Karate Archives

February 23, 2021February 23, 2021

The Best Style of Karate to Learn for a Great Life

The best style of karate to learn for a great life. It is not the one that you think it is. The way you are thinking about this endeavor is in styles and tactics. You are thinking about the methods of defending yourself. You are likely thinking about getting in shape. Learning discipline and several other ideas.

Those are the reasons you are asking, “What’s the best style?” No person when shopping for food wants the blemished apple or the wilted vegetable. We want fresh fruits and vegetables. This the same approach you are using in seeking a martial arts school for yourself or your children. “What is the best and how can I access that experience?”

Few people are thinking twice when you or your child announces they are going to move across the country to attend a University. Do the same with martial arts and you are insane, or at least going through a phase.

Listen to how that sounds, “I am going to go to the other coast to go to this University because they have the best program.” Now listen to this phrase. “I’m going to move across the country to this martial art school because they have the best program.” It’s an extraordinary reaction. One version of this you nod in the agreement, the other you shake your head.

The main takeaway with martial arts is that you are going to gain discipline. You are going to gain physical ability. You are going to become more focused mentally. There are sub-sets to those items. Some sub-sets may be losing weight or increased flexibility. The fellowship and social interaction of like-minded people also come into play.

All These Are The Formula of Your Choice Process.

This issue of seeking a martial arts school is now solved. How your martial art is chosen is not what you think it is. Nor what it should be. The answer you didn’t expect, the best karate style to learn for life Is the one that’s closest to your home.

The reason is it’s the one you are going to take part in it’s the one you are going to attend. You choose your martial arts school because it’s convenient. That is not a condescending statement. It is a statement of truth. The farther your school is from where you live the less likely you are to attend. The frequency of attendance drops and frequency of attendance is everything.

The Best Style of Karate to Learn for a Great Life Style is of Little Consequence

It doesn’t make any difference if it’s Kung-Fu Karate, Judo, Jujitsu, or Boxing. It makes no difference what art you are doing. The closer you are to the school the higher likelihood you have of attending. That frequency of attendance is giving you opportunity and advantages

We’ve listed benefits such as discipline, environment, fellowship, weight loss, flexibility. There are likely others on your list that also exist. The way to solve your problem of choosing the best style of karate to learn for a great life is not what is the best style. It is actually which martial art is convenient for you.

One Part Process

Once you’ve established there are 1 or 2 convenient martial art schools in your vicinity then go visit. Go visit regardless of style or system. Decide if it’s a fit. How does the class feel to you? I mean truly how does it feel? It’s not a squishy question, it’s an actual real question.

What’s the vibe you are getting from the class, or the instructor? That feeling, that vibe isn’t going to change that’s the vibe of the school. Is what is happing at the school is resonating with you? If it looks good you needn’t look any further you are where you need to be.

Here’s your actionable item. Find a couple of places that are close to your home. Try to stay within 7 miles of your house. Then get out and visit the clubs, groups, or schools. Find the one that feels good and train there.

Proximity and Positive Experience

When have proximity and a positive experience you are going to train. When you have proximity and positive experience you have chosen the best style of karate to learn for a great life.

The best style of karate to learn for a great life has little to do with how you hold your fist. It is not important the number of animals your system uses as icons or the country of origin. The best style of karate to learn for a great life is the one you will attend regularity. Because like anything in life it is about consistency and commitment.

Here are a few other links you may find of interest.

See how we can connect. Click on my picture.

KRIS WILDER

Kris Wilder is a martial artist based in Seattle Washington. He has authored many martial art books, including the classic, The Way of Kata. Making no apologies for his obsession of Football he can be found telling any who will listen about the nuances of the Canadian Football League.

January 15, 2021February 12, 2021

5 Things to Make Your Instructor Happy

5 Things to Make Your Martial Arts Instructor Happy (And Stand Out from the Crowd) Martial arts students, beginner and seasoned alike typically truly want to make their instructor happy. It is natural, and a lot easier than you probably think. Listed here are what I believe to be the top five things you can do to make your instructor happy.

Practice

The first item of the 5 Things to Make Your Instructor Happy is practice. This is probably the single most common thing I hear from instructors regardless of style. For every ten students who sign up, maybe one will put in any practice time away from the training hall. If you rely solely on class time for your training, your progress will be much slower than it could be.

Simply set aside some time every day that will be devoted to practice. It only takes a couple of weeks for this to transform into a habit. Eventually, you will notice the difference in how you feel when you do practice versus when you don’t practice. Even at my age, with the injuries piled up, I feel better when I practice.

Getting started today, makes it a habit. Your instructor will not even need to be told; they will see the difference. And it will make them happy.

Give us your 100% best effort

Everyone has good and bad days. Everyone has days where they have more energy than others. Maybe on a given day, you will show up and only be 70% of your normal energy. Give us 100% of that 70%! This attitude will go a long way in developing your mental toughness. If the day ever comes where you need to rely on your training to defend yourself, the ability to give all that you have will make a tremendous difference.

Predators don’t attack you when you are at your best. They are not looking for a fight. If you are ever targeted by a predator, you will assuredly not be at your best. That is when you need the ability to dig down and find that spark that will drive you to give your all.

As an instructor I can tell you, I find great joy in seeing those students who really, honestly give it all that they have.

Remember that we are human too

Bob Ross is a personal hero of mine. His show, The Joy of Painting, is so peaceful to watch, and his manner of teaching is something I hope to one day have and a constant. I fall short, but I always try.

Maybe due to the way so many of the martial arts masters in the movies were picture perfect in how they lived, we sometimes think that our instructors must be perfect human beings.

Nobody is perfect.

I remember the shock I had when I found out that my Instructor…drank alcohol. Gasp! It took some time getting over it. As a teenager raised on Kwai Chang Caine, there was a bit of adjustment time needed.

Your instructor is human. They may shout, or drink, or cuss, or any other number of things that might surprise you. Don’t expect them to be a saint. It is one of the finer points to 5 Things to Make Your Instructor Happy

Enjoy the ride

You have to have a goal, and martial arts a well equipped with short- and long-term goals built right into the handy-dandy colored belt systems. Many students focus so strongly on the end result that they forget that the journey is where you will find meaning. The journey is where you will build the memories. If it were all about Black Belt, the best martial artist would be the ones who got there fastest, and we know that isn’t the case.

Enjoy the ride. Look around. Take in the feeling of working with, learning with, and sweating with those around you. Pause when you have those moments where, after a ton of hard work and failure, you finally got something right! It is a great feeling! It will be going quickly. Savor it when it happens.

Never forget; the door is always open

You will eventually stop showing up. There are as many reasons why students stop training as there are students who start training. And most of the time it boils down to life getting in the way.

Your instructor, if they have been an instructor for any length of time, already knows this. There are always students that we do not want to see go, but we never believe they will stay. When you quit training, do not lead yourself to believe that your instructor is mad, or would let you start again, even years down the road.

The door is always open. You will be greeted with a smile and probably great joy. You will possibly have forgotten some things, but it will all still be there, waiting to be rediscovered. And your instructor will be happy to help!

About the Guest Author Wallace Smedley

Wallace Smedley describes himself as “a life-long martial artist, so far”. With a background in westerns arts of boxing and wrestling and training in eastern arts including Chinese Hung Gar (Tiger and Crane kung fu) and Korean Taekwondo, he has a range of experiences. He has been a bricklayer and a bouncer, a security guard and a teacher, a professional wrestler and a manager.

You can connect with Wallace at his website or Amazon Author Page by clicking the links below.

Some other links that may be of interest to you

Organizing People — Organization Changes Everything

Road Sign to Forget — Organization Changes Everything

Let’s Connect

KRIS WILDER

January 12, 2021February 12, 2021

Karate Must Keep the High Ground

Karate must keep the high ground and here is proof from nature, history, battle, sports, and bars. Nature kills a horse from the ground up. What that means is the ground is bad and for us as martial artists. The ground is a bad place for a warrior. I addressed this in my 1st book, Lessons from the Dojo, close to twenty years ago.

I want to take a moment and add more color to this. Years ago, I was on a farm, the guy who owned the farm had several horses. The owner had a farrier come out of those new shoes on the horses. The farrier began to do his business clipping, cleaning, and fattening the horse’s hoofs.

Karate High Ground and Horses

Watching the farrier do his job is interesting. But then again, I find it entertaining to watch anybody who is a master of their craft.

While watching the farrier with the horses I started asking questions of him. One of the more obvious questions was, “Why do we need to do this I don’t see anybody putting shoes on horses in the wild?” He answered that the ground was different from where the horses once lived. The ground was not as soft as a stall, or a track, and the horses’ hoofs grew rapidly and that’s why he has to come in and cut. This of course is designed to make it easier for the horse to get around.

The farrier hadn’t become annoyed by my questions. He did have an interesting answer when he was shaping the horse’s shoe. “Putting on and fitting them (the horseshoes) is everything.” I acknowledged, “You are being precise about that.” He concurred, “I have to be because nature kills a horse from the ground up.”

Breaking Bones and Bugs

That required some thought. Instead, what I did was I asked him more questions. Standing up and turning to me adding clarity. “The ground can break a leg. The ground can do a lot of things, there are pathogens in the ground, there are infections that happen,” as he was explaining all these bad things that could happen when a horse comes in contact with the ground. These all kill a horse from the ground up. He noted, the other thing was a horse was dead, “If the horse can’t run, it becomes prey to the mountain lion.”

The simplicity and profundity of his story were clear. The farrier is pointing out, for us, the ground is a bad place to be for all the reasons that a horse wants to avoid the ground. This is the beginning of knowing karate must keep the high ground,

Agincourt

In 1415 the battle between the English and the French took place at Agincourt. The French arrived armored. The metal used by the French in their armor was exceptional.

The French metal was resistant to the English arrows. The English bows couldn’t generate enough force to drive an arrow enough to pierce the French metal. Confident the French showed up with a 3:1 ratio over the English in the number of men. Those numbers and the armament say The Battle of Agincourt should be a rout by the French over the English.

It didn’t turn out that way.

The ground became an instrumental aspect in the French loss. The ground at Agincourt had become wet and had turned into a kind of clay a muddy sticky adhesive clay. When the French would walk in the water-bound clay the clay would adhere to the soles of their feet. If you’ve ever experienced this you have had to stop and scrape the clay from your feet.

Without removing the clay, it continues to build-up. Scraping the clay off the soles of their armor is time-consuming and any residual clay attracts more clay. The French became heavily bound in the mud.

The ground was pining the best of the French forces down and the English were able to seize the day with hammers and picks. The English using picks and hammers to strike through the armament of the French and kill them. Yes, hammers made the difference, but in essence, the ground ruining the French ability to fight offensively resulted in their loss.

Castles, Bombers, and Karate

The high ground is always sought in a battle. The castle is built on high ground, not in valleys. Air superiority since World War II has had a component of any battlefield or battlefront.

Once you own the high ground your power is in a superior position of the high ground. The low ground being a poor position. One of the things that Sun Tzu says in his book, The Art of War, is one should never fight uphill. That’s clear at least in the context of the warrior, or the karate-ka, karate must keep the high ground.

Going to the ground is a bad thing in combative applications

In a sports competition, it’s a fantastic idea. Let me tease some of that out. In the sporting arena, the goal is to be able to survive so you can compete again. In most sporting competitions, not every sport, but going to the ground is either submission or end of the play. Two examples being boxing or, as in a football player being downed.

Going to the ground in a sport is often a method of avoiding an injury. A broken wrist, hyperextended elbow, or a concussion as examples. Hitting the ground poorly ruins the chances for continued practice and competition.

The listed injuries are the things you’re trying to achieve in a combative situation. You want the ground to hit the other person hard. If you dislocate or break something all the better.

Judo and wrestling underscore the importance of falling correctly. Keeping your feet, and the dominant high ground position. In our world, today, losing your feet in a riot, or a mob is deadly. In this situation, the ground is a bad place to be as the mob has no mercy. Mobs never have had mercy and never will, they are incapable of mercy.

Swords and The History of the High Ground

The Japanese Tachi, a sword, and as I understand it, a precursor to the Katana. The Tachi was longer than the katana. The longer blade of the Tachi allows the horseman to hack down at the foot soldier.

This sword style is not exclusive to Japanese culture. You can find this kind of sword usage in other parts of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Long swords swinging down from horseback is omnipresent because it works. All are a demonstration of the desire for the high ground.

Children and The High Ground

Thinking about a child learning to walk. We learn to walk as children because it’s better. It’s better to stand. It’s better to have some height so you can survey the surroundings. It is better to acquire a potential threat at a distance.

The higher I am the farther I can see. Now the advantage of standing is clear. The advantage of high ground to be able to see. That’s why reconnaissance airplanes exist, as alluded to before. That’s why we have unmanned drones, and spy satellites.

History and nature prove that being on the ground is bad. Learning to control your falls is important for sports and for last-ditch efforts to survive a throw.

As further proof ask a bouncer and they will tell you the guy who goes down to the ground in the bar is the one who’s in jeopardy. No bouncer wants to go to the ground at any time, it’s nasty down there in many ways.

A Farrier, a battle in 1415, where to build castles, an ancient manuscript, sports, swords, and the nature of standing upright.

What more proof do you need to avoid the ground and keep your feet underneath you. Karate must keep the high ground. You can get more information and tactical recommendations in our book. Their are several levels of action listed in the book, Dirty Ground, but the bottom line is: Karate must keep the high ground

Here are some other links on martial arts you may find interesting

Let’s Connect

KRIS WILDER

January 7, 2021February 12, 2021

The Future of Karate Instruction

The Future of Karate Instruction. Not the total future, but a part of it. In the conference room in San Diego, I was having a casual chat with one of the invitees to the meeting.

We discovered we both had degrees in marketing. He owned a marketing company and I had at one time done the same. I pointed to the years that had passed since I had earned my degree and my skills were from the age of Magellan. He responded that his marketing skills were out of date too, as of that afternoon. His point, the world is changing fast. Here is the future of karate instruction.

To stay relevant in such a fast-moving field as marking takes effort. It is incumbent on people to keep present, to stay up to date in their skills. We understand this, we need to sharpen our skills daily.

Here is an Update for Karate Instructors

It is a simple act, yet necessary. A rule of thumb in marketing for a new product was you needed to present the product name seven times. Seven times was the magic number before a person remembers the name of the product.

This was the introduction of the name of the product. After the seven-time name familiarity process, you begin to share the value of the product. The product made things cleaner, brighter, better, last longer, etc.

The Modern Mind is Different

The number is not seven anymore it is thirteen. You need to be in front of somebody thirteen times before the product name sticks. The easy culprit for this is people lack focus, screens, big and small, lack of interest. You can add more to the list.

Teaching a movement, an idea in martial arts you should adopt this idea. Start to present in higher repetition. This isn’t about if the need for repetition is necessary or not. It is necessary. And it is one of the elements of the future of karate instruction.

It is Necessary, Because it is The Future of Karate Instruction

This is not a lament on how the world has changed, or students aren’t the way they used to be, etc. it is a statement of fact. And as Dr. Drew Pinsky is keen to say. “You have to deal with reality on realities terms.”

Being creative in this presentation, change it up, bury the message in a drill, say the message in different ways, demonstrate it from different angles. Meet your student where they are and then turn pointing down the road, saying, “Go that way.” Hopefully, they will become the future of karate instruction,

A few other links you may find interesting

Let’s Connect

KRIS WILDER

Kris Wilder is a martial artist based in Seattle Washington. He has authored many martial art books, including the classic, The Way of Kata. Making no apologies for his obsession with Football he can be found telling any who will listen about the nuances of the Canadian Football League.

December 19, 2020February 13, 2021

Old Style Karate is Just That, Old

Old style karate is just that, old. This is not a condemnation of traditional karate, so before you dismiss what I say take a moment a read on. The silo of classic training tools. Posts driven into the ground to make for movement and balance drills is an example. Or the classic stone lever, called Chishi.

These tools are two examples of found elements. You find what you have around you and make do with that element. You use the item to further your training. It is resourceful and that is attractive.

Romanticizing history in by its nature incomplete, it’s putting select views into silos. Romanticizing karate is a real as a Harlequin Romance novel.

The idea that traditional karate read that as old style karate, is bad. Not in principle but the silos in which aspects of that art exist are insufficient.

If you are looking for a specific, “Stop doing that, this is wrong,” no, I’m not going that direction. I’m asking for dilation of your view of karate training.

An example of how old-style karate needs a view expansion is by using the analogy of flight. The Wight Brother pulled of the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk North Carolina in 1903. Since we have added radial engines to aircraft, then inline engines to reduce drag. Pulse Jet, Ramjet, Turbine engines, and more.

Evolution is Success, Even in Old Style Karate

Ailerons have replaced twisting the wings to turn. If the fixed wing-powered flight was a failed platform it would not evolve, but it did evolve. You can point to the progress of aircraft design. The car, the microwave, vaccines, these all have successful progressions, evolution.

A computer you wear on your wrist observing your bioactivity is incredible. The adage, “What doesn’t get measured doesn’t get done,” fits here. You can now measure parts of your workout that only a medical specialist once possessed.

Adaptability and Focus

Watch Sandra Sanchez, world kata champion training routine here.

You will see the adoption of tools and techniques used in ways the masters never dreamed.

And it’s good.

We understand much more about human performance, physiology, and even sleep. Sanchez is a champion and hasn’t thrown out old style karate, she has improved it with modern means.

The Example of Sleep Being Important

Enjoy this segment from the Joe Rogan Podcast. This is Matthew Walker a professor of neuroscience at the University of California. The 8-minute segment will change your view on sleep, or sharpen what you already know.

Again, no specific recommendation other than one. Be a seeker of new or improved methods. New or improved methods of learning, training, and thinking. Don’t forsake the old methods, but do evolve. Just like the aircraft, the wings are still wings, but the performance is worlds apart.

We have learned more about flight in 118 years since the Wright Brothers flight than birds have learned in their entire evolution. That is a sign of adaptability and intelligence. We should do our best to live healthy lives. We should avail ourselves of every opportunity to do so and neither dream romantically nor silo our art.

Here are few other blogs and podcasts you will find interesting

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KRIS WILDER

November 25, 2020December 25, 2020

3 Traits of The Karate Zealot

The 3 traits of the Karate Zealot. They are similar to the sports fan. We all know that sports fan that has gone full in. The thing to do today is to create a Man Cave. And yes, it has been my experience that men dominate the world of sports fans. These folks are subject to the win-loss record of their team. Mondays can be tough if their team loses.

You know them and you love them, Raiders Fans. P.S. I’m a Raiders Fan, but no Zealot. But, KC Stinks!

Burn Them at The Stake

The religious zealot is demonstrating correct commitment. Think of it like the sports fan, who paints their body in the team colors. These zealots will place doctrine above compassion. They believe, without hesitation they are correct. The Cathars, a religious order ending in Europe in the 1400s were considered heretics. Cathar is from the Greek, Katharoi, meaning, “Pure Ones.”

When the last of the Cathars surrendered they marched from their stronghold singing hymns. The captures sang hymns louder. Then they burnt the remaining Cathars at the stake. The burring was to destroy the body so it could not be reconstituted in the next life. A warning to others.

A Story of Understanding

The 0verbearing boss has committed to the business plan. All well and good but they have lost their humanity. I was told, by a friend, about his lack of performance at work. A large company but his failures had not escaped his Boss. The meeting they had was powerful.

His boss informed my friend of his continued disappointment in completing quality work, and on time. Then the boss laid this on my friend. He said my friend was a good man, and capable. He also acknowledged the divorce and its impact on my friend’s life.

Then the boss went even farther. He said he would issue less work, and my friend had one quarter to get his act together. And check in with his boss often to help make the work correct. Generous.

The boss had two choices, cut my friend or fix him. He chose to fix him instead of lighting my friend on fire as a warning to others. The boss was no Zealot.

One way to look at a Zealot is as a person who has committed so deep, they have lost the purpose of their actions.

The sports fan, the religious zealot, the overbearing boss.

The Martial Arts Zealot and Their 3 Traits

Then there is the Martial Arts Zealot.

You know what they look like. Every effort is designed to prove purity and commitment. These zealots are so tight in their effort to be perfect they become ridged of mind and body.

They will work to eject less than zealots from the school. These zealots use physical means to bring others into compliance. Hold a choke a little long, strike harder than necessary. If you are an instructor, guard against these people. Their game plan is to ingratiate themselves to you.

Now the Hard Part

If you are an instructor and you are a zealot. You likely don’t see it and if you do you are unlikely to change. “It’s working, why change?” you say. It will work, for a while, and then it won’t. If you see this behavior creeping up on you arrest it.

We find super sports fans annoying. Religious zealots repugnant and overbearing bosses, make life hard.

Martial arts Zealots have the unique ability to combine all three of these nasty attributes. Hench the title 3 Traits of The Karate Zealot. They are annoying, repugnant, and overbearing. I see you shaking your head in agreement.

Zealots will dominate and impose their version of piety, or they leave with a dismissive comment about, “Doing it right.”

It’s not a cookie-cutter resolution, one size doesn’t fit all situations. It all has to be measured. All I can do is point to the three items that make the Zealot. The zealot that has lost the original purpose of their action.

3 Traits of The Karate Zealot

Annoying

Repugnant

Overbearing

Below are some links you may find of interest

Let’s Connect

KRIS WILDER