Enter the Dragon!

One question I often get asked when I catch up with old friends is "Are you still doing jiu-jitsu?". It's fair to ask, since I've been studying it (at time of writing) for almost 25 years – essentially all of my adult life – which bespeaks a certain dedication, or at least dogged persistence. What I don't get asked – but I'll tell you in a moment! – is why I keep going. I started martial arts because I was inspired by martial arts movies to learn some self-defence and improve my health and fitness. After trying out a few martial arts I stuck with jiu-jitsu because there was clearly lots to learn and I found the instruction method highly effective, despite my lack of conspicuous talent. But the reasons one starts a martial art inevitably shift as you move from expectations and introductory experiences  to sustained engagement and appreciation. In the remainder of this post I will try to give the reader a sense of why I've kept going for more than two deca...

Anthony Cheung has been compiling wonderful illustrated notes on the principles of Chen style taijiquan, and more broadly too! Great stuff: check it out:  http://brisbanechentaichi.weebly.com/skill-knowledge.html

A full seminar (90 minutes) with the late George "Rhino" Thomson, English literature academic turned beat cop, on his system for de-escalating conflict:

Many styles of Chinese Boxing (aka kung fu or gong fu ) have origin stories based around the observation of animal movements and fighting styles. This notion has been popularized in the Kung Fu Panda animated movie and its sequels. Many kung fu styles incorporate aspects of multiple animals, with specific animals identified with specific techniques, or entire "sets" taken to embody a particular of mindset and/or physical characteristics In drawing on the animal heritage of kung fu it is helpful to learn more about the nature of the animals in question. Ways to do so include: Visiting a zoo for direct observation Watching nature documentaries and clips Learning about the cultural significance of the animals And, of course, go practice and pay attention to what you find! * * * In Hung Kuen chinese boxing (and other styles) the main five animals are: Tiger (trains bones): sheer power, prowling, connection to the Earth, ultimate predator, claws Crane (sinews): balance and gr...

Our new promotional poster:

We pulled out a camera (thanks Ash!) at the end of 2014 and several of my senior students demonstrated a few of their favourite throwing techniques. Although we were after stills, I thought some of the sequences might make nice animations: Lejoe throws John: 3rd shoulder throw (kata guruma) John throws Damian: stomach throw with stick   Damian throws John: 3rd sutemi (maki tomoe)

The following extended quote is from  Think Like a Commander , the US Army's guide to Adaptive Thinking.  It's a nice exploration of a big aspect of what kata can be -- deliberate practice -- arguably the most effective tool (although not the only one!) in the development of technical expertise. Train As You Fight versus Deliberate Practice The maxim "train as you fight" has risen to such a level of familiarity in the U.S. Army that the value of the notion goes almost unquestioned. Yet studies of the development of expertise clearly indicate that "as you fight" meaning performing in fully realistic simulated battles is neither the most effective nor efficient method of developing expertise. Such "performances" can help a novice become acquainted with applying military knowledge, and can reinforce existing knowledge in an experienced person, but will not in and of themselves lead to the development of expertise. In many fields where expertise has b...

Last night we assembled our new, industrial strength mat trolley, purchase from Bremco Metal Products :, to help us shuttle our mats between storage and the Aerobics room that we transform into our dojo: Newly assembled: Shiny! Loaded with mats The key advantage of the new trolley is that multi-directional castors let us steer round corners: For many years we made do with a couple of old hand-me-down trolleys that we had to lug around corners: Thanks to everyone for helping get it assembled, Carla at Bremco for answering all my questions, and Monash University for subsidy. Next step, more mats!

Lori O'Connell recently blogged on  the value of visualization in martial arts training : In one of the most well-known studies on creative visualization in sports, Russian scientists compared four groups of Olympic athletes in terms of their training schedules (as described in  Karate Of Okinawa: Building Warrior Spirit  by Robert Scaglione): Group 1 = 100% physical training; Group 2 - 75% physical training with 25% mental training; Group 3 - 50% physical training with 50% mental training; Group 4 - 25% physical training with 75% mental training. Group 4, with 75% of their time devoted to mental training, performed the best. Personally, I find mental practice more challenging than physical training: the mind wanders ... So here are my top suggestions for mental training: Go to class!  Training in the martial arts develops the mind and body from the get-go.   Once a technique is familiar, don't go on auto-pilot: Observe : Notice fine details. Experiment : ...