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Articles by Calasanz - Click for full Article
Protecting the head and neck in the martial arts and combat sports is critical. Headgear, mouthpieces and gloves are good, but they create a false sense of security. Evasion exercises, developing neck flexibility, keeping the hands in proper position and overall good physical fitness training are the best defense for this area.
Many Wing Chun practitioners tend to dismiss high kicks as being "useless." High kicks are not characteristic of the art. Wing Chun tends to focus more on hand movements. Lower body strikes in Wing Chun include low kicks, kicks to the midsection, leg sweeps and stomps.
The United States has a great wealth of martial art talent. There are many schools, both traditional and modern, that offer excellent instruction in arts that we couldn't have even imagined 30 years ago. If you have mastered the basics of one style, you may want to "round out" your martial arts training by learning a martial art that is totally different from your original style.
What is it about a man like Bruce Lee that has made him a martial arts legend? While the fancy stunts of Jackie Chan and Jet Li provide us with heart stopping entertainment, most of these feats employ the use of trick photography, strings and trampolines. What is so intriguing about Bruce Lee is that the man was real and so were his martial arts.
Advances in technology have taken martial arts to a whole new level. The Internet and DVD's allow you to train with the most accomplished martial artists in the privacy of your own living room.
Martial art styles like tae kwon do, tang soo do, wushu and some forms of karate instruct their students on how to perform flying, spinning, and jumping kicks. A martial arts movie without a good number of these kicks is boring. Flying, spinning, and jumping kicks are what make martial arts movies fun and demonstrations exciting.
In many martial art schools, you'll see a sign that says "leave your ego at the door with your shoes". What this really means is that if you want to be successful in the martial arts, you have to get out of your own way. Most martial arts instructors have experienced those students who enter the dojo bent on self-destruction.
You can't turn on the news without hearing about lay-offs, foreclosures and the plummeting stock market. You may even be experiencing these financial calamities first hand and know the stress and fear that being in this position can bring. It is especially during these times that I recommend sticking with your exercise program.
"What's old is new", so goes the saying. The great Bruce Lee was accused of not being able to fight his way out of a paper bag because he didn't fight in tournaments. Competent martial arts instructors have since been maligned if they don't do tournaments.
If you're ready to study the martial arts, you have lots of choices. There are many traditional styles out there to choose from. If you choose a traditional martial art, you study one style where the techniques are taught in their original form. orm.
If you practice the martial arts, the color of the belt around your waist is used to signify your grade, level or ranking within the style. Colored belts, however, were never part of the ancient martial arts tradition. According to martial art folklore, a student was given a white belt to match his uniform and hold up his pants.
The American public has long assumed that a black belt is a sign of expertise or mastery in the martial arts. In reality, all a black belt means is that a student has learned the basic techniques and principles of a specific martial art. It doesn't mean that they are a master or possess magical powers.
I am writing on this topic to inspire you. Everyone has some type of natural talent. Some people are well aware of their natural talents and do all they can to cultivate them.
We Americans love affiliations and endorsements; The Good Housekeeping Seal, Better Business Bureau etc. They lend credibility to a business or product. They assure us that our chosen product or service has received some type of validation from a higher authority.
In the old days, we used to say "make sure you learn how to fight standing up first, and then learn what to do on the ground." Today, the proponents of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tell us that 90-95% of all fights end up on the ground, so because of this, martial art students should focus on ground fighting. As a martial arts instructor and proprietor of a large dojo, I meet many prospective students interested in ground fighting, because of the popularity of mixed martial arts and the Ultimate Fighting Championships.
An instructor must take a special approach when dealing with street fighters in their dojo. But if done right, it can be rewarding!
One of the goals of a good martial arts curriculum is progress. Regardless of the style you have chosen to study, all of them begin with the fundamentals and can take you to the level of mastery. Success however depends on two things: commitment on your part and a skilled instructor who not only teaches you the art, but also challenges you.
Its no secret that Americans list low among the rest of the world when it comes to being healthy. Here is a suggestion for exercise in light of a new release put out by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
A prospective student came to the door, interested in martial arts training. When I asked him if he had any previous experience, he replied "yes, I've studied for about two years." His training history consisted of 3 months in aikido, 2 months of karate, 4 months of kung-fu, 3 weeks of tai chi, etc., etc. This is what we call "style hopping"; going from one style to another.
In The Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi admonishes Daniel-san for not looking him in the eyes. In Enter the Dragon, Bruce Lee points to the moon and tells his student not to concentrate on the finger or he will lose all the heavenly glory.