as possible as you swing your leg back.

For the side kick, straighten your leg and swing it up to the side.  You may want to lean up against a chair for balance.

Step Two: Dynamic Stretch + Static Stretching

In the evening do step one again to loosen your muscles.  Once you finish with the dynamic stretch, you will start your static stretch. For the static stretch, face a wall and lie down on the floor.  Move your buttocks up against the wall and with your legs against the wall pointing at the ceiling.  Next, allow gravity to pull your legs apart and down as you go into the splits.  Eventually you’ll feel the stretch.  Grab a book, listen to music, or fall asleep.  Try to hold this stretch for 15 to 30 minutes or until your legs fall asleep J

Follow these steps and you will have the splits in no time.

Photo Credits: hybridyawyan

Originally posted 2010-04-12 03:56:20.

Set goals.

As with most things in life, if you don’t know exactly what you want, how will you ever get it?

This is also true with the Martial Arts.  When I first started training in the Martial Arts, I wondered what separated those who earned their belts quickly and those that didn’t.

First off, you can never exclude the idea of natural talent.  There will always be those that are simply excellent at what they do.  However, this is a very small minority.

What truly separates those so called “quick learners” from the “slow learners” (measured by speed to attain their belts) are those that had a combination of drive and focus. Those who had a burning desire to attain their next belt, but also had a plan on HOW they would attain their goals. Simply stated, they have a plan for success and focus on attaining that success.

This plan can be called many things, but for the sake of this article, we will call it goal setting. Let’s review a simple 6 step strategy for success in the martial arts:

Step 1- Clearly define what you want. Do you want your yellow belt, do you want to be learn a back flip, or do you want to learn a new Kata etc…

Step 2- Write down your goal. Very important!  By writing down what you want to accomplish you tell your brain that you are serious about this achievement. Written goals are far more likely to be accomplished and taken seriously.

Step 3- Below your goal, write down WHEN you want to accomplish it. Give your goal a limited time frame.  Too often we hear, “I’ve got all year to make that happen.”  Then one year later, it’s still not complete. A good example of this would be an often repeated New Year Resolution.

Step 4- Create the plan. Will you be staying after class an extra hour to practice?  Will you spend at least one hour a day training by yourself?  If you need help or advice, find someone who has already accomplished what you want to do.

Ask for help. If no instructors are available to help you, find a student that is slightly more advanced.  Use the tools that you have access to: google, youtube, put an ad in craigslist, etc…

Step 5- Start NOW! The silent killer for all goals is PROCRASTINATION.  You must start now on this or you will simply find another excuse to delay tomorrow, then the next, then next week.

Step 6- Focus on your goal. Tape your goal to the bathroom mirror.  Assuming you brush your teeth when you wake and before you sleep, your goal will be the first think you see in the morning and the last you see before you sleep.

There you go, your 6 step plan to accomplishing any goal in the martial arts.

Photo Credits: lululemon athletica

Originally posted 2010-04-10 03:47:10.

Ninjitsu

“Ninjas can run for twenty miles without even feeling tired.”

“Ninjas can jump onto a roof that is four meters high."

“Ninjas are the most agile warriors ever.”

“Ninjas can disappear whenever they want.”

Quite a few powerful claims about Ninjas we have here.  Google Ninja and you’ll come across many more claims.  Some more absurd than others.

Although one fact that is known about Ninjitsu, the training of ninjas, is that they have incredible stamina.

How do they build this stamina and agility that is unmatched by any other martial arts? The way is in the training.

One such training method used by the Ninjas is the “Ninja Run”.  The Ninja Run is a run through a part and / or an urban environment where you create obstacles wherever you see them.  Let’s say you and a group of friends are running through a park and you come across a tree, wall, and a low fence.  How could you implement this into the run and make more exciting.

The Tree: While running, jump up and grab a branch of the tree pulling yourself up.  This will teach you a quick technique to turn invisible.

Wall: Use the wall as a platform for a wall flip.  Maybe do the spider across the top where you are holding yourself up by your foot and one hand.

Low Fence: Do a diving roll over this fence.  I once asked my friend if you had to get over a 5 foot tall electric fence, how would he do it?  He had no idea, so I demonstrated a diving roll application where I dove over it superman style and rolled up on to me feet - smooth as butter.

When you first get started on your Ninja Run, keep it simple and fun.  Add one or two obstacles each time you do your run. Then, try to change it up a bit by sprinting from each obstacle as quickly as possible.  You want a variety of conditioning methods – think cross training.

What you are doing in a ninja run is mixing up a standard run with obstacles to train you for agility, stamina, and creative thinking.

So when designing your next Ninja run, look at as many obstacles or adversities that can be used to improve your training.  If you are low on ideas, try going to youtube and search for LaParkour who do this with the urban / city environment.  You will find many videos ranging from beginner to expert.

Keep it Ninja, Ninja!

Photo Credits: magoexperto

Originally posted 2010-04-09 03:40:06.

Bullying.

What starts a fight in the first place? If you're of a certain age, then alcohol can be one of the leading contributors - two men fighting over a girl, for example, is a frequent theme around the world's bars and pubs. Understanding that alcohol can lead to these situations will hopefully encourage you to drink moderately, even when out with friends; losing control is exactly what the martial arts ask you not to do.

When you feel a fight coming on - and it's usually detectable simply by feeling the tension in the room, or observing the startled, frozen reactions of "bystanders" who are simply witness to it - it's time to be the calming presence. It's tempting to use your confidence gained through your mastery of martial arts in order to assert yourself over two people who are about to fight, but this can often just add fuel to the fire. There's already too much testosterone in the air, and the wise martial artist knows that more testosterone is not the answer.

So what do you do? You stay calm and try to shake the attention of the two fighters away from each other. If you have other people around, you enlist their help to separate the two fighters away before they can start hitting. It's important to stay calm and relaxed so that you don't add any more tension to a rope that's about to be cut - figuratively speaking, of course.

As mentioned already, prevention is the best way to avoid fighting anyone. Fights are generally a bad idea, as you never know when a stranger has friends waiting in the corner, or a weapon located on their person. Avoid them at all costs, and do it through a clear presence of mind, using other people to your advantage, and not adding any fuel to the fire. This should help you in the future.

Photo Credits: Chesi - Fotos CC

Originally posted 2009-12-08 03:47:23.

Martial Arts with Weapons

If for example, you learned the stick, you are also learning skills that can cross over to other commonly found items  - like the bat, crow bar, a golf club or any other item that might be found nearby in your environment.

The knife is one of the most common weapons you may have to face in both domestic and urban encounter. The reason the knife is so common is because of its easy access. A blade can be found in the kitchen in a matter of seconds and you can often find items that are similar to the knife in the workplace. For example, a razor or something similar from the toolbox like a screwdriver.

The chain is realistic as it represents flexible items that you might find – such as a belt, rope, phone, cord or even a chain. With the power derived from the speed of a swing, this weapon is one not to underestimate, especially if there is a weight on the end.

When learning weapons for realistic training in the martial arts, it is good to start by learning the stick (short and long) the knife and then the chain. All three of these are very different types of weapons; the stick is a blunt object, the knife has an edge and the chain is flexible.

The way you train and fight with these weapons, as well as the way you respond to an opponent with these weapons, will be based on the type of weapon being used.

Training with the stick is much safer because you are not likely to hurt yourself as you might when training with the knife - where you can cut yourself even when practicing. It is suggested that with any weapons training you begin by using a training weapon designed to help you to learn the movements but still protect yourself from the weapon being use  - such as a rubber stick, wooden knife and rope.

When just starting out learning anyone and you want to first start with the basics and master grip, basics angles of attack, manipulation and then scenario based training following these situations:

• Armed versus Armed opponent (stick versus stick)
• Armed versus Unarmed opponent
• Unarmed versus Armed opponent
• Armed versus Armed opponent mixed (stick versus knife)

Remember that timing and speed are important factors to consider when dealing with a weapon. It will never just be the knife or stick that you are facing, but an opponent that will have his own strengths and weaknesses.

Photo Credits: Rocket Surgeon

Originally posted 2010-04-02 03:38:54.