Reflections on a war

WOW! what an excellent weekend of Martial action at our clash in the capital at the Edinburgh Open. A very slick and well organised event indeed with competitors from across Europe. This did cause the day to drag on quite a bit, but no one can be held responsible except the sheer volume of competitors(maybe it needs to be split over two days next year?). I think it is safe to say that this was some of the toughest battles my guys have come up against in quite a while, and man did they do me and themselves proud! It really took me back to the old fights I competed in when I was younger and hungrier. I enjoyed watching the events unfold before me and it got me to thinking that things haven't changed all that much. There were some stylish fighters, some not so stylish (but efficient none the less) there were bum calls from judges, there were good calls from judges, there was skill, there was will, there was hatred and there was respect. Awesome what a sport to be involved in. Despite the nature of the beast i.e (and on a very base level) you are there to punch/kick someone more often or harder than they do you, most folk are pleasant and grounded. It is hard to get above yourself when there is a queue of folks waiting in the wings to bring you back to earth more often than not with a definitive bump!
One thing I have tried to drill into the guys I am lucky to have in my fighting squad is to never, ever judge an opponent by the way he/she looks. I have, and have seen others, fall foul to "the idea of a fighter" before a punch has even been thrown. Big guy, young guy, athletic guy, pretty guy doesn't make the slightest bit of difference. I have seen them all crumble when they are caught in the solar plexus with a perfectly executed side kick, I have seen that look in their eyes when the plan they had falters at the end of a 12oz glove with their face attached to it. Likewise I have seen the skinny guy, the sheepish guy, the not so pretty guy drop to a knee grit his teeth and rise. Two arms, two legs that is what most of us have in common, that is why no matter what style we practice we are a brotherhood, a sisterhood a martialhood. Most fighters know this. Brawlers don't but that is why they choose their targets/victims carefully and out of fear. A fighter is not afforded that luxury, they face the guy/girl two metres across from them at the given moment in a small act of bravery. It is not the fighter that needs to know this, it is the role of the officials to watch the fight and not the fighter. That is the toughest battle we face. I have seen referees shout "fight!" then I have watched as their eyes drift to the guy in the flash suit, the big guy, the loud guy and I have seen them think "I wonder what this guy will do he looks like he knows what he is doing" And while that is happening I have seen that same guy getting scored upon. We cannot blame them as I have seen fighters do exactly the same thing. I have seen more than capable fighters diminish, tighten up and play it safe as they think "I wonder what this guy will do he looks like he knows what he is doing" As a coach the best advice I can give any tournament fighter is "fuck that, stop that". You are not here to wonder what your opponent will do, you are here to make them do what you make them do. Don't look at who they are, look at what is scoring, what technique is landing and keep doing it.
The greatest truth that any tournament fighter should know is that you are only ever as good as your last fight. Not even that, you'll only ever amount to your last training session. There is not a single fight or fighter that can't be beaten. We must face only one opponent, if you have doubt then you also face yourself as an opponent. What odds do you prefer, one on one or two on one?
If we are only ever as good as our last fight then I am lucky enough to have some serious talent in my ranks. Well done team.

The debate as old as the styles

It never seems to go away, Traditional Martial Arts v Mixed Martial Arts. I would've thought by now that we could reach a conclusion, it's not like people are shy at giving their opinions via the interweb. Well here is mine (ironically via the interweb :) I don't care either way, have both or have neither. Most importantly can we stop going on about it? The real problem comes when we start to argue about which is better. Who would win? Could TMA's Dad beat up MMA's Dad! I've said it before not all Martial Artists are fighters and not all fighters are Martial Artists. A pensioner who has dedicated 20 years to Tai Chi has no more and no less merit than a younger person who has dedicated 10 to Kickboxing. Both Martial Artists but only one is "a fighter". A gangster who once stabbed some hapless victim in the back, or a person who devoted years to becoming a heavyweight boxing champion. Both fighters only one can be described as  "an artist".
 Why is it that we as Martial Artists are expected to be both? By all definitions a discuss thrower should be good at 100m hurdles, a javelin thrower good at the pole vault. They're both athletic events after all. A rugby prop should play well as a basketball centre, it is after all a ball sport! Fighting is only one aspect of Martial Arts. It seems to me that MMA practitioners expect an awful lot from TMA practitioners. "If (INSERT STYLE) is so good, why hasn't one of the so called masters stepped into the Octagon?" You've heard that asked right? what about this? (which may never have been asked): "If George St Pierre is such a great martial artist why doesn't he demo his skill with the spear or the sword?"
I'm being deliberately obtuse as I'm clearly asking the wrong question. The debate really is as old as the styles, but unlike the styles it hasn't evolved.
A traditional guy would get his ass kicked that's why they don't do it! We are told. www.youtube.com/watch?v=51rOr2srDhc
That is Cung Le a Sanda fighter knocking out someone in the Octagon within 20 seconds or so. Sanda is of course a traditional fighting form, so what do you mean? Some other traditional form? Like Jujitsu maybe?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSYmUtqCYeY, What about wrestling? That's probably the oldest fighting form we know off www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBnWgT2en1U. Obviously there is a vital role in MMA for tradition. In fact MMA has much debt to TMA and vice versa. MMA isolated one aspect and ran with it to great success. This is a great thing made possible by traditions past. TMA guys get over it, it isn't ruining the style. It is making it more culturally ubiquitous. People see it and fancy doing something like it because it has a certain appeal. Many don't want to get hurt so approach the side of the martial art not devoted to competitive fighting. I've done both, after getting my black sash I scouted around to develop. I dabbled in MMA whilst having a go a BJJ. I remember in the same week we received the same lesson in an escape from an armbar. The MMA solution was brilliant in its brutal efficiency, the BJJ brilliant in its technical efficiency. Both brilliant both efficient so I took both with me.
 One of the first lessons taught to me by Sifu Steve Newby was to fold my arms: Please give it a go.
Have a look, most people have their dominant arm on the bottom (maybe not doesn't matter). Fold your arms the other way with your dominant arm on the top. Feels weird but has the same final result. You just achieved the same result from a different approach-no big deal, I'm over it already! The point is what are you trying to achieve? Why do YOU do Martial Arts?
 TMA has evolved in some form to become MMA, yet still the debate goes on and on, endlessly repeated never resolved, never evolving. How boring!
When does a discuss thrower have to be good at 100m hurdles? When they choose to compete at Heptathlon that's when. You decide what you want to train, you decide what lessons you take as useful. You don't get to decide which one is better, only which one is more suited to you. Do you want to be a Fighter? Maybe you want to be more? Maybe you want both or maybe you want to be a Rugby prop who plays basketball? It's up to you, but you don't have the right to tell anyone otherwise.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7PPWgQiNtQ

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.