It is amazing what a few minutes of time can do to “clear the air.”  I certainly should have brought up a lot of things to my instructors at various points in my own training, and I see now that was my error and not theirs.  If I could go back in time I would have worked harder at keeping the lines of communication open.

Although the lists contain a lot of different names and numbers, the movements are not new.  The difference is the sequencing and the packaging of the technique, not the movements themselves.  No student will be held back from promotion as a result of these changes.  In reality, the curriculum update should accelerate progress, not slow it down.

The new program is based on a single drill which contains all the basic empty hand techniques students will need through Green Belt.  The entire drill is 76 movements, but students will be asked to memorize and demonstrate it in pieces or sections.

We do have plans to create some new videos, so please be patient as we find time to get them done.

There are always several subjects I want to write about and they are all important.  Lately it seems that most of what comes into my mind is the degeneration of traditional martial arts and how that effects our society or maybe it is the other way around?

The values of hard work, and the idea of “putting in your time,” don’t seem to be alive in our culture today.  We all want to get things the quickest, easiest way possible.  Acquiring skill in the martial arts is anything BUT quick or easy.  The result of this conflict is that the beauty of traditional styles is becoming diluted, undermined and cast aside.

People now equate martial arts with MMA fighting.  Ten years ago, when people found out I did martial arts they would say things like “Do you do karate?” or they would make some silly remark like “Are you a master?”  In the last 2-3 years every time I end up discussing what I do, people always bring up something about MMA fighting or the UFC.  Now it is “Are you into that MMA stuff?” or “Do you like stand-up or ground fighting better?”

To my great disappointment, the tremendous value of what martial arts used to be has been reduced to three letters, MMA or (UFC).  Please understand, I am not saying anything derogatory about MMA (I actually like many things about it).  However, it is not an “art” the way traditional systems are, and therefore is incomplete as a fighting style and as a discipline.

MMA is just what people have been shown over and over again, and it has become glorified by the media.  Thinking of MMA as “the best style,” is sort of like thinking that an attractive woman is “the one,” without getting to know her.  Sure she is beautiful, but does she have brains?  The MMA scene is the glossy surface of a world that has been tarnished and has lost its glow due lack of leadership and vision (and marketing).  There is obviously more to say here . . .

Many people have the idea that because martial arts is from the East, that it somehow contains mystical, magical or religious elements from Eastern cultures.  These ideas are the a result of misinformation and ignorance.  Martial arts were developed for field and jungle warfare during times in history when people fought with traditional weapons and hand-to-hand combat.  Martial arts are practical disciplines and art forms, not belief systems.

To read more detail about our particular training philosophy, please use the links below:

• History & Philosophy page from the Online Parent Manual
• Philosophy page from our San Do Kuen (The Three Way Fist) website

Because we do not strike our partners with the full force of our strength in class we tend to forget that our blocking and counter-striking are the most effective part of our defensive strategy and we get lost in the follow-up techniques that tend to be more difficult to perform.  In this process partners tend to provide resistance to one-another rather than helping each other learn.  If we were really hitting each other hard, the follow-up techniques would be either irrelevant or easier to execute because this resistance would be negated, minimized or re-directed.

Training partners should remain aware of the fact that their job is twofold:

1. Learn how to execute the technique.
2. Help our partner to do the same.

It is the second of these two responsibilities that gets forgotten and people try harder to “undo” the technique rather than working hard to “do” the work necessary to figure out the application.

There is no doubt that a real bad guy would not just give in when we began to defend ourselves, but then again, our training partner is not the bad guy and we are not hitting them for real.  There is no way to learn self defense at full speed and 100% intensity.  We have to realize that the training environment is always a controlled simulation or a series of successive approximations of a real fight.  Therefore, there is room for error and a vast number of learning experiences.

We should all understand that training is a long process and that we cannot accelerate our learning curve by trying to move faster than or outdo our partner’s technique.  In fact, if we do these things we will actually learn less than if we work within the framework we are presented (especially in the first few years of training).

The bottom line is, to be a good partner don’t resist your partner, don’t try to “one-up” them.  Instead give them constructive feedback like “that felt really effective” or “you could probably twist my wrist a little tighter.”

One final note on this subject, if you are training with your instructor, don’t try to surprise him/her – at some point you will get hurt.  Your instructor can be the best training partner you will ever have if you use the opportunity to learn something and not to size him/her up.

Being focused is not the same as “paying attention.”  If we are merely “paying” attention, we are only “giving” our attention, and not using that attention for any other purpose.  Think about this . . . “paying” for an apple in the store is not the same as “using” it to make apple pie.  Anyone with enough money can buy apples, but not everyone can make a really good apple pie from scratch.  Learning to buy apples is a simple process, but learning to make the apple pie takes time, practice, trial and error and patience.

Focus requires us to let go of our own perception of the lesson and instead, try to work through the movements with the intention of learning something.  We may or may not learn what our instructor intended right away, but we can always learn when we are focused.  So often, students have trouble learning because they spend their energy trying to discern what (specifically) they are supposed to learn.  What really matters is that they remain focused on learning in general and free themselves from their own expectations.

Mastering any martial art is a great challenge.  One of the most important aspects of that challenge is learning to focus on the task at hand for the sake of learning and for no other reason.  Focus is not always related to a specific goal or achievement, it is a skill in and of itself.  Focus is what separates a professional from a hobbyist, a leader from a follower and a master from a novice.

Sadly, this last kind of respect is often abused or over-emphasized in martial arts relationships.  Respect should always be mutual, no matter how skilled the teacher.   In the West, we tend to dramatize the teacher-student relationship.  Many instructors use this fact to ask too much of their students or take too much credit for their accomplishments.  Although it is true that a good student who has a highly skilled teacher will naturally excel beyond a good student with an average or mediocre instructor, it is always the student’s efforts over time that create skillful martial artists.  For example, in the years that Bruce Lee had schools and taught martial arts classes, there are probably less than 10 of his students who actually took their training seriously enough to become highly skilled themselves.  These individuals excelled not just because they had Bruce Lee as their example, but because they pushed themselves beyond where most people could go.

A great student will emulate his/her teacher to a point, but more due to coincidence than pure intention.  It is natural for a student to try to be like her teacher because that is how learning takes place in the beginning phases.  However, most renown martial artists in history (and in modern times) have become known for their creativity and originality, not for their teacher’s ability alone.  All teachers deserve our respect, but they are not the only reason we can succeed as students.

At some point, the romantic notion of the master-student relationship boils down to a progression of development which leads to the student becoming autonomous.  The point of training is not to glorify the teacher, it is to refine the student and lead him/her to their own path.  All students who have the desire should be encouraged to become masters (or teachers) of their own style, not merely shining examples of their teacher’s methods.

My goal as an instructor is to give my students a strong foundation (a beginning) and to help guide them as their skills develop.  I want my students to develop beyond where I can take them.  I do not have all the answers, and my method is not the only one that works.  I respect my students as much as I respect my teachers, we all work hard to develop our skills.

As of today (June 15th, 2010) I will no longer wear a black belt during classes, belt tests or any other event.  I will also cease to wear traditional martial arts uniforms.  There are four main reasons that I have made this choice:

1.  The practical application of a traditional karate belt or kung fu sash is absent.  The belt serves as a symbolic decoration rather than a functional necessity.  In some instances belts can interfere with movement training.  Belts can get in the way of arm movements and get caught up during weapons practice.  Another practical reason for me to hang up my belt is that my job requires me to be a personal trainer, one-on-one martial arts coach and a fitness class leader.  If I had to wear a uniform every time I taught a martial arts lesson and then wear workout apparel for private coaching and fitness training, I would changing clothes 3-5 times a day!  Workout apparel is a more functional type of attire for my daily activities.

2.  The politics of martial arts relates almost entirely to ranking systems and the requirements for black belt competency.  Many people in the martial arts take issue with each other over the method and manner of black belt certification.  I have been involved in these kinds of politics for long enough to know that my black belt is as much a source of political criticism as it is a symbol of achievement.  As a professional instructor I want to focus my energy on my students and refine my art in ways that will benefit them, not develop it according to the political will of other instructors who are not affiliated with my school or my programs.

3.  Bruce Lee did not believe in belts or belt systems, nor did he wear traditional uniforms.  He thought that belt systems were a distraction from training and created barriers to training.  I have to agree with him to a point.  I do think belt systems are effective for youth students.

4.   As a martial artist my goal is life-long mental and physical health through habitual martial arts training and safe, effective exercise.  My long term goals also include personal development, professional development and financial success.  I have never trained in martial arts to achieve rank.

Having said all of this, I must now explain how it will affect my students.

• For my youth students (ages 4-12 years) the belt system and uniform requirements will be unchanged.  Any youth student who joins the adult program at age 13+ will be able to continue wearing their uniform and belt or to put them aside.
• For all adult students, you will have the option to wear a belt or not.  You may also wear workout apparel that is consistent with the school dress code (which can be found in the parent manual on this website).  All rank certificates will still be awarded according to the existing curriculum structure.  I will award belts to all adult students at their promotions, and each student can choose to either wear their belt or display it at home.

The instructor’s level of skill can always be surpassed, so the question is not how skilled the teacher is, it is really how much effort the student expends.

Unfortunately, in America, we often see teachers in the same way we see service providers, rather than honoring them as experts.  For example, when I studied kung fu in Chinatown Seattle, people would sometimes complain that the master did not show them enough during class.  I always found that hard to hear because, in my mind, I wondered how the student thought they knew how much they should be learning?  After all, the master had done martial arts all his life, and he was incredibly skilled, so I trusted him to lead me in the right direction.  Obviously, the other students had a different point of view.

Recently I have come to realize that, as Americans, we see everything we pay for from the customer perspective.  Our nation is full of customers who want excellent service, great prices and instant gratification.  When we order products online we can choose to receive the product in a week or overnight depending on how much we are willing to spend.  When we pay a gardener or an accountant, we want them to get things done as quickly as possible.  When we are the customer, we expect to be served well.  Because of this point of view, we transfer certain expectations to our teachers.

We enroll in martial arts classes with the idea that the teacher is our “service provider” and that their job is to serve us as the customer.   Teachers with real skill help their students grow by pushing them to train harder and training them to dig deeper on their own, not by just showing more technique.  We also must remember that when we hire a gardener to landscape our yard, we don’t have to do anything but pay the bill.  In martial arts, the teacher can show us the way, but we have to do the work.

No matter what techniques I have been show throughout the years, it has always taken a lot of effort to understand their function.  Martial arts is an acquired skill for every person – from gifted athletes to de-conditioned couch potatoes.  Regardless of what techniques any individual learns or how skilled the teacher is, a person can excel in martial arts if he or she puts forth the effort.

The movements of martial arts are simply movements, they are not exceptional in and of themselves.  They don’t come alive unless we use them in creative and dynamic ways.  A sword is simply a piece of sharp, forged metal and has very few interesting qualities until it is wielded by someone who can manipulate it.  Then we start to notice the craftsmanship and artistic aspects of its design.  In other words, the movements never change, no matter how many we can learn, they only become more meaningful because of the way we learn to utilize them.

Basic movements and body positions are the foundation of every sport and yet they can seem amazing when someone uses them in an exceptional way.  For example – as a child I was always in awe of Hall of Fame basketball star Michael Jordan.  His leaping ability and athleticism were incredible.  Yet if we examine his basic skill sets they match almost every other professional basketball player: jumping, sprinting, shooting, dribbling, passing, defensive footwork, dunking, etc.  It was the particular timing and style that Jordan used which made him a cut above.

Almost all martial arts share a common set of basic skills, but it is the dedicated, patient and aware students that make the movements meaningful through their own interpretations.