A World Without Fathers

There's a strong correlation to the absence of fathers, specifically, from communities with higher rates of violent crime. This may be old news to most of you, the recent execution killings of three young people is a tragedy, and one that points to the issue of violent crime in Newark, as well as many communities, inner-city or not. I find little with which I disagree in this Albert Mohler post, "Without Fathers, Without Rules, Without Consequences, Without Hope."

Why am I posting about this at TDA? It's not a political issue, it's a moral issue. As martial artists, we have an obligation to ethical behavior. As instructors, even more so. We define our legacy to our young students by living the behaviors we espouse through our teachings. Can we do more?

Its not what's there, it's what's missing

Pat's post title What they take away isn't related to what I want to write about, but it gave me the idea, so credit due to Pat as my muse!

My thought: different arts aren't really defined by what they include, but by "what they take away." To expound on this thought, what is fighting? As Hock stated on his blog, it's everything from ICBMs, tactical/battlefield nukes, B-57s, gunships and artillery, machine guns, rifles, pistols, clubs, knives, then empty hand. Notice how much there is there? You can further take the subset of combat, empty hand, and include:

Strikes:
head butting
biting
shoulder thrusts
elbows
forearms
open-hand strikes
fists
hip checks
knees
all the various kicks

Grappling
standing grappling
ground grappling
throws
traps
locks/breaks
takedowns, trips, sweeps, etc.

There's more, you're welcome to add to that list via comments, but the idea is the same. What differentiates styles is what they take away from that list.

Judo, for example, started out as what? Jujitsu. So did Aikido. What differentiates them from their ancestors? What they took away - much of the vicious striking and some of the grappling techniques were refined/modified.

The same is true of every other art, including karate (I always use lower-case to denote the generic Okinawan and Japanese striking arts and their derivatives, including TKD). What's taken away, in general, are many of the items on the lower list of grappling. Not all. Stylistically, some will include more or less than others on each list, but the formula is more or less correct.

Just a thought...

A mixed welcome back!

The title of this posts expresses more than just my feelings on my first post since my self-imposed exile at the end of July. It's also a comment on my personal situation.

Starting first with what's happened at TDA Training since I left, I have to say that I'm amazed, blessed, shocked, and impressed! The experiment of having guest posts by my blogging pals at the Convocation of Combat Arts was a great success. Site traffic didn't drop a bit. In fact, it ticked upward a bit, as I'd been slacking off on the posts for a few weeks anyway as my impending move was hindering my availability to post. A summary:

Rick Fryer of the new, but excellent, KICKS BOXES blog kicked us off (yes, I meant to do that!) with "NOW, THAT’S INTENSITY!," featuring some awesome training drill footage from RossTraining.com, in keeping with the "training" theme of TDA. Rick then posted "WHAT WOULD YOU REALLY DO?," a wonderful anecdote on the moral costs of learning and using self-defense skills. Rick finished up with "THE POWER OF BLOGS:"

Imagine if legends like Gichin Funakoshi or Bruce Lee had been able to keep a blog. Think about all of the information, theories, and ideas that have been generated by Funakoshi’s books and Lee’s Journals.

Now just imagine how much better it all would have been if others could have shared their thoughts and opinions with these masters online. Sure, there would have been some controversy (there was anyway!) but there would have also been a lot of confusion cleared up as well.

With a blog, questions could have been answered, suggestions added, theories examined and extended. Who knows how much their ground-breaking ideas could have been refined and improved if they had been able to share their thoughts across the internet?

We can only guess how much our arts will develop and grow with this mighty new tool for communication at our disposal.

Blogs are now a huge part of the future for the new Information Age. I’d like to finish my time here by taking time to thank people like Nathan Teodoro for making the martial arts a part of that future.

Well said Rick, and thanks for coming over! I did notice that the moving boxes in TDA had been kicked over, though (sorry, couldn't help it!)...

Next, blogger Bob Patterson graced us with his Striking Thoughts on Jerry's Beasley's notable work, "Mastering Karate" in his post "American Martial Arts" and muses on how, despite their Asian origins, our country has put its own stamp on the martial arts world. Further, "I've trained in "Americanized" versions of Wing Chun and now Taekwondo so Beasely book really resonates with me. I think the first time I thought about this conundrum was when I tried to spar against my sabum using boxing strikes and wing chun kicks and blocks. Sabum's superior kicking and footwork shut me down. After that he would often say "If you can kick high you can kick low". Broadening his message to sum up this very long post I'd have to say this to all the martial artists who read this: It's good to keep an open mind because each martial art has value." Amen to that one, Bob. Thanks for helping out, and I appreciate you reorganizing the TDA Training bookshelf while you were over!

Aikido and Judo instructor Patrick Parker of Mokuren Dojo weighs in with his essay "Drawing your sword," on the escalation of force with which a martial artist must concern himself, starting with this quote from St. Bernard, of all people (now you see why I invited Pat over!):

…a warrior especially needs these three things--he must guard his person with strength, shrewdness and care; he must be free in his movements, and he must be quick to draw his sword. In Praise of the New Knighthood (Liber ad milites Templi: De laude novae militae) St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Pat then raised some hackles and drew a plethora of comments with "Why not Christian martial arts?" Why not, indeed. Some things we're supposed to avoid discussing are religion and politics, right? But what's more important than those things, in the big scheme of things? Patrick doesn't shy away from asking the tough questions - on MY BLOG! Good stuff, actually, and I intend to comment on this, and the other posts as soon as possible, and may weigh in with my own posts on these subjects if I can add anything valuable to the debate.

Then Pat finished up with a good post on "Ground randori," to build our skills on the mat. I love ideas like this, and if you do too, head over to Mokuren Dojo for more. Thanks for waxing the floors while you were down there. The TDA Training surface hasn't gleamed like that in years!

Gordon White of The Blue Wave Taekwondo School blog explains "Why Taekwondo differs from Karate." It's a well-written essay on something that many don't know, and he's honest about his bias (WTF) and qualifications for writing on the subject. It's refreshing to see such a disclaimer on a blog post, especially mine, where I often bloviate on subjects with which I have little to no formal training, just perspective. Anyway, if you have any interest in the history and formation of one of the world's most popular martial arts and sports, this is a must-read. I appreciate you coming over Gordon, but I did notice some footprints on my ceilings. Perhaps you should work on your low kicks when you come over??? Great contribution!

With the Black Belt Mama, you never know what you're going to get, so I invited her over with some trepidation (OK, just plain fear!), and was relieved to see her first post,"BBM in the HOUSE!," a lighthearted poke at the martial arts - blooper videos! Not too dangerous, right? Then BBM really took a step out of the box with "Faith and Rank," using the analogy of church attendance to contrast with the concept of rank in the martial arts. She speaks:

It is often heard that once you attain black belt, you're always a black belt. However, any rank up to black belt means nothing if you quit and go back years later. You have to start from scratch. Starting from scratch of course, assumes that you think your accomplishments can only be verified by the color wrapped around your waist. The knowledge that any martial artist takes away from the dojo is theirs to keep and no one can strip that from them, even if the belt and its perceived meaning is taken away.

What is happening on the inside is always more relevant and important than what is happening on the outside. People attending church each week, who leave the building and don't practice courtesy towards others are not going to get an easy pass to heaven just because they are sitting in the pew each week. And karate-ka's who are only concerned with how hard they kick and punch are missing an important element of the martial arts, one that great masters knew was inherently important.

I think she's outdone herself, honestly. I will definitely be commenting on this concept, probably in a separate post, so look for that. I did notice some silver missing, but have been alternatively assured that she'll bring it back (she probably shined it when bored), and that it was some sort of secret agreement for guest posting! As if!

Finally, the Dojo Rat decides to show his face, and then claims that I abused him (see Guest Blogging At TDA Is Brutal !)! I mean really! Anyone with eyes can see that the guy holding the beer IV isn't a doctor, and considering that I wasn't even in the TDA compound at the time that those photos were taken, it's clear that there's a frame-up in the works! Actually, DR kind of steps out of the box a little with that one, too. I was actually close to ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing) from that one!

The Rat finishes with two posts (Aikido And The Dynamic Sphere and Dislocating, Tearing, and Dim Mak) about some excellent grappling tomes, which, with his endorsement, will probably hit the best-seller lists again.

Anyway, coming back to TDA Training world headquarters and seeing all the damage (plus a few improvements), gives me even more reason to feel that I made the right decision in making the location nearly inaccessible.

Thanks to my friends for the help while I was away, and thanks for reading TDA Training!

More:
CoCA thread on Guest Blogging at TDA Training

Dislocating, Tearing, and Dim Mak

Taiji Chin Na


Practical Chin Na

Dojo Rat here again, ending my tour of duty at TDA Training; Nathan! Please take away the keys! BBM promises to return the silverware!
Yesterday's post was on the genteel art of Aikido, where the founder Uyeshiba passed down a sense of martial morality to not damage the opponent too severely. Not so with the Chinese systems, and the sub-arts of Chin Na. While Jujitsu and Aikido are recognized as arts in themselves, Chin Na (to seize, catch or hold) is a sub-category within Chinese arts. The techniques are divided into five groups: 1. dividing (tearing) the muscle/tendon, 2. misplacing (dislocating) the bone, 3. sealing (cutting off) the breath, 4. sealing (pressing) the vein/artery, and 5. pressing or striking Qi meridian channels and "cavity press".
The first book, "Taiji Chin Na" is by the prolific author Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming. This is the book that will convince people that Taiji is indeed a fighting art. Yang takes all the traditional postures of the Yang Chen-fu form and demonstrates the five categories of Chin Na listed above for each posture. "Taiji China Na" provides clear pictures and explanations of techniques, with graphics of the directional circles overlaid onto the photographs. I highly reccomend this book for people who want to understand what the hell they are doing in some of the obscure postures in the Tai Chi Chuan forms, and how to transfer those skills to combat.
The second book, which I am working my way through now is "Practical Chin Na", by Zhao Da Yuan with translation by Tim Cartmell. I had the pleasure of attending a Bagua seminar with Cartmell, so I saw a taste of these techniques in action. Zhao is a fourth-generation Bagua master, and is currently chief martial arts instructor at China's Police Officers Academy. This book does not focus on the movements within forms, instead it offers physics, angles, and anatomical principles that make Chin Na work. Rather than photos, the book has well-drawn pictures that are easy to understand. This book also goes into details of Dim Mak, with illustrated anatomical charts of meridian striking points and the effects of these techniques on the human body.
If you are into the grappling arts at all, both these books will give you ideas of techniques that you can integrate into your system. And if you practice Tai Chi Chuan or Bagua, you absolutely must have these books for reference. New and used copies are available at Amazon.com

Aikido And The Dynamic Sphere

New and used available on Amazon.com

Dojo Rat here again, Gotta get this post in tonight because of an early business meeting tomorrow.
I am a nut for cool grappling and joint-locking techniques. I wrestled in high school all through the '70's, and if Brazilian Jujitsu was avalable during that time, I would have been way into it.
Now I'm an old guy, and I prefer stand-up fighting techniques, including Small-Circle Jujitsu as taught by Wally and Leon Jay and their subsequent instructors. I trained for two years in Aikido with Sensei Charles McCarty who studied under Saito Sensei instructors. What I learned during that time was the dynamics of movement, and how introducing movement to a joint-locking technique can greatly improve how the technique works.
With that said, I would like to suggest that anyone interested in grappling and joint-locks should have this book for reference. The authors, Westbrook and Ratti have created THE DEFINITIVE book on how and why Aikido techniques can improve standing grappling skills and classical pins. The essence of this book is in how the entry to the opponent occurs. Once the bridge is made, continual motion, circles within circles occur. This book has simple illustrations, which are much easier to interpet than photographs. It has a clear categorization of techniques and makes it easy to understand how to handle the entry/bridge, followed by a projection, throw or submission. This book is a must read for stand-up grappling, and is the absolute best book on Aikido I have in my collection. Check it out, "Aikido And The Dynamic Sphere".
Coming up: A pair of the nastiest joint-locking books I've ever read...

Guest Blogging At TDA Is Brutal !

Whew! This guest blogging at TDA Training is rough stuff! When Nathan contacted me over at Dojo Rat, I thought "Sure, I'll help out - how tough could it be?". Well fellow Dojo Rats, I found out just how tough it can be. I said "Hey Mr. TDA; what would you do if I threw a punch?"

He slipped my punch expertly, and...

...Pounded me really, really hard. So then I tried to tackle him and...

I got a knee smash to my face. As if I wasn't already a broken puddle of blood and beer, He showed me one last devastating technique:

But, as tough as TDA Training is, Nathan always shows us Respect.

Let's face it, Nathan at TDA Training is younger, stronger and, well, just plain better looking than Ol' Dojo Rat. But fear not, fellow Rats, I am being well attended to, have a Beer I.V. drip, and am begining a program of self-medication. On to some more serious martial arts ideas tomorrow!

Faith and Rank

When Nathan asked me to guest post, I thought I was agreeing to a solitary post. Instead, he chose to give his guest bloggers three days each to post. Since I sustained a neck injury a couple weeks ago, I've had a hard time coming up with post ideas. Writing about class isn't an option when you can't attend, so I took this down time to read some books that I felt might further my knowledge of the martial arts. One book in particular gave me lots of blog fodder, so I figured I'd share the wealth and put my second post on "Karate Do My Way of Life" by Gichin Funakoshi right here, on this illustrious blog. If you'd like to read the first post inspired by Funakoshi, you can do so here. Be sure to check back as the days go by because Funakoshi is nothing if not full of useful quotes. Now, without further delay, I bring to you the controversial side of Black Belt Mama. . .

Is faith and religion about the church you attend, or is it about the individual and their own journey? It's an interesting question.

While I don't attend church on a regular basis, I do consider myself someone who has faith. Many people would say that true faith is going to church each week and worshipping with a community of people who feel the same way you do. To me, the church is a building. The relationship with a higher authority comes from within the individual. It doesn't matter if that relationship takes place on church grounds or if it's in your bed each night as you say prayers. Of course this is coming from a person who is practically a "Chreaster" (regular Christmas and Easter church-goer) so I may be a bit biased; but biased or not, I think I'm right about this one.

Because the martial arts are often associated with spirituality and development of the person, I started to think about the same concept in terms of the martial arts. Is the martial arts about the dojo you attend, or is it about the individual and their own journey? Does it matter if you study on your own, or within an organization that has rules, standards and kyu ranks?

I used to think that the martial arts was about the color wrapped around your waist. But with each successive promotion I realized that the color and stripes really can't reflect true knowledge, or the inner workings of a martial artist. Should rank be wholly about kata and memorization? Or should it be based on something more substantial? The original martial artists didn't have colored belts to signify their importance, so why do martial artists now place so much emphasis on them?

In "Karate Do My Way of Life", Gichin Funakoshi writes the following:

"Some youthful enthusiasts of karate believe that it can be learned only from instructors in a dojo, but such men are mere technicians, not true karateka. There is a Buddhist saying that 'anyplace can be a dojo,' and that is a saying that anyone who wants to follow the way of karate must never forget. Karate-do is not only the acquisition of certain defensive skills but also the mastering of the art of being a good and honest member of society."

So can you encounter "true karateka" in a dojo setting? Not all dojo's are run by "mere technicians" but the point is definitely a valid one. Anyone in the martial arts has heard the term "McDojo" and stories about dojo's charging a ridiculous amount of money to learn their chosen art. Unfortunately, there are also stories about karate instructors who have less than noble intentions. We've all heard stories about domineering instructors and even students, who use their skills to intentionally hurt others to prove how "good" they really are at their "art."

Funakoshi makes it very clear that it takes a certain kind of person to be a true karateka.

"He who thinks about himself alone and is inconsiderate of others is not qualified to learn Karate-do. Serious students of the art, I have discovered, are always highly considerate of one another. They also demonstrate the great steadfastness of purpose that is essential if one is to continue studying karate over the long period of time that is required."

It is often heard that once you attain black belt, you're always a black belt. However, any rank up to black belt means nothing if you quit and go back years later. You have to start from scratch. Starting from scratch of course, assumes that you think your accomplishments can only be verified by the color wrapped around your waist. The knowledge that any martial artist takes away from the dojo is theirs to keep and no one can strip that from them, even if the belt and its perceived meaning is taken away.

What is happening on the inside is always more relevant and important than what is happening on the outside. People attending church each week, who leave the building and don't practice courtesy towards others are not going to get an easy pass to heaven just because they are sitting in the pew each week. And karate-ka's who are only concerned with how hard they kick and punch are missing an important element of the martial arts, one that great masters knew was inherently important.

BBM in the HOUSE!

Hi, Black Belt Mama here. I'm pretty sure that when I was asked to guest post here, it was assumed I'd do something like this.

There are a couple problems with this though. First, I have no clue what Mr. TDA himself happens to look like. Without denigrated photo's of the gracious host, what's the point? I mean really. The other thing is that Mr. TDA is married. I'm not about serenading a married man. It's just not gonna happen. The third reason is that shaking my booty also requires a bit of neck movement, and the neck is currently in healing mode from an aiki-jujitsu whiplash injury. Somehow I was thinking that a robotic BBM or a BBM in a soft collar just wasn't going to cut it. I think I made the right call here.

That doesn't mean this post has to be without video. Take this one for example, of some wanna-be martial artists. . .

And I thought my audition for the Carrie Underwood lip sync was rough. Hell, I'm practically Bruce Lee in my little video.

Here's another one that demonstrates some of these important lessons:

1. Don't practice karate near a pool, not even a baby pool.
2. Stages are detrimental to kata.
3. Being the board holder can be a dangerous job.

And last but not least. . .
4. Make sure you tie your gi pants extremely well.

Here's to hoping this post doesn't embarrass as much as losing your drawers. Oh my!

Why Taekwondo differs from Karate

Let me start by saying "thanks" to Nathan for inviting me to Guest post on his blog!

My name is Gordon White. I live in Burlington VT and Teach Taekwondo at The Blue Wave Taekwondo school. I have been a Taekwondo practitioner since 1983.

A couple of things I would like to point out:

1. I make no claims of being a martial arts Historian.
2. The Taekwondo I speak of is that of the Kukkiwon and WTF. General Choi Hong Hi, while crucial to the development of Taekwondo in its infancy, for (insert reason here) was ousted from Korea and relocated to Canada, where he continued to promote and develop his style of Taekwon-do. ITF practitioners are likely take a different approach to the material discussed here.

Taekwondo is being practiced in 30,000 U.S. based dojangs. The curriculum varies so greatly however, that "Taekwondo, Tae Kwon Do, TaeKwon-Do" has become another generic term for Martial arts. The essay that I reference takes a step towards explaining why this is. If you find the topic interesting, I highly recommend following the link and reading the entire essay.
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My favorite article about the history and development of Taekwondo is by Steven Capener called "Problems in the Identity and Philosophy of Taekwondo and Their Historical Causes" The paper discusses the confused personalities of Taekwondo; Martial Art, Sport, Fitness program, etc. Mr. Capener discusses this from a historical, and philosophical view point. (Eastern Culture and Western Culture).

One section of the paper identifies the deliberate design qualities the Taekwondo pioneers implemented. In an effort to create a uniquely Korean martial art, they literally took the opposite view of many Karate philosophies. (note: Taekwondo Pioneers are mostly students of the men that opened the first martial arts schools (kwans) in Korea after Japanese occupation ended, eventually coming together as a group to develop Taekwondo as single martial art)

The most visible difference was the intent to develop Taekwondo as a sport. This was something many Karate instructors were not willing to do as quoted in Mr. Capeners Essay:

Many karate instructors in Japan, however, did not understand the significance of this process and by insisting that karate must maintain its lethality, actually hindered its development.

Because of the decision to do this, it led to some other changes as well (Quoted from Mr. Capeners Essay):

The aspects of the competition system which generated the development of the original techniques by which Taekwondo became clearly distinguished from karate and in which new, more modern training values were posited are as follows:

A. The prohibition of attacking the face with hand techniques.
B. The prohibition of attacking below the waist.
C. The prohibition of grabbing the opponent.
D. The use of body protection making full-contact possible.
E. A scoring system which awarded points only for accurate blows of substantial power (full-contact). F. The regulations which allow continuous fighting without interference from the referee (except in cases where the flow of the match must be re-established or a warning given).

Its important to note that not all aspects of Karate training was challenged. Forms, 1 & 3 Steps sparring, self defense applications are all still practiced today and are Taekwondo Versions of these Karate drills.

I really like this essay because it makes no comments about Taekwondo being better then Karate, it simply states that Taekwondo took a different evolutionary path, what those differences are, and why they were chosen.

Taekwondo today is largely governed by 2 global organizations. The Kukkiwon, handles Dan certification, Basics, Forms and the Martial Art Curriculum development of Taekwondo. The World Taekwondo Federation ( WTF ) is an international Sport organization promoting and governing the international and Olympic Sport of Taekwondo.

I hope you enjoyed the post and I didnt bore you to tears.
Gordon

Ground randori

Ok, my turn guest blogging here is just about up. I figured since this is supposed to be a 'TDA Training' blog that I'd post something about training. Grapplers might find this helpful:

Which situation do you suppose might be more instructional:

• a practice in which you get a few repetitions of one grappling move in a somewhat abstract format
• a practice in which you get dozens of repetitions of several related moves in realistic situations

You might make a case for either one, but for my training time, I'd rather participate in the sort of training described in the second example above. More repetitions, greater variety, realistic situations. So what kind of training am I talking about?

Extremely low-resistance ground randori. Get your partner in a hold, but don't cinch it tight. He begins executing whatever escape or action comes to mind, and you roll with it instead of resisting to keep the hold. Roles smoothly reverse and you apply an escape and take a new hold. If you get into a hold that he can't get out of, switch to a different hold and keep switching until he does know an escape. Smooth, flowing give-and-take randori.

How can this possibly be better training than tapping the poor guy every chance you get?

Consider this, you face off and coach yells, "go." it takes you a few seconds to get him into a bad position, a few more seconds to apply a submission technique, and a few more seconds of him fighting before he taps. In all, you might practice one or two technical situations per minute. During that time your buddies doing low-resistance give-and-take on the other side of the mat have experienced both sides of 6-8 situations. You have gotten stronger and you feel good because you submitted your partner, but the other guys have just gotten four times more practice than you have. Over time, who do you think will build up an overwhelming mass of experience in grappling situations?

So, slow, smooth, relaxed, continuous practice is better (for most of your practice) than balls-to-the-wall competitiveness.

Why not Christian martial arts?

I debated with myself about whether to post this at Nathan’s place or at mine, since it is likely controversial. I figure to post it here to get Nathan some traffic, but be aware these are my ideas and not Nathan’s. If you want to play nice and post comments, you‘re welcome to do it here, but if you want to vent or rant, direct it at Mokuren Dojo, not here.

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A while back, Bob Patterson at Striking Thoughts posted an interesting and thoughtful article about Christian martial arts organizations. He thought it was disturbing and incongruous (I hope I'm paraphrasing him correctly) to express Christianity and martial arts in the same venue. Interestingly enough, he seems comfortable combining eastern philosophy and martial arts. Now, all that’s fine. Everyone has opinions and blogs are all about expressing and discussing them. I just wanted to add…

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Why not a Christian martial arts organization?

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Dojo Rat commented in that post and some others that the closed-minded and exclusive attitudes of some Christians make him mad. I’d like to respond to that.

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First, DR is a thoughtful guy, and his comments did not smear all Christians, and for that I’m grateful. I did find it curious though that DR would be angry about being excluded from a group he wouldn’t want to be a part of anyway (closed-minded evangelical fundamentalists).

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Second, there are some Christians who feel that their faith is threatened by worldly things like martial arts and there are other Christians who do not feel threatened by the world. In Romans (I don’t have the verse right on the top of my head) Paul talks about food restrictions and says it’s okay for some groups to have restrictions to protect their faith. Groups that do not feel threatened do not need those same restrictions but they do not need to use their personal freedom to tempt or taunt the folks that do need those restrictions.

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The same is true for martial arts. I figure the folks who feel threatened by the eastern cultural and philosophical and religious associations can still benefit from martial arts training under a more familiar context.

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Also, Joanna at Martial Taichi (http://www.martialtaichi.co.uk/) has taken some heat on several of our blogs lately for her comments about divorcing taichi from the potentially spiritually dangerous (from her perspective) parts, like qi (ki) and trance. My question there is, if you can have evangelical zen martial artists or evangelical taoist martial artists or even fundamental muslim martial artists (and they are perceived as cool), why not evangelical Christian martial artists?

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Y’all bear in mind I love and respect all of you. Now, have at it and play nice in your comments.

Drawing your sword

…a warrior especially needs these three things--he must guard his person with strength, shrewdness and care; he must be free in his movements, and he must be quick to draw his sword. In Praise of the New Knighthood (Liber ad milites Templi: De laude novae militae) St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Pat Parker here, with Mokuren Dojo, guest posting on TDA Training for a couple of days. Thanks, Nathan, for the opportunity.
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St. Bernard knew warriors. Not only was he engaged in large-scale theological battle in his time, but he was also foundational in drawing support for a Crusade as well as the foundation of the Knights Templar. When he wrote the above he was talking literally about the worldly warrior – the crusader of his time, but reading it today I draw a different message.
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“...a warrior…must be quick to draw his sword,” implies to me that one cannot walk around with ones sword always drawn. If you do you will be subject to any of a huge variety of modern stress-related illnesses.
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So, how do you ‘guard your person with strength, shrewdness and care’ without walking around with your sword drawn? One way is to get some understanding of how conflicts arise and have a predefined alertness system. Following is an article that I wrote a while back for another forum. It seems similar to some of the stuff that Nathan posts, so I figured I'd drop it in here. Hope it helps y'all.

Law Enforcement types use a sort of mnemonic or rubric to know when they can justify escalating use of force. The mnemonic is "AOI" which stands for "Ability, Opportunity, Intent" Basically, for someone to be reasonably likely to use violence against you they have to have the ability to physically harm you, an opportunity to do so, and the known or suggested intent to do violence.

This mnemonic can be used sort of like a "alert color code." for instance, when you are perfectly secure in your own home and there is nobody around that has A, O, or I, you can relax. That's "green."

If you see any of the three (A, O, or I) then consider the situation "yellow" and pay more attention to see if the other two factors are involved. If you see any two of the three factors then you should be paying close attention to the situation and starting to work to strategically diffuse it.

If you see all three (A, O, and I) then you should be doing something immediately to make your situation better.

Interestingly, our martial arts train us extensively to diffuse the "A" and the "O". We are always moving offline, flowing with the attack, getting behind the guy's back, releasing, and moving away and these things reduce the other guy's potential "O." The techniques that happen in aiki and judo (i.e. throws, etc... tend to reduce the person's "A" factor to hurt us. I think you pretty much just have to live long enough to get enough wisdom to be able to somewhat accurately judge someone's "I".

Here are a couple of good references for the AOI thing...
http://www.learning-for-life.org/exploring/lawenforcement/study/shootordont.pdf
http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/five_stages.html#five_stages_of_violent_crime

American Martial Arts

A good many blogs in the Convocation or on the Toplist talk about a particular martial art that has a "classical" name, yet when you start to read the posts the author seems to be anything but "classical". For the sake of example, by "classical" I mean a school that's traditional or super-traditional in the classic Japanese dojo sense. So often when I read the posts I get a little disconcerted because what I think should be a purest approach is usually not.

Well as fate would have it, before being invited to be a guest poster here on TDA Training I also just happened to be re-reading Beasley's Mastering Karate. Mr. Beasely is a multiple dan holder in several martial arts, heads up the now-famous Karate College each year and also is a scholar. Anyhow, as I re-read Beasely's book I think I stumbled upon a partial explanation for my discomfort. Beasely talks a lot about how he defines "American Karate". He also uses this term to broadly describe arts that may not be your typical stand-up fighting art (e.g. judo, jujitsu, etc.). Beasely writes:

"Modern karate represents a mixing of skills and practice methods; thus, it often is referred to as eclectic, nonclassical, freestyle, or independent American karate. Moreover, many of the traditional styles have been "Americanized" or updated to include modern kickboxing, weapons, and grappling skills." (Beasley, p. 20)

Beasley goes on to say that most American styles claim lineage with one or more Asian disciplines; however, "American Karate" is an American interpretation of another cultures' art. In a similar vein, Japanese Karate is an interpretation of Chinese arts so I guess it should not surprise me that the martial arts continue to evolve. Beasley then chronicles the history of how American Karate (or should I say American Martial Arts?) has evolved:

-Traditional era (1956-1966): Pretty much the same as traditional Asian arts
-Progressive era (1967-1972): Styles start to mix
-Contact era (1973-1980): Innovations in safety equipment led to partial or full-contact fighting
-International era (1981-1992): Open acceptance of multi-cultural martial arts
-Reality era (1993-2000): UFC-style fighting that blends striking and grappling
-Contemporary era (2001 - present): Americans renew interest in karate's original intent of self-defense.
(Beasely, p. 21)

Interestingly, Beasely blends the philosophies of Gichin Funakoshi (the founder of Shotokan Karate) and Bruce Lee (the founder of Jeet Kune Do) to come up with a middle way. According to the author Funakoshi was more concerned with perfecting one's character through a regimented and very traditional process that was heavy on "character building". Thus, a technique may not have to always be technically valid if the martial artist perfects his or her character; and, for example, walks away from a fight. On the other hand, Lee pretty much gave up on tradition because it was too restrictive for his self-expression. He was more concerned with developing his own personal philosophy that eventually became a martial art. Regardless, if you really think about it both messages still have value.

For Beasley there is no "one best way." Whether he realizes it or not, I think Beasley is warning both traditionalists and those who dismiss traditional martial arts in favor of UFC-style or "reality-based" systems. Here Beasley cautions about how traditions can create dogmas:

"The way the founder chooses is the 'right' way...over time, the right way becomes the only accepted way. The technique moves from a good idea to a tradition not to be changed." (Beasely, p.46)

In the case of the traditionalist, those UFC-types have committed the unthinkable: they deviated from tradition! Yet for the UFC-types many of the classical techniques allegedly have no place in "modern fighting". The irony is that some UFC-types have created their own "tradition", complete with their own dogma. In other words, their dogma says that classical arts have no self-defense value and totally dismiss them outright.

Beasely nails it when talks about punching. He notes that under the right circumstances a classical "chambered" strike can break boards, bricks, and bone. So those that have not experimented with classical techniques are limiting their response. Similarly faster and modern non-chambered jabs, crosses, and hooks can pummel a person into unconsciousness, and almost always beat a classical strike to the target. So, again, the classical artist may be incomplete if he or she is lacking these skills.

I've trained in "Americanized" versions of Wing Chun and now Taekwondo so Beasely book really resonates with me. I think the first time I thought about this conundrum was when I tried to spar against my sabum using boxing strikes and wing chun kicks and blocks. Sabum's superior kicking and footwork shut me down. After that he would often say "If you can kick high you can kick low". Broadening his message to sum up this very long post I'd have to say this to all the martial artists who read this: It's good to keep an open mind because each martial art has value.

~BCP

Farewell my brothers: Sam, Mike and Daniel

As you know I may not get to see you all again, a distinct possibility, I fear. I wanted to put in writing what you've meant to me.

Sam,

We've been together for years, since about '94, I think. I want you to know how much I respect your martial spirit, your effort, and fortitude. Where others have dropped by the wayside, you forged ahead with determination to earn your Cho Dan, then Il Dan over years and miles. I know of no other student who drove around the Washington Beltway for over a year to continue training at the same school. You kept at it.

Our reunion several years later was meant to be. We continued training together, with me learning as much as I taught, and your positive attitude was an inspiration. We taught at the health club, Beyond Defensive Tactics, The Martial Arts for Public Safety courses, and the many women's self-defense seminars, and you provided a foil to me, kept me on track, and gave me someone in whom I could confide.

Your in-fighting standup surpassed mine, and your kicks went from a liability to a weapon, then you learned how to apply everything in a self-defense context, becoming a dangerous man, someone with whom no one should trifle. Way to go!

---

Mike,

It pains me to leave you behind, not "finishing" the course of training that we started. You began as a dull knife, using determination and temper to stay in the battle, but have progressed with humility to a sharpened sword. In just over two years of training, you've progressed to a competent fighter - an excellent accomplishment. I remember when your formally started your training, after completing the Martial Arts for Public Safety course as our most determined student, and punched me in the face three times in a row. I realized at the time that you were serious! I got you back. But it got harder and harder over the last couple of years!

I remember you telling me several times that learning the martial arts has been a dream of yours, and now you have become a martial artist, one who knows there is more to learn, no matter what you now know. I encourage you to continue your training, in anything that interests you, and get together with Mr. Sam to compare notes and share what you've learned.

---

Daniel,

We only trained together for a few months, but I learned more than I taught you. I think we opened your eyes a little to what's out there to learn, and what can work. Your training methods from the Marine Corps Martial Arts Programs (MCMAP), and experience as a MAIT served you well, and gave me valuable context in teaching. After 30+ years in the martial arts, and 24 years of teaching, this old dog learned some new tricks!

You moved away first, but I encourage you to continue your training in a "civilian" martial art, and I'm sure will earn your black belt. As a professional warriors and lifesavers, I encourage you and Mike to always be ready.

---

Gentlemen,

We've been through a lot together, and in you, I've found excellent students and training partners. Even more than that, I consider you my friends. You are always welcome to come to the hills of PA and train at my house.

Nathan Teodoro
Chief Instructor, TDA

THE POWER OF BLOGS

Hey everyone, thanks for taking the time to read these posts. I hope that they’ve met the usual standards of quality found here at TDA Training. This will be my last post as more bloggers are anxiously waiting for their turn to fill in for Nathan. I’ve had a great time writing here!


There are a lot of ways to learn the martial arts; classes (of course), seminars, videos, books, movies, and television to name a few. However, one of the best ways is the relatively new medium of internet blogs.

Blogs are an incredibly useful method of communication, that are only just beginning to be discovered by the general population. You can find information, thoughts, and opinions here that’s hard to find anywhere else.

Classes are a great example. Learning the martial arts is impossible unless you take some sort of class (even if it’s one-on-one instruction). In class, however, we’re usually so busy conditioning our bodies, working on form, practicing technique, etc., that we don’t have time to share our opinions, criticisms, creative ideas, or feelings. It’s hard to build these aspects of learning into the structure of a class.

But, a blog, on the other hand, is the perfect place to discuss these things. There’s no time restraint because the learning takes place outside of class, where people can read at their leisure. There’s also a written archive of posts, so people can always go back and check out the things discussed in the past. Best of all, if readers like or disagree with something, there’s a way for them to leave a comment and begin a discussion.

Often some of our best learning takes place outside of the planned structure of a class. Take my last post, about ‘Dutchboy’ as an example. We would never have discussed what to do about getting spit on in the street during class, there was too much training to be done. However, while shooting the breeze after practice, the topic easily came up.

A blog is a lot like an extended conversation after class. It allows us to cover territory not usually addressed in class and discuss ideas we don’t have time to explore during practice.

Chris Thomas, my instructor, has always claimed that the best information to be learned at a seminar is always shared at the dinner afterward.

“Always go to dinner with the instructor after a seminar,” he’d tell us. “That’s were all of the ‘secrets’ get revealed.”

It’s the open and casual atmosphere that allows people to ask questions and talk about subjects that don’t normally come up during seminar itself. (In fact, it was at a dinner after a seminar that he first met Master Instructor, George Dillman; with whom he went on to write several influential books.)

Like seminars, blogs bring people together, but unlike seminars, the people never have to leave home to meet up. (Nathan now lives in Pennsylvania and I live near Chicago, but we can communicate almost as easily as if I just lived down the block.)

Imagine if legends like Gichin Funakoshi or Bruce Lee had been able to keep a blog. Think about all of the information, theories, and ideas that have been generated by Funakoshi’s books and Lee’s Journals.

Now just imagine how much better it all would have been if others could have shared their thoughts and opinions with these masters online. Sure, there would have been some controversy (there was anyway!) but there would have also been a lot of confusion cleared up as well.

With a blog, questions could have been answered, suggestions added, theories examined and extended. Who knows how much their ground-breaking ideas could have been refined and improved if they had been able to share their thoughts across the internet?

We can only guess how much our arts will develop and grow with this mighty new tool for communication at our disposal.

Blogs are now a huge part of the future for the new Information Age. I’d like to finish my time here by taking time to thank people like Nathan Teodoro for making the martial arts a part of that future.

See you all back at Kicksboxes,

Respectfully,

Rick

WHAT WOULD YOU REALLY DO?

Hello again, it's good to be back for another guest-post.

At kicksboxes, I’ve been writing a series of posts called “The Illusion of Reality,” which have been about the way we imagine our martial art techniques to work versus the way they actually happen. Often, we have an idealized image of the way we will fight which appears plausible in the dojo, but quickly falls apart under the stress of actual combat.

In the series, I cover the physical ways that this happens, but after thinking more about it, I realize that we often have moral ideals about fighting that may, or may not, hold when an actual combat situation arises.


THE MARTIAL ARTS IDEAL

When I first started learning karate at age 12, I foolishly thought that learning a martial art would solve all of my problems. Knowing how to fight, I thought, would stop others from bullying me, keep me safe from ‘bad guys,’ and allow me to beat up anyone that tried to mess with me. It was truly an idealized belief in the martial arts.

Unfortunately, as I grew older, I began to realize that knowing how to fight solved very few problems. There are many ways for people to bully you, and only a few of them are physical.

What can you do if your boss gives you unfair work assignments and deadlines? Challenge him to a fistfight?

And even if you are provoked into a fight, there are always consequences. You could be arrested, sued by your attacker, or run into someone that uses a handgun to fight his battles. There are no guarantees.

The fantasy of becoming a tough-guy who could handle all of my problems with my fists never came true; it couldn’t.

On the other side of the coin is the martial ideal of the ‘peaceful warrior,’ that was drummed into me from my early instructors and movies like “Billy Jack” and “The Karate Kid,” that I grew up watching.

“Karate is only for self defense,” Sensi would say. “Never misuse your skills.”

In the Dojo and in the movies, the message was always the same; the martial artist is the one who never fights unless to protect himself or others from serious harm.

That sounds right doesn’t it? I mean we would never misuse our skills; we would never fight unless we absolutely had to… would we?

I’m not so sure.



DUTCHBOY'S STORY

Back a number of years ago, I trained with the Boxing Team at Eckhart Park Gym in Chicago. It was one of your typical inner city gyms, with a lot of street-tough kids looking for a way to keep out of trouble.

I was kickboxing at the time and needed a place to work on my punching ability. A friend new the head coach and arranged for me and my training partner, John Shaw, to train there.

Several times a week, we would drive down from the suburbs to workout in the gym. We didn’t really fit in very well in that neighborhood, but once everyone realized that we were boxers, they left us alone.

There was one guy who stood out even more than us suburbanites. Everyone called him ‘Dutchboy.’ on account of the fact that he came from Amsterdam. (I can’t even remember his real name.)

Before coming to the states, he was a European middleweight champ. Now he worked in an office at a large bank.

In the early evenings, he would trade his suit and briefcase for a pair of sweaty gloves in a dirty gym to stay in shape.

(Another reason we called him ‘Dutchboy was because he had a goofy haircut that made him look a lot like the character printed on the cans of Dutchboy paint.)

He may have looked a little out of place, but one thing was certain - the gym was his home. That kid could box.

He was tough-as-nails with great endurance, a sharp left hook, and awesome ring management skills. He wasn’t someone I’d want to tangle with.

One day, after practice, we were all sitting around joking and telling stories when Dutchboy asked our coach, an ex-golden gloves fighter named Shawn Casey, a serious question.

Shawn was an old-school, Irish boxer in a town where that means something. He was a wealth of knowledge who earned our respect everyday.

Although he bored us all to death on the basics, we later learned to appreciate his methods. He genuinely cared about each of his fighters, and still pushed us hard. We all loved and admired him for it.

So when Dutchboy asked him this question, we all naturally listened.

“I was walking down the side walk the other day,” Dutchboy told him in his European accent, “passing a stopped bus, when this guy leans out the window and spits right on me - for no reason.”

“I didn’t say anything to him or even notice him,” Dutchboy said. “He just spit right on me!”

(“Probably the haircut,” I thought, but didn’t say anything.)

“I was so mad… I wanted to kill him but I didn’t know what to do, so I just turned and walked away,” he confessed. “Do you think I did the right thing? I mean, what do you do in that situation?”

All eyes turned to Shawn, who gave his usual wise and comforting smile.

“Of course you did the right thing,” he told Dutchboy. “If you went after that guy you might have really killed him - But then you’d be in a lot of trouble with the cops and everything. And who knows maybe that guy had a weapon or maybe he was a gang-banger who had friends with him… you don’t know.”

“You definitely did the right thing,” Shawn told him.

We all nodded in agreement and Dutchboy seemed comforted, but then he pushed the issue.

“So,” he asked, “is that what you would have done?”

“Oh no,” came his answer, “I would have jumped on the bus and beat the hell out of that guy!”


Shawn Casey wasn’t a pacifist, but he was honest.

If I were in that same situation, I’d like to think that I’d act like Dutchboy - It’s certainly the smarter way to go. But I know that inside all of us there’s also a little Shawn Casey waiting to explode.

The point is, no matter how much you’d like to act a certain way in a given situation, you never really know how you’ll react until it actually happens.

I hope this story gives us all something to think about.

Respectfully,

Rick