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Understanding Confidence, Not Cockiness
In the world of martial arts, as with many other pursuits that involve a skill, people want to know the “tricks” right away. They want to know how to punch, how to block, and how to put their fist through a plate of wood. This is similar to an investor who’s just starting [...]
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How to Increase Your Mental Presence in a Sparring Match
Martial arts isn’t always about the kick and the punch: it’s about the mental capacity you have to intimidate and defeat your opponent. Self-belief is just as important as skill; if you doubt that you could ever beat your sparring partner, there’s a good chance you won’t. That’s why having a larger [...]
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In Martial Arts, What is a “Takedown” and How Can I Learn It?
If you’ve heard of the different types of moves in martial arts, you’re probably already aware of terms like striking, punching, kicking, throws, and this curious one: the “takedown.” In mixed martial arts, very few moves have such a dramatic impact on the way a fight is going as when one contestant “takes [...]
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What Are the Most Popular Martial Arts Today?
The martial arts have been developing for thousands of years, so it makes sense that in today’s culture, you can find so many disciplines and sub-disciplines within the “martial arts” realm. But what kind of martial arts define what is going on today, and what are people interested in learning? Some of the [...]
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How Leverage Wins the Day in Martial Arts
Most of us are already aware of the Biblical account of David vs. Goliath. David, the ultimate underdog, was able to defeat the favorite, Goliath, despite being much smaller. How? He used his cunning rather than his brawn. Across a variety of martial arts disciplines, the idea of using cunning over [...]
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The History of Tae Kwon Do
The term “Tae Kwon Do” loosely translates as “the art of punching and kicking,” or, in martial arts terms, “striking.” Remember that in martial arts, there is not only one way to fight: many people view martial arts as being limited to karate chops and wood-breaking. But when it comes to a [...]
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What Makes Karate Karate?
Many of us have heard of martial arts films. We’ve seen them, we’ve heard of fighting styles like karate, kung fu, and tae kwon do. However, if we were ever asked to differentiate between the styles, how many of us in the west would really know how? We throw out the term [...]
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How to Fix Your Martial Arts Woes – And Where!
You’ve heard it said before. “If you want to learn to speak German, there’s no better place to be on the Earth than Germany.” Why do so many people say this? Because it’s true! If you want to get fully immersed in a new skill, it’s often simple smarts that tell [...]
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Four Tips for Better Karate Footwork
Whenever you’re engaged in any activity that involves your own movement, it goes without saying that your footwork is absolutely vital. Good footwork keeps you quick, grounded, mobile, agile, and ready to adapt to different situations. Bad footwork will mean you’re susceptible to quick attacks and won’t have the leverage to hold your [...]
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What is Grappling, and Is It a Martial Art?
Have you ever heard of “grappling” before? Okay, you’ve heard it in the title to this article, but if you’re not very exposed to the world of mixed martial arts, there’s a good chance you might not have heard of grappling. Grappling is a specific discipline and method of exercise that can be [...]
