“You are the son I never had.”

My father once said this to me and it still rings true. My father had originally wanted a son when my sister was born, but he enjoyed raising a daughter so much that by the time my mother was pregnant with me, he wanted a second one. He got the best of both worlds. He got me.

I had always been a bit of a tomboy, but when I started doing physical activities as a child, my mother wanted to put me into dance. Soccer, was also introduced to my life as a summer activity. As a young child, I didn’t really know what I wanted or what was expected of me in my involvement in these activities. I just thought they were things I was supposed to do, like school. I was never all that great in either, nor did I have a fantastic time with them. I never really felt like I fit into those activities, but I kept doing them until I turned 12. (more…)

Tags: children

It’s hard to know what a young child would enjoy as a physical activity. If you’re lucky, he or she may have expressed a fascination with something they have seen on TV or through their family and friends, but more often than not, parents have to go through a period of trial and error to find the right fit. Here are few tips for finding the right activity:

• Talk to your child. If your child is younger, introduce a few different options that you think they might enjoy through video. YouTube can be handy for this. Ask them what they think. If your child is older, encourage them to actively take part in the decision-making process letting them choose for themselves from activities you can afford and are location friendly for you.
• Start small. If a school or program has the option to do a trial class, give it a shot and see how it goes. If your child is young, it’s a good idea to be there with them to help ease separation anxiety if the teacher allows it. If there is no trial class, try to start them off with a shorter term commitment. If all goes well, you can go for longer terms.

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Tags: children

Did you ever see that episode of Seinfeld in which George manages to curry favour at his office and in his life by saying something during a meeting that gets a good reaction then leaving the room immediately after? The theory was that if he stayed around long enough he might say something stupid that counteracts the earlier effect, which then leaves a bad lingering impression of him. I’ve taken the liberty of providing a clip from that show below. While taken to a ridiculous extreme, there is research in psychology to support this theory.

The truth is that the way something ends is more likely to be remembered, even if the entire experience the whole way through gave an opposite impression. There is a great TED talk (see below) that goes into more detail about this. This concept is important for martial arts instructors to remember. (more…)

Tags: martial arts teaching

I heard this quote recently and thought about how very relevant it was to the martial arts. It is, of course, relevant in all spheres of life, but as a martial artist, it’s hard not to see the many ways it applies to what we do. Here are a few of the ways I thought about:

Sharpening Your Sword

In Jiu-jitsu, we train in a variety of different skills, including hand strikes, kicks, throws/takedowns, breakfalls, ground techniques, and more. Over time, students start to discover that they have more of an affinity for certain spheres of training, while observing more challenges in others. While it’s good to make the most of your natural talents, it’s equally important not to ignore one’s weaknesses. From a self-defense point of view, weaknesses can bite you in the ass. As with the metaphor, your sword is useless if you leave gaps when you sharpen it. If you don’t fully explore your weaker areas, you won’t learn how best to compensate for them. And with time, they may not even be weaknesses that require compensation. This attitude also transfers into other areas in life, work, relationships, hobbies, etc. When you adopt this mentality in one thing, it tends to affect other things you do and vice versa. (more…)

Tags: dojo philosophy

After a fantastic bull whip demo at last year’s PAWMA camp, my two students who accompanied me to the event and I were intrigued. Sifu Restita DeJesus (from the Seattle Wushu Centre) took us outside for our own informal bull whip lesson in the parking lot, using whips she had made herself. Some were beautifully made, intricately wrapped with para-cord, but the ones I liked best were the ones she had made using simple items from her local hardware and sports stores. After that, the three of us vowed to make our own whips one day. Last weekend, that day finally came. (more…)

Tags: bull whip

A couple of months back, I was contacted by Martial Herbs to review a couple of their products, their “Martial Herbs Strength” and “Martial Herbs Recovery.” Unfortunately, due to some issues with Canadian Border Services, I only got “Strength” so it is the only one I can review from experience.

The marketing materials for Martial Herbs strength touts high claims such as “enhanced cellular signalling for swifter movement and response,” “optimized hydration through vital electrolytes” to help you “train harder and longer”, “rapid reduction of free radicals to stave off muscle fatigue and soreness.” It costs £22 (UK currency) for a bottle of 60 tablets, of which they recommend taking  a general rule, I have a healthy scepticism when it comes to gimmicky products like this, but I have an open enough mind to try the things before taking a stance. I took Martial Herbs Strength, 1 every day until I finish the bottle.  (more…)

Tags: product review

This past weekend we hosted a 2-day course with Guro Ed Wong of Urban Survival Systems and the Modern Cimande Club. His fighting system blends techniques from Silat, Non-classical Gong Fu, and a number of other styles, and is dedicated to exploring and educating people in the reality of street combat, including many people in the field of security, law enforcement, and military. Ed (as he prefers to be called) teaches with very similar principles to Can-ryu Jiu-jitsu, but slightly different tools and applications. What’s great about this is that they are easy to blend with what we do. (more…)

In order to maintain a safe training environment, practicing self-defense techniques involves a type of role-playing in which one person plays the role of the defender and one or more people play attackers. We play out the scene physically so that we can practice reacting with techniques that would theoretically be effective in a real situation. But if role-playing is the main emphasis of your training, you have to be aware of certain practices that can train bad habits that can have dangerous consequences in a real attack.

Habit #1: Focusing entirely on one attacker.

In most self-defense classes, techniques are presented and practiced assuming a 2-person scenario, one defender and one attacker. From a practical standpoint, it’s easier to learn techniques and manage a class using this general dynamic. The problem is that not all scenarios fit this dynamic. You could start with one attacker only to have their friends jump in to help. Or it could be a group attack right from the start, swarming a single person. Or you might not be alone. You could have a friend helping you out, or you could be minding a child that needs your protection. So if you only train to mentally and physically to deal with a one-on-one scenario, you might find yourself struggling when the situation is different. (more…)

Tags: self-defense training habits

Over the weekend, my dojo was rented by Jitsu Canada to run a local grading. I hold an intermediate rank in their style (Shorinji Kan Jiu jitsu) in addition to being a Can-ryu Jiu-jitsu 5th Dan. Helping out by being a partner/attacker for these gradings is a guilty pleasure. I like helping out by putting a little extra pressure on the candidates while using my skills to help keep them safe while doing so.

Early in the grading, they were doing a striking “V”, basically an intensity drill to test their ability to strike incoming attackers. The candidate was moving in aggressively as I stepped into attack, leading him to step into my foot, catching my big toe and injuring it. It hurt quite a lot at the time, but I tried to soldier on to keep helping out, insisting I was fine. It wasn’t very long afterwards that a white belt happened to innocently step into my foot and bump it slightly, causing me to step off the mats again. Chris Sensei (who is ranked Shodan in that style in addition to Can-ryu) told me I should get off the mats. As I started to protest that I was fine, he asked me would you let one of your own students continue in this situation. I opened my mouth, then closed it again and stepped down.  (more…)

Tags: injuries

Yesterday, I took my Bengal cat Kaylee out for a leash walk. Much like a dog, she likes to have the freedom to roam, and now associates the leash with doing so. On our walk, we encountered a man who had two dogs on a leash, one was a smaller black Scottie, the other was a larger dog, maybe a smaller Great Dane or a Great Dane cross of some sort (something like the dog here on the right).

We were about 50 feet away when we saw them. The man said to stay back because his dogs would go for Kaylee. As I started to draw her away, the larger dog charged towards us, catching the older owner off guard and he lost control of both dogs, and they barrelled toward my cat at full speed. (more…)

Tags: dog attack