The Warrior Vs The Hero

Everyone seems to be in a philosophical mood at the moment it would appear. Maybe it's the time of year that makes us pause to reflect? We know that there is good and that we have much to be thankful for, but maybe it is something far deeper we have yet to understand? Whatever it is, it is undeniable that something is going on. There is obvious disillusionment that even borders on despair. We know that many things must be destroyed: corruption in all forms (spiritual/physical/monetary), tyranny and fear, oppression, injustice, obsolete systems of government, corporate hierarchies and unfulfilling lifestyles and relationships. (yeah sorry it's going to be one of them blogs-heavy!) I can see it in the art that we are producing, in the films and the music, in the books people write and in our media. We are all tired, but possibly on the verge of something great. A revolution? Every revolution begins with a different way of thinking and that is what I see now. We are saturated as a race and we seek to wring ourselves out. Thinking and theorizing is all well and good but we must leave this place and move to action. In times past we have turned to the warrior. Sadly the Warrior Class has been oppressed. They have been viewed negatively sometimes for good reason. On a planet where warfare has reached such "monsterous and pervasive proportions" this type of aggression and forward momentum is viewed very warily indeed. In the west we opted for a more suitable female friendly "soft masculine" whose time has passed. Aggression can be positive, a stance towards life that rouses,  motivates and energizes us to take the offensive against life's problems. A warrior acts because he/she has to. No questions asked! A warrior is decisive with his/her life. Through training they gain awareness, clarity of mind and have purpose behind their actions which means they can engage against the problem, whatever it is: a shit Government, a shit boss, a shit relationship it really extends to the minor things in life too. A warrior doesn't need to be a hero, you don't need to overdo it!! Drama for the sake of drama, don't use more energy on a problem than you have to. That is what makes the warrior much more important than the hero and much more useful. A warrior can be called on again at any time to face future trials. Don't set out to be a hero, just be, it is only your peers that get to decide if you are a hero or a villain. Times are changing folks, we all feel it right? The battle plan is getting drawn up- we each have to decide where we will be most useful.

Breakthrough China Blog

This one should actually be titled, when did the irrelevant become relevant? If you haven't had the chance to visit China, go, I implore you to find a way. China makes no sense whatsoever, yet it is a society that has functioned for thousands of years long before we (the west) figured it out what to do with ourselves. How it functions is actually unfathomable but looking from the outside it seems to be based around filtering bullshit.It is truly a wonderful place that I cannot do justice to in a simple blog. I promise to write more about it in the near future. In basic terms China changes you. I am a very lucky guy to have experienced it a few times now but I remain jealous of people doing it for the first time. It's not so much an assault on the senses, it's more like being asked a question in a quiz you don't know the answer to nor the rules of the game you are engaged in: ie you may fluke the correct answer but still not win the point! A good 85 to 95% of the time you do not know what is going on, the culture is so far removed from what's normal in the west that it is preposterous to even try to get a handle on it. If you try to achieve something it fails for a number of intangible but perfectly reasonable reasons. You may try again but eventually you give up and appreciate that whatever you were trying to achieve really wasn't that important in the first place. If you don't have this ability to say "fuck it" then perhaps you are not felicitous for life in the east, that is not the fault of China more a character flaw within yourself. A minor anecdote if you will indulge me. We were asked to demo our skills after a meal with various Masters which included much drinking of Chinese white spirit called Baijiu. So we moved next door to a theatre owned by a local film star where we were added to the bill of an ongoing show. We then demonstrated our martial arts to sound effects provided by one of our top instructors who had been introduced previously as a professional singer from England, who had just completed a stint singing "You are my Sunshine" From this Demo a job was offered to teach the entire Hunan Police force arresting techniques to one of my Sifus!! I Swear you can't make it up. some say truth is stranger than fiction. I say China is weirder than a bottle of crisps. I loved every second of the trip and there were many more stories to spring from it which I will put down in this blog.
Truth is I really struggled this time to readjust to life over in my homeland. My outlook has changed and I see the irrelevance of many things over here. So much so I had to disappear for a couple of days to Buddhist community on a secluded island just off the west coast of Scotland. For real check out the great work going on on the Holy Isle.http://www.holyisland.org/ Life in the west has lost it's focus on what is important. We have put too much time and effort into pointless ventures that hold no bearing on what is needed in society. Not just at this point in our development as a Human race but in general, we have strayed very far from the path that most matters. Until today I was sure there were only two ways to knock someone out, either Neurological means or vascular methods. Then I sat through some IT training, to be fair it was a bit of a combination of both. Neurological from boredom and vascular from lack of air in the dryness of the delivery. I have shifted in my consciousness and see the world in the bigger picture, much of the credit goes to Grandmaster Li Zhiyi and to China. There is a man who has it right. Again a blog shall follow about this unique man (pic)
I need to sum it all up, what is today's message? I wish I lived in China? Yes maybe. But relevance still exists in Martial Arts. It is one thing that will always be relevant in a world full of inconsequential training schemes, jobsworths and enhanced advertisements (seriously that's a thing now-check out http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/shazam-introduces-engagement-metric-tv-ads-150450 also fuck me there is a website called adweek.com)
All Martial techniques are valid, sure we can learn locking, chokes and Chi Na even though in reality we'll just slug someone. Even though we know punching someone in the street is not as valid as using an open hand, you know what? we'll still feed them a haymaker against all our training, it's life it's who we are. But we need to maintain those techniques- if we engage in a debate with someone who has all the facts we will lose. If we engage in a scrap with someone who has more physical answers we will lose . Keep your martial arts relevant but above all keep your life relevant.

Reflecting on the good things

Well another week is upon us and those Monday Blues might be getting you down but we have much to celebrate in the world of Combat sports. I was at a Kung Fu grading this morning watching the new students progress and then we got stuck into some of our own syllabus, more on that later!
A couple of things to celebrate in the meantime...
How about the very sensible decision by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to re-instate Wrestling into the games, the less said about their decision to remove it in the firstplace the better!!
It's wrestling folks, one of the pillars on which the games and all Combat sports were built. Added to the games in 684BC how on earth could the games continue without it? Heracles and Theseus would be furious if they caught wind of the plot to remove it. Handy fighting tip: never incur the wrath of Gods especially ones that invented Combat Sports mmmkay? However a sense and a respect for history prevailed and Jacques Rogge made a wise choice. For wrestling some major overhaul was required but all for the better. A change of rules (they hadn't really changed since Heracles and Theseus wrote them) and a more inclusive policy with regard to female medal categories.
Talking of women in the Combat sphere here is a great cause to celebrate. A woman I was introduced to this week whilst having some down time. Guru Besar Rita Suwanda! Not only one of a few female Masters in the world but one from Indonesia too. How is that special? Well Indonesia's religion is predominantly Islam with the largest Muslim population in the world. Practicing Martial Arts and being a woman is tough enough let alone being a Master. Guru Rita is an exponent of Penkat Silat, check out the "Fight Quest" show on youtube for an insight.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2py-S8tcng&list=TL3jTAZzWwjtk
Another great female fighter pulling apart the perceptions of what a Martial Artist is, is Rosi Sexton. Or rather Dr. Rosi Sexton who holds a Phd in theoretical computer science, a degree in Osteopathy as well as a first class honours degree in Mathematics (from Cambridge no less) Not only does she scrap with the other 12 pro females in the UFC she balances it all whilst looking after an 8 year old son. She is in the news today as she makes her UK debut for the UFC next month. Good Luck.
What else can we celebrate? How about the positive impact that the Combat Sports are having on the favelas of Rio de Janeiro? I salute British founder of Luta Pela Paz (fight for peace) Luke Dowdney. Who has brought boxing to the gang war happening in the slums. Engaging the kids and would be gangsters and guiding them onto a different path away from the violence and drugs that they are so conditioned to. He says "Boxing was a way of opening a dialogue with kids not engaging in conventional programmes. It makes a young person strong, teaches you discipline and about never giving up"
Anyway lots of positive vibes going around but back to todays training to morn a small but significant loss! The Lau Gar syllabus is changing- this too will be a positive especially if the knife "defence" is re-examined! But I'm shocked to hear that something has been removed. The Double kick (cern-tak) I agree that it is not in keeping with the low kicks of the traditional aspect. The double kick is however a belter on the tournament circuit, which I understand fully is the reason why it is being removed from the traditional syllabus. But it still functions and it functions better than the "Machine gun kick" becoming more synonymous with point fighting (not that there is an intention to replace it). The thing about true Lau is that it has always been associated with tournament fighting indeed it is a functional fighting art which makes it a rare breed. So I think this one is a bad choice. I for one will still be teaching it. It may even squeeze the advantage my way so by all means let it go if you choose. My advice, step away from syllabus it should never be set in stone. "The art lives where freedom is" Thats what Bruce said and thats a good thing to reflect upon. I'm sure Rita, Rosi and Luke would agree.
I'll write soon I'm off to China next week!

The Self Defense conundrum

It's always there on the flyer for the new Martial Arts Club, but what is it? Despite the very obvious kinship between Martial Arts and self defense I have to be honest and say that there are a whole bunch of clubs which fail to grasp or teach the subject. I admit that no club is beyond this, because self defense is a very difficult thing to define. We would be at fault to suggest that because a student practices a Martial style they would instantly be able to defend themselves. To know something and to do something does not go hand in hand. The style (whatever it is) has to be adaptive by nature for it to function as self defense. It's has to be capable of instant evolution. As I have stated in previous blogs, stuff never goes down how you want it to. The very nature of teaching self defense is incongruous. Affecting a self contained scenario to promote a technique is almost a waste of time! I use "almost" to avoid sweeping statements, there is always  place to promote understanding and build a repertoire of moves
Incredible things happen to human physiology during times of stress and all fairly instantaneously. Do you want a brief biology lesson about fear response? Probably not but whatever it's my blog :) Our reaction to fear response goes two ways, the high road and the low road. The high road is thoughtful and considers the stimulus carefully in the Hippocampus. This is the memory part of your brain and cross references whats going on at that moment with what you already know and makes decisions based on that. The low road swings by the Amygdalae which is associated with emotional responses. If something is happening you don't like the signals move to the Hypothalamus which floods your bloodstream with approx 30 stress hormones turning you into either The Flash or The Hulk. Neural activity combines with the hormones to create the famous fight or flight response, it's pretty awesome stuff, but it comes at the price of degraded small motor functions like accuracy or complex motions. In general technique goes out the window, don't believe me google any kind of street fight and cringe at what you see. However I've been there, seen it, done it and unfortunately that is how it looks. Certain styles get criticised more than others when it comes to self defense. BJJ and MMA, you must of heard it yourself "The last place you want to be in a fight is on the ground" True, whilst you're fumbling with your failing complex motor functions to put a choke on, someone else gets stuck in! Yes it happens but what BJJ and MMA have as their weakness they also have as their biggest advantage. They weren't designed for self defense they were designed as sport. What do combat sports have in abundance?  A competitive edge, a striving will to succeed and better the other person! What do you need more in a situation of surmounting odds? The tenacity to fight like a caged tiger regardless of technical ability. This is what some clubs lack, never ever underestimate tenacity training when it comes to self defense, it should be a war not a battle. Self defense is about avoidance and de-escalation, valuable skills but arguably not a tenant of the true Martial Arts.  Martial after all is taken from the Roman God of war. So it's down to how you actually teach self defense, it's about what you promote as the fundamentals. Is an encyclopedia of moves enough or do you have to get students a bit hungry... A famous fable to finish sure you've heard it before. A Grandfather and a child watch a fox chase a rabbit. The child asks "Who do you think will come out on top Grandad?" Grandad says" The rabbit will escape" The kid asks how he can be so sure? Grandad replies "The fox is running for his dinner, the rabbit is running for his life".... That's how the fable ends but in my version the child concludes by questioning "how hungry do you think the fox was?"

"Not everyone has the right to be a Champion.......

........but everyone has the right to be a contender" This is what I quoted this morning at Fight Club but still can't remember who it was that said it! Anyway I'm sure you get the point. The way things are today it could not be easier to find yourself a Martial habit. Spare a thought for the men and women of decades past who originally brought the mysteries of the orient to the shores of the UK. Grandmaster Sken of Muay Thai, Master Yau of the BKFA, Yukio Tani of Judo to name but a few. What of the more recent trailblazers Ticky Donovan, Rick Young and our very own Steven Burton. The list goes on. There are of course lesser knowns who have dilligently plugged away often behind the scenes George Kerr, Vadim Kolganov both very active in Scotland. When many of these guys were younger there wasn't so much to choose from and even the ones they could choose from were not necessarily the best choice. I came along a generation later and even for me there was nowhere near the saturation of the market as there is now. So have Combat Arts become in some way less special because of ubiquity? I certainly don't think so but marketing and the reducing of Styles to "products" has taken its toll. Styles/systems have had to change to find a place in a much more cut throat market place. The flashier ones have proven more successful in the short term, but the Martial Giants (Karate, Judo, Boxing, Kung Fu) although not in vogue sustain.
I was in a very privileged position this morning, sitting with four individuals who have not lost sight of that. People the world don't know but gents who have worked tirelessly to provide others a place to train and a class to train in. I've been around for a while I've travelled Europe as a fighter and I have travelled to the orient as a student with a thirst. I've done this partly for me and partly for the next generation. Of course you should too if the opportunity arises but today you don't have to. The resources are available to you right now and right here. I am so proud to say that I have access to our own gym, a dream that many Martial Artists have. It is imperative that it sustains through tough times. People take it for granted that the Instructors and the class will always be there when they are ready. Well the Instructors and the classes are always ready even when you are not. Too tired to train? Not really in the mood? Maybe still a bit sore from last week? Maybe you don't even have the right to be a contender?
You don't owe me anything, you owe yourself. Likewise, I don't owe you anything but I (like many) will give it. It is a brotherhood forged in pain, sweat, effort and laughter. Be a part of it.

Conception over perfection.

To envisage is to contemplate or devise something. We aim for perfection but invariably fall short. Thats okay though. The real talent lies in coming up with the plan, everybody knows that stuff never goes right in the execution of that plan. That should not be a reason to avoid something. We can train in a way that promotes fluidity of the mind, if a chosen course of action or technique fails we can reorganise or restructure to begin again. During times of stress we don't always get the luxury of throwing the optimal strike from the optimal stance. Anyone who has taken part in any combat scenario can appreciate that, but we deal with it. Sometimes even in times of great calm, during meditation for example, a spanner gets thrown in the works. A strange sensation, or a glimpse of something or a full on moment of complete understanding. One of the strangest things that has happened to me whilst I was meditating was that I disappeared! Hard to describe really but I became so aware of the things around me that I lost any perspective of myself. How did I deal with it? I think I decided it was the coolest thing that had ever happened to me and without panic reorganised and restructured and began again. If you wish to really practice Martial Arts you cannot slack in the cultivation of the internal systems of the body. Strengthen all parts of your physical body but if you neglect the energy systems at work within yourself you have only half trained and you will only ever half train. The energy systems relate much more closely to your health and well being. In my experience of Martial Artists I have noticed a strange dichotomy of many. On the one hand an acceptant, tolerant and of flexible mind bunch, on the other hand an unbending judgemental even borderline spiteful bunch. The latter is often brought to the fore when the internal arts are brought up. This is very evident in my "mother tounge martial art", there is a clear divide of camps. Really it is coming from people who should know better and conduct themselves more appropriately but their collective fear and lack of respect seems to be debilitating them. The previous Master of the style was a practitioner of the internal arts and discussion with the current Master would indicate that he was a practioner of some advance skill. This seems to be lost on some, their scoffing and pseudo-sapient attitude is offensive to the style that has brought me much pleasure in the many years I have been practicing. There are very few true Masters out there but there is one to which we should always defer, our own selves. Spend even a few minutes with that guy everday and you will see an improvement in many things. That is the very basic beginnings of internal training, is it really that hard to conceive?

Choose your weapon

Weaponry is a huge part of any traditional style. It is a huge selling point for many but is often reserved for the more advanced students. The reasoning behind that train of thought: you should have a fairly advanced understanding of the styles empty hand rudiments before you get anywhere near a wepon so you can fully operate it. Also there are health and safety issues of having untrained individuals swinging poles and blades around. Ironic when you think that the entire point of a weapon is to cause harm to someone! Traditionally of course the weapon was used to gain an advantage on an opponent especially if you happen to not be so adroit. So we seem to have lost our connection to the classic weaponry. Most weapons sprang from the use they had in the fields as farming tools. They evolved from apparatus that served man to apparatus that could sever a man. They function as a gruesome reminder to ages past and to the martial heritage of our chosen art. Times have changed and we have more efficient weapons but training the classic weapons should remain, we truly benefit from the inclusion of such things in the styles. The appreciation grows, we see how devastating the techniques can be and most normal folk accept that they do not want to see that weapon in action. In this way we see the way of peace in the paraphernalia of war. The combative merit should be taught above all, through that ferociousness and the control that the practitioner displays we find the hidden beauty whilst recognising the ugliness of it. This is why I am againt the musical kata and musical weaponry forms that many people enjoy! Not only is there next to no combative merit to the techniques they distance themselves from the function of a weapon to the point of irresponsible. The showboating and the way in which the weaponry is treated so lightly troubles me. Perhaps I over analyse, but when it comes to leverage over someone perhaps you should think more carefully before employing it?

Sometimes it gets tough

Well it's been a busy month for Breakthrough so apologies for neglecting the blog. Like many Martial Artists out there I also work a full time job and the month of June is the biggest challenge for me in my "Other Life". Breakthough most recently has put San Shou into focus, the tough contact sport which is the basis of many Wu Shu tournaments. It is so much fun, but is at the end of the day a contact sport. Thats right, I choose to engage in fight sports it makes me happy despite my senescent body! I teach a lot of good students and a lot of good people. One of whom recently and sadly passed away in very tragic circumstances. Big D or Tenacious D will be missed but never forgotten. He had the ability to inject fun into proceedings and his presence in a room, and the efforts that he made,served as a shining example to all who took their ensuing steps into the Martial World. Big D's driven nature happily continues on within some of the other students. Yes they are all progressing and getting tougher and tougher to handle on the mats. A good instructor should spar with his students, surely a great instructor should get beaten by them? Then it means he has nothing more to give? I managed to get a good couple of black eyes from the last big fight sesh that we did. My father with excellent comic timing (and a pinch of salt) asked when next I saw him "So have you finally met your match?". One of my newest and youngest students asked how it had happened at the next class, when I told him he still failed to comprehend and incredulously blurted "how?"

We engage in life and in sport for various reasons. Nowhere near the top of the list is the "to get hurt" option but it does happen due to the nature of the respective beasts. I am surprised at peoples surprise in seeing bruises or scars. Pursue it and try it out, sometimes things don't go according to plan. I can continue pointing the way from my understanding none the less. As for Big D he will too. His role has changed but he is right there, in our hearts and in our laughter as he always was. Wherever he is now he still has something to teach us, his understanding however will be far more vast than mine. Take it easy till next time Derek. I'm sure you still owe me a scrap!!

Yin Yang type of thing.

I really enjoyed teaching last nights' Breakthrough class. I run a Kickboxing class before hand and it turned out to be a pretty sweaty, full on affair. Full of agressive contact drills and a big chunk of sparring. The problem was that I had always intended to teach bits and pieces from Tai Chi in the second class. Well that wasn't the problem in fact, the issue was that all of the guys who do the Kickboxing stay on to get the Breakthrough training. Maximum respect to them all, I've always felt that training intensely for longer than an hour is too much to ask of anyone. In this scenario we were going from straight forward "Grunt and Punt" which is the best way to train Kickboxing, (also I feel that term should get as much recognition as "Ground and Pound" or "Sprawl and Brawl") to the seemingly more gentle and extremely more complex art of Tai Chi. So I had to bridge the gap. What better way to do it than with combat application from the very first few steps of a Tai Chi form? It is often the misconception that Tai Chi is gentle, within it lies some of the greatest and most painful techniques you could find. I was so happy to see the guys embrace the "take something hard and pointy and put it somewhere fragile" (minds out of the gutter folks combat is a serious business). That is as thorough as all combat needs to get really, which shows that Kickboxing and Tai Chi are as equally complex as they are simple! I don't know how many times I said "There is always something you can hit" and was really pleased to see the students apply that and come up with some awesome stuff! We moved on to some basic pushing hands, which in my opinion is actually the most advanced type of combat. So we moved in a beautiful cycle that took us from the Yang that is "Grunt and Punt" to the Yin of "Yield and Shield" (oh thats good!!)
I think that we should approach all our training from this holistic point of view. We cannot neglect any part of our training. At first it may seem that you find no use for something, or that it's not your thing. That's fine but I think that if we look deeper we see that the same principles often apply. It is easy to think about it in martial terms, a fight is still a fight no matter how you approach it. We will find victory in that fight by applying much of the same strategic measures. We will benefit from having hardened our bodies and from sharpening our minds. We will fight to our opponents weakness and not to our strengths. We will exploit a moment and through constant good practice we will find those moments more frequently. It's a great game to be in! I think that todays' meditation should be based around the principles of pushing hands "it is wise to yield but never be weak"

Martial Secrets revealed!!

It's time for a Breakthrough, but how do we go about getting one? Training has to follow a plan. That plan has to develop over time and has to have progression. We start small but move on. This is how we improve physically too, by overloading our bodies. Our bodies love that, we train but if we maintain the intensity and duration we do not improve. We have to use it up, we have to max it out, we have to get uncomfortable and sure enough our body will adapt and develop. These are of course the basic principles of all physical exercise ie weight lifting, cardio training and athletic training, so how do we go about improving on technique? Practice of course, but practice does not always develop technique alone we have to have good practice. Some of my technique has in fact reversed despite my length of training. My butterfly stance (a weird crouching  twisty type of stance seen in the butterfly knife set) has become awful! I used to be alright at it but I carry a hip injury which means I can no longer have a good practice of it. So what can I do? I'm going to have to develop a way in which I can do it without proper technique. I'm going to have to learn how to wing it! It is an essential skill in Martial Arts. Practice a hand block or a kick block, then have your opponent go for you, I mean really go for you and you will see that your practiced movements have had to adapt. Controversial right? Absolutely, we are told that technique always beats brute force. It's not true guys, not in real life. The technique has to adapt but it has to be understood in the first place so that you can adapt it. In the real world, where you are more likely to need your martial arts we are subject to many more factors. Weather, surface, clothing you are wearing, how much you have had to drink etc etc... You will never be technically correct trying to throw a spin kick whilst wearing jeans, on the street, in the rain after 3 pints! But what if you had to, well I can assure you, you adapt. Taking the technique that has been drilled into your muscle memory you will pull something off. It might be cool, it might not, but I can safely say it won't look like the kick you threw at your last grading.
So what is the secret if it isn't in the technique? There is no secret, it all comes down to the training method. What if you had been training how to throw a spin kick whilst wearing jeans, on the street, in the rain after 3 pints? It would look a whole lot nicer than if you hadn't. So what next? how do we get this breakthough? By pressure testing it of course, by having someone try and "do one on you". The merits of pressure testing stuff have been advocated for a long time, but no one ever talks about how much fun it is! You get roughed up, sometimes you fail but always you are forced to wing it! Thats life too, you have to learn for yourself, you have to make mistakes you have to make it up! However you can do it from a place of understanding. That understanding has to come from you though from your own breakthroughs, not because someone else told you it would work but because YOU made it work! Keep training, get as much info as you can and give it a good practice! Todays meditation- a mistake only becomes an error if it is allowed to continue

Be of one mind, your own.

I finished the filming of the latest set of "2 Minute Breakthroughs" at Mission Training Systems on Tuesday. The videos will be appearing very soon on Breakthrough Combats' Youtube channel. The Filming part is the easy part and a huge thank you goes to the Strength and Conditioning coach Johnny Elliot for giving his time. He was very informative and natural on the camera. Johnny and I had a discussion about what I was trying to achieve and it was very simple for him to translate that into some practical exercises to try at home.

The whole point behind the videos is to give some inspiration and ideas for people to give it a go! The hardest part starts after you have done them! The scrutiny of others begins. The videos are not intended to be a "This is how it should be done" type of thing. They are a "This is one way in which you could try" type of thing, like advice, good or bad it does not need to be heeded. Whenever you do a technique based video it amazes me how much hatred it inspires in people. Of course I have seen some awful stuff out on Youtube, non functional or plain silly but never has it created so much anger within that I couldn't let it go. Like bad advice (and sadly some good advice) I just ignore it. I was surprised when Johnny said that he has also received some abuse for his Strength and conditioning coaching techniques. It's crazy that someone out there in the big bad internet would like to offer an uninformed baseless opinion about anything, about everything even!

Anyway this is not the case with the new series of 2 Minute Breakthroughs, Johnny did an excellent job and made it very specific to the Combat Arts. It all comes down to justification. My whole martial career has had a constant justification required. I am surrounded by peers, good friends and good Martial Artist, many of them higher grades than me. But their Martial Arts are not my Martial Arts. How they go about teaching or expressing what they want to do is no concern of mine, that sounds harsh but I mean it in the best way. I respect them and their opinions of course but we cannot become robots. We all have to add our own personality to it, that is how things evolve. Provided that the teachings do not jeopardise the students safety, be it through unsafe training methods or false information then it's all good. Each to their own. I am getting more experienced everyday and have grown tired of justifying myself to others. This is one of the main driving forces behind starting Breakthrough. It is scary to not have the security of others but the freedom it provides in teaching more than makes up for it. If I can justify it to myself and my students then that is all I need.

So go out and try something. If you enjoy it keep it up. If you don't then stop. You don't need to belittle or badmouth it. There are many options and most of us are out there trying to give a helping hand. So what should todays meditation be? I think it would be fitting if I said that is entirely up to you.....

Getting your priorities straight

Obviously I am a great believer in the things that can be achieved with Martial Arts. Not just through physical  training, but through the qualities that are inherent within its teachings: discipline, respect and humanity. One of the greatest exports that Britain has is its pugilistic merits. " The British have always been handy with their fists" to quote a book from the turn of the century that's title escapes me!
Boxing has been removed from the school curriculum in the UK since 1962, but there has been a serious campaign in recent years to get it back up there.

"Chairman of the Amateur Boxing Association Keith Walters said boxing in schools could benefit children by boosting their overall fitness, reaching out to disengaged young people and improving their self-esteem, discipline and self confidence."

I couldn't agree more but boxing is stuck with the label of violence, but only to those who do not practice it. If you are a martial artist of any discipline/style I think that you too would see that this label is unfair! It is often equated that cultivating a healthy sense of competition is damaging to our youth. Well I say that is the biggest pile of bullshit I've heard. To send your children off into the world with no real sense of the hardship or unfairness of life is irresponsible. Yet here, whilst in school, we can cement values in our primary kids that will take them through life, standing them in good stead for adulthood. Teach them that the world owes them nothing but does not hold it against them if they try their hardest. Sometimes no matter how hard you try it may not be enough, but respect is earned from oneself and from ones peers by trying. Compete in safety against someone who holds the same principles as you and you will find a true friend not an enemy. I digress, my true point here is that the combat arts have never received the true backing of the people that can make a difference:the ones who hold the purse strings. It's all about the bandwagon for UK Sport and Sport Scotland. I've been there looking for funding in previous years-no chance, despite some of our brightest talent emerging from the field of contact sport. I hold up any amateur practitioner of fight sports over that of a professional Football player as a role model any day. We train hard and juggle more things for less reward to be labelled as thugs. I know fighters I've been around them, in various countries, to know they are the nicest group of people you could meet. Why? because they have discipline, respect and humanity. In Britain amateur boxing engenders those qualities. No one cared until the Olympics of 2012 where we cleaned up. Support was suddenly very forthcoming from the government. Sports Minister Hugh Robertson has recently warned of government intervention as the sport is in serious danger of losing £10 million of IOC(International Olympic Committee) funding over a battle between governing bodies.What is more important Hugh? the lack of development in the sport or the financial investment? So what is today's message? Stay true to what you love and stay in love with what is true to you.

What it all comes down to...

One of my ex girlfriends was a high level sportswoman (not that I bragging....) We shared many opinions about training but she said something to me that helped influence my view. She competed in the Triple-jump and was a firm believer that the basis for all sport was athletics. If, through training, she could add a centimetre onto each of the stages of the hop, the step or the jump she effectively could improve her jump three times over. It was all connected. Therefore if I could improve my triple jump did that mean I could improve my Martial Arts? Absolutely, if I take one example to work on plyometrics, particularly the amortization phase, I can improve my kicking speed and power.
What am I talking about? The amortization phase is the transition point between two kicks for the same leg. Yes you can double kick without putting the foot down in-between, but you will not generate the same amount of force in the second kick from muscle work alone. However if you do put the foot down, the time it spends on the floor must be kept to a minimum. It gets very complicated as we get into the eccentric and the concentric phase, load on the agonist muscles etc etc. Basically the kick creates elastic like energy which is stored in the foot between the two phases. That energy can be used to "bounce back" through your second kick. The longer the foot is on the floor the more of that energy dissipates. If you want to see it in action the best example would be to look at a Thai Boxer throwing multiple kicks from the same side. Alternatively look at a triple jumper, I was never very good at that though(I think that's why she dumped me).
So the sum of all movements is based on very small parts, if you can improve any one of those parts you will improve the complete action. That is why I am very pleased to say that the trainers at Mission Training systems have agreed to help out with the next bunch of "2 Minute Breakthroughs". With their knowledge of athletic movement, anatomy and sport we should be able to come up with some useful tasks you can practice. Many thanks to them. So what is today's meditation? Again this applies to life as much as it applies to combat:
Improve one small aspect and feel the benefits.

The Warm Up

The warm up is absolutely vital for safe exercise in whatever your chosen sport. They can take on a bit of a life of their own however. When I was first asked to teach my  Instructor would often ask me to take care of the warm up for him, usually for him to do all the club admin, I realise later with my own experience there is nothing more tiresome than hearing your own voice over two hours so that probably played a part. So I used to give the guys a bit of a hard time. Thinking that I was actually doing some good making them sweat and groan as I kept counting out the push ups. How boring! The sweating and the groaning should happen throughout the class not just in the first part! This was the problem, the warm up had become an event in itself completely detracting from the time the senior Instructor had with the students during which time they would actually learn stuff. Push ups, sit ups all need to be done but they don't have to be hammered out without mercy! All of a sudden the warm up was taking between 30 and 40 minutes. Although I teach, I still train. I take my place in the ranks and get on with it. Nothing bores me more than a warm up! Especially when the warm up has nothing to do with whats going on in the class plan. Why do push ups if you're working stances? The legs are warmed up and mobilised so that you are safe from injury when the real work begins. Don't lose sight of your training goals there are hundreds upon hundreds of full body workouts that take less than 10 minutes. They are not warm ups however, they are actual exercise programmes which still require a warm up. There is no reason to do a half hour warm up for a 10 minute programme. With all Combat Arts there is much more interesting stuff to be getting on with than push ups and sit ups. What you are doing, be it punches, kicks, wrestling or stances these are the things that will help your strength, help your core and generally help your fitness levels. Take 5 minutes to get the blood pumping then the rest of the night is yours to get the brain working and the techniques working. So today's meditation is an oldie but a goodie, enjoy your training, don't endure it!

Today's meditation applies to life as well as Combat

You don't need to know the goal, but always operate with purpose and it will be achieved.

Daily Meditations

Breakthrough Combat Arts has its own blog, how exciting! Keep up to date with all goings on with  Breakthrough right here. I've had a lot of time on my hands today and turned my attention to the class plan for this week. One of my favourite styles is Wing Chun. I love the approach that Wing Chun promotes (straight to the point). I have even had the pleasure of training bits and pieces of it (in fact I trained Ving Tsun if someone more enlightened wished to explain the difference I'd be eternally grateful) so elements of it will feature at The Phoenix Studio this week. Whilst thinking about how best to illustrate the dynamic beauty of the style I started to think about what kind of drills would be most useful to express it. This lead me to have a bit of a Breakthrough moment myself. One of the things I want to let people play with is the bridge or the Bong Sau, so I started thinking about movements that could be used around the bridge for trapping. Lo and behold motions from the very first empty hand form in Lau Gar seemed to be the most logical route to follow. I even found a pretty awesome use for tricky tenth and eleventh movements of Kay Boon Sau Fa! I hope to see plenty people there on Tuesday so together we can reach the ultimate destination, that of understanding!! I'll leave you with a daily meditation something that I plan to do each day (providing I can get on the interweb)

A man is always more than what people say about him.